A first CFO for a Series D healthtech, a year ahead of IPO

The brief

The company had grown to 400 people and revenue of just over £90 million on the strength of a well-loved product and a capable finance director who had been there since the seed round. With a listing pencilled in for the following year, the board and its lead investor agreed it needed a chief financial officer who had taken a company public before, ideally in London, and who could build the controls, forecasting and investor relations a listed business requires.

The constraints were tight. The finance director was staying and needed to see the hire as an addition rather than a demotion. The founder wanted someone with sector knowledge, while the investors cared more about public-market credibility. And the search had to stay confidential until the appointment was announced.

The search

Clara mapped 212 finance leaders across health, technology and consumer businesses in the UK and Europe, filtering for people who had been CFO or deputy CFO through an IPO in the last eight years. We approached 41 of them, held first conversations with 23 and presented a long list of 11 to the board, with notes on each.

Five went to the shortlist. Each met the founder, the chair of the audit committee and the finance director separately, so that the finance director’s view carried real weight. The search nearly stalled in week four, when the preferred candidate received a counter-offer from a listed retailer that included accelerated vesting. Rather than chase it on money, we went back to the founder to set out what the role could offer that the counter-offer could not: a seat at the table for the listing itself and a clear remit over the finance function that would follow it. The candidate accepted on day 34.

The outcome

The new CFO started six weeks later and spent the first quarter rebuilding the monthly close, which fell from twelve working days to six. A head of investor relations and a group financial controller followed, both hired through Roster. Eleven months on, the company has completed its readiness review with its advisers, and the finance director has moved into a broader role leading commercial finance. The board describes the appointment as the most important hire it made before the listing.