Currently a CFO, joined an org and grew it from $8m-$50m, we’ll be looking for an exit this next year. Few different ways it could play out, but I’m working to negotiate to get a 12-24mo earn out period and a few mil at the end of the day.
After that, not sure what I want to do next. I love modeling as I did FP&A for years, but I’m not ready to start all the way over in my career (mid 30s). Happy to put in the hours again to prove myself.
Someone said banks will hire VP and maybe Director level external, depending on the team. Were they being overly supportive or there any truth there?
I’ve also enjoyed the operational strategy seat and have consulted with colleagues, they’ve said I’ve challenged them to making meaningful impacts to their orgs.
So if you had some stability and experience but didn’t have the pedigree (non-target BS/MBA, but good GPA) and enjoy finance and being strategic, what’s some career paths you’d explore? Bonus points if you could move US>London.
You’re a cfo that joined early and on exit you’re only going to get a few million? Thats it? How come?
Business is service-based and doesn’t have sexy margins, the multiple we’re expecting wont be great. There’s a play where we expand and could get way bigger but founder wants a payout and to walk away. They retain all equity, we’ve only had preliminary convos (if we go this way and get X, I’ll get Y, etc). But they were all over the place this year with a messy divorce so even having a convo about an exit was only recently serious.
My cash comp is good, and we’ve done profit based bonuses.
EDIT: Also didn’t join as CFO, joined at director level and titled up
I just feel like if you go from cfo role to a regular banker, you’re gonna hate it.
Congrats. That payout is solid.
Why not target CFO roles?
I will be, but not sure I wanna do the startup world again. Maybe something established and take it from $20m to $200m, around the time they’d need a CFO and scalable system / structure.
This was mostly to tap into the more established side of the shop and make sure I’m open / considering all options. And since I have time I wanted to begin my research sooner rather than later.
My man, it is rinse and repeat. You become CFO at startups, or with PE companies in the portco companies so when they exit they put you in on their next investment.
Going from a CFO to banking doesn't make a lot of sense to me and I am not quite sure I have ever heard of someone doing that. The skillsets are completely different unless you were an M&A focused CFO who closed a lot of acquisitions. But even then, it would still be an odd transition in my opinion. You said you enjoyed operational strategy and making impacts on other areas of the company outside of finance, you won't get that in banking. Also, I can't imagine you would get hired at a Director level with no banking experience under your belt, VP also seems far-fetched.
You are already way ahead of the game in the sense you have a successful CFO stint under your belt. Once you get that experience, it is exponentially easier to land other CFO gigs. How big was the finance function at your company? Would you want to work a start-up again? If not, there are always PE firms looking for good operational CFOs, which it sounds like you enjoy.
Fractional CFO work, interim CFO work, and consulting (Rx, PEPI, Office of CFO) are other options that would make sense with your background. You could also target larger corporations to potentially land a business-unit CFO level role or a Director level role within FP&A.
Thank you for this perspective, truly. I wasn’t too sure how that transition could look either, this confirms that banking could ultimately end up frustrating in the long term.
Will for sure check out some PE firms and the ones you mentioned as well.
Cheers friend.
Congrats on the great career so far and good luck with the exit! I've not been in your shoes, so maybe take this with a pinch of salt, but from what I've seen with portfolio companies as well as some friends in the city, the following are well-trodden paths for CFO/CFO-office professionals:
Given you're not in a rush, I would connect with the major headhunters in this space and see what's actually in the market
This is incredibly helpful, thank you! Any headhunting firms you’d recommend to check into / steer clear from? I’ll probably jump into the VC/PE forms too but would love any insight you can share.
A few firms that I believe cover all of these spaces are the usual suspects: Finatal, PER, Walker Hamill. I'm sure there are others that cover these types of moves more specifically, but I've not come across them. Good luck!
I'm not sure why you are thinking of targeting banking. Maybe PE roles or another CFO role would suit you best.
Know a CFO who joined IB as an associate. Don’t think it’s worth it
Congrats on the path so far and hope the exit succeeds. Do you mind me asking about what your background is and how you got to your position and any advice? big 4/consulting/FP&A background and I want to get to CFO level eventually but feel the route needs to go via FD or Head of Finance but feel kind of stuck in FP&A. Is it all about joining small form where they give you chance and grow it? Where / how did you learn about ways to improve the business operationally / systems wise from an FP&A background? Was it common sense type stuff? Many thanks!
Happy to share some experience, both mine and some of my colleagues who took similar paths.
You’ll be happy to know CFOs are evolving from high level accountants to more of a strategic advisor, at least in the circles I’m running in. I put just as much pressure if not more than our other leaders because I know what a 1% improvement on each KPI does to the business. Everything leads back to money.
Worked on an elite FP&A team for a F100 company, reporting to the CFO directly. Had an 11 figure portfolio that I basically needed to approve before we spent any money, both CAPEX and OPEX impacting.
Took the same analytical approach and what if mentality and by fate connected with the founder and CEO. They saw their skillgap, because within 2 weeks of pro bono consulting I showed them a path to a 10% improvement to their bottom line and I only worked on stuff after my day job.
Be curious. Network. Ask people about their operations and then run some numbers. Ask questions. Ask why 5 times. Yes, you’ll probably have to enter as a head of finance and will own AP/AR, accounting, and all the other similar functions, but make sure the founder / exec team needs someone who thinks like we do so you have a growth path to CFO. Culture fit is huge. You’re going to be way more visible in a smaller company so YOU need to make sure the fit is there too.
I've done it the other way around - currently CFO from banking.
I enjoyed my time in banking but going back would feel like a backwards step. The level of autonomy you have as a CFO and the ability to impact change far exceeds anything in banking where everything is transactional, deeply layered and highly commoditised. Even for senior manager roles, the business growth options are limited (it's a mature market) so the job itself is limited and the growth you get is in building your political profile / collecting cash.
Of course, if money offsets that for you and you enjoy spending time with banker personality profiles perhaps it's worth looking in to.
Really great insight here, thanks for that perspective
don't go into banking, you're over qualified honestly
Growing a company from $8M to $50M with an upcoming exit is a strong credential. You’re not starting over — you’re pivoting.
Quick, realistic next paths:
US → London: Very doable via international funds, global companies, or cross-border advisory roles.
Ledger Labs perspective: Post-exit CFOs do best when they stay close to value creation and decision-making — not when they just chase a new title.
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