Fanatic of Biz Strategy & Growth 📈 Husband & Girl Dad 👨‍👧‍👧 Podcast Host 🎙️CEO of Brady CFO.

Are you trying to scale your company without a background in accounting and finance and feel like you’re drowning in cash flow and investment concerns?

Do you find yourself constantly contemplating questions like… 

- How do I improve my margins and bottom line?
- Do I have enough cash, or what do I do with my excess cash? 
- How do I make my business more valuable? How do I maximize its sale price? 
- Why is my cash flow so terrible? I have sales growth but never have enough cash. 
- How do I get better banking terms and get banks to actually want to do business with me? 

As President of Brady CFO, I lead a team of Fractional CFOs to support values-oriented CEOs/owners in America’s backbone businesses — getting answers to these questions and solving your cash flow and financial performance frustrations. 

➡️ Our team of corporate financial experts helps you build the business of your dreams and never run out of cash. 

We serve business owners with $5M-$40M in annual revenue in the following industries:

- Food
- Manufacturing
- Logistics
- Warehousing/Distribution
- Construction
- Professional Services 

With Brady CFO, you're not paying for deliverables. You're investing in a creative and evolving financial strategy that fits the needs of your growing business. 

Here are some of our bragging rights: 

💥We secured a $10 million line of credit for a company experiencing two years of declining financial performance, with more favorable loan terms than their prior $2.5 million line.

💥We've expanded accounting teams to support growth from $40 million to $80 million in sales, cutting overhead with technology and reducing financial report times from 60 to 15 days.

💥We took a client from a $500k line of credit to a $2.5mil line with lighter bank covenants and a more dedicated banking partner.

💥We've facilitated numerous business sales and purchases, assessed many potential deals, and mastered business valuation and enhancement techniques!

Are you ready to elevate your business's financial health and drive sustainable growth?

Book a call today to learn more about working with Brady CFO ➡️ https://calendly.com/bradycfo/consultation-with-mason 
Services

As President of Brady CFO, I support a team of corporate financial experts who help you build the business of your dreams and never run out of cash. Our fractional CFO service firm provides strategic financial leadership to companies with $5M-$40M in annual revenue.

Mason Brady, MBA, CMAA

Chris Ortega

Fractional CFO 🔥 Finance Influencer | Entrepreneur | Founder | Strategic Advisor | Business Partner | Disruptor | Finance, FP&A & CFO Thought Leader ✉: ceo@freshfpa.com

I help small & mid-sized business (SMBs) CEOs, owners, and founders turn financial complexity into financial clarity, cash-flow confidence, and profitable growth.

Backed by 20+ years of CFO leadership, corporate finance, accounting and FP&A experience, and a track record of scaling multiple companies to successful exits, I founded Fresh FP&A to give SMBs access to CFO leadership without the $750K full-time CFO costs.

At Fresh FP&A (www.freshfpa.com), we partner with growing SMBs ($1M–$50M in revenue) to:

1️⃣ Gain financial clarity
2️⃣ Improve cash-flow confidence
3️⃣ Unlock profitable growth

Our core services include:

✅ Fractional CFO & Advisory Services for SMBs
✅ Financial Leadership, Budgeting & Strategic Planning
✅ Business Growth, Expansion & Exit Planning

We’re not another consultant, bookkeeper, or interim CFO.

We act as your long-term fractional CFO partner > leading your finance function, delivering clear insights, and providing the financial strategy you need to make confident, profitable decisions while you focus on running & growing your business.

My WHY: To become the best version of Chris E. Ortega, personally and professionally.

My PURPOSE: To use my passions, skills, talents and experiences to help others realize and achieve greatness.

📈 Ready to grow with financial clarity & confidence?

Get your Free Financial Checkup 👉 www.tiny.cc/FreshStart

Learn more about Fresh FP&A 👉 www.freshfpa.com

Chief Executive Officer

Fresh FP&A (www.freshfpa.com) provides expert fractional CFO and advisory services for SMBs (small to medium sized businesses) seeking financial clarity & growth.  Our team of seasoned finance professionals brings extensive experience in financial planning & analysis (FP&A), strategic planning, and financial leadership. We're problem-solvers, strategists, and detail-oriented with a proven track record of growing finance organizations for Seed to Enterprise companies, both domestic and multinational.

𝗛𝗼𝘄 𝗪𝗲 𝗦𝗲𝗿𝘃𝗲 𝗖𝗘𝗢'𝘀, 𝗢𝘄𝗻𝗲𝗿𝘀 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗙𝗼𝘂𝗻𝗱𝗲𝗿𝘀:
• Fractional CFO Services
• Strategic Financial Leadership
• Business Growth and Expansion
• Advisory Services

Lead with Financial Confidence! Free Consultation ☝️ (Click "Book an appointment" above) 

#finance #fpa #fpanda #cfo #ceo #owner #founder #fractionalcfo #virtualcfo #freshfpa #leadership #partner #business #growth

A defining milestone for Fresh FP&A🥂

We just led our first client through a successful, full-lifecycle business acquisition (End to End).

