Leadership vs. Management.  You’ve probably heard the phrase before, but in the context of working in a startup, understanding the difference is critical for your career progression and your company’s survival.

Startups don’t just need someone to keep the finance lights on, they need someone who can set the direction of the business.

If you’re stepping into or aspiring to a CFO or Finance Director role, it’s time to look at your responsibilities beyond month-end close and compliance. This is the difference between being a finance manager and a finance leader.

Here's a breakdown:

1. Management Keeps the Lights On. Leadership Builds the Future.

Financial managers are essential to the business as they manage operations, keep things compliant, run the management accounts process, and payroll runs. But if you’re only focused on managing, you’re missing the opportunity to add real strategic value.

Finance leaders shape decisions. They help the business plan the next fundraise, enter a new market, or decide whether a new hire is worth the investment. Leadership isn’t just about the finance function (and this is key) it’s about the whole business.

Startups move fast.

If you’re waiting for instructions, you’re already behind.

Leadership means seeing around corners, not just reacting to what’s in front of you.

2. Leadership vs. Management: A Startup-Specific Challenge

In a corporate environment, you often have time to learn leadership skills slowly via mentorship, training, or shadowing. But when you're working in a startup, there’s rarely anyone to show you the ropes. You’re expected to operate at leadership level from day one.

This is where understanding Leadership vs. Management becomes important. You might have been hired as a Head of Finance or promoted to Finance Director, but if you’re still thinking like a financial controller, you’re going to struggle.

Being a leader means:

Taking initiative without being asked

Communicating with clarity to founders and investors

Making decisions with incomplete information

Balancing strategic priorities with operational realities

If you’re constantly pulled into low-value tasks or firefighting every week, that’s a red flag. You’re managing, not leading.

3. Strategic Thinking Is a Muscle You Build

One of the biggest mindset shifts in moving from management to leadership is moving from tactical to strategic.

For example:

A manager produces a report.

A leader explains what the report means and what decisions should follow.  They also spend time creating the framework around the report that the manager uses (see: Advanced Management Accounts)

A manager tracks cash burn.

A leader creates multiple cash runway scenarios and flags when Plan B needs activating.

Leadership also means understanding your role in the wider business context. You need to know how sales and marketing operate. You need to understand the commercial funnel. You should be involved in pricing strategy, product roadmap planning, and fundraising.

This is where many finance managers fall short as they’ve been trained to report the numbers, not influence what happens next.

4. Communication Is a Leadership Skill

You can be technically brilliant, but if you can’t communicate clearly, you won’t be seen as a leader.

Startup founders are often visionaries. Investors are time-poor and number-wary. Your job is to translate complex financial data into decisions and clarity.

Whether it’s a board pack, a team meeting, or a forecast scenario, you need to communicate in plain English with confidence. This is a skill and one that takes time and intention to build.

Want a tip? Start with storytelling. What’s the key message you want the founder or investor to walk away with? Build your reporting around that.

5. Leadership Doesn’t Mean Doing It All Yourself

Many new startup CFOs think they need to prove themselves by knowing everything and doing everything. That’s a fast track to burnout.

True leaders build capability in their teams. They delegate. They focus on the highest value work and trust others with the rest.

If you’re still reconciling bank accounts, ask yourself: is this the best use of your time? Probably not.

Leadership means scaling yourself by training others, implementing systems, and creating processes that remove you from day-to-day tasks.

6. You Don’t Need Permission to Lead

Here's the truth: in a startup, leadership is often unofficial. You don’t need to wait for someone to tell you you’re a leader. Start acting like one, and people will treat you like one.

Start asking the right questions:

What do the numbers mean?

How do we de-risk the next stage of growth?

What’s our most profitable customer segment?

What assumptions are baked into our forecasts?

If you're asking these questions regularly, you’re already thinking like a startup CFO.

Leadership vs. Management isn't just semantics, it’s the difference between being seen as a finance administrator or a strategic partner. And in startups, that difference is career-defining.

So, if you’re on the path to becoming a startup CFO, it’s time to level up. Get out of the weeds. Step into the boardroom. Learn to communicate with clarity and confidence. And start thinking like the strategic leader your business needs.

Ready to make the leap? This is exactly the work we do inside Financial Leadership Fundamentals. If you're ready to stop managing and start leading, we’d love to help.

Want to be a confident and skilled Finance leader in 12 months?  Then follow these steps:

• Sign up to our next free workshop.

• Access the FLF Book that gives you an overview of the FLF Framework. 

• Work with me in the Financial Leadership Foundations course  for indepth training to become a confident & skilled finance professional in 12 months.  Includes regular Q&A sessions, networking with other finance professionals & the Advanced Management Accounts course.