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Growth shouldn’t feel chaotic. But for many businesses, scaling up reveals cracks in operations, exposes inefficient processes, and leaves leaders stretched too thin. A Fractional COO can turn that chaos into clarity. They bring executive-level operational insight without the full-time cost, helping you: • Fix process bottlenecks • Build scalable systems • Free up leadership time for strategy and innovation If your company is growing fast but struggling to stay aligned, it might be time to bring in a Fractional COO. Learn more here: https://lnkd.in/eBiF4H5A

Hiring the right CFO is one of the most critical value creation decisions a company can make, given their ability to translate strategic vision into financial reality and drive enterprise-wide performance. The CFO’s financial leadership and strategic decision-making approach are pivotal to ensuring sustainable business growth in an era of rapid technological advancement. Our guide equips leadership teams, investors, and board members with research-backed questions designed to identify candidates who can navigate increasingly complex business landscapes, particularly those involving AI integration and digital transformation. Each question targets specific capabilities essential for modern financial leadership – from strategic resource allocation and crisis management to cross-functional collaboration and technological innovation. These questions will help you discern between potential leaders who will merely manage financial operations and those who can transform your company’s strategic capabilities in an AI-forward world. Read the full guide at https://lnkd.in/dSeJj5Zk #KingsleyGate

A particularly pertinent set of tools for a critical function in almost every business but particularly challenging in earlier growth stage businesses in the life sciences arena

👋Meet Ben Mekie – CEO & Founder, Acuity Associates   Ben Mekie is an accomplished entrepreneur and board advisor with a proven track record of founding and growing businesses through to successful exit, creating strong shareholder value.   As CEO and Founder of Acuity Associates, he developed The Acuity Method™ — a unique approach that helps businesses build high-performing finance functions at pace — and authored the widely recognised 5DFD Whitepaper on financial leadership.   Passionate about making finance the beating heart of every business, Ben specialises in: ✔️ Driving efficiency ✔️ Growth strategies ✔️ M&A and business transformation   Helping leaders unlock value and strengthen long-term performance.   In this short video, Ben shares: ✔️ The experiences that shaped him as a leader ✔️ Why “unlocking growth” sits at the heart of his vision ✔️ Where he sees finance leadership heading next   🎥 Watch the conversation and get to know the story behind Acuity Associates.

The Leadership Bottleneck. Growth eventually stalls when the CEO is still the operating system. A company cannot scale if every decision, every strategy, and every escalation flows back to one person. The shift to a true executive team is not just an HR move, it is also a financial one. Compensation structures, the sequencing of hires, and the choice between senior leadership or broader headcount are all capital allocation decisions. Treating them as purely people issues misses the bigger picture. Finance NEEDS to talk to People and vice versa. There is nothing more impactful than Org Structure, Compensation, and Incentives to getting a company to generate momentum. The companies that break through are the ones that design leadership intentionally, with strategy and resources aligned. If the business only works when the CEO is in the room, it is not built to scale. If your growth is hitting a ceiling, Thesis can help design the leadership structure that takes you further.

