Cfo Thought Leader

Ben Averis’ journey to CFO of Yoto was shaped by diverse experiences in finance, ranging from his early days at PwC in mergers and acquisitions (M&A) to leading roles in private equity-backed businesses. His exposure to the "buy and build" strategy during M&A transactions taught him the challenges of scaling businesses while maintaining their core values. Ben worked on transactions that involved integrating smaller, family-run businesses into larger corporate structures. This experience revealed to him a key risk: while larger companies could gain operational efficiencies, they often lost the customer-centric magic that made smaller businesses special.Reflecting on these experiences, Ben noted, "What you would find is that, if you got to that buy and build moment, and you integrated (the businesses), some of the magic would be lost, and you would lose a bit of the customer obsession." This insight has become central to his strategic mindset as CFO of Yoto, a founder-led company with a strong customer-