SAM WILKINSON

Sectors/Support

Start-Ups & Scale-Ups. VC-Backed Businesses.

FRACTIONAL, FLEXIBLE, EMBEDDED

We embed fractional finance teams at every level, from bookkeeping to FD-level resource. It’s rapid, flexible support when capacity is stretched. Our operational finance teams build processes and systems from within to stabilise and deliver decision-ready financial insight.

Start-ups and scale-ups move fast, priorities shift overnight, and little is ever fixed. Cash is always tight, so capital allocation is critical. Clients need reliable, fast reporting, but they can’t afford to overspend building it. The challenge is matching what we deliver to what clients actually need and can afford, rather than over-engineering the solution.

TRADING BIG FOUR FOR START-UPS

I started my career on a training contract in a big firm. Learning while being paid was too good to turn down, but I always wanted to support smaller, entrepreneurial businesses. I jumped into startups, and eventually built my own business off the back of that experience. Leaving a safe, prestigious path to go and build and support startups instead was the biggest risk I’ve taken in my career, but it means I can truly relate to every founder with a dream.

THREE HUNDRED CLIENTS AND COUNTING

Over the years, we’ve helped scale more than 300 finance functions, from a handful of people through to fully-fledged scale-ups. It’s given me a strong sense of what breaks, and when.

My one non-negotiable with any new client is getting under the skin of the business: how it makes money, where it spends, its systems and processes, its team, and its growth ambitions. It’s never a one-time exercise. We’re constantly reassessing and engaging with every single client, without exception.

GROWING WITH A CLIENT, OR COVERING A GAP

The greatest compliment I get is recurring work. Clients know our model is different and they love it. We’ve scaled teams from Series A to acquisition by the market leader. And our support doesn’t stop there – we help through post-acquisition integration, bringing in new tools, systems and reporting to fit the new business. And it doesn’t always have to be long-term. Recently, a client’s FC was suddenly off sick for six weeks. We got the call on a Monday and had a team member in the next day. Keeping things running before handing back cleanly.

SOLVING PEOPLE PROBLEMS

Above all, I’m a people person. Relationships are everything, both in team culture and with clients. I love solving complex problems and making them relatable, so the team can deliver together, and I stay calm under pressure. The most satisfying part is watching founders turn real ambition into reality, and watching our own people grow and go on to run finance functions in incredible businesses.

Looking ahead, AI is where my focus lies, without question. It will be transformational across finance functions and firms alike. But it will all come down to how people use it, how it changes people’s roles and how it will free teams to focus on real value: reporting, insight, and building for growth.