The CFO/CRO Partnership - Featuring GrowthTera
When finance and go-to-market lead with shared data and definitions, the whole company wins.
Ask any CRO or CFO, and they'll tell you: the relationship between these two roles can be one of the most powerful in a company — or one of the most frustrating. Their mandates overlap, but their orientations differ. The CRO is forward-facing, relentlessly focused on acquiring and expanding revenue. The CFO holds responsibility for the financial integrity of the entire business, which means looking backward as often as forward.
That structural tension doesn't have to produce friction. In this conversation, Level Pros Kim Stanley and Sarah Jordan spoke with CROs and GTM Strategic Advisors Sherri Sklar and Janine Buis of GrowthTera to dig into what it actually takes to build a high-functioning CFO/CRO partnership. From aligning on leading indicators and shared data sources, to collaborating on revenue models in real time, to keeping customer success central to the growth equation, the companies that grow most efficiently are those in which the CRO and CFO stop working in parallel and start building the business together.
Read on to learn:
Why the CRO and CFO have fundamentally different orientations — and why that difference is a feature, not a bug
How mismatched forecasts, discounting friction, and comp plan disputes often trace back to a single root cause — and what to do about it
What customer success has to do with the CFO/CRO partnership — and why leaving it out of the revenue conversation is a costly mistake
What it looks like when a CRO and CFO truly build the business together, and how to make that the norm
How do the CRO and CFO think differently about revenue?
SHERRI: Janine and I have had the good fortune of working with some outstanding CFOs — including fractional CFOs we've brought in to help right the growth trajectory. Those experiences have given us a solid understanding of how the finance arm works. And while the CRO and CFO, especially a growth-oriented CFO, share certain concerns, they have fundamentally different motivations and mindsets. I'll let Janine share her characterization of those differences.
JANINE: Thanks, Sherri. Right: first principles. A Chief Revenue Officer is responsible for delivering topline revenue efficiently— they are 100% revenue-focused. That is forward-looking work. The CFO, as the finance team leader, has a different perspective. They also care deeply about revenue, and are often skilled in understanding revenue levers — but they own the company's overall financial health and integrity too. That means looking both backwards and forwards, making decisions around risk and capital allocation aligned with historical performance and realistic assumptions for the future. Meanwhile, while CRO’s are tasked with growing revenue from new and existing customers, they are also expected to be a company steward first and revenue steward second.
That means, ideally, that we share a holistic view of an organization. The CRO and CFO need to be working towards the same revenue goal, based on the same data. That shared foundation is essential, and I’m guessing that today’s conversation is going to focus closely on how to establish it and keep it functioning smoothly.
What are common sources of tension between these roles? How do you resolve that tension?
SHERRI: Even with strong, consistent alignment between the CRO and CFO, go-to-market generates activity that creates revenue performance, and finance has to report on that performance — the revenue and finance teams may or may not see things the same way. Key areas where natural tension may emerge include: revenue planning, revenue forecasting, compensation, revenue recognition, pricing and resourcing.
For example, when finance doesn't fully trust the GTM numbers, they'll present their own, this in turn may cause confusion and distrust across the ELT.
The solution is simple — both roles need to be involved in each of these areas from the outset.
JANINE: Agreed. CROs should include CFOs in the revenue planning process. That’s when you explore where revenue is going to come from – new logo, existing, expansion. If they aren’t clued into this process, they might be modeling based on the wrong ideal customer profile, or sales quotas, rather than where the revenue potential actually resides. That’s when mismatches happen.
KIM: From the CFO perspective, CAC is a persistent tension between finance and GTM. I always want to know how a CRO has built that number and how conservative or optimistic it might be. In general, CFOs tend to be more conservative on CAC, CROs more optimistic — because I need to forecast revenue and cash based on that number.
CFOs also want considerable certainty around the timing of revenue; we tend to be conservative in our sales timing models, deliberately, to protect cash flow. And finally, there's the scope of initial investment in new revenue sources — when that investment is not paying off, the CFO can find themselves in the unhappy position of having to discount, which is never ideal.
That said, I always want the CRO to go after the biggest number they can get. I just don't want to bet the farm on it. I need a realistic, bottom-floor number that meets our financial objectives.
SHERRI: Your point is spot-on, Kim. We’re seeing it too. Good CROs are very much in synch with you on this point: They also want to present the most realistic numbers and in fact, they would never bet the farm on the biggest number they can get, either. So there is more commonality between the CRO and the CFO than many people realize. And the solution is, really, for the CRO and CFO to come up with one number, one narrative, together.
JANINE: I love how you framed "understanding how CAC is built," Kim — it gets at the fundamental solution to these tensions: a shared narrative. Shared narratives are built on shared definitions. Are go-to-market and finance working from the same understanding of stages, revenue timing, and sales cycles? The same data sets? That alignment is essential for honest conversation around revenue drivers, what's working, and what's worth investing in — and it makes it easier for either party to push back on an assumption when they're starting from the same page.
