Types by engagement model
This is the axis founders search for first, and the one where the labels get used loosest. Three genuinely different arrangements.
| Engagement model | What it is for, and what it costs | |
|---|---|---|
| Fractional CFO | Days or hours per month, ongoing, never full time. | Senior judgement for a business with more complexity than a controller should carry and not enough to justify a full-time executive. Typically relevant for 18 to 24 months. |
| Interim CFO | Effectively full time, fixed period. | Cover for a gap: a departure, a transition, or a permanent search you do not want to rush. Nearly half of businesses use it during a permanent search. |
| Permanent CFO | Full time, ongoing, on the executive team. | The end state once the role has enough real work in it. In the Australian market usually past fifty people and ten million in ARR. |
A fractional CFO is usually relevant to a startup for a finite period, typically 18 to 24 months.[1] That is a feature rather than a limitation. A founder needing a fractional CFO today might be building something that will require a full-time hire in eighteen months.[2] Treat the fractional arrangement as a stage, not a destination.
Interim sits differently again. In our Q2 2026 State of the Market report, 48% of businesses were using interim cover while continuing their permanent search for senior finance roles.[3] When there is a genuine need for an urgent start, securing interim cover is more effective than rushing the permanent process, because it gives the hiring team enough time to find the right candidate.[4]
If you are choosing between interim cover and a compressed permanent search, I break down when interim is the right call here.
Types by what the seat is for
The more useful axis, and the one job ads almost never articulate. The same title covers jobs with very different centres of gravity.
- The first CFO. The seat exists for the first time. The job is to build the function, install the systems and get the business investor-ready. In the Australian market this typically lands at 50-plus heads and $10 million-plus ARR.[5]
- The growth or scale CFO. A function already exists. The job is capital allocation, unit economics and making the growth plan survive contact with the numbers.
- The fundraising CFO. Weighted towards the raise: materials, diligence and investor relationships. Worth noting that the best CFOs want to start 9 to 12 months before a capital raise, not three weeks before the pitch, because it takes three to six months to land, build trust and earn the right to lead the process.[6]
- The turnaround CFO. Cash, cost and covenant. A different temperament entirely, and usually a different person from the growth CFO.
- The transformation CFO. Where the mandate is systems and process. One recent interim CFO brief I worked on called for commercial and strategic partnership on M&A, capital allocation and banking relationships alongside driving a significant ERP and systems transformation.[7]
- The IPO or exit CFO. Public-market readiness, governance and disclosure. A specialist market and not one I work in.
Matching the type to your stage
The practical question is not which type sounds most impressive. It is which one matches the complexity you actually have.
Early on, a startup up to around twenty staff does not need a big finance team, it needs agility, usually a Finance Manager or hands-on Financial Controller supported by a bookkeeper or an outsourced accounting firm.[8] A fractional CFO can sit alongside that for the strategic layer. What that stage does not need is a full-time CFO.
I focus on two moments specifically: the first finance hire in a startup, typically a Head of Finance or Financial Controller in a business with 10 to 20 headcount and $5 to $10 million ARR or less, and the first CFO hire at 50-plus heads and $10 million-plus ARR.[5] Between those two points, most businesses are better served by strengthening the operational layer than by adding a title.
For the signals that say your business is genuinely ready for a full-time CFO, I go through them here.
How to choose
Three questions get most founders to the answer without a long process.
- Is there a gap, or is there an ongoing need? A gap is interim. An ongoing need with not enough work for a full-time executive is fractional. Enough work for a full-time executive is permanent.
- What is the dominant problem in the next twelve months? A raise, a rebuild, a systems programme or steady scaling. That decides the type more than the stage does.
- Who is doing the operational work? If the answer is nobody, hire that first. A strategic CFO with no function underneath them becomes a very expensive Financial Controller.
If the honest answer is fractional, take the fractional route. I refer early-stage founders to good fractional CFOs, and those relationships often come back around, including a recent permanent CFO role that arrived as a referral from one.[9]
Common questions
What are the different types of CFO?
Two axes. By engagement model: fractional (part-time and ongoing), interim (full time for a fixed period, usually covering a gap) and permanent (full time and ongoing). By focus: the first CFO who builds the function, the growth or scale CFO, the fundraising CFO, the turnaround CFO, the transformation CFO and the IPO or exit CFO. Most confusion comes from treating those two axes as one list.
What is the difference between a fractional and an interim CFO?
An interim CFO is effectively full time in the seat for a fixed period, carrying the whole mandate while it lasts, usually while a business runs a permanent search or works through a transition. A fractional CFO is senior finance judgement bought by the day or the month on an ongoing basis, without ever being full time. One is cover for a gap. The other is an operating model for a business that does not need a full-time CFO yet, typically for 18 to 24 months.
Which type of CFO does an early-stage startup need?
Usually none of them yet. A startup up to around twenty staff does not need a large finance team, it needs agility, typically a Finance Manager or hands-on Financial Controller supported by a bookkeeper or outsourced accounting firm. A fractional CFO can sit alongside that for the strategic layer. A full-time CFO generally makes sense once the business is past fifty people and ten million in ARR, and hiring one earlier tends to produce an expensive executive doing operational work.
Which type of CFO do I need before a capital raise?
That depends on the timing. If the raise is nine to twelve months out, a permanent CFO is realistic, because the best CFOs want to start well before the pitch: it takes three to six months for them to land, build trust and earn the right to lead the process. If the raise is three weeks out, a permanent hire will not land in time, and interim or fractional cover alongside a properly run permanent search is the more honest answer.
References
- Tom Hunter on fractional CFOs: a fractional CFO is typically relevant to a startup for a finite period, usually 18 to 24 months.
- Tom Hunter on fractional to permanent: a founder needing a fractional CFO today might be building something that will require a full-time hire in 18 months.
- Story Recruitment Q2 2026 State of the Market report: 48% of businesses are using interim cover while continuing their permanent search for senior finance roles.
- Tom Hunter on urgent senior finance starts: securing interim cover is more effective than rushing the permanent process because it gives the hiring team enough time to find the right candidate.
- Story Recruitment focus: the first finance hire in a startup (Head of Finance or Financial Controller, 10 to 20 headcount, $5 to $10 million ARR or less) and the first CFO hire (50 plus heads, $10 million plus ARR).
- Tom Hunter on CFO hiring around a capital raise: the best CFOs want to start 9-12 months before a raise, not three weeks before the pitch, as it takes 3-6 months for them to land, build trust and earn the right to lead the process.
- Story Recruitment interim CFO mandate: commercial and strategic partnership on M&A, capital allocation and banking relationships, plus driving a significant ERP and systems transformation.
- Tom Hunter on finance team structure for startups up to around 20 staff: the team does not need to be big, it needs agility, often led by a Finance Manager or hands-on Financial Controller supported by a bookkeeper or outsourced accounting firm.
- Tom Hunter on referring founders to fractional CFOs: he refers early-stage founders to good fractional CFOs, and those relationships often lead to referrals back, including a recent CFO role that came from a fractional CFO.