🎯A women-led, minority-owned professional services business.
📈$1M–$10M in revenue.
💡First-time seller.

When this founder first came to us, she wasn't "preparing for an exit."

She was overwhelmed. 

Like many SMB owners, she had built something incredible: but lacked financial clarity, cashflow confidence, and profitable growth.

So we didn't start with a sale. 

We started with the foundation.  

We:

✅ Strengthened the financial infrastructure & leadership
✅ Improved visibility and strategic decision-making
✅ Delivered integrated CFO, FP&A, Accounting, Tax and M&A support

Only then, when the opportunity arose, we were positioned to lead. 

And we did. 

We led the full transaction process: 

✅ Due diligence
✅ LOI structuring
✅ Deal strategy and negotiation 
✅ Final execution

Closed in under 90 days. 

She exited from a position of strength with value protected and increased. 

Over my 20+ year career, I've navigated complex M&A transactions at the enterprise level.  

Fresh FP&A exists to bring that same rigor, discipline, and transaction leadership to the SMB market.

Because too many founders take enormous risk building value, only to enter a sale process underprepared.

That didn’t happen here.

Her words meant everything:

"Chris, this life changing moment and reality is this wouldn't have been possible if it wasn't for you, your team, your expertise and most of all your partnership. You were there and brought value every moment." 🔥 

If you're building with long-term value in mind: 

Whether for growth, capital, or an eventual exit then the preparation starts years before the transaction.

The right financial foundation & leadership CHANGES EVERYTHING! 

More announcements to come... but today, I’m incredibly proud of what we have accomplished together! 

This is just the beginning.

#FreshFPA #MergersAndAcquisitions #FractionalCFO #SMBGrowth #WomenInBusiness

Fractional CFO for SMBs ($1M–$50M in revenue) | Financial Clarity, Cash Flow Confidence & Profitable Growth | Finance, FP&A Leadership & Strategy | CEO & Founder @ Fresh FP&A

This Friday will go down as one of the best in Fresh FP&A. Here’s why.....

Tonight, I had the incredible opportunity to get raw & real with a room full of local entrepreneurs. 

I didn’t just share the highlights: 

I poured out every lesson learned....

Setback faced.....

And everything in between the 5+ years of building Fresh FP&A.

Building a business isn’t a straight line. It’s a series of:

✔️ The Failures: The deals that didn't close and the strategies that shifted.

✔️ The Wins: Seeing our clients scale and our team thrive.

✔️ The "Face-Slapping" Moments: Those brutal reality checks that force you to grow or fold.

I’ve said that Impact is EVERYTHING. 🔥

That’s why tonight felt so special because it marked the first official drop of: 

The Fresh Blueprint: Volume 1 😍

I’ll be the first to admit: I don’t have it all figured out. 

I’m still a student of the game every single day. 

But I'm thankful to my team, our clients, and our partners who keep pushing us forward.

Huge shoutout to Winny Luis and Be Nimble Foundation for hosting such a powerful event.

Let’s keep driving the mission forward.

The marathon continues....

#FreshFPA #Entrepreneurship #TheFreshBlueprint #SmallBusiness #Impact

"40% Chris is 110% of a normal person. So, we are happy you are able to join the meeting to listen."

A client told me this on my first call back after being knocked out by the flu last week.

And I mean completely out of commission. 🫨 

My voice was low. 

My energy wasn’t there. 

I started the meeting by apologizing and letting them know I’d mostly be in listen-only mode. 

Their response was funny and humbling but it also reminded me of something important about running a growing business.

As founders, CEOs, and leaders, we put a lot of pressure on ourselves to bring 100% to every interaction.

We fall into the trap of thinking if we aren't driving the conversation, we aren't adding value.

But this experience reinforced two truths:

1️⃣ Presence is a strategy 

Sometimes your clients, partners, or team don't need you to dominate the conversation.

They need to know you're in the trenches with them: listening, absorbing the context, and thinking through the bigger picture.

2️⃣ Relationships matter more than transactions

When you build real trust with clients, they extend grace.

They see you as a human being, not just a vendor.

I may have been operating at 40% today, but it reminded me that the trust we’ve built with our clients is always operating at 100%.

❓When you're not at full speed as a leader, do you push through or shift into listening mode?

Curious how others handle this.

I've been super focused and I have not followed up with those reaching out to me to connect.....

So, join me and Indianapolis Chapter CFO Leadership Council on:
March 18, 2026 
530 - 830pm
District Tap 

For our March Madness Social.

I'll be there so we can definitely catch up and connect!  

Link to Register > https://lnkd.in/eCUGReAM

Nothing like high school basketball sectionals in Indiana on Saturday.......

Pike vs. Mt. Vernon my highschool (Pike) lost but had a great time with these future Hoosiers!

One of the hardest realities I had to learn in building Fresh FP&A 🤔...