Almost a decade ago, I witnessed what happens when a company scales fast without a real HR foundation. Revenue was growing. Teams were expanding. But people systems — hiring discipline, structure, and accountability — were missing. When investors eventually stepped in, the focus wasn’t just on financial audits. They wanted to know: How strong is the leadership bench? Who’s accountable for decisions? Can the culture sustain growth — or will it collapse under pressure? Today, that process has a name: 𝐇𝐮𝐦𝐚𝐧 𝐂𝐚𝐩𝐢𝐭𝐚𝐥 𝐃𝐮𝐞 𝐃𝐢𝐥𝐢𝐠𝐞𝐧𝐜𝐞. It’s how 𝐩𝐫𝐢𝐯𝐚𝐭𝐞 𝐞𝐪𝐮𝐢𝐭𝐲 𝐟𝐢𝐫𝐦𝐬 𝐞𝐯𝐚𝐥𝐮𝐚𝐭𝐞 𝐧𝐨𝐭 𝐣𝐮𝐬𝐭 𝐧𝐮𝐦𝐛𝐞𝐫𝐬, 𝐛𝐮𝐭 𝐥𝐞𝐚𝐝𝐞𝐫𝐬𝐡𝐢𝐩 𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐝𝐢𝐧𝐞𝐬𝐬. Because even the best financial model can’t scale if the people behind it aren’t aligned. 𝐓𝐡𝐚𝐭’𝐬 𝐰𝐡𝐲 𝐭𝐡𝐞 “𝐛𝐞𝐬𝐭” 𝐞𝐱𝐞𝐜𝐮𝐭𝐢𝐯𝐞 𝐢𝐬𝐧’𝐭 𝐣𝐮𝐬𝐭 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐦𝐨𝐬𝐭 𝐞𝐱𝐩𝐞𝐫𝐢𝐞𝐧𝐜𝐞𝐝 — 𝐢𝐭’𝐬 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐨𝐧𝐞 𝐰𝐡𝐨 𝐮𝐧𝐝𝐞𝐫𝐬𝐭𝐚𝐧𝐝𝐬 𝐑𝐎𝐈 𝐭𝐡𝐫𝐨𝐮𝐠𝐡 𝐩𝐞𝐨𝐩𝐥𝐞. 𝐖𝐡𝐞𝐧 𝐚 𝐜𝐨𝐦𝐩𝐚𝐧𝐲 𝐬𝐭𝐚𝐫𝐭𝐬 𝐭𝐨 𝐬𝐜𝐚𝐥𝐞, 𝐡𝐨𝐰 𝐝𝐨 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐝𝐞𝐜𝐢𝐝e 𝐢𝐟 𝐢𝐭’𝐬 𝐭𝐢𝐦𝐞 𝐭𝐨 𝐛𝐫𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐢𝐧 𝐧𝐞𝐰 𝐥𝐞𝐚𝐝𝐞𝐫𝐬𝐡𝐢𝐩 — 𝐨𝐫 𝐡𝐞𝐥𝐩 𝐞𝐱𝐢𝐬𝐭𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐥𝐞𝐚𝐝𝐞𝐫𝐬 𝐬𝐭𝐞𝐩 𝐮𝐩 𝐢𝐧𝐭𝐨 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐢𝐫 𝐧𝐞𝐱𝐭 𝐥𝐞𝐯𝐞𝐥? #PrivateEquity #Leadership #ExecutiveSearch #HumanCapital #CFO #CEO #CHRO #PeopleStrategy #ValueCreation #InvestorReadiness #COO#ScalableGrowth #SeaGlobalHR #LeadershipAlignment #BusinessStrategy #TalentAcquisition #OrganizationalExcellence #GrowthLeadership #FounderLed #InvestmentReadiness #LeadershipDevelopment #investors #venturecapital #PrivateEquity #PortfolioCompanies #OperationalExcellence #HumanCapitalDueDiligence #PEBacked

✋ Companies facing cash flow issues or difficulty securing financing often choose CEOs from a financial background. Those struggling with sales, distribution, or collections tend to pick CEOs from the sales side, and organizations where production or industrial operations dominate often select CEOs with a technical/engineering background. ✔️ However, global research shows that the most effective CEOs are not necessarily financial, sales, or technical experts. Simply being “from finance,” “from sales,” or “from engineering” is not enough. 👈 What truly drives an organization forward is a diverse career background—someone who has experience in operations, finance, and people management. 👌 The key is a combination of skills: analytical ability + hands-on operational experience + leadership skills. If a CEO leans too heavily on operational expertise without strong human skills—such as empathy, listening, and motivating people—they end up running the company like a project, not a living, thriving organization. A diverse career path is essential for true organizational leadership. #Leadership #CEO #BusinessLeadership #Management #DiverseExperience #HumanSkills #OrganizationalCulture #LeadershipDevelopment #BusinessStrategy #TeamManagement #ExecutiveLeadership #CompanyGrowth #DrNatanzi

The hardest part of being CFO wasn’t the numbers. It was leading people through uncertainty↴ During the leadership transitions at Van Horn, I wasn’t just restructuring finances… I was restructuring trust. Spreadsheets and dashboards can’t capture: → Employees’ fear of change → The weight of responsibility leaders carry → The ripple effect of every decision Yes, financial acumen matters. But the real work of a CFO is helping people see a future they can believe in. Numbers lead businesses. Leaders guide people. For leaders in finance: How do you balance the numbers with the human side?

The questions business owners ask change as their companies grow. At $10K in revenue, the focus is often: how do we bring in more? At $100K, the question becomes: where are we wasting resources? And by $1M, it shifts again: what’s the one number that matters most today? Each stage of growth is a different game. The key is knowing which numbers to pay attention to — and which ones are just noise. At Ten Accounting, our role is to help founders cut through that noise and see what matters most, right now. Because clarity isn’t just a report. It’s leadership.

When growth outpaces your team’s bandwidth, clarity disappears first. Many mid-sized CPG companies reach that point — too big to keep operating on instinct, but not yet ready (or willing) to carry the cost of a full-time COO. That’s where fractional leadership bridges the gap. At ProCap Advisors, we bring 25+ years of building, scaling, and turning around operations — stepping in to steady the wheel, build systems, and get results without adding bureaucracy. It’s not about titles or org charts. It’s about giving founders and operators breathing room to grow again — with focus, speed, and accountability. Because sometimes what your business needs isn’t another meeting… it’s a partner who knows how to execute. ⚙️ Fractional COO | Fractional CEO | CAPEX Execution #CPG #FractionalCOO #Leadership #OperationsExcellence #ScaleSmart