The GTM — When & How to involve your CFO?

For decades there has been debate if Finance should have a say in marketing or revenue generating functions’ decision mechanisms, besides budgeting and cost control. But in reality anything related to unit economics, revenue models, budgets, cash flow, CAPEX, or P&L, requires CFO involvement since they are ultimately accountable for results. In a short dive, we can classify the stakes that CFO holds are:

1- Assessing market opportunity

Yes, before murmuring starts, I assure you that ANY seasoned growth professional can assess a market opportunity for a new product or a venture. However, keep in mind that the opportunity SHOULD match with the short, mid and long term strategical goals of the company. The opportunity of financial gains might be fantastic, yet this could be a potential pitfall in the coming 5 years for your business model.

In a previous role, I had the opportunity to witness firsthand how and when to halt a venture despite a very promising TAM. A business line, with a potential to grow, but having a mid level quality product initiated a project to bundle their sales channel with another product line, where the market is both dominated financially and qualitywise. Even better, the new product line is very familiar to the ICP through that exact sales channel. This was a no brainer to kick start the new product line into existence.

Despite the clear financial benefits, shareholders were promised a 10-year business plan that guaranteed the product would retain its premium status and market appeal. Bundling a mid-range product line could jeopardize this, as it risks tarnishing the brand’s image and could lead to future customer complaints, altering the perception of the successful, existing venture. It became evident that both the marketing team and the GTM lead were unaware of the long-term strategic goals. As a result, I had to step in, taking on the unpopular role of halting the plan and initiating a market reassessment.

2- Pricing, Revenue Projections and Financial Modelling

Pricing itself is a book to be written. It can’t be done by product, marketing, growth teams.

It also can’t be done by Finance professionals. It can only be done via market. 

So what needs to be done?

Models — for different scenarios, market conditions, cost structures, and sales approaches. Do you see where I’m going with this? There are 2^n possible models, with each “n” representing another variable.

You don’t leave this complexity in the hands of marketing or product managers alone.

3- Budget Allocations

Obviously, any functional team would like to have a vast budget. Not just cashwise, but also timewise.

This is the problematic part of budgeting and cost allocation for a GTM strategy. Time.

For every tranch of budget released, there should be a targeted revenue attached. These targets should be defined within timeframes. I have seen growth teams using IRR for justifying their GTM strategies and it is horrible to do so.

When I don’t see NPV of a cashflow attached to a budget release, hence a ROI, I pass.

4- Performance Tracking / KPIs

Two legs on this.

Financial Metrics + Product Metrics. One without another is meaningless. If both parties run amok, you will have two sets of KPIs firing out completely different insights. Finance and PMs should work together from day 1 on determining and tracking the GTM success criterias.

5- Investor and Stakeholder Communication

If your GTM strategy doesn’t have the backing of shareholders and stakeholders, it’s destined to fail. This critical communication is the responsibility of the CFO and CEO.

When Slack was introduced internally, it wasn’t just presented to shareholders as communication software; instead, it was framed as a solution to reduce communication costs for companies of all sizes worldwide. This strategic approach resonated, propelling revenue from $0 to $4 billion in just four years — by effectively engaging shareholders with a financial perspective rather than positioning it merely as another SaaS company.

All five stakes above will be in vain if they aren’t implemented alongside your CFO.

So, when should you involve Finance in your GTM strategy?
The answer is: before you even decide to implement it.

When should you stop their involvement?
The answer is: never.