The Operator
I've been the CFO or Controller inside six companies scaling from $10M to $150M. I learned what works and what breaks by sitting in the chair, not by consulting on it. Decision Architecture is what I extracted from that experience.
The Arc
Started as a Controller, where the books closed clean and the variance reports were tidy. Realized within two years that explaining the past was not the same as helping the company decide its future.
Moved into the CFO seat. The chart of accounts had stopped reflecting the business. The forecast was a fiction exercise. Working capital was eating cash faster than the P&L was generating it.
The pattern repeated across six companies, six industries, two decades. Different vertical, different founder, same structural breakdowns. Decision Architecture is what I built to name the pattern and fix it.
Case Studies
Case 1 — Behavioral health services, $35M
- Situation
- A $35M behavioral health services platform whose chart of accounts had stopped reflecting the business. Margins on the report didn't match what leadership felt on the ground. Forecasting accuracy was running at ±18%.
- What I changed
- Restructured the chart of accounts around four operational segments. Built a 13-week rolling cash forecast owned by finance, not accounting. Installed a written decision rights matrix for capital deployments above $100K.
- What it produced
- Forecasting accuracy improved from ±18% to ±5% within two quarters. Cash visibility went from monthly surprise to weekly read. The CEO stopped making capital decisions in hallway conversations.
Case 2 — Multi-state professional services, $70M
- Situation
- A $70M multi-state professional services company growing 40% YoY. The P&L looked healthy. Cash was quietly running 30 days behind. DSO had crept from 42 to 71 days while everyone celebrated revenue.
- What I changed
- Built a working capital dashboard owned by finance and reviewed weekly. Set explicit DSO targets by customer segment. Restructured the payables strategy to align vendor relationships with cash timing.
- What it produced
- DSO returned to 48 days within six months. Working capital gap closed by $4.2M. Board meetings started opening with the cash conversion cycle, not the revenue number.
Case 3 — Scaling services, $120M
- Situation
- A $120M scaling services company sitting on a $50M war chest 'waiting for the right deal.' Eighteen months of capital sitting idle. Three potential acquisitions debated, none executed.
- What I changed
- Forced a written capital deployment hierarchy with the board: organic growth, acquisitions, debt reduction, shareholder return — in that order. Set trigger-based review dates. Documented the assumptions behind each path.
- What it produced
- Capital deployed against thesis within six months. Two of the three acquisitions killed at the diligence stage on disciplined criteria. The third closed at 30% better terms than originally proposed.
Verticals operated in
Featured vertical: Healthcare services
Additional experience: Professional services, multi-state operations, scaling service businesses, M&A integration