Scott Ruse

You won’t believe how a few lines from Naval reshaped my LP pitch. Not the metrics. Not the fund model. The MINDSET. Because before LPs buy into your thesis, they buy into how you think. Naval’s Almanack didn’t tell me what to say. It taught me what matters. That wealth isn’t money. It’s freedom. That leverage isn’t just capital ….it’s code, content and compound trust. That clear thinking cuts through more than sharp slides ever will. So I stopped leading with structure. I started leading with clarity. -Who we are. -Why do we invest the way we do? -How we evaluate opportunity through timeless filters, not trends. Surprisingly, it made everything else easier. Because when your lens sharpens, so does your pitch. The LPs who lean in? They aren’t just backing the fund. They’re backing the framework. 3 takeaways I now carry into every pitch: 👉Lead with clarity, not credentials. 👉Filter for timeless thinking, not trends. 👉Show your edge in how you think, not just what you fund. Curious, what’s the one mental model you always come back to when pitching? #uae #100Unicorns #books #startups #navalravikant #mindset

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You can tell a lot about a PE firm by looking at its CFO. Every number tells one story. Every CFO tells another, usually about the partner they work for. After years of recruiting finance leaders, one pattern keeps showing up: the PE CFO starts to mirror the partner. Calm, methodical partner? You’ll see a CFO who plans two quarters ahead. Reactive, deal-chasing partner? That CFO’s running on Slack and caffeine. It’s not good or bad. It’s human. Two people share pressure long enough, and they sync up. That’s why “fit” in a CFO search isn’t about resume lines. It’s about wavelength. Does this CFO thrive under intensity, or burn out from it? Does the partner value process, or pace? The best pairings see the echo and adjust before it becomes noise. If you’ve lived this dynamic, what makes a CFO/partner pairing work? (And when it doesn’t, what cracks first?)👇 #PrivateEquity #CFO #Leadership #Finance #ExecutiveSearch #PEBackedCompanies #CFOLeadership

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This whiteboard looks calm.But a CFO head isn’t. When people talk about an IPO, they talk about valuation, listing pop, headlines. What they don’t talk about is the quiet weight a CFO carries long before the bell rings. Remember staring at timelines like this one— 9–12 months broken into neat phases. Prep. Filings. SEBI observations. Roadshows. Pricing. Listing. On paper, it looks linear. In reality, it’s anything but. There are days when numbers refuse to reconcile, questions feel personal, and every “observation” feels like a judgment on your credibility. You’re expected to be: • confident, when answers are still evolving • calm, when the organisation is watching your every move • precise, when ambiguity is at its peak And quietly, you wonder: “Am I really ready to put this company under the harshest spotlight?” That’s the vulnerable truth. But here’s the part that doesn’t get said enough. A listing is not a finance event. It’s a trust event. Trust in governance. Trust in disclosures. Trust that the story behind the numbers will stand scrutiny—today and years later. And somewhere between DRHP drafts, SEBI interactions, and investor meetings, a CFO transforms: • from scorekeeper to storyteller • from controller to conscience • from finance head to institutional custodian This whiteboard isn’t just a process map. It’s a reminder that going public first requires going deep—into systems, culture, discipline, and truth. The bell ringing is just the payoff. The real work is everything before it. For every CFO walking this journey—quietly, relentlessly— this is what leadership really looks like.

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Saw a LinkedIn post the other day that made me both laugh and cry—for whoever’s still overpaying for inefficiency. Classic corporate logic: Hire a full-time CFO for $275K/year (because, you know, “we need top talent”). Said CFO spends about 5 hours a week doing actual CFO things—big-picture strategy, financial forecasting, nodding thoughtfully in meetings. The other 35 hours? Playing accountant, cutting checks, chasing down AR like a bounty hunter, and doing work that has nothing to do with why they were hired. A wild idea appears: Replace CFO with a full-time controller for $140K. Bring in a fractional CFO for way less than the leftover $135K. Suddenly, you have an actual CFO and a full-time controller—for LESS than what you were paying before. It’s almost like companies enjoy setting money on fire. But hey, if you’d rather keep overpaying for inefficiency, carry on. Otherwise, maybe it’s time to rethink your finance structure. Let’s chat.

