Decades of Financial Strategy Across 70 Companies and Still Going | Neal Miller, Ep 39
Episode Summary
Neil Miller, a partner emeritus at Tech CXO with nearly 20 years of fractional CFO experience across 70+ companies, shares his career journey from public accounting through multiple CFO roles at public companies to pioneering fractional executive work. He discusses value creation stories including Cloud Sherpas (acquired by Accenture) and Boomtown (90M+ revenue exit), the current venture capital environment, and how AI tools are compressing startup development cycles while raising the bar for execution speed.
Pull Quotes
“You don't have to take my advice. You just have to pay for it. And I'll still be your friend. I just want to hear how it works out for you.”
On the fractional executive value proposition
“The skill sets that you need you can't afford and you need somebody like me with my experience but you can't afford me as a full-time hire. You're a two million dollar company. You just can't afford me. And the person that you can afford by definition does not have the skill sets.”
On drawing an org chart that transformed the CEO's effectiveness
“What was the best thing that you delivered to Boomtown? It was like this piece of paper with two sides on it. That was it. The napkin.”
“I come in with my backpack and I tell them yeah, I don't have an office. I'm not putting any photos of my kids or any of that kind of stuff and you can give me fifteen minutes notice and tell me that you don't need me anymore and I'll pick up my backpack and go.”
On the current venture funding environment and AI adoption challenges
“The reality is that not all companies with good ideas are going to get funded. And now because it's so easy or quick to come take your good idea and turn it into a pilot or something like that, big companies which drive big revenue numbers are very nervous about taking mission-critical tasks and handing them off to an AI solution.”
Transcript
Hi, welcome to Tales from the Sky Lounge. It's a podcast about business, consulting, and venture investing. We get out there in the world, we talk to people who are making it happen, and we get their stories. If you can like and subscribe, it makes our producer James very happy. He wanted me to mention that we have a sister channel called Speedrun Through Claude where we talk about all things AI and practical aspects of it that can make your life and business go faster.
So today's guest in the Sky Lounge is legendary Neil Miller. Hi Neil, how are you?
Great, thanks. So everybody knows Neil at least around Tech CXO, but Neil, who are you and what are you working on these days?
Well, as you mentioned, I'm a partner at Tech CXO. I was one of the early partners in the firm. I started in late 2006. I think it was partner number five. I had a career of about 25 to 30 years before that in technology. I started my career in public accounting, but right now what I'm doing is I'm making the move towards relaxation and retirement. I'm now a partner emeritus at Tech CXO, which means I'm sort of involved but I'm not doing client work anymore. I'm still on the board of managers of the firm. Besides that, I am working on trying to improve my golf game, which I didn't spend enough time on for many years. I'm getting a little bit better at it and playing a couple times a week. My wife and I just recently purchased a property in Costa Rica, and we're starting to spend some time there, getting it ready to have friends and family who are lining up to come down and visit us.
Yeah, I've heard awesome things about Costa Rica. That's well deserved. That's an awesome place down there. Well, you mentioned a lot, and one of the cool things I think about your background story is that a lot of people, and in particular, we sit down for lunch and we talk, and everybody knows Neil, and it's surprising how many people came through Neil Miller to get to Tech CXO or an investor in Atlanta or have had contact through that positive interaction. I guess you and I had a brief, well, not brief, but for me it was four years at Higher IQ, so that was kind of fun. And then Joe Gr was there for a minute. And then several other partners at Tech CXO came through you. Do you are you surprised at how many people come back around in your career? Do you probably have a million stories like that where you planted a little seed and then five or ten or twenty years later something comes back around where you know that person, there's an opportunity, and you can play matchmaker again. How frequently does that happen?
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