Discovering a 20-point gap between sales dashboards and true margins at a prior marketplace company, Niels Boon built a CFO-led pricing function, abolished blanket rebates, tied commissions to net revenue, and enforced disciplined approvals. Within 12 months, gross margin rose from 20% to 40%, turning a cash-burning business profitable.
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Now Watch our Complete Episode Featuring CFO Niels Boon of Cint
Across Europe’s digital economy, Niels Boon built a CFO playbook that blends strategy, systems, and EQ. After McKinsey and Zalando’s IPO prep, he became a first-time CFO at 28, learning to scale fast without losing discipline. At Cint, he inherited a post-merger tangle: five CFOs, 28 entities, multiple ERPs. He consolidated to 14 entities, moved to one ERP, refinanced debt, and led an oversubscribed rights issue. Marketplace metrics—conversion and reversal rates—steer execution. With AI, he’s automating finance workflows and launching product companions, while anchoring culture in client-facing EQ: listen widely, fix pain points, and turn finance into a trusted partner.
| CFO’s Strategy Playbook |
|---|
| • Restore data foundations and integration discipline. |
| • Establish CFO-led pricing tied to net revenue. |
| • Lead with EQ to rebuild cross-functional trust. |