The CFO Journey from Private Equity Acquisition to Initial Public Offering (IPO) - with Bill Koefoed, CFO OneStream

Bill Koefoed is the CFO of OneStream which went public in 2024 after being acquired by KKR in 2021. The CFO journey from being a Private Equity owned company to preparing for an IPO and beyond, while also transitioning from a perpetual license model to a subscription business is a fascinating experience and story.

During this episode, Bill and Ray discuss a wide variety of topics and experiences during this CFO journey including:

• How the role of CFO changes in a Private Equity majority owned B2B SaaS company
• The lessons learned in transitioning from a perpetual license to a B2B SaaS subscription model
• The preparation required to take a B2B SaaS company public
• How technology has changed the Office of Finance and the CFO role
• The journey to becoming a B2B SaaS CFO - the Bill Koefoed path

Bill mentioned that he had previously been the CFO of a Private equity-owned company. Once you have the first experience under your belt, your reputation as a Private equity-experienced CFO will be the access ticket to the next CFO position.

Bill highlighted the importance that pricing plays when first starting the transition from perpetual to subscription. The cross-over or break-even point was targeted at 5 years, which essentially says that beginning in Year 6 the benefit of operating in a subscription business model materially increase.

Bill shared the metrics that he prioritizes, and he started with the 98% Gross Revenue Retention Rate which highlights their priority and focus on customer satisfaction. In addition, Net New ARR, Net Revenue Retention and how much of Net New ARR is coming from "new customers" versus customer expansion. In fact, new logo acquisition is a top focus for 2025, including going from 1,600 customer to 10,000 plus new customers.  New customer ARR contributes about 60% of the total new ARR.

What customer acquisition efficiency metric does Bill use - he really likes LTV:CAC Ratio and the CAC Payback Period which they currently stand at 24 months - but that is with a $340K ACV!

If you are a CFO in a B2B SaaS company, or are an executive leader looking to evolve into a private equity acquisition or initial public offering - this conversation with Bill Koefoed, Chief Financial Officer at OneStream is an enlightening conversation that covers a broad variety of insights, experiences and inspiration!

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