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Episode

Merushka Chetty

Darren Cherry – The Exit Planning Blueprint

In this episode, James Kennedy talks with Darren Cherry, Partner at FocusCFO and leader of the firm’s Exit Planning practice, about building a business that thrives without the owner. Darren explains the three reasons companies bring in a fractional CFO, why exits take 12-18 months (minimum), and how to grow value (not just income) by reducing owner dependency, tightening approvals, and installing metrics that drive behavior. He also shares a turnaround story from industrial manufacturing and the mindset entrepreneurs need to scale and sell.

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Merushka Chetty

Keith Wright – 90% of Businesses Leave Money on the Table

In this episode, James Kennedy sits down with Keith Wright – procurement leader, author, and founder of K Wright Consultancy – to unpack how professional procurement creates durable profit, not just cheaper prices. They explore Keith’s ACE method (Analyze → Create → Execute), why execution failures destroy value, and practical ways SMEs can uncover 5–6% cost-of-goods savings in weeks. Keith also lifts the lid on his “Profit Booster” scorecard, supplier consolidation tactics, and how to manage cost-price inflation without eroding margin.

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Merushka Chetty

Niall White – $10B in Deals: Post-Acquisition Reality Check

In this episode, James Kennedy sits down with Niall White, corporate finance expert and founder at Capstack, to unpack what really determines success after the deal closes. Drawing on a career spanning BDO (Dublin & London), Barclays Capital (funding marquee PE buyouts), and in-house M&A at an Irish PLC, Niall explains why most value is won – or lost – during integration, not at the signing ceremony. They cover how to prepare a founder-led company for sale, structure earn-outs that actually work, and the people/controls you must have in place before, during, and after a transaction.

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Merushka Chetty

Paul Maskill – How to Get 50% Equity in a Business Without Investing

In this episode, James Kennedy sits down with Paul Maskill, the “Blue-Collar CFO,” to unpack how service pros and trades owners can turn a time-for-money job into a sellable, scalable company. From pricing that actually funds growth to partnering for equity, Paul shares the moves he used to grow and exit multiple local businesses (landscaping, electrical, kids’ sports programs) and why home-service companies win by doing “the boring stuff” brilliantly – answer fast, show up, keep promises.

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Merushka Chetty

Eric Segal – $30M Banking Crisis: SEC Investigation Story

James Kennedy sits down with Eric Segal, Managing Director at CFO Consulting Partners, to unpack what community banks and fintechs really need from a CFO team. From Eric’s early days rating institutions during the S&L crisis at Moody’s to treasury and CFO roles at American Express, and finally a high-stakes turnaround as interim CFO for a stressed community bank in 2008–09, this episode explores asset-quality shocks, SEC/OCC scrutiny, restatements, and how to run multiple regulatory workstreams without losing the plot. You’ll also hear how to evaluate a CFO firm for industry fit – and why there’s still plenty of “alpha” hiding in management quality and front-line execution.

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Merushka Chetty

Joe Stafford – The $26 Million Math Mistake That Changed Everything

In this episode, James Kennedy sits down with Joe Stafford, founder of Trinity Business Advisors and serial entrepreneur, to unpack hard-won lessons from scaling to $60M revenue, surviving a bank workout, exiting two companies, and now guiding owners through exit planning the right way. Joe shares how a simple gross-margin math fix generated $26M in profit, what really happens when private equity is on the other side of the table, and a practical playbook for making your business sellable, scalable, and less owner-dependent.

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Merushka Chetty

Jeffrey Heybruck – A La Carte Billing Was Killing Profits – Here’s the Fix

In this episode, James Kennedy chats with Jeffrey (Jeff) Heybruck, CPA and founder of Lucrum Consulting in Charlotte, NC. Jeff breaks down how he helped a high-end landscaping firm transform its maintenance arm from custom, ad-hoc work into packaged, recurring revenue – boosting margins, simplifying ops, and making the company far more attractive to a private-equity roll-up. Along the way, he shares CFO tactics for pricing, renewal timing, quoting, and why you shouldn’t kill an “unsexy” service that quietly drives both profit and pipeline.

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Merushka Chetty

Shane Spellman – Fractional CFO Saves Client $500K in M&A Deal

James Kennedy sits down with Irish fractional CFO Shane Spellman, founder of Spellman Profit Partners, to unpack how a buy-side, board-level investment lens can transform SMB decisions day-to-day and at exit. Drawing on Shane’s time leading return-on-investment and M&A support at Kerry Group, they cover capital ranking, integration pitfalls, and why “you can do anything – but not everything” should guide every owner’s roadmap.

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Merushka Chetty

Joey Albertson – CFO Found $2.5M Unbilled Revenue

In this episode, James sits down with fractional CFO Joey Albertson – founder of The Profitability Project – to unpack the “$2.5M mistake” she uncovered within 30 days at a B2B SaaS company. They get tactical about balance-sheet reconciliations, fixing SaaS billing leaks, and how Joey’s Clarity → Structure → Profitability framework delivers fast, measurable results (without a six-month wait).

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