SPMB Recruits CFO for Go1

January 14, 2025 – Steven Popper of SPMB Executive Search has helped to recruit Caitlin Haberberger as the new CFO of Go1. “On behalf of Steven Popper and our financial officer practice, SPMB Executive Search is thrilled to congratulate our client Go1 on welcoming Caitlin Haberberger to the executive team as chief financial officer,” the firm said in a LinkedIn post. “Caitlin’s proven track record of scaling high-growth SaaS companies, combined with her expertise in strategic finance leadership and M&A, makes her an exciting addition to Go1’s world-class team as they continue to transform corporate learning and development globally. Wishing Go1 continued success in the new year with the addition of Caitlin to its leadership team.”

Ms. Haberberger is a seasoned CFO with a track record of driving growth and value in high-growth, venture backed tech companies. Ms. Haberberger most recently served as CFO of Mezmo. She was brought on as the first CFO after Series C financing to build finance, accounting, IT, legal, and general business operations at this $40 million ARR venture backed data observability company. Before that, Ms. Haberberger was CFO at Turnitin. During her career, she has held CFO positions with Turnitin, Amplitude Analytics, and Flite. Ms. Haberberger also held senior roles with Clever Inc., Hearsay Social, PS, PhoneSpots, and Brightmail, Inc.

Go1 is the world’s content expert and largest learning ecosystem powering the pursuit of potential. With expertly curated content spanning more than 80,000 courses from hundreds of industry-leading providers, Go1 delivers a seamless experience for both L&D leaders and employees in a single, easy-to-use platform. The company has raised over $400 million in funding from investors AirTree Ventures, Blue Cloud Ventures, Five Sigma, Insight Partners, Madrona, Salesforce Ventures, SEEK Investments, SoftBank Vision Fund 2 and Y Combinator.

For over 40 years, SPMB Executive Search has worked alongside its clients to build executive teams that ensure venture capital and private equity-backed game-changers achieve scale, and position multi-billion-dollar public companies to unlock innovation.

Specializing in technology and innovation, SPMB recruits upper management and board members to growth-oriented companies in tech, consumer, and sustainability industries. SPMB has also placed dozens of senior executives at the portfolio companies of leading private equity firm partners including Blackstone, KKR, and TPG.

Mr. Popper joined SPMB in 2007 from Howard Fischer Associates and has since become an integral part of the leadership team. The same year he joined SPMB, Mr. Popper founded its CFO practice which recruits accomplished, company-shaping financial executives to public, VC-backed, and PE-funded companies in software, fintech, biotech, consumer technology, and sustainability. Since inception, the CFO practice has completed over 200 searches across all segments. Mr. Popper’s clients include the portfolio companies of IVP, Accel Partners, Sequoia Capital, Warburg Pincus, a16z, Spectrum Equity, KPCB, and many more.

Recruiting CFOs for VC/PE Companies

Executive search firm Caldwell recently conducted a survey on the CFO role to fine-tune its understanding of the skills and experiences that define success today for a CFO of a PE-backed portfolio company and, equally importantly, which attributes may sound appealing but are not essential. More than 300 private equity CFOs shared candid responses on their backgrounds and how they landed in their current role. The results provided a clearer picture of who sits in the CFO chair at many PE-backed portfolio companies, and the skills and credentials that are truly impactful in their leadership role.

Related: The Demand for Interim CFOs Soars

When asked to describe their previous experience, 10 percent of the participants said, “I was a divisional CFO or No. 2 finance executive in a PE-backed company,” while 20 percent had the same status at a public company. Another 35 percent had been a CFO of a public or private company. And only 34 percent had been CFO of a PE-backed company. So just a third of the CFOs in the Caldwell survey had previously held a PE CFO role.


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Among companies with less than $25 million in revenue, only 15 percent of the CFOs had prior experience as CFO of a PE-backed company, while 56 percent of the companies with greater than $500 million revenue hired a CFO with prior experience in a PE CFO role. In the three other revenue categories, the companies hired a CFO with prior PE CFO experience 40 percent of the time, or less. These findings would seem to indicate that hiring a CFO with prior PE CFO experience is a “nice to have,” but not a must-have credential for all companies, said the firm.

Caldwell also asked the CFOs: “What were the key factors in your hiring?” and asked them to check all relevant factors. Among the total population of participants, the No. 1 factor was industry experience, and the second factor was PE experience. Tied for third were a previous successful exit and a prior role as a stand-alone PE CFO.

Related: SPMB Recruits CFO for Emergence Capital

Contributed by Scott A. Scanlon, Editor-in-Chief and Dale M. Zupsansky, Executive Editor  – Hunt Scanlon Media

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