The Building Texas Podcast | Fractional CFO: The 2 Hires Every Founder Gets Wrong Before Their Exit | Bart Davis

In this episode of The Building Texas Show, host Justin McKenzie sits down with Bart Davis, CEO and Co-founder of 512Financial, to discuss what growing companies need from finance and People Operations leadership as they scale.

Bart shares how 512Financial grew out of work supporting startup portfolio companies and why early-stage finance requires a very different skill set than leading finance inside a large enterprise. The conversation covers when companies should consider a fractional CFO, how much they should expect to invest in accounting and finance, and why a fractional model can give founders access to more specialized talent than a single full-time hire.

The podcast also discusses 512Financial’s expansion into People Operations and executive retained search, the risks companies often miss around worker classification and multi-state compliance, and why 512Financial employs its fractional operators as full-time W-2 team members.

The episode closes with Bart’s perspective on AI in finance. He explains where AI can speed up the work, where it still gets things wrong, and why experienced operators remain essential when the decisions carry financial, regulatory, or operational consequences.