Built to run without you. Finance and strategy in one seat. The close, the reporting, the capital allocation — and from there, where the business goes next, how it grows, what it's worth at exit. Every decision runs through the same question: does this make the business worth more?
How it's staffed:
Rob leads every engagement personally. When the work needs a specialist — a controller, a CPA, a lender, a senior operator, a deal attorney — he staffs the department with trusted partners from a network built over years in real operating roles. You get the right person for the right function, assembled around your business, not a generic team roster.
Reporting is part of the seat. The close, the dashboards, the variance — all of it. But it's not the ceiling. Capital allocation and strategic decisions are where the real leverage lives.
The model: A select number of embedded clients at a time — each engagement is personal and deliberate. Every engagement led personally. Trusted partners staffed by department as the work requires.
Owner-led and family businesses doing $5M–$100M. Manufacturing, fabrication, trades, construction, distribution, services, production, hospitality. Owners carrying the financial side alone — whether they built it from scratch, inherited it, or bought it.
Finance and strategy in one seat. In most companies, that's the CFO. In others, it's CFO/CSO or CoFO. The title follows the work. What stays constant: the close, the reporting, the forecasting — and from there, capital allocation, growth decisions, the moves that make the business worth more. Most owners have never had both at once.
The second chair — in the room, in the numbers, in the meeting that decides the next 12 months. The reporting is the foundation. Clean numbers are the credibility that earns everything else. Capital allocation and strategic direction are where the real leverage lives. The two things work together — the reporting is what makes the strategic judgment trustworthy.
I also build interceptors into every engagement: systems designed around how your business actually runs, so the things that matter don't fall through between our conversations. You get real visibility without the overhead of managing it yourself.
The right engagements grow beyond advisory. When the trajectory is right, the work deepens — BDE as a long-term strategic partner in the business.
Established owners 55+ approaching a transition. Family businesses ready for the next chapter. Founders who've built something real and need it to read right to a buyer. Businesses doing $3M–$25M.
Most business owners get one shot at an exit. The difference between a business that sells at a multiple and one that falls apart in diligence is almost always the financial story — and whether the books say what you think they say. This lane exists to close that gap before the buyer finds it.
Built to Sell is exit prep done the way a buyer actually evaluates a business. I stabilize the financials, clean the close, build the model a buyer's team will stress-test, and help you tell the story the numbers support. The goal isn't just to get the deal done — it's to make the business worth what it should be worth, and then prove it. Then I stay in the room through the deal — the moments that quietly decide what it's actually worth.
I've been in these transactions — sell-side, buy-side, across industries with real operations. The diligence model, the normalized EBITDA, the buyer narrative, the deal room. I know what buyers are looking for because I've been on both sides of the table. The financial seat in a transaction is where the most value gets created or lost — and it's where I earn the most.
The best Built to Sell engagements include a success-fee structure aligned to outcome. The goal isn't just a clean exit — it's participating in the value we helped create.
Neurodivergent founders (ADHD, dyslexia, autism) doing $3M–$100M. DOBE-eligible businesses (51%+ ownership, documented disability). Founders who've found that standard finance tools don't fit how they actually think.
Same seat as the Embedded CFO lane. Same capital allocation work, same deal capability, same second chair. What's different is the design.
I'm neurodivergent. I've built interceptors into my own practice — systems designed around how my brain works so the things that matter don't fall through. I build those same systems into every ND engagement. The dashboards are built for how you actually process information, not for how finance school says you should. The close cadence fits your rhythm. The model you use to make decisions is one you'll actually look at.
On DOBE: I work with DOBE-qualifying businesses and understand the supplier-diversity channels that come with it. If you're building toward DOBE certification, I can help you think through the financial and structural requirements as part of the engagement.
This is a personal engagement — Rob in the seat, not a firm with an intake queue. No RFP, no deck, no discovery call that becomes a six-week sales process. If the fit is there, we move.
Advisory earns the trust. Equity captures the value. The best engagements do both.
One conversation. You tell me where the business is, what's working, and what the money situation actually looks like. I tell you whether I think I can help and how. No pressure either direction.
If the fit looks real, I do a quick pass on the financials — what I can see in 48 hours. I'll come back with what I noticed and how I'd approach it. This is where you see how I actually think.
Simple engagement letter. One-page terms. No 12-month lock-in — I earn the relationship month to month. New clients enter on a rev-share structure: some cash, some skin in the game.
I'm embedded from the first week. Not a monthly check-in — actually in the business. Calls when you need them, decisions when they need to be made, and the interceptors built before the first close.
On new clients: I work with a select number of clients at a time — each engagement is personal and deliberate. I lead every engagement personally and staff trusted specialists — CPAs, lenders, controllers, operators — by department as the work requires. New clients enter on rev-share terms — a reduced cash retainer plus a percentage of growth. If the business grows, we both win.
Years in operating roles.
Media, manufacturing, hospitality, automotive, startups. Finance under pressure, in chaos, with real money on the line. Not a finance-school CFO.
$100M sweet spot.
Owner-led and family businesses with real operations. Manufacturing, fabrication, trades, construction, distribution, services, hospitality.
By design.
Deliberately limited engagements. Every one led directly — Rob in the seat, not a junior standing in. If you're in, you have the seat.
A full-time CFO at this level costs $200K–$350K in salary, plus benefits, plus the ramp-up time. But the bigger issue isn't cost — it's that most owner-led businesses in the $5M–$100M range don't need a CFO in a chair eight hours a day. They need one in the room when the decision matters. The embedded model gives you that. And because I sit in a handful of businesses at a time, I bring pattern recognition that someone who only ever sees one company can't develop. I've seen what works and what quietly kills a business at this stage — that perspective is part of what you're getting.
Your bookkeeper records what happened. Your CPA files the taxes. Neither of them is in the room telling you where to put the next dollar. The CFO seat is the forward-looking function — capital allocation, business model, strategic planning, M&A. Most businesses doing $5M–$100M have the compliance covered and the strategy seat empty. That's the seat I fill.
Yes. Most of my work is remote-first. I travel when the deal or the relationship requires it. Industry and business model matter more to fit than geography.
Manufacturing, fabrication, trades, construction, distribution, services, production, hospitality. Owner-led and family businesses in the lower middle market with real operations — not VC-backed SaaS. I've also worked across media, automotive, and real estate. The through-line isn't the industry — it's the question: where does the next dollar go to make this business worth more? That question lives in every industry where there's real revenue and real cost to manage.
New clients enter with a cash component (lower than the standard retainer) plus a defined share of revenue growth or margin improvement. The exact structure depends on the business — we design it together. The point is alignment: I'm not here to invoice you for hours. I'm here because the business gets bigger and we both win.
Three to four embedded clients, maximum. I lead every engagement personally. When the work needs a CPA, a lender, a controller, or a senior operator, I staff the department with trusted partners — specialists assembled around your business. But the seat is mine. If the seat is full, I'll tell you directly and we can talk about timing.
Tell me what's going on. One conversation — no deck, no pressure, no sales process.