Curriculum vitae

Hayat Amin

Fractional CFO & Chief Strategy Officer

Three-times exited C-suite leader for some of the fastest-growing, venture and private-equity backed technology companies in the world. The finance seat and the strategy seat, held by one operator.

CFO
CSO
M&A & exits
FP&A
AI operations
IP & data

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Emailhayat@beyondelevation.comUK+44 7476 383531US+1 571 380 7699LinkedInlinkedin.com/in/hayatamin

London · New York · Dubai · Amsterdam

£20bn+Value created for privately held companies

3Companies sold, diligence to post-close

3xFinancial Times fastest-growing listings

300%Average year-on-year growth backed

18.5bnData points valued and repriced

120+Scale-ups run finance and planning for

The hybrid

Three brains, one hire.

Most fractional CFOs close the books and stop there. Most IP people are lawyers who file rather than operators who sell. Most AI experts have never closed a month end. Hayat has run all three, at C-level, in real companies.

Chief Financial Officer

300%Average year-on-year growth backed

Old-school work ethic, new-school technology. Financial ownership and control, through to the raise or the exit.

Driver-based modelling, unit economics and pricing
Budgeting, forecasting and scenario planning
Monthly close and the board reporting package
Cash, margin and runway answered live, not three weeks late
FP&A and XP&A, with variance analysis leadership acts on
Payment economics: interchange, scheme fees, FX and transaction margin
M&A diligence, transaction planning, close and post-close integration
Fundraise support, investor relations and exit readiness

Chief IP Officer

Strategy & IP

$20bnIn IP value created

Lawyers file, accountants count, and nobody turns intellectual property into a revenue line. That is this job. An operator, not a lawyer.

Prices patents, data and know-how, then sells the right to use them
Finds what you already own that matters, and what to file next versus what to skip
Values the portfolio in dollars, not legal opinions, read from the claims rather than the titles
Two paths to money: licensing revenue, or a materially higher sale price
Turns data from a by-product nobody has valued into an asset you can price and license
Documents know-how so it stops walking out of the door with people
Builds protection competitors cannot copy, even with AI
Watches every competitor filing near your core and catches it early
Finds the licensees, structures the deals and signs the revenue
Company-wide strategy, OKR architecture, QBRs and the operating rhythm around all of it

AI Operations

Forward Deployed Engineer

8 weeksTo the first system live in your stack

Forward deployed means inside. Builds the AI that does the repetitive work within your own systems, and answers for the results.

Builds AI agents that do the repetitive reading, drafting and monitoring
AI-driven financial operations: a cash forecast that updates itself
Month end closed in days rather than weeks
Board pack built from source data, and margin by product, customer and channel
Sales operations wired to AI: every ICP account researched before a rep opens a laptop
AI-native data rooms and automated reporting
ML forecasting, customer scoring and revenue leakage detection
Compliance evidence collected as you go, so an audit stops being a fire drill
Competitor and market moves on your desk the day they happen
Built inside the systems you already use. You own everything built: code, agents, accounts, docs
Nothing reaches your desk without a human who has run companies reading it first

The exits

Three companies sold. Same man in the room.

A founder sells a company once. Hayat has run the sell-side three times, so he knows what a buyer asks on day fourteen of diligence, and has the answer already sitting in the data room.

Cake Technologies American Express

Sold to American Express

Head of Finance

Led financial diligence and sat at the negotiating table. Built the model, IP and data valuation that defended a materially higher exit price, then ran post-close integration of reporting and controls.

Covered on TechCrunch

Tripbod TripAdvisor

Sold to TripAdvisor

Head of Finance & Operations

Built and ran the entire finance and operations function across the UK, US and EU, then drove acquisition diligence and wrote the strategic fit and proprietary data narrative that made the deal obvious to the buyer.

Covered on TravelMole

GrantifyPrivate equity

Sold to Private equity

Chief Strategy Officer

Led strategy, data valuation, fundraise architecture, market sizing and positioning through the private equity process, defending a 35 percent valuation uplift on the way out.

Covered by BDO

A fourth, iHorizon to Cooper Parry: the UK's pioneering cloud accounting firm for high-growth technology companies, bought by the UK's largest tech-focused accountancy. Finance Director. Covered on Accountancy Today.

