CFO’s Guide Lessons from 5 Years of Growth

As GrowCFO celebrates its five-year anniversary, we reflect on our journey and the transformation of the finance landscape. What began as a vision to connect finance leaders has grown into a trusted hub for CFO development. We’re grateful for the opportunity to support your growth as we’ve navigated industry shifts and embraced new technologies together.

Big Changes in Finance Over the Last 5 Years

The past five years have seen finance professionals adapt to unprecedented change. Key shifts we’ve witnessed in the industry include:

  • Operational Shifts: The COVID-19 pandemic forced rapid business restructuring, elevating finance leaders into more hands-on operational roles beyond traditional back-office functions.

  • Remote Work Trends: Remote work became the norm, driving more flexible working arrangements and reshaping how finance teams collaborate and communicate.

  • Cloud Adoption: The widespread adoption of cloud-based financial systems enabled real-time data access and better collaboration across teams.

  • Automation and AI: Finance departments increasingly embraced automation and AI to streamline processes such as accounts payable, receivable, and financial reporting.

  • Regulatory Changes: New regulations, particularly around data privacy and ESG (Environmental, Social, and Governance) reporting, required finance teams to adapt swiftly.

  • Sustainability Initiatives: Finance functions have played a critical role in integrating ESG considerations into financial strategies and reporting.

Challenges and Opportunities That Shaped Our Vision

The vision for GrowCFO has evolved in response to both challenges and opportunities:

  • COVID-19 Community Building: The original vision centered around in-person events. With the onset of the pandemic, we quickly pivoted to a remote-first community, enabling us to support finance leaders through a challenging time.

  • Future CFO Program: As we connected with the community, we identified a recurring struggle—many aspiring CFOs faced hurdles in landing their first role. This insight led to the creation of the Future CFO program.

  • CFO Support Programs: We researched the top 10 challenges faced by new CFOs and launched tailored mentoring and CFO programs to address these needs.

Standout Accomplishments

Over the past five years, GrowCFO has achieved several milestones that we’re proud of:

  • Flagship Programs: The CFO and Future CFO programs have become cornerstones of our offerings.

  • Mentoring Network: We’ve built a robust team of experienced CFO mentors across multiple industries and geographies.

  • Strategic Finance Boot Camp: in the areas of Transformation, Business partnering and FP&A

  • Experiential Learning for Finance (ExLF): CPD/CPE-accredited learning journey tailored for finance professionals across all roles and grades

Key Milestones

Here’s a timeline of key milestones that mark our journey:

5 Years of GrowCFO!

  • January 2020: Founded and launched the GrowCFO finance leader community

  • June 2020: Introduced GrowCFO Premium on-demand training programs

  • August 2020: Debuted The GrowCFO Show, now a top 10 finance podcast

  • October 2020: Released the Future CFO Program (On-Demand)

  • September 2021: Kicked off the first cohort of The CFO Program

  • February 2022: Unveiled Finance Team Training

  • September 2022: Launched the CFO Competency Framework; Introduced a Slack community and Kicked off the first Business Partnering Boot Camp.

  • November 2022: Relaunched The Future CFO Program as live cohorts

  • June 2023: Kicked off the first Finance Transformation Boot Camp

  • August 2023: Launched the FP&A Boot Camp

  • September 2024: Celebrated The GrowCFO Show’s 200th episode and Launched Experiential Learning for Finance (ExLF).

  • 2025:AI Adoption for Finance: Coming soon!

Looking Ahead

As we celebrate GrowCFO’s five-year anniversary, we’re reminded that growth is never static—it’s an ongoing journey of seizing opportunities and overcoming challenges. 

Looking ahead to 2025, we’re excited to introduce our AI Adoption for Finance program. This groundbreaking initiative will guide finance teams through every step of their AI skill development, helping them confidently harness the power of AI to drive innovation and success.

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