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Imagine stepping into your CFO role and realizing nobody trusts finance. That was me, 3 years ago. I walked into my first executive meeting, expecting strategic discussions. Instead, finance was treated like an afterthought; a "necessary evil," the "department of no." Management had zero faith: ❌ Not in the numbers. ❌ Not in the team. ❌ Definitely not in finance’s strategic contribution. And I didn’t have the typical CFO pedigree: No Big 4 background. No controller resume. Just years in banking, private equity; and a clear vision: Transform finance from a cost center into the strategic engine of the company. Here’s what I learned fast: You don’t rebuild trust with reports. You do it with clarity, speed, and results that shape decisions. I quickly made four critical shifts: ✅ Built a high-trust team focused on asking smarter questions ✅ Upgraded our data and reporting to drive faster decisions ✅ Became a business partner, not a financial gatekeeper ✅ Aligned finance with growth and strategy, not just control We stopped saying "no." We started saying: "What's the smartest way to make this happen?" That’s when finance finally got invited to the real table. This week, I'm sharing everything I wish someone had told me on day one: The real difference between legacy and modern finance Exactly how to become your CEO’s go-to strategic partner How to rapidly rebuild trust and reposition finance as a value-creator Because this isn’t just a job. It’s a movement. Welcome to The CFO Effect. What’s ONE specific action you took that finally rebuilt trust in your finance team? (Share your experience below.) #CFO #StrategicFinance #FPandA

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Some good news out of Washington! It’s super relevant and mostly good news I believe. 1. Big Tax Breaks for Manufacturers—If Passed A new tax package is moving through Congress with major benefits for shops, including: • 100% Bonus Depreciation • Full R&D Expensing • Increased 179 Limits ($2.5M deduction) • Bigger 199A Deduction (23%) • Higher Estate Tax Exemptions (Keep more in the family!) This could lower your tax bill and support equipment investments—stay tuned as it moves toward a vote. ⸻ 2. China Tariffs Shift—But Costs Stay High The U.S. and China have temporarily lowered some tariffs, but most industrial parts still carry tariffs of 30% to 70%. This lasts through August 12, but your supply chain costs may remain high. Stay sharp, stay profitable. #ManufacturingMatters #MachineShopLife #TaxStrategy #Tariffs

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CFO searches are uniquely painful for PE sponsors right now. There's a widening gap supply & demand. PE firms have steadily been putting capital work buying new companies since Q4 of last year. However, there's still a lag in companies exiting. So, there's an outsized number of newly acquired PE deals all looking to upgrade their CFOs but competing for a finite set of talent. And no firm wants to lower their bar on CFO quality. Here are some of the things PE firms are doing to keep the bar high on searches: 1. They are targeting step-up candidates (#2 finance leader in a deal 2-4x larger) 2. They are getting comfortable recruiting a CFO out of an underperforming mid-hold deal 3. They are more flexible with on-site requirements (loosening the typical 4-5 day per week requirement) Hunt for CFO horsepower compared to box checking. #CFOmarket

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To my CFO friends who have not yet started with AI - from a fellow CFO who has only dabbled in it. From my experience over the last few years, for companies greater than $10 million annual revenue, the app that provides a clear payback you can measure and is also relatively easy for your accounting clerk to adapt to is - AP Automation. With the vast majority of A/P invoices received by email, the app will optically scan the invoice for the key data, route it to an approver or verify against a PO, format it for posting, apply the correct G/L account number, and integrate to your ERP system for posting. AI comes in when you have a vendor invoice the system does not know what G/L account number to post to. You tell it which account and then going forward it remembers and "learns". After time, you will have as many as 90% of your emails coming into your email getting posting directly to your ERP system, freeing up tons of time your A/P person spends doing the same thing. People have asked me - which AP Automation tool is the best? Frankly there are a bunch of good ones out there and they are improving by the month. But your first filter should be the ability to integrate to your ERP system. If that is not part of it, you'll be missing out on a lot of time savings. That was a very rudimentary description as I've tried to simplify it for this post. Has anyone else implemented AP Automation or anyone else have something to add that I've missed?

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Is the Interim CFO Private Equity’s most valuable secret weapon? In recent weeks, I’ve spoken with portfolio chairs, PE operating partners, and interim leaders, and there’s a theme that’s hard to ignore: The Interim CFO is often the go-to fix when a full-time hire just isn’t landing. Here’s what’s driving it: ⚡ Speed over search When a deal closes or a CFO exits suddenly, sponsors don’t have 6 months to run a full search. The right interim can be in-seat in days, stabilising, assessing, and delivering. 📈 Transformation-first mindset 70% of interim CFO mandates I’ve seen in the last year start with change management, not BAU. That means fixing reporting, unlocking cash, team overhaul and renegotiating debt before the new permanent hire even arrives. 💸 Cost as investment, not overhead The best interims aren’t cheap at £1200-£3000 per day — but they can save millions by avoiding bad decisions, securing better financing terms, or hitting covenants that preserve valuation. 🧠 Fresh eyes, no baggage Interims can challenge sacred cows without worrying about internal politics or legacy relationships. Sponsors value that neutrality. In short: An Interim CFO isn’t a stopgap. They’re a force multiplier for value creation. And in today’s market, that might just make them indispensable. #PrivateEquity #CFO #Leadership #ValueCreation #InterimManagement #FinanceTransformation #STOIX

