Russell Nicholls

Founders are often optimistic about growth. Sometimes, that confidence leads to funding ideas that don't fully pan out. Royalty-based growth capital is structured to limit downside risk compared to traditional venture-backed paths. Vik Thapar of Cypress Growth Capital explains that, even if outcomes fall short of early expectations, founders often still exit with meaningful results because they retain the majority of ownership. 🎙️ Tune into the Private Equity Value Creation Podcast: https://lnkd.in/gxkEsH3Z 👇🏽 Find Us Here https://lnkd.in/gTdPMk8P #privateequity #privateequitypodcast #privateequityvaluecreation

8

📊 Board meetings shouldn’t be theater. Founders often spend weeks polishing slides instead of surfacing the hard truths that drive real board alignment. In “Five Startup Traps You Can Avoid with CFO Services,” we break down how transparency builds investor confidence—and how CFO services help you lead with clarity. Read more: https://lnkd.in/gmVctRqS #StartupSuccess #InvestorRelations #CFOInsights #BusinessClarity #LeadershipDevelopment #FinancialTransparency #BoardAlignment #EntrepreneurAdvice #CFOServices #Adventum

3

Royalty-based growth capital gives founders another option beyond venture capital, bootstrapping or friends and family rounds. This structure is designed for high-margin B2B SaaS businesses that want flexibility, predictable repayments and no loss of ownership or control. Vik Thapar of Cypress Growth Capital explains how this model works best for revenue-generating companies with early product-market fit and can often be far more affordable than traditional equity financing if the business continues to grow. 🎙️ Tune into the Private Equity Value Creation Podcast: https://lnkd.in/gxkEsH3Z 👇🏽 Find Us Here https://lnkd.in/gTdPMk8P #privateequity #privateequitypodcast #privateequityvaluecreation

7

🔎 What’s the CFO’s role in scaling platforms like Eventbrite, Yelp, and Monster.com? In this episode, Lanny Baker (EX-CFO of Eventbrite) shares real CFO strategies for: ✅ Navigating business pivots ✅ Expanding your TAM ✅ Handling investors during transformations ✅ And a marketing fail that’s too good to miss. If you’re a founder, operator, or investor, this is a masterclass. 🎙️ #Leadership #CFO #BusinessStrategy #Startups #SaaS #TechIndustry #Finance #Eventbrite

1

I recently joined Colin Hewitt for his podcast, The New F*Word, which explores how Fractional CFOs are reshaping cash flow, financial strategy, and business growth. A Fractional CFO doesn’t need to have all the answers on day one. As I mentioned to Colin, "The biggest mistake I see is jumping straight to solutions before fully understanding the business. The approach I rely on is simple: listen first, create alignment, then deliver. That means understanding the people, the numbers, and the real problems before trying to fix anything. Once there’s alignment on what matters, execution becomes much easier." In this episode, we touch on a variety of other topics, including: * How to decide between a fractional CFO and a full-time hire * Why a company's financial narrative must pass the one-sentence test * The importance of alignment across every stakeholder * How to balance long-term vision with tactical flexibility * Why scenario analysis is a critical complement to point forecasts Please see the links below for the full podcast. I value your insights and look forward to your feedback... Apple: https://bit.ly/4aH65e0 Spotify: https://bit.ly/4qNfozk YouTube: https://lnkd.in/egaZEuFu #TheNewF*Word #FractionalCFO #CFOResponsibilities

24

2 Comments

"The Cap Table for Founders: Guide to Equity, Control & Capital" Allie Singer, CPA of Allos Ventures helps us Demystify the Cap Table with this guide to equity, control, dilution, and fundraising. Founders: Read this before signing a term sheet. https://lnkd.in/eXstGUVP

2

Referrals are not a strategy. They’re a bonus. Most fractional CFOs don’t plateau because of skill. They plateau because trust forms too slowly. That’s the uncomfortable truth. You can be exceptional at: - Runway modeling - Fundraising prep - Board reporting - Unit economics And still face: “Let’s revisit next quarter.” “We’re not ready yet.” “Maybe after Series A.” This isn’t about competence. It’s about visibility. Fractional CFO revenue is concentrated: 3–5 clients. High-trust. Long cycles. When trust hasn’t formed before a founder feels financial pressure, you miss the window. And that window doesn’t reopen for months. Here’s the wake-up call: Referrals are not a strategy. They are a bonus. If your credibility only lives inside closed boardrooms, you are invisible between engagements. And invisibility creates revenue volatility. The CFOs who break out of feast-or-famine cycles do one thing differently: They make their judgment visible before founders realize they need them. Not by posting motivational finance tips. But by showing: - The mistakes that quietly kill runway - The metrics founders misinterpret - The trade-offs boards actually care about - The signals that precede cash flow stress When that thinking is visible: - Sales cycles shorten. - Price resistance drops. - Inbound improves. And you stop being “optional.” You become the person founders think of when things start to wobble. Fractional CFO is not a finance business. It’s a trust business. And trust that forms late costs you revenue.

