Wrightcfo Ltd

24/06/2026

In February 2026, the UK filed almost exactly as many redundancy notices as it did in February 2009 — 430 then, 433 just before the last recession hit its worst.

Nobody knows what comes next. But across our clients right now, the pattern is hard to miss: redundancies, cost-cutting, founders who were hiring a year ago asking a very different question.

Most treat cost-cutting as a survival exercise — something you do reluctantly, when the bank balance forces your hand. The businesses that come through it well do the opposite. They cut before they have to, while there's still room to be surgical about it. Even the £1bn+ PE-backed group we're working with right now is doing this proactively, not in a panic.

And there's a piece of maths most founders never sit down to do: a pound of cost saved is worth far more than a pound of new sales. New revenue only gives you its margin — a saved pound is pure profit. At a 10% margin, cutting £1 does the work of winning £10.

This week's article covers why proactive beats reactive, where the painless 10% usually hides, and how to know how much to cut without cutting into muscle. There's also a calculator — put in your own numbers and see what a disciplined cut would do to your profit.

👉 https://wrightcfo.co.uk/2026/06/21/why-a-pound-saved-beats-a-pound-earned-fix-budget/

17/06/2026

Dreaming of taking your business past the £10M mark? Scaling successfully means more than just increasing sales—it’s about robust financial controls, clear reporting, and a team that’s ready for growth. If you want to know if your finance systems, governance, and margin management are truly investor-ready, take our Scale Readiness Assessment to find out where you stand

Most businesses stall before £10M — not because of sales, but because their finance function was built for a startup. Take the free 3-minute Scale Readiness Assessment and see exactly where the gaps are.

08/06/2026

Reaching £1M is the achievement everyone celebrates. Reaching £3M is the one that quietly breaks things — and almost nobody warns founders which things break first.

The founder who's still the bottleneck. The spreadsheet five people now edit. Profit up, but less in the bank. The first finance hire who's suddenly out of their depth.

None of it goes with a bang — which is exactly why it's so easy to miss until it's costing real money.

This week on The Scaleup CFO: the seven seams that tear on the way up, and how to spot them before they do. 👇

Growth doesn't break your product. It breaks your plumbing.

01/06/2026

We're refreshing Wrightcfo Ltd's online presence — and we'd love your help.

Since 2014, we've had the privilege of working alongside founders and finance teams building genuinely impressive businesses. If we've worked together over the years, a quick Google review would mean a great deal to us.

It helps other founders — the ones wrestling with the same challenges you once did — find a finance team that understands what scaling actually takes.

It takes about a minute:

https://g.page/r/CfhpPLXjDT8QEBM/review

Thank you for being part of the journey. 🙏

Post a review to our profile on Google

01/06/2026

The 3 mistakes I see costing creative, media and tech businesses the most.

Even the most experienced, talented founders make all three.

1. Undercharging, then wondering why you're exhausted.

-Why it happens: fear of losing the client.
-Result: you're busy, but not profitable — and you start resenting the work.
-Instead: price for the value you deliver, not the hours you log.

2. Treating revenue like success.

-Why it happens: big numbers feel good to say out loud.
-Result: you can have your best year on paper and still not be able to pay yourself properly.
-Instead: turnover gets you likes on LinkedIn. Margin pays your bills.

3. Saying yes to everything.

-Why it happens: every opportunity feels urgent.
-Result: you're everywhere and excellent nowhere.
-Instead: the clients you turn down define your positioning as much as the ones you take on.

Which one stings most? 👇

27/05/2026

Last week the IMF upgraded its UK growth forecast. The headlines celebrated. But there was a second number in the same report that mattered far more for anyone running a growing business — and almost nobody talked about it.
Our latest piece is about the gap between a national forecast and your actual numbers, and why the founders who scale through uncertainty are the ones who plan for it rather than react to it.
Worth a read if you're building something. 👇
https://wrightcfo.co.uk/2026/05/27/imf-forecast-not-a-business-plan/

21/05/2026

Investor-ready doesn't mean impressive. It means legible.

Numbers that reconcile. Definitions that hold up. Methodology that matches the investor's mental model.

Worth more than strong growth presented badly.

This week's newsletter covers what investor-ready financials actually mean before a Series A — and why the work starts twelve months out, not six weeks: https://wrightcfo.co.uk/2026/05/17/what-investor-ready-financials-actually-means-before-a-series-a/

19/05/2026

Pitch costs: the line item no one wants to track.

Most agency founders know pitching is expensive. Almost none of them know how expensive.

The direct costs are easy — production, travel, the freelancer brought in for the deck. It's the invisible costs that quietly eat the margin: senior time pulled off paying work, the creative director "on the pitch" for three weeks, the strategist who hasn't billed an hour since April.

We've worked with creative and media agencies across London who've won pitches that cost more to chase than the first year of the contract delivered.

The fix isn't to stop pitching. It's knowing your pitch-to-win ratio, your average cost per pitch, and your break-even point on every new client.

WrightCFO is a fractional CFO practice working with founder-led businesses in the creative, media and advertising sectors — helping agencies scale past £10M.

Book a 30-minute discovery call with our founder Sophie Wright: https://calendly.com/sophie_wrightcfo/30mins

14/05/2026

Why the Best Fractional CFO isn’t a person, it’s a Practice

Explore the fractional model and discover how it can transform your financial strategy beyond traditional hires.