Mike Laureno helps companies figure out what they’re really worth, what’s possible, and the best way to get there.
Managing investors and diligent reporting have long been table stakes of financial management. Mike goes way beyond that. He serves as a thought partner, helping leadership understand what matters and when, and how make the company much more valuable. He builds forecasts that hold up over time, and keeps operations on plan using metrics that exclusively support that plan. The result is clarity and focus for management teams and stakeholders alike.
Whether a company is scaling quickly or in need of a significant change, Mike turns finance and operations into tools for growth and profitability while holding the business at breakeven or better. He helps leadership allocate capital wisely, see around corners, manage downside risk, and make better decisions with better data so the business can raise capital on its own terms, not out of need.
With nearly three decades of experience across finance, strategy, operations, and restructuring, Mike has spent much of his career as a CFO and operating executive for private equity-backed, high-growth, and middle-market companies. He works with management teams, boards, and PE sponsors across SaaS, AI, healthcare technology, media and entertainment, manufacturing, and financial services.
CFO, PointRight
Mike led the turnaround of this private equity-backed healthcare SaaS company, improving EBITDA margins from negative 47% to positive 10% in 18 months and gross margins from 63% to 80%. He raised $7 million in debt without dilutive equity and drove a fivefold increase in valuation in two years, positioning the company for exit.
Strategic Advisor, Snap
After Snap turned down an unsolicited $3 billion acquisition offer, Mike built a monetization model projecting a $10 billion valuation within a year. His forecasts remained accurate through that critical year, and Snap was publicly valued at $10 billion 13 months later, enabling an IPO shortly after.
Strategic Advisor, Harvard Business Publishing
This $45 million corporate learning division had been growing rapidly but had limited reliable financial and operational information. Mike redesigned its forecasting process, improving accuracy more than tenfold and extending visibility from quarterly to a rolling 12-months.
Strategic Advisor, Lionsgate Entertainment
Mike stepped into a critical FP&A role days before an earnings call, in the middle of a hostile takeover attempt, and rebuilt revenue forecasts across the film pipeline. The resulting guidance proved highly accurate, helping restore investor confidence at a pivotal moment.
CFO, SiteSpect
At this private equity-backed SaaS company, Mike led the company through multiple capital raises, a debt refinancing, and a path to profitability, improving gross margins by more than 15%.
Earlier in his career, Mike rose from M&A to venture capital, and finally high-yield research at RBC Capital Markets. He later worked in valuation and forensic accounting at Moss Adams and restructuring and turnarounds at AlixPartners, where his assignments included a $2 billion subprime lender in Chapter 11.
At TechCXO, Mike serves as a fractional CFO and strategic advisor on financial strategy, forecasting, capital planning, and turnarounds.
Mike earned an M.S. in Finance from Boston College’s Carroll School of Management and a B.A. in Philosophy, magna cum laude, from Boston College. He is a Lean Six Sigma Black Belt, authored five courses for the AICPA’s Chartered Global Management Accountant certification program, and has served as a mentor and judge with MassChallenge since 2014.