The Fractional CFO Show with Adam Cooper – Details, episodes & analysis

I was delighted to be joined by @Alice Olins, Career Expert, Coach and Trainer, and the Founder of the @Step Up Club, an organisation that works with individuals and teams to help them fulfill potential, navigate and embrace change.

This was an impactful conversation with Alice where we explored change and how small businesses can best navigate it.

🌟 Some of the most interesting elements were:

✅How, leadership through communication and openness is such an important part of successful change;

✅The importance of having a deep understanding of the stakeholders or the people involved in any change;

✅During times of change, be the Leader where people follow your vision, not because you're telling them to, but because they really believe in you as a person;

✅The value of appointing change agents within the company to help activate change and mitigate some of the barriers that inevitably come up through the process;

✅The importance of making sure there are points in the timeline where you stop, measure and articulate where you are at in the lifecycle of the project to maintain the impetus.

I was very pleased to be joined by @Russell Rich, one of the senior partners at @Lubbock Fine, a leading firm of chartered accountants and tax advisors, where Russell heads up the sports, media and entertainment desk.

I really enjoyed this conversation with Russell where we explored a situation familiar with many these days, noticeably some considerations when starting up a business as a second career.

🌟 Some of the most interesting elements were:

✅ How, when externally financing, Investors will want you to have some skin in the game;

✅ How as an entrepreneur, you've got to focus on working in the business and on the business at the same time;

✅ How forecasting and mapping out a business plan is key - to the point that you do best case, mid case and worst case scenarios;

✅ The need to generate sufficient income and importantly cash flow to cover all those benefits that were previously paid by your employer.;

✅ The need for good accounting at the start because otherwise it doesn't matter how great the opportunity is or the business model, those things will fail.

In this episode, I’m thrilled to be joined by @Rachael Ager, the Client Services Director at Brunswick Creative, the creative arm of Brunswick group, where Rachael leads the account management team working across offices in Europe, North America, Asia, and the Gulf. 

In this conversation, Rachael and I explore how agency finance teams can best empower and support account management and in turn their clients.

🌟 Some of my favourite parts were:

✅ How Rachael sees the role of finance as a vital second pair of eyes within the business;

✅ The challenges of working in a Creative agency and managing overspends to ensure client satisfaction;

✅ The management of projects and ensuring that as a global agency international clients are supported in a consistent way;

✅ How Brunswick Creative use regular finance surgeries as ways to provide visibility to Account Management on project progress;

✅ How education of the team on the direct link between timesheets, estimates and invoicing improves timesheet completion rates.

Business Book Bonus - Belonging: The Ancient Code of Togetherness by Owen Eastwood -  https://amzn.eu/d/cLr4TFZ

In this episode, I’m thrilled to be joined by Richard Hadler, an Angel Investor, experienced executive and Co-Founder of Founders Capital, an investment community dedicated to helping founders raise investment from other founders and start up experts.

In this conversation, Rich and I explore the world of finance for founders – and understand what investors are looking for in the companies that they invest in.
 
🌟 Some of my favourite parts were:
✅ The financial and non-financial metrics that Rich as an Investor considers before investing;
✅ The role that Founders Capital and its community play in the companies they invest in;
✅ How Angel Investors are evaluating the potential exit strategies in the current market;
✅ Rich talking through how he evaluates the businesses and founders that he invests in;
✅ How best to evaluate a business model and potential at the pre-revenue stage.

Business Book recommendation - 

In this episode, I’m thrilled to be joined by @Sarah Ropek, the Founder of @People Management Partners, an HR consultancy committed to delivering HR solutions to startup, small and medium sized businesses.

In this conversation, Sarah and I explore the world of HR for Small Businesses – and how small business owners can best approach the people side of their businesses.

🌟 Some of my favourite parts were:

✅ Developing your team’s skills and using competency frameworks to do so;

✅ Hiring for shared values amongst your management team as you scale;

✅ Forecasting for staff fluctuations and seasonality in your business;

✅ Rules of thumb around hiring full time vs. fractional staff;

✅ The benefits of virtual co-working for hybrid teams.

Business Book Bonus Recommendation – 

The Culture Code by Daniel Coyle - https://amzn.eu/d/1dZmjl3

🌟 Kicking off our new series, I'm thrilled to be in conversation with @Ali Gray, the VP and Executive Creative Director at @Free Think Media.

In this episode, we delve deep into the world of Creative businesses, exploring the commercial challenges of managing creative teams and nurturing their potential.

Here are some highlights from our discussion: 

✅ Ali's unique blend of creativity and spreadsheet prowess. 

✅ Strategies for motivating and empowering creative teams. 

✅ Uncovering significant savings through questioning and innovation. 

✅ The power of constraints in driving creative solutions. 

✅ Embracing failure as a pathway to innovation.

 
Business Book Bonus Recommendation – 

Creative Act – Rick Rubin - https://amzn.eu/d/0YgZ1eq

Robert Mayhew – TikTok - https://www.tiktok.com/@mrrobertmayhew?lang=en

In this episode, I am joined by Sam Lenox, the Head of Employee Incentives at Harper James, a modern law firm, purpose-built to support entrepreneurial businesses in their growth from startup to scale up and beyond.

In this conversation, Sam and I explore the world of employee share options, looking at the structure, their implementation and an important insight for businesses who may be new to this world of incentives to better understand what is available.

🌟 Some of my favourite parts were:

✅ How to educate and manage expectations of young staff around share options;

✅ Understanding the not insignificant tax benefits of the EMI scheme;

✅ How an internal market typically works for these kinds of schemes;

✅ Managing Share Option schemes with an International hat on;

✅ Marrying long term ESOPs with shorter term bonus scheme.

 
Business Book Bonus Recommendation – 

Legacy – James Kerr - https://amzn.eu/d/5xTOA4B

In this episode, I'm delighted to be joined by Jason Miles, SVP Finance at Conde Nast, the global media company with a portfolio including brands such as Vogue, Vanity Fair, GQ, Wired, among others.

In this conversation, Jason and I dive into some of the complexities of multinational expansion and how businesses can effectively manage those challenges that come with that.
 
🌟 Some of my favourite parts were:
✅ Considerations around when a business is ready to enter a new market;
✅ How to ensure the vision and values of your business are respected as you grow;
✅ Maintaining control over your cash as you enter markets with different payment practices;
✅ The benefits of a federated vs. centralised model to ensure consistent & accurate information;
✅ In house vs. External – insights into setting up offices and the trade-offs around speed, cost and risks to compliance.

Business Book Bonus Recommendation – 

The Culture Map – Erin Meyer - https://amzn.eu/d/0YWNcg5 

As we kick off the new year, I'm thrilled to be joined by Magda Dillon, the Owner-Director and Head of Consultancy at Pain Free IT, experts in leading and delivering best in class business solutions. 

In this broad ranging conversation, Magda and I cover all that you need to know about selecting, implementing and launching a new agency finance and project management system.

🌟 Some of my favourite parts were:

✅ Why and When Businesses should consider rolling out a new system;

✅ How Magda views AI impacting the world of Finance and PM systems;

✅ How to best avoid a garbage in / garbage out situation with data migration;

✅ How to get the wider business teams involved in the project for optimum buy in;

✅ The need for a bespoke, iterative approach to launching a successful product roll out.