2

Growth and profitability are not opposing forces. If anything, they're sequential. Once your unit economics work - every additional customer can spread fixed costs thinner, every transaction can make ops more efficient, and every bit of volume can give you better terms with suppliers. Solving for fundamentals will ensure growth makes you profitable, and doesn't become the thing that keeps you from it. Shreyans wrote a great piece on it, link in comments.

19

2 Comments

Behind the Numbers Watch the Masters Explain the Game 🎬 Financial results aren't just spreadsheets—they're stories. Deep Dive Presentations from seat11a let you hear directly from CEOs, CFOs, and IR leaders as they decode their company's strategy, market positioning, and growth trajectory. No intermediaries. No delays. Just pure insight straight from the top. What questions should you ask before investing? 1. What's driving growth beyond this quarter's numbers? 2. How is the company navigating market uncertainties ahead? 3. What competitive advantages are invisible in earnings reports? 🎥 Ready to invest smarter? Watch curated Financial Results Presentations from publicly listed companies. 🔍 👉 https://lnkd.in/gYAghF5C #InvestorRelations #EarningsCall #FinancialInsights #StockMarket #CEOInsights 📲 Follow seat11a: 🔗 Website: https://seat11a.com 📢 LinkedIn: https://lnkd.in/gfPR9PKF 🐦 Twitter: https://x.com/seat11a_com 🎧 Spotify: https://lnkd.in/g_Sn2MRs T&C:  http://seat11a.com/legal/

5

1 Comment

There has been lots of debate recently on the term ARR. ➡️ What does it mean? ➡️ Why is it a much loved metric in the SaaS industry? ➡️ Is it now being misused? ➡️ Is it even relevant in the age of AI? 🧐 After way too many years thinking about & tracking ARR I've written a post that tries to answer these questions. 💡The tl;dr is that the power of ARR is in its compounding contribution to the bottom line & that recently we are seeing more & more examples of 'faux ARR' that falls well short of this standard. Click on the post to read more! Notion Capital Itxaso del Palacio, PhD Kamil Mieczakowski Chris Tottman Stephen Millard Stephen Chandler Jess Bartos Stephanie Opdam, CFA Patrick Norris Andreas Panayiotou Radu Bozga Maximilian Eichler Thomas Diehl #ARR #SaaS #AI https://lnkd.in/ey6NW7m2

76

14 Comments

Brad Wolfe | Operational CFO Series The CHRO & CFO Partnership in PE-Backed SaaS The CHRO and the CFO. The most underestimated partnership in PE-backed SaaS. Most think of the CHRO as a support function. In a PE-backed company under $1B, that's a costly misread. Headcount is 60–75% of the total cost structure in SaaS. Comp, benefits, equity, and severance are the largest discretionary levers management controls. The CFO who treats the CHRO as administrative leaves money — and real risk — on the table. Eight Places Where It Matters Most 1. Headcount planning — joint discipline, not negotiation. Stop letting the budget become the CHRO advocating for hiring while the CFO defends EBITDA. Work from the same workforce model — role design and capacity on one side, revenue-per-employee benchmarks and covenant constraints on the other. 2. Compensation architecture and EBITDA integrity. A commission plan raising OTE 10% across a 50-person sales team is a seven-figure P&L event. A bonus structure misaligned with financial targets is a governance failure. Design it together — or own the consequences separately. 3. The management incentive plan. The CFO builds the model. The CHRO owns the narrative. If the CHRO can't explain the MIP to the VP of Engineering fielding three competing offers, the plan has failed — at exactly the moment the company needs it most. 4. Workforce data as a financial signal. CS turnover is a churn signal. Time-to-fill in engineering is a product risk. Manager flight risk is organizational fragility. A CFO who treats HR data as compliance output is missing the most predictive signals in the business. 5. Restructuring and workforce reductions. The CHRO owns legal mechanics. The CFO owns the model. Miss severance obligations and you'll mis-state the cost. Don't understand the financial rationale and you can't hold the line when managers push back. One plan. Two owners. 6. Benefits and total rewards. In a 200-person SaaS company, benefits run $3–5M annually. Redesign without modeling EBITDA impact and you have a budget problem. Cut unilaterally to hit a target and you have a retention problem. Design the envelope together. 7. People due diligence in M&A. HR liabilities are routinely underestimated. The bigger risk is organizational — can the acquired team execute? Are key people retained? Only the CHRO can answer with real depth. Skip it and the deal surprises you six months post-close. 8. The people narrative to the board. CS attrition costs X in recruiting, Y in ramp, Z in churn risk. When the CHRO and CFO present people data through a financial lens together, both gain credibility with the sponsor. What PE Sponsors Watch For Comp decisions that weren't modeled. Restructurings that overran projections. MIP participants who don't understand their economics. Retention problems that hit the financials before they reach the board. wolfepacks.com