Growth

Three fastest-growing listings.

Britain and Europe's growth rankings pick a few hundred companies a year out of millions. Hayat has been inside three of them.

No. 3 in Europe

Thriva

Advisor · Financial Times

The third fastest-growing company in Europe. At-home blood testing and preventative health, sold direct to consumers and through employers.

No. 46

Grantify

Chief Strategy Officer · The Sunday Times 100, 2024

The 46th fastest-growing company in Britain, processing 66 percent of all successful Innovate UK grants. Part exit to private equity.

No. 94

L'Estrange

Finance lead · Financial Times

Hi-tech apparel. Built the inventory, stock accounting and unit economics stack across the whole e-commerce operation.

The full record

Every seat, and what got done in it.

Thirteen C-level seats across healthcare AI, fintech, payments, deep tech, data and private equity. Filter them by the hat, by the exits, or by the American half.

Cake Technologies

Head of Finance

CFO seatFintech

United Kingdom. UK fintech where people managed their money, split bills and spent their own Cake credit currency. A payments business at heart.

EXITEDto American Express

Led financial diligence and sat at the negotiating table through the acquisition by American Express
Built the model, granular IP and data valuation that defended a materially higher exit price
Modelled the economics of a real payment product: the transaction flows, the processing cost and the price of the credit currency itself
Embedded a KPI culture that lifted operational performance 23 percent, and shaped how the company monetised its data
Ran financial, statutory and data reporting, legal, VAT and tax across every market
Ran post-close integration of reporting, accounting policies and controls

Tripbod

Head of Finance & Operations

CFO seatTravel data

UK, US and EU. Travel data platform connecting travellers to local expert recommendations across the UK, US and EU.

EXITEDto TripAdvisor

Set up and ran the whole finance and operations function across three regions
Ran acquisition diligence and compliance through the TripAdvisor process
Wrote the strategic fit and proprietary data narrative that made the deal obvious to the buyer
Supported integration into the acquirer after close
Put in an ERP system that tidied up operational and statutory reporting
Owned management accounts, statutory accounts, VAT, tax, EC Sales List and VAT MOSS for a multi-country group

Grantify

Chief Strategy Officer

CSO seatGrant platform

London. One of the world's largest grant platforms, processing 66 percent of all successful Innovate UK grants. Part exit to private equity.

EXITEDto private equity46thFastest-growing company

Ran strategy, data valuation, fundraising, partnerships and positioning through the move into private equity
Defended a 35 percent valuation uplift into the next round with the financial and business model behind it
Grew sales 200 percent year on year, three years straight, off a pricing and customer intelligence engine
Put the KPI, FP&A, priorities and OKR architecture in place. Operational performance rose 32 percent globally and staff satisfaction reached 95 percent
Held forecasting accuracy inside 1 percent of year-end actuals on a messy multi-country P&L
Built the IP and proprietary data story picked up by BDO, TechCrunch and TravelMole

iHorizon

Finance Director

CFO seatCloud accountancyUnited States

UK and US. The UK's pioneering cloud accounting firm for high-growth technology companies, acquired by Cooper Parry, the UK's largest tech-focused accountancy.

ACQUIREDby Cooper Parry120+Scale-ups run

Ran finance, budgeting and planning for more than 120 high-growth tech scale-ups across the UK and US
Stepped in as interim finance lead through transitions, keeping controller-led teams running rather than replacing them
Built the budgets, forecasts and scenario plans founders acted on, and turned cash-burning companies into profitable ones
Walked founders through VC, PE, bank and crowdfunding rounds, from the model all the way to the negotiation
Saved clients millions through capital allowance and SEIS and EIS structuring
Rolled out digital accounting, BI dashboards and automated stock control as a repeatable playbook

IO Health Tech

Fractional Chief Financial Officer

CFO seatHealthcare AI · USUnited States

United States. Workflow intelligence platform for post-acute care. Real-time clinical guidance that overlays the EMR a home health or hospice agency already uses, rather than replacing it.

