Scaling CEO Essentials: Sticky Notes, Printers, and More

𝗠𝗼𝘀𝘁 𝘁𝗲𝗰𝗵 𝗰𝗼𝗺𝗽𝗮𝗻𝗶𝗲𝘀 𝗵𝗶𝗿𝗲 𝘁𝗵𝗲𝗶𝗿 𝗖𝗙𝗢 𝘁𝗼𝗼 𝗹𝗮𝘁𝗲. By the time they realize they need one, they're already in trouble. I've seen it play out the same way across dozens of searches:  1. Company raises a Series B or C  2. Founder/CEO is still running finance with a VP of Finance or Controller  3. Board starts asking harder questions about runway, and path to profitability  4. A process gets kicked off in a panic The best time to hire a CFO is 𝟭𝟮–𝟭𝟴 𝗺𝗼𝗻𝘁𝗵𝘀 before you think you need one. 𝗛𝗲𝗿𝗲'𝘀 𝘄𝗵𝘆 𝘁𝗵𝗮𝘁 𝘄𝗶𝗻𝗱𝗼𝘄 𝗺𝗮𝘁𝘁𝗲𝗿𝘀: A great CFO doesn't just close the books. They build the financial infrastructure that makes your next fundraise, your M&A process, or your IPO actually executable. That takes time to set up, and time you don't have when the board is already asking. The companies I see win with finance hires are the ones who think ahead. They're hiring the CFO for where they're going, not where they are. Buffkin / Baker

4. True Scalability Without Hiring/Firing Headaches   Your business grows? Add services instantly. Revenue dips? Scale down the same day. No awkward conversations, severance, or recruitment costs. An in-house accountant is a fixed, inflexible expense — perfect for huge corporations, terrible for small businesses with fluctuating needs.

Most people wait too long to hire a CFO. They wait until they’re overwhelmed, cash is tight, and decisions feel reactive. That’s already expensive. The right time is earlier than you think. Here’s when it actually makes sense: You’re making money… but don’t feel in control of it Revenue is coming in, but you can’t clearly explain profit, cash flow, or where it’s going. You’re making big decisions without real data Hiring, scaling, pricing — all based on gut instead of numbers. Cash flow feels inconsistent or stressful Some months look great. Others feel tight. That’s not a revenue issue — it’s a strategy issue. You’ve outgrown your bookkeeper or accountant They track the past. You need someone to help you plan the future. You want to scale — but don’t want more chaos Growth without a financial structure is how businesses break. A fractional CFO isn’t a “later” hire. It’s the person who helps you stop guessing before mistakes get expensive. If you’re thinking about it… You’re probably already there.

Most people wait too long to hire a CFO. They wait until they’re overwhelmed, cash is tight, and decisions feel reactive. That’s already expensive. The right time is earlier than you think. Here’s when it actually makes sense: You’re making money… but don’t feel in control of it Revenue is coming in, but you can’t clearly explain profit, cash flow, or where it’s going. You’re making big decisions without real data Hiring, scaling, pricing — all based on gut instead of numbers. Cash flow feels inconsistent or stressful Some months look great. Others feel tight. That’s not a revenue issue — it’s a strategy issue. You’ve outgrown your bookkeeper or accountant They track the past. You need someone to help you plan the future. You want to scale — but don’t want more chaos Growth without a financial structure is how businesses break. A fractional CFO isn’t a “later” hire. It’s the person who helps you stop guessing before mistakes get expensive. If you’re thinking about it… You’re probably already there.

Your fast track to become a CFO: 1. Find a Start-Up. 2. Spend 6 months doing their accounting (directly for the CFO). 3. Take your accounting knowledge and start forecasting expenses. 4. Forecast all expenses in microsoft excel. Share it with the CFO. 5. Expand on your forecast. Start sharing it with other leaders. 6. Hire and train a new accountant on all the processes. 7. Take full responsibility of the FP&A. Oversee accounting. In the end you will… Be very good at accounting having done it all. Built an excellent relationship with a CFO. Probably interacted with the company’s investors too. Have had the experience of training and hiring. Have a financial model that’s already built. Be in a FP&A role for a startup, working directly for the CFO. Spend another year or two there and you’ll be as qualified as anyone for that next role.

