Should you hire a Finance Director before your next funding round?

What Molten actually announced

In an announcement dated 7 September, Molten Ventures reported a £175m first close for its Growth Fund. That comprises a £75m commitment from the British Business Bank and £100m from Molten. The final fundraising target is £350m. Half of that target has been secured at first close; the full £350m has not.

The British Business Bank’s statement, also published on 7 September, describes a focus on technology businesses at Series B and beyond in the UK and Europe. These are commitments to a fund, not £175m already paid into company bank accounts. The announcement cannot tell us that a particular startup will raise money, or that hiring will rise across the economy.

It does give founders preparing a growth round a timely reason to examine who owns the financial work. Our view is that a permanent Finance Director can be worth hiring before a round when the business already needs that person’s judgement. Hiring one merely to make the pitch deck look more credible is a much weaker case.

Start with the work you cannot reliably hand over

The British Business Bank’s guidance on preparing for finance describes the importance of current financial information, cash flow forecasts and evidence supporting the pitch. It does not prescribe a Finance Director for every company. The founder still has to decide who can produce that information, explain it and keep it useful after the investor meeting.

Consider a business where sales expects several large contracts to close this quarter, while the spending plan assumes the cash will arrive immediately. Someone needs to question both the likelihood of the sales and the payment dates. They also need to explain what happens to hiring if either moves. That responsibility recurs whether or not the company is raising money.

Put the recurring work on paper. Who maintains the cash forecast? Who can reconcile the board’s numbers with the accounts? When a department asks to hire, who tests the cost against the plan? If all those decisions return to the founder because nobody else has the authority or experience, the gap is bigger than preparing a data room.

A fundraising project is not always a permanent job

A temporary backlog of reconciliations may need extra accounting support. A specific transaction may need an external adviser. Neither automatically creates a permanent executive role. Conversely, an orderly set of accounts does not establish that somebody owns the financial decisions facing the business.

Ask what will remain on the desk if the funding round is delayed by six months. If the answer is a substantial job managing cash, challenging commercial assumptions and leading a finance team, you have a basis for a permanent brief. If the work largely disappears when a set of documents is finished, scope that project before committing to a salary.

Affordability needs the same honesty. Can you fund the appointment from resources you already have? If the salary only works once an unsigned investment arrives, that dependency belongs in the decision. A candidate’s notice period and the time needed to understand your accounts also matter. An appointment made just before investor questions arrive may offer less immediate help than you expect.

Choose the level by the decisions they will own

Titles vary between businesses. A Financial Controller might be the right appointment where the urgent need is reliable reporting and stronger financial control. A Finance Director brief usually asks for wider ownership of planning and commercial decisions as well. A CFO remit may extend further into capital strategy and the board relationship. Those descriptions are starting points, not a universal hierarchy.

Be specific about how much practical work the person will do themselves. Someone used to a well staffed finance department may have little recent experience building a forecast or repairing a reporting process. A candidate from a smaller business may have done both, but need support with a transaction they have not encountered before.

Our Finance Director and finance leadership recruitment page sets out the different remits. Use it to frame the responsibilities before settling the title. For a salary starting point, see the UK salary benchmark, then account for the actual mandate and location rather than treating a published range as a quote.

Ask about the round that did not go to plan

“I helped raise £20m” leaves a lot unanswered. Ask what the candidate personally owned, what was already in place and which work belonged to the founder or advisers. Then ask about an assumption an investor challenged. How did they check it? Did the answer change the plan?

An example from a delayed round can be particularly useful. You can discuss how the candidate revised spending, kept the board informed and dealt with uncertainty. Assess their judgement and contribution, without assuming they controlled whether an investor signed.

If you use a work sample, give every candidate the same short, fictional financial scenario and explain how you will assess it. Ask which assumptions they would investigate first. Do not turn the interview into unpaid work on your live fundraising model.

Before starting a Finance Director search, write down the decisions you want to stop making alone and what the person should improve in their first six months. A funding announcement is a reason to revisit that brief. The continuing work of the business is what makes the hire worthwhile.