50%+QA rework cutLive in under 2 weeksSOC 2 Type II · HIPAA

Holds the finance seat: the model, the reporting package, the board pack and the runway
Prices a clinical software product where the buyer's return is measured in clinician hours and QA rework, not seats
Builds the unit economics behind a platform that cuts QA rework by over 50 percent and saves 60+ minutes of start-of-care documentation per episode
Models the payback on a two-week implementation, the number that closes post-acute deals
Runs the AI operating layer inside finance: automated reporting, ML forecasting and revenue leakage detection
Built the reporting and controls a HIPAA and SOC 2 Type II business has to stand behind
Supports the fundraise and investor reporting for a company nominated for the HHCN Product of the Year Awards

Digital Global Systems

Chief Financial Officer & President, IP Licensing

CFO seatDeep tech · USUnited States

Washington DC, United States. Deep tech business whose software reads the radio frequency environment for wireless deployments, selling into telecom, defence and government. Exit in progress.

$20BCompany valuationRaised over $130M

Built the model, the IP story and the licensing function behind a company that raised over $130 million
Turned a spectrum patent estate into a revenue asset, priced from the claims rather than the titles
Owned the financial model, reporting and exit readiness through to live acquirer talks
Negotiated commercial and licensing agreements across federal, defence and Tier 1 telecom buyers
Ran M&A diligence and transaction planning, and defended the valuation story with acquirers and investors
Ran AI operations across finance and go-to-market so pipeline fed the forecast in real time
Put product, go-to-market and finance under one OKR architecture

Swiipr

Chief Strategy Officer & Chief Financial Officer

CFO seatAirline payments fintech

London. Fintech building the payment infrastructure and operating system for the airline and travel industry, running disbursements and card programmes for airlines, their passengers and crew.

The biggest airlines use SwiiprBacked by Octopus Ventures

Owns the global growth strategy and the strategic plan end to end, from problem definition to execution
Owns financial reporting, budgeting and forecasting, from monthly close to board pack
Leads the annual budgeting cycle with operational and functional leaders, with variance analysis leadership acts on
Owns pricing and transactional revenue: interchange, scheme fees, FX and transaction margin, stress tested before it goes live
Leads data intelligence across all proprietary passenger, crew and transaction data, turning it into a revenue asset
Designs the sales plays and commercial motion into airline and travel enterprise buyers, tying pipeline back into the plan
Stood up the operating rhythm, QBRs, dashboards and KPI tracking that keep leadership aligned
Runs the AI operating layer across finance: automated reporting, ML forecasting and revenue leakage detection
Presents financial and operational insight to the board, translating complex data into clear recommendations

Position Imaging

President of IP & Patents

CSO seatLogistics technology · USUnited States

New Hampshire, United States. Deep tech logistics company holding a patent estate covering package and asset tracking.

Raised $150MSome of the biggest enterprises use PI

Runs IP and patent strategy for a company that has raised around $150 million
Priced and packaged the patent portfolio for buyers, licensees and the board, read from the claims rather than the titles
Moved the royalty position without filing a single new patent
Builds the IP and proprietary data valuation story, then defends it with acquirers and investors

Nxtech

Chief Strategy Officer

CSO seatConsumer data · USUnited States

United States. Consumer data business holding a national-scale identity and behaviour estate.

18.5BData points85% of the US population

Valued and repriced a data estate of 18.5 billion data points covering 85 percent of the US population
Repositioned the asset from ad targeting to enterprise licensing. Same data, materially higher price
Led data monetisation, the fundraise and reporting

Codi

Advisor

CSO seatWorkspace technology · USUnited States

United States. Workspace technology company backed by Andreessen Horowitz.

a16z backed

Advises the leadership team on finance, pricing and the road to the next round
Runs the buy, partner or build calls, sizing the market against internal capability
Strengthens forecasting, performance tracking and variance analysis alongside the existing finance team

Navi

Chief Executive Officer

CEO seatPrivate equity backed

London. Private equity backed group across technology and hospitality. Full P&L ownership, reporting to the board and the sponsor.

Backed by some of the most prominent high-net-worth individuals in the world181%Sales growth, quarter on quarter

Held full P&L accountability as chief executive, reporting to the board and the sponsor
Set strategy and the annual operating plan, and ran the OKR, QBR and KPI rhythm behind it
181 percent increase in sales quarter on quarter, and a 55 percent increase in online sales off a new-product go-to-market
500 percent increase in data monetisation, 12 percent EBITDA, and the company brought to profitability
Passed the 50-employee milestone and led the executive team across commercial, product, finance and operations
Owned the sponsor relationship, board reporting and value creation plan tracking
Ran digital transformation and financial operations transformation end to end

Thriva

Advisor

CSO seatHealth tech

London. At-home blood testing and preventative health, sold direct to consumers and through employers.

