VP, Business Development & Growth Austin, TX
Location: Austin, Dallas, or Houston preferred; Denver considered (vcfo is headquartered in Austin)
Reports To: Chief Executive Officer
Travel: Up to 20%
About vcfo
For 30 years, vcfo has helped growing companies access senior-level finance, accounting, and HR expertise without the cost or commitment of a full-time hire. Headquartered in Austin, with teams in Dallas, Houston, and Denver, vcfo’s roughly 60 finance, accounting, and HR professionals currently support close to 250 client engagements — companies typically between $10M and $100M in revenue, often without a CFO of their own, and usually navigating a real period of growth: new funding, new locations, or an acquisition.
vcfo’s model is built on flexibility and depth: clients pay hourly, with no long-term contract, and gain access to a deep bench of experienced professionals rather than a single hire. That same depth defines vcfo’s own team — the firm is built on people who stay and grow with it, not a rotating cast of contractors.
The Opportunity
vcfo is creating a new leadership role to run and grow its business development function — reporting directly to the CEO, and taking ownership of a business development approach that already works. The role has two parts: run the playbook and ensure adherence to it, and develop new strategies as markets and opportunities dictate. The fundamentals are sound, so the work starts with improving execution and existing processes rather than building from scratch, and grows into shaping strategy over time.
You will directly manage a Business Development professional, and will guide and hold accountable three Practice Managers and four Market Directors who own business development within their own markets. None of them report to you directly, and the people you’ll be developing are experienced finance, accounting, and HR professionals who also carry business development responsibility — not career salespeople. Success here looks like collaborative leadership and influence, not command-and-control management.
You will be accountable primarily for the firm’s growth results. You’ll also do some personal selling — leading select strategic opportunities, especially at the CEO, founder, and investor level — but most of the firm’s growth will come through the team.
How Success Is Measured
This is a full-time leadership role, not a responsibility layered onto something else. In year one, expect roughly three months to ramp into the role, followed by about six months where real, measurable impact on growth is expected.
Performance is measured against vcfo’s annual growth plan — specific targets are set and reviewed directly with the CEO and aren’t published here — but broadly, this role is evaluated on:
• Achievement of the firm’s annual revenue growth target, measured however vcfo currently tracks it — bookings, billings, or cash collected.
• Pipeline health — qualified pipeline sustained at the coverage level needed to hit target.
• Conversion-rate performance against the qualified pipeline.
• Adoption of, and adherence to, the sales process across Practice Managers and Market Directors. • Growth delivered against the specific markets or business lines prioritized in the annual plan.
Key Responsibilities
Strategy & Growth
• Partner with the CEO to set annual sales production targets and go-to-market priorities.
• Develop and execute growth strategies that expand revenue and market presence — running the proven playbook today, and developing new strategies as markets and opportunities dictate.
• Drive vcfo’s Ideal Client Profile (ICP) strategy and overall market growth approach.
• Partner with Market Directors and Practice Managers to accelerate growth across regions and service lines.
• Identify emerging opportunities in market trends, and bring well-reasoned proposals to the CEO.
Executive Business Development
• Personally lead and close select strategic opportunities, especially at the CEO, founder, and investor level, while staying accountable primarily for the firm’s results.
• Meet with CEOs, founders, boards, investors, and senior executives.
• Listen deeply to business challenges and identify where vcfo can help.
• Lead conversations that establish trust and long-term relationships. Business Development
Leadership
• Own pipeline health — build and maintain a healthy pipeline with a sufficient volume of qualified opportunities, and review and prioritize pipeline across the team.
• Set expectations for, and monitor adherence to, the sales process, including timely response to inbound leads.
• Own forecasting and conversion-ratio performance against target, including personal participation in sales meetings with prospects where it can influence conversion.
• Run internal meetings:
– Bi-weekly pipeline reviews
– Weekly business-development marketing calls, run in an L10 format
– Weekly 1:1s with practice managers (3)
– Bi-weekly meetings with Market Directors (4)
Growth Culture & Team Development
• Directly manage vcfo’s Business Development professional.
• Coach and mentor Practice Managers, Market Directors, and leaders throughout the firm on business development best practices and activity.
• Improve the sales process, pipeline management, and opportunity conversion.
• Make coaching and performance-plan decisions for business development staff, and review performance to goal by product line, market, and individual.
• Collaborate closely with marketing, operations, and leadership teams.
• Serve as a visible champion for growth across the organization.
Strategic Relationships & Referral Partners
• Build and maintain vcfo’s referral partner relationships — commercial bankers, CPA firms, attorneys, private equity professionals, investment bankers, business consultants, executive recruiters, and other influential business partners.
• Create and strengthen partnerships that generate high-quality client opportunities.
• Lead Partner Pitch Days and strategic networking efforts.
• Represent vcfo in the business community and professional organizations, at market events and associations, and through a LinkedIn presence.
• Support thought leadership initiatives and speaking opportunities, and identify sponsorship and community engagement opportunities.
• Grow visibility of the vcfo brand across its markets.
Client & Deal Support
• Approve client acceptance.
• Determine when a deal requires subject-matter-expert involvement.
• Support contract negotiation, including exceptions to standard agreement language where appropriate.
• Partner on budget development for the business development function.
What We’re Looking For
• 15+ years of executive, consulting, professional services, or business leadership experience — for example, as a former CEO, CFO, or COO with a strong business development background, or as a professional services partner or rainmaker.
• A strategic thinker who can run a proven playbook and develop new strategies as markets and opportunities change.
• A proven record of generating revenue through relationship-based business development, including selling professional services to the C-suite.
• Experience leading business development through people who don’t report to you, across multiple offices, locations, or business units.
• Experience coaching non-salespeople who carry business development responsibility.
• Accountability for a number beyond your own production, with ownership of conversion, not just pipeline.
• A strong understanding of middle-market business challenges.
• Exceptional communication, presentation, and influencing skills.
• Integrity, servant leadership, collaboration and candor, and accountability in how you work with clients and colleagues.
Preferred
• CPA, MBA, or other advanced credential.
• An established network in banking, private equity, accounting, legal, or advisory services
Why Join vcfo
• Genuine ownership — a newly created role with the mandate to run, refine, and grow a business development approach that already works, and to shape strategy as markets change.
• A collaborative, non-corporate culture built on people who stay for the long term.
• Direct access to, and partnership with, the CEO.