The Fractional CFO Show with Adam Cooper

What does it really take to build a successful business without external investment? Many founders are told that the route to growth is to raise funding, specialise in a niche, standardise everything and scale as quickly as possible. But what if there was another way? In this episode of The Fractional CFO Show, Adam Cooper is joined by Gulliver Moore, Founder and CEO of Sunday Treat, a creative co...

What does good financial leadership actually look like inside a growing business? Many founders reach a point where bookkeeping is under control, management accounts are being produced, and year-end compliance is taken care of, yet they still feel uncertain when making important business decisions. They know the numbers exist. They receive reports. They have visibility of revenue. But they still d...

Building Without Funding: Control, Trade-offs, and Capital Discipline What if the best source of funding for your business isn't an investor? What if it's your customers? In this episode of The Fractional CFO Show, Adam Cooper sits down with Tayfun Bilsel, founder and CEO of Clinked, to explore the realities of building and scaling a technology business without relying on external invest...

Why is revenue forecasting so difficult in agencies and project-based businesses? In this episode of The Fractional CFO Show, Adam Cooper speaks with Julia Longo, Group Finance Director at SAENTYS, about the operational and financial realities of forecasting revenue in a fast-moving creative consultancy environment. SAENTYS operates across the UK, France and Switzerland, supporting clients in the...

In this episode of The Fractional CFO Show , Adam Cooper is joined by Callum Lockwood (Re:signal) to explore how SEO and marketing decisions translate into real commercial outcomes. Too many businesses still measure success through traffic, rankings, and vanity metrics. But as Callum explains, those numbers don’t always lead to what actually matters, revenue growth, profitability, and cash flow. T...

In this episode of The Fractional CFO Show, Adam Cooper is joined by Elliott King, agency founder, digital marketing expert, and Managing Partner at FINN Partners, to explore the real journey from startup to exit. Elliott shares honest insights on managing cash flow through growth, the shift from project to retainer revenue, and the financial discipline required to build a sellable agency. They al...

Thinking about raising debt finance for growth, refinancing, acquisitions or working capital? In this episode of The Fractional CFO Show, Adam Cooper speaks with Steve Cockell, Founder of Obica Business Funding and experienced commercial debt advisor, about how the SME funding landscape has changed, and what founders must do before approaching lenders. They discuss: The decline of traditional rela...

In this episode of The Fractional CFO Show, we explore a question many agency founders quietly wrestle with: What would actually change in your business if you freed up just 10 hours a week? I’m joined by Jesse P. Gilmore, Founder of Niche in Control and host of the Leverage for Growth podcast. Jesse works closely with agency owners who have built successful businesses, but find themselves trapped...

In this episode of The Fractional CFO Show , Adam Cooper sits down with Dean McKenna, Co-Founder of Cassia Digital Agency, to unpack how digital strategy should actually connect to business performance, not just aesthetics. This is a practical, experience-led conversation for founders, operators, and business owners who know their online presence matters, but aren’t always clear on where to invest...

This week I’m joined by Michael Henderson , Founder of RiskBox Ltd , a man on a mission to help creative businesses understand what insurance they really need. Michael brings a refreshingly honest take on one of the more confusing of running a businesses. He shares real stories, practical guidance, and insights that could save your business time, money and headaches when things go wrong. 🌟 Some o...

On this week’s episode, I had a brilliant conversation with Harv Nagra , Head of Brand Communications at Scoro and host of The Handbook: The Operations Podcast.  Harv brings a unique mix of insight from marketing, operations, and systems design, particularly for growing agencies and professional service firms. If you’ve ever felt like your business is spinning too many plates, this one’s for you....

This week, I’m joined by Oliver Tuffney , Founder & Head Coach at Sales Velocity , a framework designed to bring discipline, structure, and predictability to SME sales teams. Some of my favourite takeaways from our conversation: ✅ How to avoid sales teams getting stuck in boom and bust cycles; ✅ How EOS can guide sales, but why Ollie feels it still needs a deeper “sales layer”; ✅ What great...

This week, I sat down with @Kat Wellum-Kent, Founder & CEO of @The Fractionals Group who left Practice to launch her business with just one client and a plan. Some of my favourite takeaways from our conversation were: ✅ Recruiting “on the curve” vs hiring ahead of the work ✅ Building something that’s more than just you as a solo operator ✅ Making use of EOS and managing her own utilisation...

