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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, 鈥淲hy don鈥檛 you just be our CFO?鈥�

I shrugged it off, 鈥淚鈥檓 not an accountant.鈥� 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鈥檚 CFOs are no longer financial historians. They鈥檙e business thinkers who understand how to turn capital into outcomes.

, for example, wasn鈥檛 a CPA when he joined as CFO. He came from 鈥檚 operations team. What he brought wasn鈥檛 audit expertise, it was operational insight, scale experience and a deep understanding of growth metrics. During Airbnb鈥檚 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鈥檚 too much data, too many bets and constant change. A CFO鈥檚 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鈥檙e not just asking 鈥淗ow much are we spending?鈥� they鈥檙e asking 鈥淚s this moving the business forward?鈥�

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鈥檛 have to be a CPA to be a great CFO. But you do need to think like a founder, and act like a partner.

is a strategic adviser to tech companies and investors, specializing in strategy, growth and M&A, a guest contributor to 附近上门 News, and a seasoned lecturer. Learn more about his advisory services, lectures and courses at . for further insights and discussions.

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