Few call because they want an interim manager. The call comes because the CFO resigned on Friday, the deal was signed last week, or the ERP project is six months behind schedule.
The situations below are from companies with revenues of 10–100 million euros. The management team consists of five to eight people, each function has one person in charge, and no one has a deputy. Find the one that is currently ongoing at your company.
Each has its own page explaining what the situation requires, what the expert does, and how quickly they can start.
Extended sick leave, parental leave, or notice period leaves a role vacant for months.
A manager resigned or is leaving, and critical knowledge exists only in their head.
ERP project, production development, restructuring negotiations, or profitability turnaround without an owner.
Due diligence, integration, generational transition, or owner’s value creation plan.
The role is permanent but doesn’t fill a full week. One to three days per week.
The board needs a name before the next meeting. The company’s own acting manager is handling the role on top of their own work, and if they are applying for the position themselves, difficult decisions will wait for a successor. The financier won’t wait. They are already asking who is responsible for the plan.
Solution: An Interim CEO leads the transition and prepares the company for their successor.
One person knew the consolidation. One knew the main suppliers. In these companies, a function relies on a single person, and the monthly closing or board report won’t be postponed just because recruitment takes three months. The first task is to capture what was only in their head.
Solution: A checklist for the first 90 days and, if necessary, an interim CFO.
HR here is one or two people, not a department. When the leader leaves in the middle of negotiations or an organizational change, the order, timing, and documentation must still be handled correctly. And the staff should still trust the company afterward.
Solution: change negotiations and interim HR manager in one package.
The ten largest customers bring in half of the revenue. One departure can shift one of them, and it only shows up in the order book a quarter later. The relationships are already shifting this week.
Solution: An Interim Sales Director takes control of the team and the sales pipeline in days.
The full picture around transactions: corporate transactions and who does the work →
The buyer’s side has a team that does this for a living. For you, the same work is on the CFO’s desk on top of a normal year. Findings are reflected in the price and the terms of the purchase agreement, so it’s worth finding the weak points yourself before they are found for you.
Solution: Due diligence: what to audit and who fixes the findings.
Two ERPs, two payroll systems, two ways of selling. Neither company’s daily operations stop for the duration of the integration, and invoices go out as before. The reason for the friction is almost always the same: everyone is involved, no one is responsible.
Solution: M&A integration, with one person appointed responsible before Day 1.
In a family company, the owner is three things at once: the CEO, the chairman of the board, and the person the bank calls. When they step down, three roles become vacant at once. The successor might be ready for one. The transition phase is a risk only if no one leads it.
Solution: generational transition: interim CEO leads the handover and coaches the successor.
The management team is assembled to run the business, not to push through a hundred-day plan on top of it. The owner still expects visible progress from the very first quarter. It’s not about will, but about hours.
Solution: A Cherry Operating Partner puts the plan into practice and reports to the owner.
One more bad quarter won’t pass, and the board wants a plan for the next meeting. Decisions from within the company are difficult because they affect people who have sat in the same meeting room for ten years. An outsider doesn’t carry that baggage.
Solution: turnaround: interim CEO or CFO depending on the situation.
Financing comes from one or two banks. One broken covenant is enough to change the tone of the conversation, and after that, the bank wants a rolling cash flow forecast, an explanation, and a person who can justify the numbers without having to get back to them next week.
Solution: An Interim CFO takes control of the finances in days.
The order book grew. Production, procurement, and warehousing did not. Delays and complaints reach the management team’s agenda before they show up in the numbers, and fixing it requires someone who has time to stand on the factory floor and not just read a report.
Solution: an experienced operational interim manager takes control of the supply chain.
Between fifty and five hundred people, negotiations affect the whole company, and HR doesn’t have a project team to handle them. Order, documentation, and communication determine what kind of company is left after the negotiations.
Solution: Change negotiations: who leads them.
All development initiatives on one page: projects and development initiatives →
The project costs hundreds of thousands, and it’s led by the IT manager alongside other duties. The supplier’s project manager is certainly competent, but they represent the supplier. Without an owner, decisions are left waiting and the schedule stretches one month at a time.
Solution: An Interim CTO represents you: decides, prioritizes, and is accountable for the outcome to the management team.
ERP, cybersecurity, user management, and licenses from two environments into one, and production must not stop for a single day.
Solution: An Interim CTO and an integration plan in the same package.