This week, I caught up with Paul Bevington , Partner & General Counsel at EMW Law LLP | B Corp . He's been helping clients buy and sell companies since joining the firm back in the 90s and has seen just about everything when it comes to business sales. Some of my favourite moments from the chat: ✅ Why sellers underestimate just how long (and emotional) the legal process really is; ✅ Wha...

This week, I sat down with Stephen Knight , Founder and CEO of Pimento , to unpack how business can turn marketing from a cost into a profit driver. Some of my favourite takeaways from our conversation: ✅ The #1 mistake SMEs make when hiring marketing help, and how to avoid it. ✅ Why cutting brand spend in a downturn is often a strategic mistake. ✅ How to find the right marketing partner in a s...

This week, I sat down with the brilliant @Sarah Lamontagne, Founder of @Montagne Motion Consulting, to dive into what really matters when founders make those all-important first hires. Sarah’s seen it all, from prisons to AI scaleups, and brings some refreshing honesty, and tonnes of experience to bear hiring, culture, and building the foundations for a people-first business. Some personal highlig...

This week, I sat down with Peter Charalambides, CEO of The Upper Room and former Property CEO, for a powerful conversation on how to run a charity with a business mindest. Some of my favourite moments from our chat include: ✅ What Peter learned from starting-up a business and how that shapes his charity leadership today.  ✅ Why charities must diversify income streams and the impact of local comm...

In this week’s episode, I sat down with Dan DeGolier , CEO of Ascent CFO Solutions , to dig into the world of metrics, and how small businesses can start to think about this subject. Some of the highlights from our conversation included: ✅ Why “cash is king” still matters – regardless of your growth stage. ✅ The biggest mistake small businesses make with dashboards – think noise vs. insight! ✅...

This week, I had the pleasure of sitting down with Mark Jenkins, CEO of The Gap, a platform to help accountants, CFOs, and advisors turn their expertise into scalable value-driven services. Some of my personal highlights from the conversation include: ✅ Why clients struggle to see your worth. ✅ The sweet spot between “art and science” when selling services. ✅ The importance of systemising deliv...

This week, I had the pleasure of sitting down with @Gerri Phillips, Co-Founder and Chief Experience Officer of @Cue Gravity - a company that’s built its niche helping retailers tell their story successfully by blending the physical and the digital. While Cue Gravity is already working with top-tier brands across the U.S. Gerri is now leading the U.K. charge, focusing on bringing that U.S.. experie...

This week, I had a fascinating conversation with @Rajeev Nandan, founder and CEO of @Pierian, about the evolution of Marketing technology and the impact of AI on digital marketing strategies. We covered: ✅ The move from traditional marketing to AI-driven, data-led strategies. ✅ The transition from a consulting business model to a scalable SaaS offering. ✅ The financial metrics that drive e-comm...

This week, I sat down with @Alistair Roman, Founder and Managing Partner of @Cost Optimisation Consultancy, to explore cost optimisation for small businesses and discuss how you can reduce costs in your business sustainably. We discuss the model that Alistair has developed - the cost transformation maturity map - why most businesses fail to retain cost savings, and explore how SMEs can build cost...

This week, I had a fascinating conversation with St John Dalgleish , CEO of Perlon AI , about the reality of building AI-driven solutions that actually deliver results. We explored how Perlon AI went from consulting to product, the challenges of scaling AI in diverse industries, and what the future holds for businesses using AI. 🌟 Some of my favourite parts of our discussion: ✅ Custom AI at scal...

On this one I had the pleasure of speaking with Paul Sherratt , founder and CEO of gloveglu – an innovative brand that’s reshaped the goalkeeping product category with products sold in 55 countries and over 1.1m followers on social media. This conversation was a real lesson to me in entrepreneurial courage, strategic pivots, and turning challenges like Brexit and COVID into opportunities for growt...

On this one I was delighted to be joined by Erika Robinson , the UK General Manager of Constant Contact , a leading platform for small business marketing solutions. This was a cracking conversation with Erika where we had a wide ranging chat discussing AI tools, career pivots, lean team leadership and some tips on how small businesses can give themselves the best chance of achieving those big ambi...