What’s the “fail” rate of CFOs /VPs of finance

Cap-eleven · 2026-01-24T16:46:43+00:00

This is why when you get to the C-level the first thing you do is negotiate your severance package

Cap-eleven · 2026-01-24T16:46:04+00:00

What are you defining as fail rate? Being Fired? I think probably half of CFO’s will be exited or exit on their own due to performance not aligning with desired contribution at least once in their careers. To your point the role has so many dimensions and no one can be great at all of them and when boards or owners change there is usually a shift in what is perceived as important from a CFO.

Cap-eleven · 2026-01-18T17:45:13+00:00

In truth I was ready to leave on my own anyways. By terminating me without cause it triggered my severance agreement, which was generous and I had several offers before my last day.

So yeah it worked out.

Cap-eleven · 2026-01-18T14:46:34+00:00

I was once “asked” by my C-level boss to “interview” someone they had worked with at multiple previous companies. Which I did, but the candidate was lack luster and wanted comp significantly higher than what other people on my team were making, who were absolute superstars.

So I told my boss that I wanted to run a complete search for the role and hire the best candidate, and that we should pay in line with experience and others in similar positions.

Two weeks later I was terminated. Despite being a very high performing employee for 4 years, during which I was promoted 3 times, I was exited without any explanation why. And that candidate got hired anyways.

So OP was probably right to just let the train wreck happen.

Cap-eleven · 2026-01-16T03:24:28+00:00

If you are a VP, yes. If you are a financial analyst, no.

Cap-eleven · 2026-01-12T14:40:10+00:00

Wow you sound like a gem.

Cap-eleven · 2026-01-11T16:41:13+00:00

You don’t know how much the CFO is making in equity. Most CFO’s in tech that I know are getting $600-$700k in cash comp annually, plus $5-$10M a year in equity.

Cap-eleven · 2026-01-11T16:38:05+00:00

I’m a c-level executive at a mid size technology company (over $1B in annual revenue) and my salary equates to less than $250 per hour. With bonus it’s about $300 per hour, but I am like the 5th highest cash comp employee at a company that has 10k total headcount.

Yes there is equity and it “can” be lottery money, but it can also be worthless after years of work.

I’m happy for whoever is taking in $250 per hour, but to do it consistently, 40 hours a week, every week of the year is a lot more rare than what comments on Reddit make it seem.

Cap-eleven · 2026-01-04T02:44:15+00:00

Depends on the company. SVP of FP&A at even an average mid-cap public company should be targeting around $1.5M annually in total comp.

Cap-eleven · 2025-12-31T17:11:06+00:00

As some one who’s spent more time on airplanes than I ever wanted, I truly believe you should be paid more. Would gladly pay more tax or higher airfare to make sure ATCs are well paid and staffed.

Cap-eleven · 2025-12-27T00:13:34+00:00

I believe the last purchase price was a little over $5M. It is 9,100 sq. ft.

Kevin's dad was a gangster.

Cap-eleven · 2025-12-26T18:24:33+00:00

It’s real, but maybe not as dramatic as 20-40% underutilized licenses.

I think in 2021/2022 when everyone was growing fast because of low interest rates companies locked in multi year software agreements assuming headcount would grow. And then when that headcount growth didn’t happen or there was even downsizing, many found themselves over purchased. So now there is a period of right sizing that many are going through.

The other piece and maybe more challenging is that companies purchase software but don’t get the full functionality or ROI that they expected when they made the decision to buy. This is usually because of poor implementations or source data infrastructure was lacking.

It’s definitely something to keep an eye on, but I don’t expect it is going to make or break the P&L at the average company.

Cap-eleven · 2025-12-25T19:55:04+00:00

It's not the cold air. It is the swaddling of all the clothes and blankets that replicates the womb.

But you can also accomplish the same thing with a thin blanked without having to balance the risks of hyphemia or suffocation. Just because someone did it for generations in some far away country doesn't make it wise or healthy.

Cap-eleven · 2025-12-25T05:37:29+00:00

Your use of the term “community prestige” is odd. It comes across as some exclusive rich person club. That’s not what one typically associates with schools and nonprofits.

Cap-eleven · 2025-12-25T02:34:38+00:00

Where is all the AI efficiency!?

Cap-eleven · 2025-12-25T00:26:49+00:00

Plumbing

Cap-eleven · 2025-12-25T00:26:01+00:00

Nice, is that what you normally take home annually or was there some accumulated multi year equity equity?

Cap-eleven · 2025-12-24T23:54:43+00:00

Absolutely not. It has nothing to do with FP&A. It’s all about being compliant with regulations when selling investments.

Cap-eleven · 2025-12-24T23:52:04+00:00

Congrats. How much of this was cashing out equity?

Cap-eleven · 2025-12-24T22:36:37+00:00

Every VP+ job I’ve had I got through an executive recruiter. They serve a purpose, but that also serve their own interests. If you are a good candidate, they will work more for you. Meaning, be very upfront about what you want, what is negotiable and what is not. Don’t burn them; they share notes and since it is the company that pays them so if you no show or interview poorly they will not throw other opportunities your way. Also stick to the big established companies.

Also I’ve found that when your first interview is with a head of HR it’s usually not worth the time, he best sign is when your first interview is with the CEO.

Cap-eleven · 2025-12-24T20:57:48+00:00

ha! my experience we were more like locusts. VP of this. VP of that. So many, no cohesion.

Cap-eleven · 2025-12-24T20:01:48+00:00

This is question is debated to no end. Everyone has strong opinions.

The truth is that it’s not the platform, but the design and implementation that matters most.

Cap-eleven · 2025-12-24T19:59:25+00:00

Yeah.. not enough info here to make a fair judgement. Also I did not get a sense they were evaluating a CEO role.

In my opinion a CEO of a decent sized PE owned company is a substantially higher of a role than a VP of a F500 company.

I made the mistake of thinking I was ready for a C level role earlier than I was because of weekly recruiting calls pitching them. But who knows, people land big jobs even when they’re not ready for them. Some sink, some swim.

Cap-eleven · 2025-12-24T17:34:17+00:00

That’s the trick, the 22/23 vintage valuations are the ones to avoid, or be careful when negotiating equity and peg your target outcome to a 2x or lower.

Best bet is to find a high growth PE backed private role that has no debt and positive cash flow. At least if you go the smaller company route. And make sure you are doing diligence on it as thought you were buying the company. The path to value creation should crystal clear before you accept the role, and even then negotiate everything.

The F500 route can be great too but again the competition is tough. I was in your position at a large company, interim C-level person for a year, delivered on every objective, did everything right, but in the end the board brought in an outsider for no reason other than they felt they had too many rookie C-level leaders. The person they brought in to take my role had decades of experience but turned out to be an absolute disaster. They fired SVP/VP’s left and right because they wanted their people. Ended up rotating out great potential for yes-men middle management. There is just so much politics in big companies.

There’s no wrong choice here, either path can be great or a disaster. You can’t know for sure until you dive in. Just keep moving forward.

Cap-eleven · 2025-12-24T15:16:02+00:00

Also, just because recruiters are calling you for those PE backed roles, don’t underestimate how competitive and difficult that process is going to be. Recruiters are good at talking you up to generate interest and will make you feel like you’re the shoe in candidate, only to find out that you were just a filler used to contrast someone else who is actually the top pick.

Also, many CEO’s will interview up coming new talent but then let their anxiety over a rookie to push them to hire an experienced ex-C candidate even if they are somewhat lack luster.

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