In this episode of The Fractional CFO Show, Adam Cooper is joined by Elliott King, agency founder, digital marketing expert, and Managing Partner at FINN Partners, to explore the real journey from startup to exit.

Elliott shares honest insights on managing cash flow through growth, the shift from project to retainer revenue, and the financial discipline required to build a sellable agency.

They also dive into the realities of M&A, including due diligence, valuation drivers, and what actually changes after a sale.

Plus, a look at how AI, SEO, and owned media are reshaping digital marketing, and what agency founders should be doing now to stay competitive.

A must-listen for agency owners focused on growth, profitability, and long-term exit strategy.

Thinking about raising debt finance for growth, refinancing, acquisitions or working capital?

In this episode of The Fractional CFO Show, Adam Cooper speaks with Steve Cockell, Founder of Obica Business Funding and experienced commercial debt advisor, about how the SME funding landscape has changed, and what founders must do before approaching lenders.

They discuss:

• The decline of traditional relationship banking
• The SME funding gap between £500k - £2m
• Invoice finance vs unsecured cash flow lending vs asset-backed facilities
• How to craft a compelling funding narrative
• When to use a debt advisor
• What lenders really look for in today’s credit environment

If you’re planning business growth and want to use debt finance strategically, this episode will help you approach funding with clarity and confidence.

In this episode of The Fractional CFO Show, we explore a question many agency founders quietly wrestle with:

What would actually change in your business if you freed up just 10 hours a week?

I’m joined by Jesse P. Gilmore, Founder of Niche in Control and host of the Leverage for Growth podcast. Jesse works closely with agency owners who have built successful businesses, but find themselves trapped in delivery, decisions, and day-to-day firefighting.

This is a practical, grounded conversation about escaping founder-dependence without losing control.

We unpack how agency owners can:

• Diagnose where their time is really going using Jesse’s Time Audit framework
• Move away from trading hours for revenue and towards value-led pricing and profitability
• Build systems and delegation that support scale, not complexity
• Use AI deliberately as a leverage tool, not a distraction
• Reframe metrics like utilisation, average client value, and earned standard hours to support better decisions

From a CFO perspective, this episode sits right at the intersection of time, money, and leadership capacity. Because reclaiming time isn’t about working less, it’s about building a business that no longer relies on the founder to function.

If you’re an agency founder or service-based business owner feeling stretched, stuck in the weeds, or unsure how to create headroom without risking performance, this episode will help you think more clearly about what needs to change, and in what order.

A thoughtful, practical listen for anyone serious about building a scalable agency with stronger margins, better systems, and more intentional leadership.

This week I’m joined by Michael Henderson, Founder of RiskBox Ltd, a man on a mission to help creative businesses understand what insurance they really need.

Michael brings a refreshingly honest take on one of the more confusing of running a businesses. He shares real stories, practical guidance, and insights that could save your business time, money and headaches when things go wrong.

🌟 Some of my favourite parts of our conversation include:

✅ Legal must-haves vs. nice-to-haves: What’s actually required when starting out.
✅ Overinsured or underinsured? Why many founders get this balance wrong.
✅ Contracts and cover: How to handle insurance clauses in big client agreements.
✅ Cyber and ransomware: What protection looks like in a digital-first world.
✅ “Mitigation of loss”: The little-known insurance clause that could save you thousands.

This week, I sat down with @Kat Wellum-Kent, Founder & CEO of @The Fractionals Group who left Practice to launch her business with just one client and a plan.

Some of my favourite takeaways from our conversation were:

✅ Recruiting “on the curve” vs hiring ahead of the work
✅ Building something that’s more than just you as a solo operator
✅ Making use of EOS and managing her own utilisation as a founder
✅ Why not every startup needs a full-time CFO, and how to spot when they do
✅ And growing a team without losing sight of what made the work fun in the first place

Kat’s honest about the challenges as well as the opportunities that she faced and is still facing, and I think anyone building a business, or just trying to shift towards having a more entrepreneurial mindset in business, will get something from this.