KIM: 100%. That’s when you can actually work magic together. I find that if I can have a tight partnership with a CRO who helps me really understand the relationships of acquiring new customers and retaining existing customers, then I can give them every penny they’ll need as long as I understand how I’m going to get my return.
SARAH: I agree, but I'd add that finance often holds many different models at once because we carry responsibility for overall risk in a way the CRO does not. Regardless of industry, the crux of a CFO's job is scenario analysis — we're always modeling different variables and asking: "If this changes, what levers do I pull?"
We may happily embrace two revenue models, one more conservative and one more aggressive, because each represents a viable scenario for keeping the company healthy. With a tight CRO relationship established early, both parties can proceed knowing what it takes to break even and build in levers for the shoot-for-the-moon scenarios.
SHERRI: I love that you mentioned scenario analysis, Sarah, because that's something both roles bring to the table and should work through together. But we should be careful not to establish a false dualism here: the CFO is not by nature conservative, nor is the CRO inherently optimistic. I also want to present realistic and achievable revenue scenarios, and to get as close to what's genuinely possible as I can. It's also in our best interest to set realistic expectations and exceed them if possible. The CFO and CRO can develop this narrative together as part of revenue planning and make it a story they both own.
I wish more CEOs, boards, investors, and even CFOs recognized how skilled CROs can be in this work, because when Go-To-Market is allowed to set their own realistic, fully tested revenue goals, it leads to more efficient growth.
What doesn't work: handing a CRO a revenue number and telling them to go get it without any input. That's a recipe a complete mismatch of expectations and sets the stage for unrealistic planning as a result.
JANINE: On the point of trust, Sarah — we are seeing more and more of this issue, especially as teams use AI for data analytics. The need to establish faith in a single source of truth is absolutely critical. Someone needs to own that data, and systems and processes must be in place to keep the P&L as clean and precise as possible. Finance has a key role in that alongside RevOps.
I'm talking to finance every day to update them on key deals, to discuss non-standard pricing, or discounts, or accounts at risk. We don’t want Finance to have any surprises.
SARAH: I'd love a CRO who is that communicative on deal structure. I can't tell you how often I've had to change discounting parameters mid-year — if you're in this band, you don't need approval; if you're in this band, you do. It's changing the rules mid-game, and finance gets put on the back foot trying to find margin within all those changes. That often leads to comp plan changes, which irritates everybody.
SHERRI: It really shouldn’t have to be that way.
JANINE: It shouldn't, and you're right that upfront communication heads off a lot of that inefficiency. When finance helps set those parameters and GTM thinks them through from the sales, marketing, and customer perspectives, the entire company develops a better understanding of pricing implications.
KIM: Sherri, Janine — when you step in as a fractional CRO, how do you build trust with the CFO? Tell us about a time you had to do that. What did the company look like when you arrived, and how did you approach those initial conversations?
SHERRI: A common situation Janine and I step into: an organization is tracking lagging indicators of growth performance — revenue, total customers, market share — rather than leading indicators like pipeline coverage, conversion rates, or ICP qualified leads, and other things that give insight into the quality of deals such as stakeholder engagement and multi-threading activity. If you're only watching lagging indicators, you're getting less than half the picture. At best, you won't move the needle. At worst, you'll make bad decisions.
Here's an example: we once worked with a team where a founder was putting significant pressure on the CEO based on a forecast that was focused only on ARR. The company was 80% off target by the time we arrived. We had to educate that team: show we put in place leading indicators that substantially make a difference in course-correcting the revenue engine. And within three months, those indicators were showing progress — but the pipeline had increased 5x, conversion from awareness to need development had risen from 3% to 70%, deal size had expanded 6x, and the sales cycle was shrinking from 18 months to six weeks.
Modeling revenue goals on leading indicators produces a far more realistic number that helps everyone make better decisions. So when Janine and I enter a new client engagement, we often need to make the case to the CFO for leading-indicator modeling. We go to the CFO first — and when they understand the importance of those indicators, we gain an ally in building the right narrative.
SARAH: I like that you are keeping CFOs honest to what they really should be focused on here, Sherri. We’ve talked a lot recently about the criteria that readers should look for in vetting a quality CFO, and a forward-looking orientation is at the top of the list. So if you’re stepping into a situation where the CFO is not modeling revenue based on leading indicators, that’s a red flag.
