A 26-year-old shares how they went from a job at a pharmaceutical corporation to becoming a CFO at a startup. They walk through the specific moves that got them there and what they learned about accelerating your career.
So the average age of a CFO is actually 51 years old. And I became a CFO at age 26, and I'm 35 today. So I've been a CFO for a while now. And how that happened is my first job out of college, I worked at a large pharmaceutical company in the Fortune 100. And I had controllership responsibility of a $400 million budget. So a pretty large responsibility, pretty large role. I dealt with CFOs of other countries, probably over 20 different countries, because I worked in the manufacturing and global supply chain group and worked on some really cool large projects. So I got to see how a really large corporation is ran from top to bottom. And I thought that was just an amazing experience. But I quickly found out that corporate America just wasn't a good fit for me. And I wanted something a little bit more faster pace, much more entrepreneurial, driven in, you know, my spirit in general. So I actually started a CrossFit gym out of while I was still working there. And my landlord ended up being the owner of the trucking company that I now work for. And you may think, okay, well, it sounds like you ran into a little bit of luck. Well, yeah, absolutely, I did. You know, the funny part is, the harder I work, the luckier I get, right? And. And one thing I will say on that is success happens when preparation meets opportunity. And I had been preparing for that moment my whole life, and I just happened to get an opportunity and I took advantage of it. So when I went to go pitch my business plan to the landlord, he was pretty surprised that some gym guy came in with a business plan and forecast and models and all this stuff. And on the other end, I was actually surprised because he was asking me some really challenging questions, and I was not expecting him to ask those questions. I was prepared for him, but I just wasn't expecting him to ask. I mean, you could tell this guy was just next level in his thinking. And we just started developing a relationship with each other, and one thing led to another, and, you know, probably about three months in, I decided to take the leap, leave my big corporate job. Everyone thought I was crazy. It actually led to my wife divorcing me at the time I was previously married. And, you know, that was such a blessing, and I'm so glad it happened. So a lot of things happened after that, and I was just viewed as this person that, like, was lost his mind, you know, like, what are you doing? You don't leave this company. You know, everyone comes here and retires here. And you just don't ever leave, right? And that just wasn't me. That didn't make me happy. So you have to have a set of stones on you if you're going to make that kind of jump. And that's what I did. I took advantage of an opportunity. I went to a startup company. We were, were six months into our startup journey. We were actually doing less than a million dollars of revenue. And fast forward to today, we're doing well over $30 million of revenue. And it's been really, really cool to be on the ground floor and help that company grow and be able to be part of that vision and shape that vision and build processes and build the back office and do all these things that I would have never gotten to do if I would have stayed working at that large corporation. People spend 40 years trying to understand how everything fits together and never end up getting there until they're like 60 years old, right? And then they start making really good money and they have lots of management responsibilities and they finally have spent long enough in the business to understand how it all works when you're at a big corporate America type of level. And I got to see everything and it was like a baptism by fire, right. I had to figure everything out on the fly. So if you are thinking about taking a leap into the startup space and you want to become a cfo, that is an excellent path to do that. I did it, you know, started out working at a large corporate America position. Get a few years of experience under your belt and then go join a startup, start at the ground floor. And maybe you don't get into a CFO level role like I did, but maybe you can get into, you know, a senior position where you can get a seat at the table, show that you have capabilities and quickly move up their ranks. It is really, really hard to find high quality talent. So I can assure you, if you think you are high quality talent and you are ready to get after it, you can get to the next level by following a similar path as I did. And I can tell you that leaving corporate America was the best thing I had ever done. I have never in a million years would have thought I would have done some of the stuff that I've done. You know, I'm now a business owner, I own a few companies. You know, I've got to witness a tremendous amount of growth and I've literally gotten a front row seat to a master at building businesses. And just watching him over the past few years has been one of the coolest learning experiences I've ever had. He's taught me everything I know in business, and it's been such a pleasure just getting to know him and working for him and doing deals with him and now being a business owner with him. And I've even become CFO of the Year twice. Like that is crazy. And none of that would have happened if I would have stayed working at Corporate America for, you know, the next 20, 30, 40 years. And once again, I highly recommend it. So if you are thinking about taking the leap, what are you waiting for? Go ahead and do it. Thanks for watching. Subscribe for more.