A hiring manager at myStartUpCFO once interviewed someone whose resume had a 3-year gap. Hiring Manager: "What were you doing during this time?" Candidate: "Managing a household of four, coordinating two remote learning schedules during COVID, keeping my parents' medical appointments straight, and running the family budget on one income." Hiring Manager: "So... project management, multi-stakeholder coordination, resource allocation under constraints, and cash flow forecasting. Got it." Here's the thing nobody says out loud: A lot of people (especially women) show up to work already running operations. They've been doing P&L management for a household. Negotiating with tiny tyrants who don't respect deadlines. Keeping systems running with duct tape and willpower. And none of it goes on LinkedIn. When you've scheduled overlapping doctor's appointments, managed competing priorities with zero slack in the budget, and kept everyone fed/clothed/alive? That's executive function under duress. This sets them up really well to excel in accounting and finance. (See what we did there?) The best hires we've made aren't people with uninterrupted careers. They're people who've had to juggle real life and real stakes, where they figured out how to prioritize, delegate, and stay sane. Companies that ignore this aren't just missing talent. They're missing people who've already been stress-tested. At myStartUpCFO, we're Great Place To Work certified because we value the whole person—not just the resume. That includes the invisible labor that makes everything else possible. If you've been running operations at home and want to get paid for it professionally, let's talk. #WomenInFinance #AccountingJobs #HiringNow #StartupFinance

🌊 This photo = breathing space And honestly, that’s exactly what a lot of finance teams need at times: whether it’s a busy reporting period, a system change, or just a lot going on all at once. 💭 Unpopular opinion in finance hiring… Not every vacancy needs to be filled immediately. I speak to clients all the time who feel the pressure to hire quickly, but often, the better decision is to pause. Bring in a temp… Stabilise things. Then hire the perfect permanent candidate. Because when a team is under pressure: month end, system issues, deadlines Rushing a permanent hire doesn’t always lead to the right outcome. I’ve seen it happen more than once over the years. Sometimes giving yourself a bit of breathing space leads to a much better long term decision. Curious, do you hire quickly… or buy yourself time first?

Hiring your first employee doesn’t always mean making a big hire. As Neal Regino shares, the right first step is identifying where you need the most support and starting there. That could look like a part time admin, outsourced finance help, or a commission based salesperson. The goal is simple. Free up your time so you can focus on what actually drives growth. If you’re thinking about scaling your business, it starts with understanding where you need help most. Learn more at how Evolution Financial Group can help you: https://bit.ly/4d3weql

Most founders delay hiring because of finances, unstable revenue, or fear of overhead costs—and they’re right to. But doing everything alone slows your growth. The smarter move? Start with a tech-savvy Executive Assistant. Someone who keeps your operations running while you focus on building and scaling. 💬 Be honest: Would you hire a full team now, or start lean with an assistant? Drop A or B 👇 #StartupLife #SmallBusinessTips #VirtualAssistant #DelegateSmart #EmployySparks

There's a stage in every growing business where the founder becomes the problem. Not on purpose. Just by necessity. The business has grown past being a one-person operation. But it's not quite at the point where hiring a full-time operations person, a finance manager and a PA makes sense. So the founder does all three. And slowly, everything that used to feel energising starts to feel like admin. Client proposals get delayed because you're chasing an invoice. Your team are waiting on decisions because you're too deep in the weeds to surface. You're doing jobs that are worth £20 an hour while the work that's worth £200 an hour waits. I work with business owners at exactly this stage. Not replacing what they have. Filling in the gaps that are costing them time, money and headspace. Retainer-based support — flexible, senior, and focused on making the business run better without adding headcount. If any of this sounds like where you are right now, I'd love to talk. What's the one thing you keep meaning to sort but never get around to? #BusinessGrowth #Founder #SME #Operations #BusinessSupport