Scott Lacy | VectorFi CFO

Fractional CFO, SMB Plumbing Company Partner, Building companies that improve life for owners, employees, and customers

[Scott Lacy | VectorFi CFO @scott_vectorfi]

I'm an MBA who owns a plumbing company. Apparently that makes me a meme.

Since MBA's, trade based companies, and ETA seem to be a hot topic at the moment, I thought I'd add some first hand insight. 18 brief insights below.

My evening is free, so can do AMA tonight for a bit. Please, keep it civil and constructive. We're all here to learn and encourage. Don't be that guy unconstructively bashing other people just to feel better about yourself or just shooting off careless words.

Here's some first hand info in no particular order:

1. I co-own a plumbing franchise com with my best friend of 20 years; like a brother to me. His family, a second family to me.

2. He runs the day to day. He does not have an MBA. I could not run this business without him. He managed SMB sign manufacturing companies for most of of his prior career.

3. My role is CFO; i also operate kind of like a board chair, providing perspective. He believes he couldn't run the business without me. See my linkedin for background. I work just a few hours a week on the business. Mostly collaborative phone calls early in the AM or late PM; and big spending decisions; forecasting, cash flow, etc.

4. I think the secret to us working together successfully is trust built on 20 years of real friendship, being able to leave our ego's out of everything b/c we have nothing to prove to each other, and having complimentary skill sets.

5. Our trucks are wrapped, so i guess that makes us fancy. We want to employ great plumbers who don't want the hassle of running all of the "business stuff", and we want to employ top performers and pay them above market average.

6. I previously owned a company with my wife. I couldn't have run that company without her. We're still married. Huge accomplishment.

7. Prior to starting my MBA, I made less than 6 figures. After getting more than halfway through my MBA, I got a new job and now make double what I made in my previous job.

8. My current job requires an MBA

9. MBA at University of Arkansas Walton School; Great program.

10. None of my classmates are struggling to find jobs. Most make 6 figures+ and are some of the most wonderful people I've ever met. Some will be leading the Fortune 1 in the coming years.

11. Cost of MBA: $50,000. I paid less b/c of tuition discount for being a Univ. employee for awhile.

12. Plumbers don't "make" $200+ an hour. "Make" implies take home pay. $200/hr is what is charged to the client.

13. Most plumbing companies with 3+ employees now charge $250-$350 per hour for labor.

14. An experienced journeyman plumber will make $75k to $175K/yr with base salary + commission + bonus + benefits. I would say the highest recurring number if all were surveyed would be in the $100k ballpark when including all forms of compensation.

15. MBA's, generally, teach from a corporate perspective. This makes it hard for most MBA's to run SMB's.

16. I believe we will dramatic changes in curriculum over the next 5-10 years. Univ of AR is top 3 schools in SEC for Entrepreneurship

17. Most MBA Entrepreneurship programs are solely aimed at Angel/VC to Exit models unfortunately. This will change.

18. In the last 2 years of what I've learned about business: 40% has been from SMBX/Twitter; 40% has been from MBA; 20% has been self study and online courses.

Hope this is helpful. If you'd like to connect, feel free to reach out. Networks of good people are powerful things and I'm always looking to grow mine.

[Scott Lacy | VectorFi CFO @scott_vectorfi]

@ScottPresler 😡

[Scott Lacy | VectorFi CFO @scott_vectorfi]

In small business, the gap between $2M and $10M in annual revenue usually comes down to one thing: Leadership.

The most common leadership failures I see in small biz? 👇

1. Avoiding hard decisions and hard conversations. The cost of conflict avoidance compounds.

2. No direct line to the top. Frontline employees have no safe, open channel to the CEO or exec team—so the truth never reaches the people who can act on it.

3. Keeping long-time employees in seats they no longer have the skill to fill effectively. Loyalty is real, but when the business outpaces someone’s skill or leadership ability and nothing changes, everyone pays for it. Just because someone can build at $3mm doesn’t mean they can at $5mm and $10mm. Different ballgame.

4. Tolerating toxic players. Big egos, gossip, slander, chronic fault-finding in public (never in private), outright sabotage—one of these unchecked sets the standard for the whole team.

5. Correcting in public, praising in private. It should be the reverse. Praise publicly, correct privately. Get this backwards and you erode trust and breed resentment.

The hard part isn’t knowing these. It’s having the courage to fix them.

[Scott Lacy | VectorFi CFO @scott_vectorfi]

@shawngorham Doesn't fit your new cowboy style. You're more of an F250 King Ranch guy now.

[Scott Lacy | VectorFi CFO @scott_vectorfi]

In life, I’m finding it wiser to be strong for when others fall rather than to influence them left or right.

[Scott Lacy | VectorFi CFO @scott_vectorfi]

@TheJoeySwoll @X @nikitabier

[Scott Lacy | VectorFi CFO @scott_vectorfi]

There's a grassroots movement to buy Spirit Airlines. They have real momentum but are making a classic acquisition mistake. Here's what I'd tell them as their CFO:

$1.75B buys the airline. It doesn't keep the lights on.

At 3:00 AM on May 2nd, Spirit shut off the lights. 44 million passengers. 17,000 jobs. Gone overnight — killed by jet fuel that nearly doubled after U.S.-Israeli strikes on Iran.

A YouTuber named Hunter Peterson launched https://t.co/0ddisBjVAB within hours. Crowdfund a cooperative acquisition. One vote per member. The people's airline. It's now at $437M in pledges from 500,000+ people.

I'm rooting for them. But nobody is saying this yet.

