When to move from Heads Of to a C-suite
Every founder I work with hits the same wall somewhere between 40 and 150 people. The Heads Of are good. Finance closes the books, People runs hiring, Operations keeps the lights on. And yet every decision that touches two teams still ends up on the founder's desk.
That's usually the moment someone asks me: is it time for a C-suite?
My answer starts with a different question. Where is this company in 3 years?
What changes when a Head Of becomes a Chief
The titles look like a small step. The jobs are far apart.
A Head of Finance runs a function. The budget, the monthly close, payroll, the auditors.
A CFO owns an outcome for the whole company. How you fund growth. What the board sees. The story investors hear. A Chief sits at the table where the company gets steered, and argues with you there.
So the move from Heads Of to Chiefs is a change in who carries the company with you. The org chart is the easy part.
The usual markers: size and complexity
Size is a weak signal on its own. I've seen 60-person companies that needed a CFO and 200-person companies that didn't.
Complexity is a better signal. Look for these:
- More than one legal entity, or more than one country.
- A second product line with its own P&L.
- A board that asks questions only you can answer.
- Decisions between functions that stall until you step in.
- A funding round, an acquisition, or a listing on the horizon.
If two or three of these are true, you're close.
The marker that decides it: your 3-year plan
This is what I tell my clients. Write the 3-year plan first. Then read it like a hiring plan.
Each future needs a different table. A company going public needs a CFO who has taken a company public before. A company opening in three markets needs someone who owns operations across all of them. A company planning to sell needs a finance leader who can survive due diligence.
If the plan says you need a Chief in year 2, the decision gets made in year 1. A senior hire takes around 6 months to find and another 6 to settle in. Wait until you feel the pain and the pain gets a 12-month head start.
Promote or hire?
This is the part founders find hardest, because it's about people they trust.
Some Heads Of grow into the Chief role. They start thinking about the whole company before you ask them to. They bring you problems from other functions. They already sit in board prep.
Others are excellent at the job they have. The Chief job is a different job, and it's no one's fault if it isn't theirs.
Before you hand out the title, test the job. Give them board prep for two quarters. Give them the 3-year model to own. Watch what they do with it.
The CFO example
The clearest case is the CFO on the way to an IPO.
The first finance person usually grew up with the company. They did the books at night in the early years and know where every euro went. They are loyal, and they are often the reason the company survived its first crisis.
Then the plan says public in 3 years. Public means auditors, analysts, and a quarterly rhythm with very little room for error. The market wants a CFO who has done it before.
So the founder has two jobs. Hire the CFO the market will trust, and keep the person who built the finance function. One option that works: the builder moves into strategic finance or a VP role, with the new CFO as their sponsor. Their history stays in the building.
How to make the call
Here's the sequence I use with founders:
- Write the 3-year plan. Keep it to one page.
- For each year, list the seats the plan needs at the table.
- Compare those seats with the people you have now.
- For each gap, decide: promote and test, or hire from outside.
- Put the decision date 12 months before the seat needs to be filled.
The goal is simple. Know which seat the company will need next, and start early enough to fill it well.
This is part of a series on how companies grow up, one step at a time. Next: how to run a C-suite once you have one.
