Workbooks and templates
They come out of the C-Level Hiring Guides, where each one sits on its own page. Here they are as small versions, role-neutral, with the CFO as the worked example. Hand this page to the AI you use and let it build them for your company and your stage. Or write to me with the subject "CxO Templates" and you get all of them by e-mail.
01 · The seat
Most teams write the title and a list of duties. This one asks five things and most teams skip the last.
Which of the jobs that share the title are you hiring?For a CFO: the first CFO, the operator, or the public-ready CFO. Reports to whom.
By the milestone, the seat has to deliver what?A raise, a readout, a listing, a launch. One line.
What this person owns from day one, and what they do not.Written down before the first conversation.
When this function and the programme disagree, who decides?Most teams skip this line. It is the one that matters at month seven.
Market, base, bonus tied to what, equity percentage, change of control.The structure, before the numbers. Every role page on this site has the full version.
02 · Human needs
Two of six drive every person, and they barely change. The seat feeds them or starves them. This sheet makes the check visible.
Predictability. Variety. Recognition. Connection. Growth. Contribution.Score each one from 1 to 5, from decisions that cost the person something.
The two that explain the forks in the CV.Probes: the forks, peak and trough, the ladder, the non-negotiable.
Which two needs the seat feeds, and which it starves.Written before the first candidate. That is stage fit.
Top two against feeds and starves. Fed on both: hire. Starved on one: a conversation. Starved on both: not this seat.
03 · Time plan
The milestone sets the clock: the raise, the crossover, the readout, the exit. Everything else counts backwards from it.
Start the search.
Offer signed, notice period starts.
First day, ramp starts.
Doing the job, a year before the milestone.
The milestone.Behind on T-21? Interim now, search behind it.
04 · Interview questions
They separate "was in the room" from "inherited it". The CFO set, as the worked example. Each hiring guide carries the set for its role.
Your last raise. What did the lead investor push on?
The cash crisis. When did you tell the board?
The runway model that was wrong. How did you find out?
Fourteen months of runway, readout in twenty. What do you do?
The diligence that went wrong. How late did you catch it?
Their actual contribution. A decision you disagreed with. The first 48 hours. Would you work with them again, with no infrastructure?The candidate gives two references. You find three.
05 · Background check
A reference call is an opinion. A background check is a fact. Run it during the process, not after the offer, by an independent firm, paid by the company, results to the board.
And every name this person has used.
Professional registers (CPA, ACCA, Steuerberater; medical licence and standing for a CMO).
Confirmed by the registrar, not by the CV.
Confirmed with the employer.
SEC actions and director disqualification registers. For medical roles the FDA debarment list and the investigator disqualification database.
Every raise, deal or trial on the CV matched to filings, press, ClinicalTrials.gov or EU CTIS.
Certificate, where local law allows. Who runs it, by when.
06 · Score sheet
Three candidates, six lines. The sheet keeps the conversation after the interviews on the evidence, not on who was most charming on the day.
Seat skills, evidenced.
What the next stage asks of the seat, and whether this person has done that job.
The five questions: was in the room, or inherited it.
Found, not given.
Top two drives, fed or starved by this seat.
Clear.
Get the full set
Option 1, let AI build them. Hand this page to the AI you use and let it create the six documents for your company, your role and your stage.
Option 2, by e-mail. Write to me with the subject "CxO Templates" and you get all templates per e-mail.