When to hire an interim CEO.
Five trigger situations. One hire-if test per trigger. If two or more triggers are live at once, the answer is already yes.
01
CEO exit
The CEO resigned, was removed or is leaving on a fixed date. The board cannot afford a six-month search vacuum and needs full executive authority in the chair from week one.
Hire if: the search will take more than 60 days and the business cannot pause.
02
PE post-deal value creation
Newly acquired portfolio company. The 100-day plan needs an operator, not the deal team. Founder is moving up, out or staying as Chair.
Hire if: the value-creation plan needs a single accountable owner before month four.
03
Turnaround
The numbers have broken. Cash, customers or both. The current leadership cannot make the cuts and rebuild at the same time without losing the room.
Hire if: cash runway is under nine months and the existing team owns the problem.
04
Scale gap
The company outgrew the founder-CEO model. Strategy is right, execution is breaking. Second layer of management is missing.
Hire if: revenue has grown faster than the operating system can carry.
05
Crisis
Regulatory event, public incident, key-person loss, sudden customer concentration shock. A steady hand with authority is needed on day one.
Hire if: the next board meeting cannot wait three weeks.
When NOT to hire one
Be honest before the call.
- You want a strategy deck, not someone in the chair.
- The board cannot agree on the outcome to be delivered.
- The real role is COO or CFO and the board is mislabelling it.
- There is no budget for a credible day rate or monthly retainer.
In any of those cases, the right next read is the comparison page.
Next step
Need a CEO in Italy. Fast.
Book a 30-minute intro call. No pitch deck. Direct answers on fit, timeline and scope.