When the Ground Moves Beneath Your Feet: Notes from a PE-Backed CFO Forum

In 20-plus years of papering venture and private equity deals in Silicon Valley, I’ve sat across the table from a lot of CFOs. The good ones tell you what’s actually moving the business in the first ninety seconds. The great ones tell you, in the same breath, what they’d change about the last cycle. On Thursday evening at the Wells Fargo Innovation Center in Menlo Park, I had the privilege of moderating a closed-door conversation with four of the great ones, and it was the most useful ninety minutes I’ve spent on the state of value creation in 2026.

The credit for getting that room in the room belongs to the organizers. Christina Bui at Robert Half built the panel, ran the logistics, and kept the program on rails. Armello Rodriguez and the Wells Fargo Innovation Center team hosted us and made the venue feel like a working room rather than a stage. You can see it in the photo above—panelists on stools, no podium, the program board behind us setting the week’s tempo. And Murray Newlands, who knows everyone worth knowing on the early-stage capital side, helped pull the right people into the seats and then sharpened the questions in the lightning round.

The panel itself was deliberately tight. Celine Dinh of Brain-Life and Vietsol. Drew Hamer of Arcserve. Ted Marks of Applitools. Viraj Patel of Signeasy. Four PE-backed CFOs who had pulled real levers in the last twelve months. No theory, no slideware, no AI-washing tolerated. Here’s what came out of it.

The macro: AI is on fire, SaaS is in a squeeze

I opened the night with a framing the room didn’t push back on. AI is in a boom cycle: budgets are flooding in, board attention is everywhere, infrastructure spend is accelerating. Meanwhile, traditional SaaS is in a tougher cycle than it’s been in a decade. Growth multiples have compressed. Expansion is harder. Churn is scrutinized more than ever. The math of the Rule of 40 has become the Rule of 100.

For a PE-backed CFO, that creates a very specific mandate: create value now (in EBITDA and in cash), protect the downside, and keep optionality for an exit that may take longer than anyone wants. Or, as I kept saying throughout the night: value creation must be manufactured, not assumed.

The ground is moving on valuation

The most uncomfortable truth in the room (and the one every CFO nodded at) is that the ground has shifted beneath our feet on how growth gets valued. Thirty percent growth used to clear the bar without a second look. In 2026, the same number provokes a different question: at what margin, with what retention, and at what efficiency?

Murray pushed it in the lightning round: is 30% growth respectable, or irrelevant? The answer was clear—it depends entirely on whether the growth is efficient and durable. A growth number without a margin profile and a retention story is no longer a complete sentence. Buyers and sponsors are no longer paying for top-line optics. They are paying for predictable, repeatable margin expansion at scale.

This shift reframes everything a CFO does. Pricing discipline moves higher up the priority list. Churn analysis becomes a weekly focus instead of a quarterly review. And there is a strong emphasis on what Drew described as “margin that sticks”—structural improvements that don’t reverse over time.

EBITDA from precision, not pain

Every CFO in the room had already cut what was easy to cut. The next phase is about precision: pricing, product mix, and operating discipline.

Viraj outlined how stronger pricing discipline works in practice: fewer discounts, clearer packaging, and strict enforcement through approval workflows. The result is sustainable margin expansion without significantly slowing growth.

Ted also raised an important warning. Chasing “EBITDA at all costs” can backfire. Cutting too aggressively can hurt retention and product quality, leading to churn that shows up quarters later. Sponsors value repeatable margin, not short-term cost cutting.

The cultural shift: finance has moved into the operating core

The role of finance has fundamentally changed. Celine described a shift from monthly reviews to weekly operating reviews driven by key performance indicators. Finance now owns the scoreboard and decision gates, including pricing approvals, hiring, and spend governance.

Drew clarified the boundary: finance should lead when decisions are economic and support when they are technical or customer-facing. This distinction helps CFOs act as strategic operators rather than just financial overseers.

AI, AI-washing, and the pricing question

AI is delivering real value, but primarily in focused workflows. Automating high-volume processes with clear ROI works. Superficial AI features that do not impact workflow or outcomes do not.

Ted provided a disciplined framework: every AI initiative needs a clear owner, defined KPI, measurable payback period, and strict governance. If it does not impact margin, retention, or cash flow, it is deprioritized.

Pricing AI services is emerging as a major challenge. Traditional SaaS pricing models do not fit well with AI products, where costs scale with usage and value scales with outcomes. CFOs are experimenting with hybrid pricing models, including usage-based tiers and outcome-linked pricing.

This also highlights the issue of AI-washing. Superficial AI claims do not hold up under scrutiny. What matters are measurable outcomes—adoption rates, efficiency gains, and retention improvements.

Exit readiness when the exit is further away

In a slower exit environment, companies must remain decision-ready. Ted highlighted key fundamentals: reliable forecasts, clean KPIs, fast close processes, and strong cash management.

Drew added that investor-grade operations require consistency, transparency, and controls that prevent surprises. Celine emphasized a simple principle: invest in what compounds and eliminate what does not.

The takeaway

Three themes stood out. First, EBITDA growth now comes from precision, not cost-cutting. Second, CFOs have become central to operational decision-making. Third, optionality must be built early, not at the moment of exit.

The key message: be decision-ready before the market demands it.

The networking after the session was equally valuable. The participants—panelists, organizers, and attendees—formed a practical network that provides real answers to complex problems, not just surface-level opinions.

Thanks again to Christina, Armello, and Murray for organizing the event, and to Celine, Drew, Ted, and Viraj for sharing real, actionable insights.