The situation happens more than it should because lagging indicators are easy to explain — every month, they are packaged up and reported out. Leading indicators require more interpretive work. The finance role does need to be backward-facing at times: we are responsible for the integrity of the business, dealing with the IRS, paying bills, paying employees. But that doesn't mean your CFO shouldn't be focused on interpretive work. It means you need a strong finance stack working under them, closing pristine books and maintaining quality finance ops, to enable that focus. The best CFOs gather all available forward-looking information and lead teams in understanding those metrics — but they have to trust that information. Distrust happens when data isn't clean, decisions get made on it, and mistakes follow.
SHERRI: I really resonate with that explanation. It takes a good CFO to shine the light on the CRO — and working with a CFO that operates with that forward-looking mindset is sheer gold for GTM.
How do CROs and CFOs work together to create and maintain both new and recurring revenue?
KIM: As a CFO, I’m always interested in how CROs handle the nuances across revenue. How do you approach creating and maintaining both new and recurring revenue?
JANINE: I'd love to answer that, Kim, and it speaks to one of the primary reasons Sherri and I started GrowthTera. We are passionate about sales, marketing, and customer success working together — we see go-to-market as a system for generating revenue, rather than a disparate set of functions that happen to contribute to it.
We approach revenue end-to-end— from new logo acquisition to retention to expansion—and advocate relentlessly for this understanding with our clients. It is absolutely critical to achieving real growth.
SARAH: Good CFOs adore that approach, Janine. My background is in retail, so thinking systemically about acquisition and retention has been drilled into my practice — putting customer success in the revenue loop is critical for overall retention. Regardless of product quality or pricing precision, if a customer has a bad experience with your brand, you're done. That team must be part of everything happening at the company.
In one of my roles, I asked frontline customer service associates to present at our quarterly meetings and share what they were hearing from customers. Nothing is better for level-setting priorities than voice-of-the-customer feedback.
SHERRI: So many organizations miss that fundamental point, Sarah. Customer success is every bit as important as any other function, including sales — it's not a secondary category or an afterthought. If a company isn't paying attention to post-sales, it will lose revenue. Sales efficiency suffers too, because calling on existing customers can be far easier than acquiring new ones. But if product or service problems go unaddressed, retention drops, churn increases, and that impacts broader North Star metrics.
JANINE: Existing customers make up 40%-60% of your revenue base, so losing them fundamentally limits your ability to grow. There are also times when GTM needs to meet with Product almost weekly — depending on the release cycle or active issues — to keep voice-of-the-customer front and center in the product roadmap.
This is also a finance conversation, because it informs how to invest in new versus existing customers. When we can tell the finance team that a specific update is needed now, at this cost, and tie it to a concrete revenue number, we have a compelling case. That's one process insight into how we juggle those revenue streams.
SHERRI: It's exciting to see this alignment between CFOs and CROs on customer centricity — this is exactly how it should be. It makes all the difference in the efficiency, profitability, and growth of the organization.
How should a CRO and CFO work together to alter the trajectory of a company in need of change?
SHERRI: The best CFOs do two things well: they are masters and teachers of the business, and they are exceptional partners in Go-To-Market. They want us to win and bring ideas for making it happen. They champion what it takes to make a difference across the whole company and know how to demonstrate that value to the rest of the ELT. Sometimes their leadership and advocacy is exactly what Go-To-Market needs.
JANINE: Right.The CRO educates the CFO on the growth levers that exist — our job is to understand the unified system of marketing, sales, and customer success, and to help the CFO understand where investment makes the most sense. This is particularly important when marketing, sales, or customer success doesn't report into the CRO role: the CFO becomes the point of influence ensuring the entire business is incentivized and operationalized toward growth objectives. Teams need to connect their work to company goals — it drives purpose, engagement, and performance — and the CFO has the holistic perspective to communicate that.
SARAH: This framework rings true for me. I have often been the person doing the educational work to get every decision maker on the same page, and I think one way to prevent a company from going off the rails is putting all the right people in the room much earlier than most think necessary.
What I mean: have a representative from product, go-to-market, and finance in the room every quarter, building the model together in real time. The teaching and learning happens this way — when everyone participates in building the model, we all learn how a decision on timeline here impacts cash flow there, how a pricing change affects margin, how a hiring delay ripples through revenue. If something doesn't make sense, address it then and there. Trust builds when teams truly collaborate to build the business.
JANINE: We like to use what we call an “interlock” process within GTM before the CRO goes to the CFO. We get sales, marketing and customer success to negotiate the gives and the gets to ensure we have a coordinated plan to hit our target.
KIM: When I’ve been able to sit down next to the CRO and build numbers together, I’ve seen the best results for my clients.
SARAH: Same here. We each develop a deeper understanding of risks, opportunities, and the nuances of each other's day-to-day. So when I'm doing scenario analysis or presenting to the board, I can speak more confidently on our numbers — "I have confidence in A, B, and C because the revenue team is doing D, E, and F. We're good. Let's move on."
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