If Warren Buffett Had $10M, Would He Bet on Your Business?

• Why your CFO is the key to greater investor confidence
• Three questions every CEO should ask to assess whether their business is investment-ready.

Warren Buffett is retiring.

The man who turned $10,000 into $137 billion. The one who famously reads 500 pages a day. The man who said, "It's far better to buy a wonderful company at a fair price than a fair company at a wonderful price." That guy.

He's walking away. And the business world is, understandably, having a bit of a moment.

The headlines are focused on succession. What will happen to Berkshire Hathaway. Who gets what and what they'll do with it.

I'm more interested in the part most people missed entirely: what Buffett said in his final shareholder letter.

He didn't talk about the US economy. He didn't talk about his investment strategy.

Rather, he talked about trust.

He said what he's always said, really. That he backs businesses led by smart, grounded, rational people. People who know what they're building and why they're building it.

And that's the thing about Buffett. He invests in fundamentals.

This got me thinking. If Warren Buffett had $10M to invest, and your business was on the table, would he back you?

Now before you start mentally tidying up your cap table, a quick reminder: Buffett doesn't buy stock based on the numbers alone.

He looks beyond a businesses P&L and asks:

   1. Is this leadership team credible?
   2. Is the business model durable?
   3. Can they scale without imploding?
   4. Does the narrative the leadership team are selling match the numbers?

If you're nodding along thinking, "Yes, yes, yes, and absolutely", then congratulations. You run a Universally Investible Company™

And if you don't, you had better take a look at the strength of your CFO.

Because the CFO is the person the regulator, the shareholder, and the bank all turn to, not just when the CEO is out of the room, but when they want to understand the evidence that underpins the business' narrative.

That's by design. In the US, the CFO is legally required to sign off on the company's financials. They are ultimately responsible for their accuracy.

That signature is a signal to the market and the regulator that: "You can believe in this business. And you can believe in me."

This is why the most investible companies don't just have strong numbers. They have a world class CFO.

Your company doesn't need to be the fastest-growing. You don't need all the trappings of a Silicon Valley unicorn. You don't need a ten-slide vision deck with pastel infographics.

You just need to demonstrate that if someone puts money in, they'll get more out. And that you've got a team that can make it happen.

So if you're a CEO, I have three questions for you:

   1. Can your CFO articulate why your business is worth investing in?
   2. Do your board packs tell a clear, confident story about the future?
   3. Are your numbers consistent with the narrative you're asking the market to believe?

If the answer isn't a full-body yes, that's OK and I can help.

But don't let those questions go unanswered.

Because Buffett might be retiring. But his investment philosophy lives on.

So, if Warren Buffett had $10M to invest, would he bet on your business?
And if not, what do you need from your CFO to turn that around?

I'd love to hear your thoughts.

This is the trusted guide for CFOs to lead with IMPACT and create VALUE.

It's time for women in finance to find power in their purpose!