About the Editor

Twenty-five years in the room where the numbers get decided.

The Trades CFO Letter is written by Sean McGregor — Fractional CFO, founder of OpsFlow Finance, and a former interim financial leader for a $200M multi-entity industrial group across Louisiana and Texas.

The Editor

Sean McGregor, Fractional CFO.

Sean McGregor has spent twenty-five years inside the financial seat of founder-led businesses — manufacturing, industrial distribution, oilfield services, construction, and specialty trades. The work has been operational, not theoretical: building 13-week cash forecasts that actually predicted the squeeze, sitting across from lenders during covenant renegotiations, and walking owners through what a private equity buyer would and would not pay for.

His most recent contract engagement was as interim financial leader for a multi-entity industrial group generating over $200 million in annual revenue across Louisiana and Texas. In that capacity he coordinated a 79-item preliminary due diligence package for a private equity secondary investment, managed a $45 million commercial lending transaction through closing, automated accounts payable processing, and built a 21-metric management KPI framework for investor reporting.

He founded OpsFlow Finance to deliver that same caliber of financial leadership to owners who don't yet need a full-time CFO but have outgrown the bookkeeper-and-tax-preparer setup. The Trades CFO Letter is the public extension of that work — the questions, frameworks, and warnings that come up most often in his engagements, written for the owner who has to make the call.

Background

Where the experience came from. And what it covers.

№ 01 · TENURE

Twenty-Five Years

Financial leadership across founder-led companies in manufacturing, distribution, oilfield services, construction, and specialty trades. Bookkeeper to controller to CFO — the full progression, in real businesses with real complexity.

№ 02 · DEALS

Transactions Closed

$45M commercial lending closing. 79-item private equity diligence coordination. Sale-side preparation for owner-led exits. Borrowing-base compliance and lender management at multiple multi-entity groups.

№ 03 · SYSTEMS

Infrastructure Built

21-metric management KPI framework for investor reporting. ERP implementation foundation work for Kinetic across multi-state operations. Capacity planning and master scheduling for multi-location manufacturing.

№ 04 · GEOGRAPHY

Gulf South & Southeast

Based between New Orleans, Louisiana and Atlanta, Georgia. Engagements primarily across Louisiana, Texas, Mississippi, Alabama, Georgia, Tennessee, and the broader Gulf South and Southeast.

Editorial Stance

No vendor sponsorships. No affiliate links. No content written to pitch a service that isn't named on the page.

Editorial Standards

What this isn't.

The Trades CFO Letter isn't a content marketing funnel for OpsFlow Finance. It isn't a software vendor whitepaper rebranded as advice. It isn't a list of generic "five tips" anyone with a search engine could assemble.

Every issue is built from a real engagement — a dashboard that exposed a working capital problem, an ERP selection that derailed for a reason no vendor will tell you, a deal that closed because the seller could answer one specific question. Names and numbers are changed. The lessons are not.

Subscribers receive twelve issues a year and nothing else. No upsell sequences, no drip campaigns, no "limited-time offers." The publication is free because the work that earns its credibility is paid for by clients elsewhere — and because the owners who most need this content are the least likely to pay for it before they trust it.

Twelve issues a year. Nothing else in your inbox.

The Trades CFO Letter