We just launched the Office of the Venture CFO — a new program at Venture5 where we partner with leading VC finance executives, interview them, and publish their insights to our audience.
It features nine CFOs and finance leaders from top firms like Founder Collective, Flybridge, Left Lane Capital, Lerer Hippeau, 01 Advisors, BITKRAFT Ventures, Alpha Partners, NEO, and Jefferies. And we’re just getting started!
But this didn’t come together overnight. The playbook we used is one that any VC firm, startup, or professional community could adapt. So I wanted to break down exactly how we did it, and more importantly, how you might apply it in your world.
Why We Decided To Do It
For the past couple of years, we’ve been hosting virtual events on topics like:
- Fund operations
- Venture valuations
- Firm data & analytics
The attendance and engagement told us something: there is a real gap in the market. Not just for VC CFOs wanting to hear from and learn from other VC CFOs. But GPs who are starved for this kind of information as well. Particularly when they are early in their firm’s journey and can’t afford to bring in top level CFO talent full time.
The takeaway for you: Before you build anything, look at where your audience is already showing up. What topics get the most engagement? What do people keep asking about that nobody else is covering?
Recruiting the Right Voices
We assembled the initial cohort of CFOs through three channels:
- people I already knew from years of relationship building in the VC ecosystem
- introductions from GPs at their firms
- cold outreach to finance leaders who had attended our virtual events on venture CFO-related topics.
Once someone expressed interest, I kept it simple. A 15-minute call to walk through the program, what it would look like, and whether it made sense for them. No pitch decks. No formal applications. Just a conversation. Here’s the actual email template we used 👇
The takeaway for you: You don’t need a huge recruiting effort. Start with people who already trust you or who’ve engaged with your content or events. Warm intros from adjacent stakeholders (like GPs introducing their CFOs, or GPs introducing you to their portfolio companies) are gold. And keep the “ask” lightweight. A short call, not a formal commitment process.
Solving the Compliance Problem (Before It Became One)
Here’s something that could have stalled the entire launch: some of these CFOs work at firms that are registered investment advisors, which means everything needs to go through compliance. One CFO came back and said they needed a full program description, details on sponsors, confirmation that no compensation was being given to them, and clarity on where their name and firm logo would appear.
Rather than fielding one-off Q&A with each potential participant, our Chief of Staff had a better idea that made our lives and the lives of the other VC finance leaders much easier. With a bit of his friend Claude’s help(!) he put together a short document with an FAQ that addressed the most common questions a compliance team (or a GP) would need, like:
- How content is created and reviewed
- How we handle sponsor relationships
- How firm logo and branding would be used
We sent it to every CFO in the cohort, whether their firm asked for it or not. Not everyone needed it. But nearly everyone appreciated it. It removed friction, showed professionalism, and gave CFOs something they could just forward to others on their team without playing telephone.
The takeaway for you: If you’re working with professionals at regulated firms (or any large organization), anticipate the compliance conversation. Don’t wait for people to ask and hand them the answers before they need them. A simple one-pager that explains your program can be the difference between a “yes” and a “let me get back to you” that never comes back.
Make It Easy
VC finance leaders are just as busy as a GP. So when we were putting together bios and headshots for the site, we gathered these from public sources and then sent them an email that basically said: “Here’s what I’ve got. Anything need tweaking? And do you have a preferred headshot?”
The takeaway for you: Every additional step you add to a process is an opportunity for someone to drop off. Do the work for people. Pre-fill everything you can and let them edit rather than create from scratch.
The Launch Sequence
We worked backwards from the first newsletter send date and mapped out a four-week plan:
Week 1: Sent compliance packets to CFOs who needed them, finalized the content format (we landed on an interview-then-write model), and briefed our designer on the landing page.
Week 2: Chased outstanding compliance approvals, collected remaining headshots and bios, and the designer delivered the landing page mockup while our developer started building.
Week 3: Landing page went live. We conducted the first interview with Healy Jones, Head of Finance at NEO, talking about California’s SB 54 diversity reporting law, SPV strategy, and manufacturing liquidity. We wrote it up, he reviewed it, and we locked in the sponsor integration.
Week 4: Launch announcement went out mid-week across all of our newsletters and LinkedIn, giving people a few days to discover the program and subscribe before the first issue hit inboxes.
The takeaway for you: Separate your “announcement” from your first piece of content. Let people discover the program and build anticipation before you deliver. And involve your design and dev teams early. Landing pages always take longer than you think, even in the age of vibe-coding!
What’s Next?
The Office of the Venture CFO started as an idea born from audience feedback and a few conversations. Now it’s live with nine venture finance leaders, a presenting sponsor, and a growing following. And so far, the feedback has been awesome 👇
We’re going to keep watching how readers respond to the content. And if there’s topics you want these VC finance leaders to educate you or your team about, let us know! We may be able to cover it in a future interview.
