Episode 260 - Two Ex-Federal CFOs on Why They Quit Government to Start From Zero

Kate Aaby and Kelsey Do spent years in federal budgeting and CFO roles, Kate as CFO of the U.S. Small Business Administration, Kelsey as a senior advisor and budget director there, before deciding to build something of their own. The result is Kado Executive Operations: a fractional CFO/COO firm helping small businesses and nonprofits get the executive-level financial and operational expertise they need, without the cost of a full-time hire.In this episode of Shift, Elena talks with Kate and Kelsey about what it actually takes to build a two-person firm from scratch, the biggest misconceptions around "fractional" work, and the story behind their most defining business decision yet: proactively walking away from a client that made up a significant chunk of their revenue, because it no longer matched their values.They cover:Why "fractional" doesn't mean "whenever it's convenient," it's a strategic partnership modelThe real difference between needing a CFO and needing a controllerWhat size company is actually ready for fractional executive support (and what isn't)Why they walked away from a major client, and what happened to their business afterwardBuilding a company on shared values instead of hustle culture, including a hard stop at 5pmWhere AI fits into how they run their own operationsWhat they wish someone had told them before becoming business ownersGuests: Kate Aaby (CEO) and Kelsey Do (President), Co-Founders of Kado Executive OperationsWebsite: https://www.kadoexec.com/