Leaders of Modern Finance – Private Equity and Continual Growth ft. Jeff Cross

On this episode of the Leaders of Modern Finance podcast, host Ken Boyd is joined by Jeff Cross, CFO and Managing Director – US at BrandMaker.

Learning the Ropes

Jeff currently relishes his role within the private equity world but he spent the first decades of his career in more traditional financial leadership roles. Those formative years provided him with the experience and skills he uses today to manage the operations of two businesses in addition to BrandMaker. The acquisition, growth, and sale of multiple companies over just a few years requires a solid grasp of financial fundamentals, and Jeff had the opportunity to hone those skills over the course of 20 years.

Jeff began his career working at a small public accounting firm, cutting his teeth in foundational accounting principles. He also worked as a controller for a Texas-based data information company in the 90s. The company went public two years after Jeff’s arrival, and Jeff worked his way into managing investor relations and public accounting. The firm was eventually acquired by a larger organization and Jeff stayed on in a dual finance and operation role. This allowed him to continue developing his understanding of corporate financial systems and to gain experience on the operational side of the business.

After nearly a decade in this position, Jeff began his first venture into private equity. He joined a company called TravelClick and played a role in the sale of the business just three years later. This was the first of a string of acquisitions and sales that would form the bedrock of the next phase of Jeff’s career. He discovered a passion for this new industry, and for developing strategic plans for explosive growth. He joined BrandMaker in the summer of 2021 and also became a part of managing Hive9 and Allocadia. 

Entering this new field sparked Jeff’s passion and provided him with new management challenges.

A Tailored Strategy

While many CFOs are able to give a long-term strategic vision for what their organization may accomplish in 10 or 20 years, Jeff’s style forces him into a reduced timeline. His aim is not to produce slow and steady growth over several decades, rather, he is trying to produce an ROI that can be meaningfully liquidated within just a few years.

On average, equity firms try to turn over a business in four to seven years. Jeff, however, has consistently accomplished this in around three and a half years. This shortened timeline changes his strategic approach, and upon acquiring a new business, Jeff places his focus on maximizing existing resources and homogenizing the leadership vision.

Rather than spending all his energy on acquiring new customers to generate a quicker return, Jeff attempts to increase the revenue generated by existing customers. Upselling products or services allows him to get the most out of existing assets, rather than acquiring new customers that may have a slow, expensive onboarding process.

In addition, there is often a significant turnover in leadership during an acquisition. Rather than try to assimilate prior leadership into the new culture of the organization, Jeff seeks to bring on managers and leaders who are already strategically and culturally aligned with the direction he wants to go. This streamlines the transition and allows for operations to quickly gain steam and begin producing a return.

These decisions are more aggressive than those that many CFOs would make if their intention was to steer their organization for many years to come. However, for Jeff, these bold moves have allowed him to consistently generate enough of a return to be able to sell the business and start over with another one in just a few short years.

Delegation and People Management

In his current role, Jeff is responsible for the financial and operational management of three separate organizations. He has to keep all these businesses stable, while also generating enough growth to make them worth selling in the near future. It’s an impossible task to complete alone, which is why the management changes that Jeff enacts when he acquires a new business are so important.

The leadership team takes on much of the responsibility for daily operations, therefore, Jeff does all he can to ensure that his leaders are aligned with the broader vision. To this end, he’s adopted a rather hands-off approach in the micromanagement of various organizations. To hear him tell it, he wants to hire the right people with the right skills and vision, and then get out of their way.

Hence, he’s a delegator and HR manager as much as a financial leader. He attempts to create a company culture that can pull the best work out of its people so that he can stay focused on the broader strategic plan. In line with this philosophy, the majority of Jeff’s daily meetings are one-on-one sessions with his leadership team. He creates space for them to voice opportunities for changes, and he trusts their judgment and ability to enact them. This harmony between Jeff’s role as CFO, operations manager, and HR leader is what makes him so effective.

Patience and Practice

While Jeff has certainly been successful over the last ten years in provoking growth at a rapid pace across multiple organizations, it took a long time for him to rise to his current position. He didn’t become a financial leader because he demonstrated immediate talent or a spontaneous grasp of financial concepts. Rather, his success is due to the hard work he put in during the early years of his career. 

It’s rare for financial leaders to catapult their way to immediate glory within the first few years of their careers. Instead, their success comes through dedication to perfecting the work at hand, and through being a reliable asset to whatever organization they are a part of.

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