Connor Abene

For those of you that have no idea what I do, this is it lol: I’m a fractional CFO and I work with clients in the $1m-$50m million in annual revenue. Here’s what I offer clients:

My biggest surprise when I started working with SMBs was finding out how many healthy-looking businesses are one bad quarter away from serious trouble. • Unquestioned overhead • Razor-thin margins • Slow receivables Basic operational problems that most founders are too busy to address. Review your P&L. Stay on top of expenses. Protect margins. Don't wait until the business forces you to.

@MCovBrown How do you define contribution?

Want to charge more? Solve a bigger problem.

Harsh truth: the numbers don't matter as much as you think. Numbers don't run the business. People do. You can build the best model in the world, but if the CEO and leadership team don't trust you, it won't matter. CFOs who can't influence people will never influence outcomes.

The sweet spot for a fractional CFO client: $1M to $30M in revenue. Over $30M, they usually need a full-time hire. Under $1M, the problems aren't big enough yet. Don’t waste time chasing businesses that don’t need you.

We ask about KPIs in every onboarding call. Most founders say their revenue target. That’s not a KPI. That’s a goal. Your KPIs should be the 3–5 metrics that drive that goal. Pick them. Track them. Obsess over them. That’s how you actually hit the target.

A finance professional who can communicate clearly will outperform a smarter one who hides in spreadsheets.

If I were starting a fractional CFO business today, I'd do it differently. I'd niche down by industry from day one. When I started, I thought I needed to take on any client who would pay. It felt like the safe move. But it makes everything more complex. 10 clients across 10 different business models are basically 10 different jobs. Every new industry is a new learning curve. New terminology, benchmarks, and problems that come up again and again. It all adds up faster than you expect. Narrowing down makes the whole business run better. The 2nd client is easier than the 1st. The 5th is easier than the 2nd. You start to recognize the same problems, build the same frameworks, and deliver better work in less time. You also become easier to refer to. Pick one lane. Become the expert. Go all in. You'll build a stronger business than you would going broad.

If you're struggling to grow profitably – check out Finance of Scale. Each Saturday you'll pick up a few tactical tips to improve your business finances. Join here: finance-of-scale.kit.com/2bb94b9fb3

We now work with 100+ clients and manage over $1 billion in revenue for them. 5 years ago I was charging $1,000 a month. There’s no shortcut. The business is built one client, one hire, one tweet at a time.

The best CFOs translate financial risk into plain English. Not “liquidity risk.” “We’ve got 4 months before we run out of cash.” Not “margin compression.” “We’re making $18K less on the same revenue as last quarter.” Not “customer concentration risk.” “If we lose Client X, we lose 32% of our revenue.” Help them visualize it so they act.

Finance pros obsess over technical skills. But what actually determines your income is: • Who you serve • How you price • Whether you can get in front of them Your Excel skills are already good enough. Work on the rest.

@jmolinaCPA Many

@ConnorAbene Yep, see a lot of companies trying to run before they can walk.

Don't hire a fractional CFO... Until you’ve hired for these 2 roles: 1. Bookkeeper 2. CPA A Fractional CFO isn’t there to clean up your books. They’re there to make strategic decisions based on accurate financial data. Messy numbers = Bad decisions. Get your foundation right first. Then bring in a CFO to help you scale.

Welp, weekend plans just changed

Finance is as much about founder psychology as it is about numbers. Every time I talk with a stressed founder, it usually leads to the same root cause: uncertainty. Once the numbers are clear, the conversation changes. You can see ahead and you can start planning.

I spent most of my 20s without making much progress. Then, all of a sudden, everything changed. During my 20s, I dove into finance books, worked for small businesses, and started ventures on my own. But it felt like I was pushing a boulder uphill, with no clear end in sight. Every step seemed small and uncertain, and I often questioned whether I was getting anywhere at all. Until I started Scalable. After years of grinding, things began to click into place. I started to see the patterns, the insights, and the needs that hadn’t been obvious before. I worked A LOT. There were days when giving up seemed easier, days when I wondered if all the effort would ever pay off. But I pushed through. I embraced every job, every failure, every experience as another piece of the puzzle. And in the end, it paid off. Building something meaningful takes time. Sometimes, it feels like you’re putting in all this effort with little to show for. But what you don’t realize in those early stages is that every bit of that grind is building something bigger. It’s setting you up for the breakthroughs that, one day, come seemingly “all of a sudden.” So, to anyone out there who feels like they’re stuck or moving in slow motion, keep going. Hustle now, work hard, put in the hours. You may not see it today or tomorrow, but when your time comes, you’ll look back and see how every single struggle was worth it. Grind now to enjoy forever.

There’s real power in being the person trusted with the truth of the numbers.

34% of SMBs have just enough cash on hand to stay operational. 7 cash KPIs every owner must track: 1. Overdue Ratio 2. Free Cash Flow 3. Cash Burn Rate 4. Operating Cash Flow 5. Cash Reserves in Days 6. Days Sales Outstanding 7. Days Payable Outstanding Save this.

@MarcusMilione Got my pair, have always run using @SauconyOrigs 🫡

Sold out in 5 minutes 🙏 what a crazy rush, just sit here trying to deal with it all forever grateful for anyone thats supported at any point along this journey back to work