Startups scouting for CFOs amid IPO, profitability push
More than 40% of all CFO searches done by Korn Ferry in recent times were around new age companies that are planning to get listed, said Rahul Kakkar, partner and India head, CFO Practice, at the leadership advisory and senior executive search firm.
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Offering CollegeCourseWebsiteIIM LucknowIIML Chief Operations Officer ProgrammeVisitIndian School of BusinessISB Chief Technology OfficerVisitIndian School of BusinessISB Chief Digital OfficerVisitNearly 9 out of 10 conversations about CFO hiring in new age companies are with a focus on IPO preparedness, said executive search industry officials.
“IPO is a significant shareholder transition moment and CFOs are chief architects of this journey. The IPO preparedness journey starts much earlier with the CFOs playing a critical role in setting the value creation narrative for the organisation, driving sophistication of the finance function processes, systems, controls & compliances and orchestrating the entire IPO process with experts that culminate with the listing,” said Kakkar.
“CFO is one of the most discussed top executive profiles on startup boards these days. The role has become increasingly more strategic with a direct accountability on meeting the projections and guidance, oversight of financial and investor reporting, and total coverage of governance,” said Pranav Pai, managing partner at 3one4 Capital, a venture capital firm.
The focus is to make the finance function future-ready in terms of controls, financial planning and analysis, budgeting, planning, ERP systems and data culture, as well as augment the efforts towards profitability. A lot of SaaS, B2C and consumer tech companies are looking to onboard a
