Piper
A long-term search partnership supporting Piper-backed consumer businesses with CFO and Finance Director appointments capable of navigating growth, founder-led cultures and external investment.
Investing behind ambitious consumer founders.
Piper is a specialist investor focused on ambitious consumer brands across retail, leisure, digital and wider consumer markets.
Its portfolio has included businesses at exciting points in their development, often working alongside founders as they professionalise their organisations, strengthen leadership teams and prepare for the next stage of growth.
That environment creates a distinctive leadership requirement. Senior finance hires need the technical depth expected of a CFO or Finance Director, but they must also be sufficiently hands-on to operate within smaller, entrepreneurial businesses.
Senior finance leadership across some of the UK's most exciting consumer brands.
Consumer Exec has supported Piper-backed businesses with a succession of CFO and Finance Director appointments across wellness, technology, hospitality, fitness, pet care and consumer goods.
Find finance leaders capable of scaling founder-led businesses.
Consumer Exec worked closely with Piper-backed businesses to identify senior finance leaders who could combine hands-on operational capability with the strategic and commercial judgement required to scale rapidly growing consumer brands.
In many instances, that growth had an international dimension. Candidates therefore needed to think beyond today's finance function and understand how systems, controls, teams and reporting would need to evolve alongside the business.
The cultural requirement was equally important. These were often entrepreneurial, owner-run organisations where senior leaders needed to work closely with founders while also communicating confidently with professional investment stakeholders.
A rigorous search process from brief through to successful start.
Understand the growth story
Each search began with detailed understanding of the portfolio company's growth ambitions, founder dynamic, investment context and the leadership capability needed for the next stage.
Identify exceptional talent
We targeted finance leaders capable of balancing strategic leadership with the willingness to remain operational and hands-on inside rapidly scaling consumer businesses.
Manage the full process
Consumer Exec managed searches from briefing and candidate assessment through detailed interview notes, client interviews, offers and successful onboarding into the portfolio businesses.
Finance leadership that understands the consumer growth journey.
The remit of a finance leader in a PE-backed consumer business extends well beyond reporting.
They may be preparing a company for international expansion, building scalable processes, improving commercial insight, supporting investment decisions and helping founders translate ambitious plans into a financially sustainable growth strategy.
That is why sector understanding matters. Consumer Exec's network is built around leaders who understand how consumer businesses grow and the realities of operating inside founder-led environments.
Nine senior finance appointments across the Piper portfolio.
The partnership has resulted in successful CFO and Finance Director hires across a diverse portfolio of consumer businesses.
The breadth of appointments demonstrates the transferability of the search model across different consumer categories while retaining the highly specific requirements of each individual brand.
From wellness and fitness technology to hospitality and consumer products, the central challenge remained consistent: identifying outstanding finance leaders capable of helping ambitious businesses scale.
CFO and Finance Director appointments across Piper-backed consumer businesses.
“We have had some great results working with Consumer Additions finding FDs for our portfolio companies. Jon and Matthew are highly professional and a pleasure to work with.”
Building leadership across a consumer portfolio?
Consumer Exec works with private equity firms, investors, founders and consumer businesses to identify CFOs, Finance Directors and senior leaders capable of delivering through the next stage of growth.