No. 3Fastest-growing in EuropeFinancial Times listed

Advised across finance and growth as the business ran to the third fastest-growing company in Europe on the Financial Times list
Steadied the reporting package and the board pack through a period of very fast growth
Worked on pricing, subscription monetisation and the unit economics behind a direct-to-consumer health product

Asoko Insight

Chief Financial Officer

CFO seatData · US VC backedUnited States

London, live across nine African markets. British company holding deep data on Africa, backed by US venture capital, live across nine countries.

9Live marketsUS venture backed

Owned investor relations and financial strategy for a US venture backed data business
Built the reporting and monthly package that let US investors and the board trust numbers coming out of nine very different markets
Owned the monthly reporting package and its quality control, and built the board decks leadership steered by
Set pricing and stress tested it market by market before rollout
Wired go-to-market intelligence into the commercial plan

United States

The American half of the record.

Six of the seats are US businesses or US-backed: healthcare AI, Washington DC deep tech, national-scale consumer data, New Hampshire logistics technology and US venture capital.

IO Health TechUnited States

Chief Executive Officer. Workflow intelligence for home health and hospice, live inside the EMR.

Digital Global SystemsWashington DC

CFO and President of IP Licensing. Sells into US federal, defence and Tier 1 telecom.

Position ImagingNew Hampshire

$150m raised. President of IP and Patents for the patent estate.

NxtechUnited States

18.5 billion data points covering 85 percent of the US population, valued and repriced.

CodiUnited States

Advisor. Backed by Andreessen Horowitz.

Asoko InsightUS venture backed

Owned investor relations for US venture investors across nine markets.

iHorizonUK and US

Finance and planning across 120+ scale-ups on both sides of the Atlantic.

Boards and advisory

Where he sits without the title.

Advisory, investment and mentoring seats held alongside the operating ones.

Terra Maris CapitalChief Investment Advisor

Hospitality investment platform acquiring and repositioning Mediterranean heritage hotels and resorts

Terra Maris CapitalAdvisor

Underwriting, commercial diligence and the investment case put to qualified investors

Startup Leadership ProgrammeMentor

Mentoring founders through the leadership programme

Arabesque AIAdvisor

AI-driven asset management

PayWithAdvisor

Payments technology

TechstarsLead Mentor

Founders, on finance, pricing and getting to a fundable number

Press

Where he turns up.

Coverage, interviews and the podcasts, on fractional finance, AI operations and intellectual property.

These publications have written about Hayat

Podcast appearances

On the record.

01SeedLegals WebinarHayat speaks to some of the UK's most promising startups about the benefits of fractional CFOs.

Listen →

02The Modern CFO PodcastHow AI is taking over finance processes, and why that means CFOs no longer need to be full time.

Listen →

03The Gross Profit PodcastOn founding businesses and the rogue strategies Hayat ran in his career that actually worked.

Listen →

Tools

The systems he actually runs.

SQL, Power BI, Excel financial modelling, NetSuite, Workday Financials, Adaptive Planning, ERP rollouts and BI dashboards.

The person

How he works.

At his best stepping into a company that needs a steady hand: giving a CEO, a controller and a board continuity and confidence while something big happens, a transition, a raise, an acquisition, an AI rebuild.

Distils complex matters into simple recommendations and clear executive storytelling. Keeps strong teams running rather than replacing them.

The last two years pointed all of that experience at AI: building and running the agents that now do the work inside finance, sales and operations.

QualificationACCA, practice qualified. All 14 papers passed in a single sitting cycle, while working full time in a high-growth practice. BPP Professional Education.

DegreeBSc Finance and Accounting, 2.1. Anglia Ruskin University.

LanguagesEnglish, Hindi and Bangla.

BasesLondon, New York and Dubai.

Off the clockHikes, travels, reads, and backs early-stage founders.

The finance seat and the strategy seat, filled.

One or two days a week, starting when you need it. The first conversation is a straight read of where the numbers and the plan are today.

Book a call hayat@beyondelevation.com