Design a Business Case the CFO Will Actually Read

CROs and RevOps leaders don't win approvals by dazzling people with slides; they win by making decisions obvious, safe, and fast. A business case that the CFO actually reads is short, portable, and built on a stable frame: a clear Canary, explicit Impact math, and a side-by-side comparison of the only three choices—Do Nothing, DIY, or Find a Vendor. Package it so Finance can verify the numbers in minutes, operators can see the work, and executives can approve a low-risk first step.

Start with the CFO's rubric

The CFO's job is to protect time and reduce risk while allocating capital to the highest confidence sources of value. Give them exactly what they need up front:

• There is a low-risk, fast way to ascertain value before anyone commits big money or time.
• The test uses their data, their systems, and their team—so results will travel.
• The decision you're asking for is small, reversible, and time-boxed.
• If the proof works, the path to rollout is clear and governed.

If your first page doesn't make those points obvious in under 90 seconds, it's not CFO-ready yet.

Deck or doc? Choose the right container

Form follows use. Use a deck when the case needs to be skimmed quickly and socialized across busy leaders; headings and visuals help non-experts grasp the argument at a glance. Use a doc when operators and Finance must inspect deeper reasoning, model assumptions, and implementation details. Often the winning move is both: a one-page executive summary (first), a short deck that travels (second), and a doc appendix the sponsor can open when someone asks, "Can we validate the math?" Don't force long narrative into slides or bury critical decisions in prose—pick the format your audience will actually consume.

Keep it short because most of the work is already done

By the time you need a business case, the heavy lifting should already be complete: symptoms recognized, root cause drilled down to something fixable, fix written like Ops would run it, Canary defined, Impact math drafted, and a small proof scoped. The case itself is packaging—not discovery. Resist the urge to re-argue everything. Keep the summary A4-short: the decision, the Canary, the change, the Impact range, the three options, the first-proof plan, the owners, and the timebox. Everything else lives behind hyperlinks or in an appendix.

Make the "CFO page" do the work

Your first page should stand alone in someone else's inbox. Use tight sections with labels the CFO expects:

• Problem & Canary: The direct indicator and today's baseline (with source system).
• Approach: The change in one sentence—what changes, for whom, by when.
• Impact Range: Conservative / expected / best-case with the exact assumptions that drive each.
• Options (Same Frame): Do Nothing, DIY, Vendor—compared on one horizon, with the same adoption, risk, and cost categories.
• Time to First Proof: Scope, timebox, and the success criteria that move the Canary.
• Risks & Controls: The two or three most likely failure modes and how you contain them.
• Decision Requested: The specific approval (budget, people time, dates, owners).

If someone can't forward just that page and get a "yes," it's not tight enough yet.

Show the three options on a fixed frame

Every credible case compares Do Nothing, DIY, and Find a Vendor on the same frame:

• Same horizon (e.g., 6–9–12 months).
• Same adoption assumptions (who changes behavior and when).
• Same risk definitions (what could delay or reduce value and how it will be detected).
• Same cost categories (people time, enabling work, tooling, cash).

Lock the frame before touching any knobs. Then, if parameters differ by option, say why in plain language. The point is integrity: a CFO can smell tuning. Your job is to make trade-offs visible, not to "win the spreadsheet."

Make time and risk explicit (that's what Finance buys)

Executives don't just buy outcomes; they buy time compression and risk containment. In each option, spell out:

• Time-to-first-proof: The smallest, fastest test that should move the Canary with the buyer's data and team.
• Time-to-rollout: The phases after proof, the gates between them, and who owns each gate.
• Risk controls: Scope limits, instrumentation, validation cadence, and escalation paths—tied to the Canary and success criteria.

If your page talks only about benefits and not about time and risk, it's not a business case—it's a pitch.

Write the fix like an operator (so the case travels)

In an appendix or two "operator pages," write the fix exactly the way an internal Ops team would write it for themselves:

• Mechanics: the workflow, artifact, or governance you will install.
• Data: fields, sources, validation rules, and who owns them.
• Measurement: how the Canary is captured in the system of record.
• Early warnings: what you'll see if it's working or drifting.
• Failure modes and mitigations: what you'll do inside the timebox if X or Y happens.

This is where you earn trust with operators and Finance: they can picture the work and see that it's doable.

Include DIY (it actually strengthens your case)

Documenting a credible DIY path doesn't undercut you; it differentiates you. Your DIY section should read like a project plan with real calendar time and real cross-functional work. Then describe your approach in the same language. The contrast should be obvious without theatrics: same fix, but your path compresses time, reduces coordination risk, and packages governance. That's a fair comparison a CFO can approve.

Make "Do Nothing" unavoidable

Always show the baseline. Quantify the compounding cost of standing still if the Canary is trending the wrong way. If "Do Nothing" looks cheap on paper because it ignores slippage, drift, and rework, call that out explicitly. The point isn't to scare people; it's to preserve honesty. A strong baseline builds confidence in the rest of your numbers.

Prove portability: their systems, their math

Everything that matters should be reproducible in the buyer's tools. Offer the Impact model as a simple spreadsheet they own. Define the Canary using their CRM fields. Use screenshots and field names they recognize. When Finance can audit the number without your presence, approvals accelerate because the case can travel without you.

Ask for a small, safe decision

Your business case should crescendo to a small, reversible decision:

• Approve the first proof to move one Canary for one team or segment.
• Timebox the effort and name the owners (one exec sponsor, one operator).
• Define the exit: continue, change scope, or stop—decided in advance.
• List the artifacts the buyer keeps: the model, the workflow, the template/report.

When the decision is this small and the proof is this safe, getting to "yes" is straightforward.

"Good" looks like this (RevOps checklist)

• A one-page CFO summary that stands alone and gets forwarded.
• The three options on a single, stable frame.
• Time-to-first-proof and risk controls are explicit, not implied.
• The fix is written in operator language, with artifacts someone will actually use.
• DIY is presented credibly, not as a straw-man.
• Do Nothing baseline is quantified with compounding effects where relevant.
• The model and measurement are portable to the buyer's tools.
• The requested decision is small, reversible, and owned.

Close: Make approval the path of least resistance

When you package the business case this way, the easiest path is approval of the first proof. Finance sees a bounded commitment and auditable math. Operators see a fix they can run. Executives see time and risk compressed. That's a business case the CFO will actually read—and sign.