8

Excited to host Steve Isom. When he shares what PE firms actually expect from CFOs, he's not guessing. Steve's seen it from every seat at the table. 2009 → Banker, TD Securities & Jefferies 2013 → PE Investor, @North Bridge Growth Equity 2016 → Finance Leader, Cybereason, Flywheel, WP Engine 2021 → CFO, Bloomerang (Warburg Pincus LLC & JMI Equity) 2026 → COO & CFO, Bloomerang On March 5th, he's joining me to break down his playbook and perspective on working at PE-backed businesses. 📍 Inside the PE Boardroom: How CFOs Win (or Lose) 🗓️ March 5 | 12:00 pm ET / 9:00 am PT Link in the comments 👇

5

1 Comment

A CFO in your back pocket. Not every company can afford a CFO, but BILL is changing that. On Between Two Founders, Bill founder René Lacerte shares his vision for the Fortune 5 Million: give small businesses the same financial capabilities as the Fortune 500, and unlock better decisions and better outcomes. The full conversation goes deeper. Link in the description. 

13

3 Comments

Private equity isn’t always about squeezing EBITDA—sometimes, it’s about giving the business room to grow. In Episode 218 of The SaaS CFO Podcast, Matt Blumberg (CEO of Markup AI) shares a powerful lesson from operating in PE-backed environments: you can unintentionally starve a company by forcing profitability too early. Mid-market PE is a different game entirely—and knowing when to break the paradigm and invest more to expand the pie can be the difference between stagnation and real scale. A great discussion on growth mindset, capital strategy, and the nuances of PE ownership. Episode 218 is now available, links down below 👇 YouTube: https://lnkd.in/gz2i558r Apple: https://rpb.li/tgVFdD Spotify: https://rpb.li/7pwzP5xca #SaaSFinance #PrivateEquity #SaaSLeadership #SaaSPodcast #FounderInsights

2

5 Signs Your Business Needs a Fractional CFO: 1. Cash flow feels tight despite growing revenue Your business is generating more sales, but day-to-day liquidity is under pressure. 2. Reporting exists but does not drive decisions Numbers are being tracked, but leadership lacks actionable insights. 3. Fundraising conversations are approaching You need credible forecasts, clear narratives, and investor-ready financials. 4. The finance function is stretched or unstructured Roles, responsibilities, and processes are not aligned with your growth ambitions. 5. Leadership needs financial challenge and clarity Founders and executives require strategic guidance rather than operational focus alone. A fractional CFO brings board-level insight, sharper forecasting, and strategic guidance without the cost of a full-time hire. Find out how ConnexionCFO can support your growth at connexioncfo.com. #fractional #cfo #fractionalcfo #financialleadership #businessgrowth

7

Every hire, product feature, and GTM experiment is a capital allocation decision, most teams just don’t call it that. I’m kicking off a 3-part series on capital allocation for founders, operators, and finance leaders with a simple question: ➡️ Will the next $1 you deploy become worth more than $1? Series overview Part 1: defines the core concept + the math Part 2: where capital goes + how to measure whether it’s working Part 3: AIMS framework for communicating allocation decisions to management teams and your board Part 1 (attached here) lays the practical foundation: 🔹 The $1 invested test and ROIIC vs. hurdle rates (scoreboard vs. decision lens) 🔹 A lightweight “investment brief” to evaluate bets (GROW / BUILD / BUY) 🔹 The small metric toolkit that translates finance into operating decisions (NPV / payback / ROIIC / incremental margin) 🔹 Early-stage proxies when DCF inputs are unknowable (burn multiple + revenue quality) 🔹 Operator “vital signs” to spot drift early (profit engine, leverage, cash conversion, optics) Series Roadmap ✔️ This series (Parts 1–3): breadth-first. shared, lightweight framework to define value creation, choose decision-grade metrics, and communicate tradeoffs clearly ✔️ Next series: depth-first. momentum drivers + operational decisions that need near real-time measurement to spot drift early and course-correct fast Read Part 1 here and Part 2 and 3 on substack. Next Series will be out next week. 💰 What’s one bet you’re funding right now, and how will you prove it’s working?

6