The capital stack a real CFO would build:

𝟏. 𝗔𝘀𝘀𝗲𝘁 𝗔𝗰𝗾𝘂𝗶𝘀𝗶𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻: $400–600M
76% of Spirit's fleet was leased. You're buying slots, owned planes, facilities — at distressed prices.

𝟐. 𝗙𝗔𝗔 𝗣𝗮𝗿𝘁 𝟭𝟮𝟭 𝗥𝗲-𝗖𝗲𝗿𝘁𝗶𝗳𝗶𝗰𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻: $15–25M
The operating certificate was voided. Spirit 2.0 starts from scratch. 3–12+ months. Zero revenue.

𝟑. 𝗙𝗹𝗲𝗲𝘁 𝗟𝗲𝗮𝘀𝗲 𝗗𝗲𝗽𝗼𝘀𝗶𝘁𝘀: $150–250M
Lessors don't hand planes to unproven cooperatives.

𝟒. 𝗧𝗲𝗰𝗵𝗻𝗼𝗹𝗼𝗴𝘆: $10–20M
Reservations. Ticketing. Operations. None of this transfers with the brand.

𝟓. 𝗣𝗿𝗲-𝗥𝗲𝘃𝗲𝗻𝘂𝗲 𝗕𝘂𝗿𝗻: $400–600M
This is the number nobody is talking about. 12–18 months paying staff and maintaining planes before a single ticket is sold. JetBlue launched in 2000 with $130M total — in normal fuel conditions. Spirit 2.0 launches into $4.51/gallon fuel.

𝟔. 𝗗𝗢𝗧 𝗥𝗲𝘀𝗲𝗿𝘃𝗲𝘀: $100–150M
Mandatory. Not optional.

𝟕. 𝗙𝘂𝗲𝗹 𝗛𝗲𝗱𝗴𝗶𝗻𝗴 & 𝗪𝗼𝗿𝗸𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗖𝗮��𝗶𝘁𝗮𝗹: $225–350M
Spirit burned $100M in surprise fuel costs in 60 days.

𝗥𝗲𝗮𝗹 𝗻𝘂𝗺𝗯𝗲𝗿: $2.3B–$2.5B

$1.75B gets you the keys. Not first flight. Not the first winter.

The movement is real. The target needs to be real too.

If anyone connected to this campaign is reading: the path exists. It just costs more than you think.

[Jacob Denhollander @JJ_Denhollander]

Some conservative Christians really will obsess over the moral failings of a barely influential gay pastor as evidence of theological rot while completely ignoring or downplaying the fact that the most important and influential Southern Baptist in decades raped young men.

[Scott Lacy | VectorFi CFO @scott_vectorfi]

@MatznerJon Insert meme of disappointed dog. Will be in touch when it’s time.

[Scott Lacy | VectorFi CFO @scott_vectorfi]

@stevesimonson @BillDA Yes. Need more of these!

[Scott Lacy | VectorFi CFO @scott_vectorfi]

@BillDA It’s a right of passage! Congrats!

[Scott Lacy | VectorFi CFO @scott_vectorfi]

What do telescopes have to do with business?

Galileo’s telescope let Venetian admirals see enemy fleets from 8 miles away — invisible to anyone without one.

At Waterloo, Wellington’s 30x magnification telescope let him pick out individual soldiers amid the chaos of battle. Commanders without it were essentially blind.

A sniper with iron sights is effective to maybe 300 yards. With a scope — 12 to 25x magnification — they’re accurate at 600, 1000 yards, or beyond. Same shooter. Completely different capability.

Most owner-operators are running their business the same way. Only able to see as far as the naked eye can see.

A fractional CFO does what those telescopes and scopes did: it extends your horizon of awareness. Instead of guessing month-to-month, you’re seeing 6 to 12 months ahead.

You spot cash flow problems before they become crises.

You see growth opportunities others miss.

You make decisions with actual foresight instead of hope.

That’s the difference between catastrophe and victory.

[Scott Lacy | VectorFi CFO @scott_vectorfi]

@MatznerJon What’s the QC look like?

[Scott Lacy | VectorFi CFO @scott_vectorfi]

Thank you everyone for the responses. This has been more helpful than I anticipated. I have gathered your info and passed it along to my clients so they can get in touch directly soon. You will also be hearing from me in the next 2-3 weeks. OOO next week.

[Scott Lacy | VectorFi CFO @scott_vectorfi]

If you're a CPA who specializes in strategic tax planning for small business or medium-sized business owners, please get in touch. I've had three clients request this service in the last two weeks, and it's not a service I offer. I'm looking for a great referral partner.

[Brent Beshore @BrentBeshore]

New essay on @BenSasse and the question I can't stop asking myself.

How can a dying man without the ability to grow skin on his face radiate a joy, levity, and peace that the rest of us are starving for?

[Scott Lacy | VectorFi CFO @scott_vectorfi]

@MetamateDaz Who does a better job of distributing the money where it’s needed? The government or the charities? I give the edge to the charities, slightly. And, power can be removed from charities rather easily, not so with the government after it grows.

[Scott Lacy | VectorFi CFO @scott_vectorfi]

Yep. Clients can now type what you said into AI in real time and find out if you’re bullshitting. Love it. Doctors started feeling it with Google a few years ago and even more now with AI. Now it will extend to all professional service providers and even pastors and Sunday sermons. Net positive.

[SMB Attorney @SMB_Attorney]

You’re going to hear an increasing chorus of service providers whining and complaining about clients using AI to ask them tough questions.

Let me be blunt:

There was a time that many self-declared experts were just bullshit artists in disguise.

That time is over.