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"What worked before isn’t going to work anymore." Trish Saltys understands that it is a difficult transition for founders as they seek to understand their own limitations. It’s a realization every founder eventually faces, and one that rarely comes without discomfort. Trish shares her thinking on #PrivateEquity, founders, small companies trying to scale and more: https://bit.ly/43zJqy1 #TheNextMoves #FounderAdvice #GrowthCompanies #Leadership #Learning #Podcast

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Whether you're stepping into a new CFO role or walking into M&A conversations, there's pressure to add value fast. I've been an in-house or fractional CFO or COO at six organizations (for profit and nonprofit) and deeply involved in two major mergers. For one of my roles, merger talks for a $1.1B deal began just weeks into my tenure. The pressure to deliver strategic insights while still learning the business and a brand new industry was intense. Yes you need to assess your teams, build relationships, learn the reporting deadlines, and the other core responsibilities. But talking only about these will make eyes glaze over. Board members and potential acquirers want to understand value drivers and performance realities - especially those hidden behind historical success or institutional inertia. That's what builds credibility quickly in early conversations. 💡 Here are four key levers I learned to assess early and work through with teams to build value: 1️⃣ Company vs. Competitor & Industry  • Core competencies and special sauce • Where we over- or under-perform vs trends • Competitor moves reshaping market dynamics 2️⃣ Value Creation vs. Value Leakage • Business units coasting on old wins or chasing unrealistic goals • Has headcount grown without impact? • Major vendor contracts to assess for competitive terms 3️⃣ Cash Flow  • Rhythms of inflows and outflows • Working capital constraints and opportunities • Right-sizing operating reserves (varies widely by industry) 4️⃣ Nonprofit Value Drivers • Which grants don't fully fund overhead? • Which programs are self-sustaining vs. consuming unrestricted funds? • Has program proliferation resulted in mission drift? These insights position you as a partner, not just a reporter. 👇 What levers would you add to this list?

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I just caught a CEO celebrating 40% profit margins that didn't actually exist. Here's what happened: Last week, I walked into a manufacturing company for a routine financial review. The CEO was beaming. "Best quarter ever," he said. His P&L showed incredible margins. Then I looked closer. He had expensed a $200K production line as operating costs. Treated software licenses like monthly subscriptions. Made equipment purchases disappear into "general expenses." His profit? A complete illusion. Look, I get why this happens. CapEx feels scary in the books. OpEx feels manageable, predictable. But here's the reality: When you buy a machine that lasts 5 years, that's CapEx. It should depreciate over time, not hit your P&L all at once. When you pay monthly rent, that's OpEx. It belongs on your P&L immediately. Mix these up, and your numbers become fiction. The CEO's real profit margin? 12%. Not the 40% he was celebrating. We spent the next hour reconstructing his actual financial picture. $300K in equipment purchases hiding as expenses. $50K in software that should depreciate over 3 years. His cash flow suddenly made sense. Every dollar you spend tells a story. Make sure you're reading it correctly. Because the market doesn't care about your imaginary profits. Neither does your bank account. If you like this post, follow Gary Jain 🚀 for more such content. #capex  #opex  #finance

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Any buyer who is looking at a capex heavy business is keeping a close eye on 100% bonus depreciation being back on the table. It isn't a dealmaker but if it goes through, the numbers may make more sense at a different purchase price

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Picture David a portfolio Manager at a PE firm. He is able to review each company presents clean financials. The entity controllers knows their entities well. Each deck looks “buttoned up.” And yet, the hardest questions in the room go unanswered: Which company is quietly consuming disproportionate management attention? Where is margin erosion showing up across the portfolio, not just within one entity? If liquidity tightens, which businesses will need intervention first and why?   The issue isn’t his competence at the company level. It’s that the back office was never designed to see the portfolio as a system. When finance operates entity by entity, PE teams are forced to do the hardest work manually: mentally stitching together cash, leverage, working capital, and risk across businesses that don’t speak the same financial language.   So partners and operating teams carry the portfolio in their heads between board meetings, between lender calls, between decisions that affect real value.   That’s when confidence erodes. Not because the numbers are wrong but because clarity arrives too late and too fragmented to act calmly.   You don’t have to carry it alone.   Clarity that brings calm comes from portfolio-level financial visibility not more entity-level reporting.   #PrivateEquity #PEOperations #PortfolioAnalysis #ValueCreation #BoardroomDecisions #OperationalClarity #FinTeamOne

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