Revenue has grown from fifteen million to forty. Reporting, budgeting, and the division of responsibilities are the same as when the entire management could fit into one meeting. The numbers come in Excel and they are late. It will show up in financing negotiations or a deal, at the latest.
Solution: An Interim CFO gets the forecasts, monthly closings, and metrics in order.
The first or second export market is opened without its own country manager. Sales must be built in a country where the company has no history or references, and there’s no one in-house who has done it before.
Solution: Interim in different markets: a professional also on the ground through WIL Group’s partner offices.
Marketing relies on one person and two agencies. Campaigns happen, but no one asks if they generate sales. The agencies wait for decisions, and the budget flows where it flowed last time.
Solution: An Interim Marketing Director takes control of the budget and partners.
In a twenty-million-euro company, there might not be five days of work a week for a CFO or CTO. The board and financiers still expect the same professionalism as from larger companies.
Solution: fractional (part-time) executive, typically 1–3 days per week.
Each of the situations above can also be handled by recruiting, buying consulting, or distributing the work internally. Sometimes that’s the right solution, and when it is, we’ll say so. An interim manager beats these alternatives when four things align.
Executive recruitment takes three to nine months. The situation won’t wait that long. An interim manager can meet this week and be on the job next week.
Our pool includes managers who have led multiple turnarounds, integrations, or change negotiations. They won’t learn how to manage the situation at your expense.
An outsider makes the decisions that are difficult from the inside. They’re not thinking about who they’ll have coffee with next year.
The assignment has a beginning and an end. When the situation is resolved or a successor starts, there’s no structure left that needs to be dismantled separately.
| Situation | What it requires | Cherry’s solution |
|---|---|---|
| Key role becomes vacant unexpectedly | Accountability in days, not months | Key person transition and a role suited to the situation |
| Your own person is away for months | A replacement who knows the role immediately and leaves as agreed | Temporary absence |
| Project isn’t progressing | An owner accountable for the outcome | Projects and development initiatives |
| Role doesn’t fill a full week | Experience part-time, continuously | Fractional executive |
| Role is eventually filled permanently | Professional immediately, permanent decision later | Cherry Pinterim: the interim period acts as a trial period |
| Owner expects value creation | An implementer who reports to the owner | Cherry Operating Partner |
| Assignment abroad | Experience in the local market | Interim in different markets |
| Change negotiations ahead | Process, documentation, and communication in order | Change negotiations and interim HR manager |
| Results must be turned around | A decision-maker with no ties to the company | Turnaround |
| You don’t know which is better | An honest comparison before the decision | Interim or recruitment |
Our clients are mostly companies with a turnover of 10–100 million euros: family businesses, group subsidiaries, and private equity portfolio companies. In this size category, there are no backups in the management team. The departure of one person or a single unfinished project is visible to the board and financiers within the same month.
In practice: there are 50–500 people, the board or owner expects monthly reports, and every member of the management team is indispensable. Even in a smaller company, an interim manager can be the right answer. These situations are simply written from this reality.
Call and tell us what is currently ongoing. Half an hour is enough for us to be able to say whether you need an interim manager or if the right answer is recruitment. Sometimes it is recruitment. Then we will say so, even if it means we won’t sell you anything.
For background: what an interim manager is and how the cost is structured.
We will go through it in about half an hour. The assessment is free of charge and does not commit you to anything.
You'll typically receive 2–4 carefully selected candidates with justifications within 48 hours. Not a long list of "just-okay" names.
You meet the candidates and decide for yourself. A start is possible as early as next week.
When the situation hits, you only need to remember one name. We take ownership from the first call until the assignment is completed. We don’t disappear after the contract is signed.
Each of our partners has led a company and solved the same challenges you’re facing now. That’s why we understand your situation immediately, and our executives can be thrown straight into the deep end.
You deal directly with the partners handling your search. No middlemen or unnecessary bureaucracy, and you always know where things stand without having to ask.
We don’t sell processes for the sake of the process. We cut out the steps that don’t benefit you and only use your time for what moves the assignment forward.
A free assessment takes about half an hour. After that, you will know what kind of expert suits your situation, when they can start, and what it will cost.
In a hurry? Call any of us directly.
Ilari Kallio040 070 5050
Petri Kujala040 076 7767
Samppa Seppälä050 568 0533
Sampo Salmi050 386 6565Are you an interim manager yourself? Apply for the Cherry Pool →
