Eightx Talk to a CFO
Managing Partner · APAC

Sam Dillon

Melbourne-based Chartered Accountant. He scaled a DTC brand from $5M to $20M as in-house CFO, cut his teeth at Balderton Capital (Europe's biggest venture firm and Revolut's first investor), and now leads Eightx's Asia Pacific fractional-CFO practice.

CA (Chartered Accountant) 15+ yrs in finance Melbourne, Australia AI Finance Club member
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Sam Dillon, Managing Partner APAC at Eightx

Sam Dillon

Managing Partner, APAC

CA · Former DTC CFO · Ex-Balderton Capital

About

The view from both sides of the founder's desk

Sam Dillon is the Managing Partner of Eightx APAC. He's spent his career bouncing between the two seats founders end up wishing they had at the same table. One is the in-house finance lead who lives the daily grind. The other is the outside investor who can see the bigger picture without the founder's emotional attachment to it.

That dual perspective is what brought him to Eightx, and it's the lens he brings to every client engagement. "I know how challenging it can be for a founder day-to-day," Sam says, "but at the same time I understand the need to see the bigger picture and have someone who's less emotional about the business and can make more informed, rational decisions."

Before joining Eightx, Sam was the first finance hire and full-time CFO at a fast-growing Australian ecommerce brand, taking it from $5M to $20M in revenue and building the finance team underneath him as it scaled. Before that, he was Finance Director at Raconteur in the UK, where his first job was to stop the bleed: the business had a serious cash problem, and he kept it alive long enough to turn it around.

Earlier than Raconteur, Sam was at Balderton Capital in London, one of Europe's largest venture-capital firms and the first institutional investor in Revolut. Sam worked on the deal team there, sitting in on second-round funding for Revolut and screening pre-revenue companies for the partners.

His career started in tax and small-business advisory, doing structuring work for SMEs and high-net-worth individuals. That tax background is something founders consistently flag on discovery calls. Most fractional CFOs come from pure finance or PE backgrounds. Sam can also speak fluently to the entity structure, GST/BAS, and tax-efficiency questions that show up when a brand is preparing to scale or sell.

Today he runs Eightx's APAC fractional-CFO practice, working with ecommerce and DTC brands between $5M and $50M in revenue, plus M&A readiness engagements for owners considering a sale. He's based in Melbourne, where he's lived for 25 years.

“

I help businesses that have no clarity. They've got their books, they've got accounting, but they have no idea how to interpret it or what it means for the future. