For a first-time CFO, that first year can be overwhelming. Stay focused and direct your energies where they’re needed most.

I became a first-time CFO in January 2024 when I joined IntelliShift, a fleet intelligence platform that enables businesses with fleets of vehicles and heavy equipment to easily access all operations and safety data from a single platform. Before that, I spent over twelve years as a private equity investor, helping technology companies focus on accelerating growth potential.

Although I was a member of the team that invested in IntelliShift and had been involved with the business for 3+ years at the Board level, my first year as CFO of the company was my biggest challenge to date. Operating a company is complex – I needed to build familiarity with our systems of record, navigate new responsibilities and functions, respond to daily issues, and drive strategy all while earning trust and building relationships across the business.

In that first year, I knew I needed to demonstrate measurable impact while simultaneously setting the tone, pace, priorities, and relationships that would generate momentum and help drive long-term success. Here are five actions I took to balance these short- and long-term goals effectively.

Five Key Actions to Navigate Your First Year as a CFO

1. Prioritize a culture of trust and transparency

For year one (and beyond), I wanted directness and transparency to guide my approach. Mutual trust takes time to grow, and in those early months, every conversation mattered. Regular communication with executive leadership was important, but the conversations I had with my team helped set the agenda.

Fostering a culture of open dialogue helped ensure my team trusted me enough to provide the information and feedback I needed to orient myself to my new environment and build a strategic plan that reflected those realities. It also helped everyone feel heard, respected, and created a sense of shared ownership when it came time to put that plan into action.

If more than 10% of your time is spent on accounting, you’re too deep in the weeds.

2. Understand and build on the financial foundations

A CFO’s role extends beyond accounting oversight – especially at a company with ambitious growth goals. Effective CFOs prioritize strategic impact over day-to-day operations. Early on I heard a piece of advice that stuck with me – if more than 10% of your time is spent on accounting, you’re too deep in the weeds. But that doesn’t mean you can ignore the foundation. Before tackling strategy, I asked questions about key fundamentals:

  • What are the key systems of record and how do they connect?
  • How do our contracts work?
  • How do we quote deals and what is the deal desk approval process?
  • How do we bill our customers and how do we collect cash?
  • How do we forecast performance and cash flow?
  • How do we report on key metrics including bookings, annual recurring revenue (ARR), retention and unit economics?

For every question above I asked what is working well and what could be improved. Once  I felt comfortable with our financial foundation, I felt ready to build out a strategic plan to improve finance/operations and ultimately help drive valuation.

Success meant crystallizing the projects that were a) within my control and b) capable of moving the needle.

3. Identify the highest priority projects that impact performance and valuation

I knew strategic change was expected, but not everything could happen in year one. Success meant crystallizing the projects that were a) within my control and b) capable of really moving the needle.

I started with the KPIs that truly help drive valuation for the business including growth, retention, gross margin, EBITDA margin and cash flow profile. From there, I identified seven initiatives that were most likely to drive impact within the first year including: pricing model revamp, operational excellence, Salesforce reporting, and financial forecasting/visibility.

Example: One of my first initiatives focused on our pricing model. Previously, we bundled hardware and installation into a recurring fee to maximize ARR. Breaking the pricing model into separate fees for hardware, installation and software delivers an immediate payoff in terms of improved cash flow and unit economics.

It’s tempting to try to tackle everything at once. But you need to know what to tackle first, how to sequence those initiatives to help ensure they’re moving along, and when to pull the team’s focus to the next priority.

If a process isn’t 100% optimal, it doesn’t mean you should rush to change it. Every system and process have a history behind it…

4. Manage change thoughtfully and bring your team with you

A new CFO is going to shake things up. It’s what you were brought on board to do. But change has a real impact on the people and processes that are already in place. Strong CFOs bring people along rather than dictate change, because the better you communicate, plan, and listen, the more effective your team can become.

If a process isn’t 100% optimal, it doesn’t mean you should rush to change it. Every system and process have a history behind it, and relying on your team to understand why things are the way they are ensures you’re solving the right problems. I took time to understand the status quo, speaking with people across the business to get a full picture of what was working, what wasn’t, and where the biggest opportunities existed. Timing and rollout matter just as much as the solution itself, even when the change is an obvious win.

No CFO can make the journey alone. Early on, I actively sought out the perspectives of other CFOs, investors, and peers…

5. Don’t be afraid to tap into your network

Despite a dozen years of experience advising companies in the technology space, and considerable prior exposure to this Company and its financial strategy, my first year took me outside my comfort zone.

Navigating the company’s complex systems of record, getting used to putting out fires every day, and managing areas I had limited prior experience in were all new challenges. No CFO can make the journey alone. Early on, I actively sought out the perspectives of other CFOs, investors, and peers to gain their insights and help guide my approach. I also was lucky to be mentored by longtime CFO and COO Jim Murphy, who leads the Value Creation team at LLR.

Here’s the bottom line.

For a first-time CFO, that first year can be overwhelming. Stay focused and direct your energies where they’re needed most. That includes establishing trust and communication, building a strong financial foundation, recognizing and planning for the level of change you need to make, and helping to ensure those changes reflect business priorities and deliver measurable gains in those areas within a 12-month timeframe.