Ascendant CFO at a Glance
Ascendant CFO is a boutique Fractional CFO firm on a mission to empower entrepreneurs and executives to scale new financial heights and achieve extraordinary exits. We believe that every business owner should have access to world-class financial strategy – not just Fortune 500 companies. Small and mid-sized businesses are the heart of the economy, and we are passionate about helping those businesses realize their full value.
Founded by experienced finance and operations executives, Ascendant CFO has become a trusted partner to companies preparing for critical milestones like acquisitions, mergers, and expansion. We have guided a handful of founders through successful exits, helped raise over $5million in growth capital, and improved the financial performance of countless organizations. Our approach is defined by proactive “hands-on” partnership, unwavering integrity, and a focus on results. When you work with us, expect candid advice, prompt action, and a team that genuinely cares about your success as much as you do.
Value Creation for our Clients: +$25M
Our Mission and Values
Mission: To provide entrepreneurial companies with the financial clarity, strategy, and execution needed to maximize their business value and realize a life-changing exit or growth milestone. We exist to give owners peace of mind and a clear path forward – so you never have to climb alone.
This mission was born from seeing too many founders pour their heart into their business only to stumble when it came time to exit. We’ve witnessed first-hand what it costs a business not to have good CFO-level guidance – missed growth opportunities, stalled negotiations, lower valuations, or deals falling through. Ascend CFO was created to change that. Just as you might hire a personal financial planner to secure your family’s future, your business deserves a CFO who develops the financial roadmap for the company’s future. Our “why” is to ensure that no entrepreneur fails to achieve their retirement or legacy goals for lack of financial planning – with the right guidance, your business can reach its summit and give you real options for the future.
Core Values: Our values guide how we work with clients every day
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Integrity & Transparency: We approach every engagement with honesty, ethical practices, and open communication. Your trust is our greatest asset, and we’ll always provide frank, objective advice – even when it’s hard to hear.
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Excellence & Expertise: We are continuous learners and improvement fanatics, staying on top of the latest industry trends, tools, and regulations. Each Ascend CFO team member has a proven track record and seeks to deliver best-in-class financial leadership on every project.
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Entrepreneurial Empathy: We treat your business like our own. Having been entrepreneurs and operators ourselves, we respect the passion and risk you’ve invested. We listen first, seek to understand your vision, and then work tirelessly to help achieve it. We’re not just number-crunchers – we’re business builders alongside you.
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Proactive Problem-Solving: Good CFOs anticipate issues before they arise. We pride ourselves on forward thinking – whether it’s identifying a cash flow gap six months out or addressing financial reporting weaknesses now to satisfy a future buyer. This proactive, strategic mindset means fewer surprises and more control for you.
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Collaboration & Coaching: Our role extends beyond delivering reports. We educate and coach your team, fostering stronger financial acumen across your organization. We also often work in tandem with other advisors (bankers, accountants, attorneys), believing that a collaborative team delivers the best outcomes. When you engage Ascend CFO, you gain not just one CFO, but access to our collective expertise and professional network.
What Makes Ascend CFO Unique
In a growing field of fractional CFO providers, here’s why clients choose Ascend CFO as their financial co-pilot:
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Exit-Centric Perspective: Unlike generalist firms, we start with your end goal in mind. From Day 1, we’re planning and positioning your company for the ultimate milestone – whether that’s a lucrative sale, merger, or major investment. This exit-focused mindset ensures that even as we improve today’s operations, we’re also building the narrative and metrics for your future buyers. It’s a balance of short-term results and long-term value creation that sets us apart.
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Embedded Partnership: We don’t operate as an outside consultant delivering a report and walking away. Ascend CFO becomes an embedded part of your leadership team – a true partner who works in the trenches with you. You’ll find us in management meetings, brainstorming alongside other executives, and rallying your team to hit financial targets. Clients often tell us we feel like an in-house CFO who just happens to be fractional.
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Broad Sector Expertise with Deep Insight: Our collective experience spans startups to Fortune 500 corporations across multiple industries. This means we bring a wealth of cross-industry insight and best practices to benefit your business. At the same time, for each engagement, we match you with a CFO who has specific experience in your sector or business model – someone who understands the unique challenges and opportunities you face, be it SaaS revenue recognition or manufacturing cost controls. You get the best of both worlds: a broad perspective and relevant know-how.
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Top-Tier Talent (Right-Sized): All of our CFOs are high-caliber professionals who have held CFO or senior finance roles before. We joke that we bring you the top 1% of CFO talent without the full-time price tag. But equally important, we’re a small, focused team by design – you aren’t engaging a large faceless firm where you might get a junior analyst behind the scenes. With Ascend, you work directly with experienced CFO advisors who are hands-on in delivering your services.
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Proven Frameworks, Customized Solutions: Over the years, we’ve developed robust frameworks for financial management – from our “Exit-Ready Financial Dashboard” template to our playbooks for cash management and budgeting. These tools, refined from helping hundreds of businesses, allow us to hit the ground running and drive results quickly. However, we never force a generic plan on you. We tailor every strategy to your company’s DNA. Your goals, culture, and circumstances guide our approach, ensuring recommendations that fit and strategies that stick.
Meet Our Leadership Team
Andy Barrio
Founder and CEO
Andy is the Founder and CEO of Ascend CFO. He partners with founders and leadership teams to deliver Fractional CFO and M&A advisory services, with a focus on growth, profitability, cash-flow optimization, and exit readiness.
Andy brings over 20 years of experience spanning fractional CFO engagements, senior finance leadership, and management consulting. He has supported Fortune 500 companies, private equity–backed mid-market businesses, and high-growth startups across SaaS, technology, e-commerce, professional services, healthcare, automotive, and aerospace manufacturing, management consulting, and others.
He has guided PE-backed and founder-led companies through M&A and exit processes, including sell-side preparation, diligence execution, lender workstreams, and transaction close support. He has also led and advised multicultural teams across North America, Latin America, EMEA, and Asia-Pacific, bringing a practical, globally informed perspective to finance and operational decision-making.
Andy has contributed to more than $25M in client value creation through finance transformations, process optimization, and growth initiatives that drive measurable cost efficiencies and performance improvement.
He holds a Bachelor’s degree in Accounting from The University of Texas and an MBA from the University of Phoenix. Having lived and worked across three continents, Andy brings a cross-cultural leadership style and is trilingual in English, Spanish, and French.
Sacha Serfaty
VP Business Development
Sacha is an experienced Business Development professional having worked for Software companies over the last 20 years. He has helped Software companies in Analytics, Data Science and the Enterprise Performance Management space find new business opportunities, turn prospects into clients and nurture value-driven business relationships.
Over the years he has worked for both large and small Multi-national organisations with a specific focus on understanding client requirements and positioning complex value propositions in order to meet those specific needs that deliver an ROI to clients through either improving cost productivity, cost efficiency and automation or focusing on use cases that deliver value to the top line. From Oil and Gas, Public sector organisations to all types of Financial Services clients the common theme has been leveraging cutting edge technology for the purpose of furthering business performance through decision making insights.
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He obtained his Bachelor of Arts degree in Economics and worked with clients in Asia, USA, Continental Europe and the UK. He is bi-lingual in Spanish and English.