Fractional CFO

Fractional CFO

About Eightx

We are the fractional CFO and finance department for fast-growing ecommerce and consumer brands in the US Canada the UK Europe and Australia mostly doing $3M to $150M in revenue. Our HQ and a managing partner are in Melbourne and our team works across Canada the US England Switzerland India and the Philippines.

We have one goal for every client: build a Bankable Brand. That is a business whose profit cash and forecasts hold up when a lender an investor a buyer or the board tests them.

As you might expect of a finance company we work really hard when we need to but we dont work hard just for the sake of it. We dont miss our kids concerts we work out during the day and we usually sign off early on Fridays.

About the position

Were not looking for the CFO who hands in a P&L and walks the founder through last months results. Were looking for one or two people who will help our clients build enterprise value and who founders trust enough to call first when something goes wrong.

If youre good you already know this:

Value Earnings x Multiple Multiple Growth Quality - Risk

$3M of EBITDA at 5x is a $15M business. $5M at 8x is $40M. Profit went up $2M. Value went up $25M.

Most finance people work hard on earnings and put far less effort into the multiple. You will work on both:

Grow earnings. Contribution margin by channel and SKU how much they can profitably spend on ads pricing inventory and cash.

Grow the right way. Durable organic growth with healthy customer economics not growth bought by pouring money into Meta.

Prove the quality of their earnings. Provable contractual repeatable. Good LTV good margins. Ideally economics in the top quartile of their industry.

Take out risk. Customer channel and supplier concentration a founder who approves everything books a buyer cant verify. Each one is a discount on the multiple.

You will be half finance expert half coach. Youll carry a portfolio of about 10 clients at full load (built up as you onboard) with senior and junior analysts building the models and our accounting team led by our Accounting Services Director owning the close. Youll be trained and led directly by Matt.

Role scorecard (how we measure you)

Client retention across your portfolio

Client NPS and would you call your CFO first feedback

Weekly meetings held with every client (target: 100%)

Same-day replies to clients (we guarantee this to clients and pay them if we miss it)

Onboarding milestones hit on time for every new client (day 2 5 7 and 10 below)

Movement on each clients Bankable Brand Scorecard quarter over quarter

What success looks like

Founders call you first. They make their big calls (spend inventory hiring funding) with a number behind them and they need you less over time because theyve learned to decide well. Every client in your portfolio is measurably more bankable after a year: cleaner books a model they trust a weekly rhythm that runs and less risk a buyer or lender would discount.

ONE THING: make every founder in your portfolio better at deciding with numbers they trust.

First 3 month objective

Take over a portfolio of clients run the full onboarding on each new client and have the weekly rhythm running with every founder you serve.

What you will do

Your first 10 days with every new client

Day 2: a profit tracker the founder can open every day

Day 5: the main constraint named and sized

Day 7: the financial model

Day 10: the full Growth Economics Audit walked through with the founder

Over the next eight weeks you build the full financial plan: revenue COGS and purchasing payroll and overheads cash budget balance sheet then a multi-year plan. By week twelve the client has department scorecards and a capital allocation framework and the rhythm is running.

Primary objectives (20% big rocks)

See: map the funnel from traffic to repeat customer with the money that survives each step build a one-page scorecard of the three or four numbers that decide the year and name the risks.

Decide: find the one constraint holding the business back and put money and people where that constraint is with a number behind every big yes. Keep a three-year model thats updated not written once.

Align: every number that matters gets one owner every department head can state their quarterly goal as a number and the rhythm runs (the weekly meeting the monthly review the quarter the year).

Prepare clients for lenders investors due diligence and exits and sit in the room when those conversations happen.

Regular work activities (80%)

A weekly working session with each founder plus the scorecard review: whats red who owns it what changes this week

Monthly review of the close and the model and a clear read on cash

Decisions on the big questions: ad spend ceilings inventory buys hires funding

When a number moves the wrong way: measure it diagnose it model the options and help the founder decide. An accountant stops after measure. You dont.

Review and direct the work of the analysts and accountants on your clients

Same-day replies to client messages

As needed

Interim CFO placements (typically 3 to 6 months while a client hires full-time)

Lender underwriting calls investor updates board meetings data rooms and quality of earnings prep

Help on sales calls and client proposals when a prospect needs to meet their CFO

The other half of the job: trust

You can be completely right and still get ignored. Founders dont act on analysis. They act on people they trust. Weve read the books and reviewed hundreds of our own client calls to see where our CFOs succeed and where they fall down. Were CFOs so of course its an equation:

Trust (Credibility Reliability Intimacy) / Self-orientation

Credibility. Youre at the top of the field in finance modelling accounting and strategy. We test it in hiring.

Reliability. You do what you said youd do and hand things in on time. If something will be late you say so before its late. The fastest way to lose a client here is to skip the weekly meeting.

Intimacy. If this word scares you this job isnt for you. Be warm caring and genuinely curious about the founder. Some weeks itll feel like a therapy session.

Self-orientation. It divides everything above it. If youre focused on looking smart protecting your hours or winning the argument trust shrinks. We want servant leaders.

Matts version: Im not teaching you finance. You should already know how to talk to a lender. What separates CFOs here is client management: how you empathize with someone.

What you must have

10 years in finance including time as a CFO VP Finance or head of FP&A in a growth company or a PE investment banking or transaction advisory background plus real operating experience

Strong three-statement driver-based modelling you can explain to someone who hates spreadsheets

Youve sat across the table from lenders investors or acquirers: a raise a refinance a quality of earnings review due diligence or an exit

You understand what drives a multiple and youve helped a business improve one

Fluent business English spoken and written

The ability to coach and empathize: founders and CEOs have acted on your advice not just received your reports

Based in the US Canada the UK or Europe with good overlap with North American business hours

Your experience and education

Ecommerce DTC or CPG experience strongly preferred: contribution margin CAC and payback cohorts inventory and cash conversion Shopify and Amazon

CPA CA ACCA or CFA or an MBA

Experience running a weekly operating cadence (EOS scorecards L10s or similar)

Youve coached or managed analysts and accountants

This isnt for you if

Your idea of the job is a monthly pack and a walkthrough of last month

Youd rather be right than useful

You need perfect books before youll give an opinion

Warmth with clients feels like a chore

What you will get in return

Senior-level pay benchmarked to your market. We are moving our CFOs to a partnership model so your upside grows with the clients you serve. We share numbers on the first call and put them in writing before anything else

Fully remote work

A team underneath you and an operating system you run with every client instead of reinventing it

Generous vacation and time-off policies and a company-wide shutdown between Christmas and New Year

A real path to partner

How to apply

Apply through Factorial with your CV. Then:

1. Short video (2 to 3 minutes).