#ceo #businessgrowth #owner #founder #fractionalcfo

You selling to CFOs then stop ❌  the cap?  Adam Zaki gives you the blueprint to sell to CFOs and of course I had to drop some gems along with.....

Francis Mitchell, Dr. Tim Naddy, Fresh FP&A, Lauren Russi Dillard, Katrina Queirolo and Greg Chisholm.

Read the full article here 👉

Open article: CFOs remain skeptical of flashy SaaS marketing by cfo.com

CFOs remain skeptical of flashy SaaS marketing

Will I see you at the ICAEW 2026 CFO webinar event on March 12, 2026 at 12 - 1 pm GMT? 

I’ll be joining the panel for "Driving Resilience and Growth: The 2026 CFO" in partnership with ICAEW & Yooz. 

On this panel, I’ll be doubling down on:

✅ Agility over Accuracy: Why a "perfect" budget is often the enemy of a resilient business.

✅ The EQ Factor: Why the CFOs who win in 2026 will be the ones who lead with empathy and collaboration, not just spreadsheets.

✅ Tech as a Force Multiplier: Moving beyond the hype to show how AI actually scales your impact.

I’m ready to share the Fresh FP&A playbook on how we make that happen.

Event Details:

📅 Date: March 12, 2026 at 12 - 1pm GMT
📍 Format: Virtual
👨‍👨‍👦‍👦 Simon Gray, James Smalley and Shelsea Adrian
🔗 Register here: https://lnkd.in/g56uuCJt

Are you attending? Drop a "YES" in the comments or click the link above:  

What is the #1 challenge you’re facing right now? 👇

#FreshFPA #CFO2026 #ICAEW #FinanceLeadership #Resilience #StrategicFinance #FutureOfFinance

Open article: Driving resilience and growth: the 2026 CFO conundrum with Yooz by events.icaew.com

Driving resilience and growth: the 2026 CFO conundrum with Yooz

A client recently referred me to a CEO whose company just crossed $10M in revenue......

On paper, everything looked great.

✅ Fast-growing professional services firm
✅ Strong reputation in their market
✅ Double-digit growth over the past 3 years

But within 10 minutes of our first Teams call, the real story came out.

He was exhausted.

Cash flow was tight.
Margins felt thin.

And he couldn’t understand why.

Then he said something I hear far too often:

"Chris, I think we just need to push sales and operations harder to get ahead of these expenses."

I had to stop him right there.

Selling more with a broken operational model doesn’t fix the problem.

It just hides it… temporarily. 🔥

His finance team delivered a clean P&L every month.

But a P&L is just the scoreboard.

It shows revenue, expenses, and profit.

It doesn’t show what it actually costs your team to deliver the work.

When we looked at operational performance, the silent margin killer appeared:

SCOPE CREEP 🫨 

Scope creep quietly destroys margins in service businesses.

His team was spending 40–60% more hours delivering projects than they were billing for.

Because he only reviewed total revenue and payroll, the problem stayed hidden.

And it got worse.

Some of his largest clients were actually losing him money.

This is where CFO-level financial analysis becomes critical.

If your business is growing but cash still feels tight, start here:

1️⃣ Measure inputs not just revenue

Track the time, capacity, and resources required to deliver your services.

2️⃣ Review profitability by client

Blended margins hide the truth.

3️⃣ Connect operations to finance

If operational metrics aren't tied to financial results, you're flying blind.

Here’s the reality many scaling SMBs face:

Revenue is vanity if operations are quietly eating your cash.

❓ Founders: do you know which clients are actually profitable?

👇 Curious to hear how others track this.

#CFO #ProfessionalServices #SMB #BusinessGrowth

Is your finance team an anchor or an engine?

I finished an incredible roundtable with ICAEW, and the consensus for 2026 is clear: 

The "Wait and See" approach to finance transformation is officially dead.

If you aren't optimizing, you’re decaying.

Huge thanks to Shelsea Adrian (Yooz), James Smalley (Forvis Mazars) for joining me to break down how the smartest CFOs are building resilience in this "perpetual uncertainty" economy.

Here are my 3 "Fresh" takeaways from our session:

✅ AP Automation is no longer "Optional": 

With E-invoicing becoming a global standard, if your team is still manually processing paper, you’re burning high-value talent on low-value tasks. 

✅ Resilience = Agility: 

We discussed moving from static to rolling forecasts. In 2026, the goal isn't to be "right" about the future but it's to be "ready" for any version of it. 🛡️

✅ The Growth Strategy Pivot: 

Stop looking for "big wins" and start looking for "marginal gains." Optimizing your cash conversion cycle by even 5% through better processes can fund your entire R&D budget for the year. 💸

The Bottom Line:

The gap between "Back-Office Finance" and "Strategic Leadership" is widening. Which side of that gap is your team on?

🫨 Missed the session? 

Drop a "REPLAY" in the comments, and I’ll get the recording link. 📽️

#FreshFPA #CFO #ModernFinance #ICAEW #APAutomation #BusinessGrowth #Leadership

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Mason Brady, MBA, CMAA

Chris Ortega

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The Battle

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