A few years ago, I was advising a startup on growth strategy, go to market and investor relations. Mid-discussion, one of the founders turned to me and said, “Why don’t you just be our CFO?”
I shrugged it off, “I’m not an accountant.” In my mind, CFOs were in-house, full-time, compliance-focused, audit-ready and deeply technical. I was a strategic adviser, not a finance executive.
But that comment stuck. Not because I was going to take the job, but because it challenged my own assumptions. Maybe the definition of a great CFO had evolved.
Great CFOs are business operators disguised as finance leads
Today’s CFOs are no longer financial historians. They’re business thinkers who understand how to turn capital into outcomes.
Dave Stephenson, for example, wasn’t a CPA when he joined Airbnb as CFO. He came from Amazon’s operations team. What he brought wasn’t audit expertise, it was operational insight, scale experience and a deep understanding of growth metrics. During Airbnb’s toughest years, that commercial mindset made all the difference.
Financial fluency is necessary, but strategic judgment is priceless
CFOs still need to understand unit economics, cash flow dynamics and shareholder expectations. But more importantly, they need to know which levers to pull and when.
Budgeting is one thing, prioritizing is another. Do we hire 10 more sales reps? Extend our runway by 6 months? Raise a new round, sell the company, or wait? These are the real questions founders face. And a great CFO helps answer them, not with theory, but with grounded insight and scenario planning.
The best CFOs bring clarity to chaos
Startups are messy. There’s too much data, too many bets and constant change. A CFO’s role is to bring structure, not through bureaucracy, but through focus.
The strongest CFOs help teams make better decisions faster. They simplify complexity, define healthy KPIs and create alignment between vision and execution. They’re not just asking “How much are we spending?” they’re asking “Is this moving the business forward?”
When I work with founders, this is where I spend the most time: bringing financial perspective to strategic conversations.
In a world where capital is scarce and execution speed matters, the role of the CFO has become far more entrepreneurial. You don’t have to be a CPA to be a great CFO. But you do need to think like a founder, and act like a partner.
Itay Sagie is a strategic adviser to tech companies and investors, specializing in strategy, growth and M&A, a guest contributor to Crunchbase News, and a seasoned lecturer. Learn more about his advisory services, lectures and courses at SagieCapital.com. Connect with him on LinkedIn for further insights and discussions.
Illustration: Dom Guzman
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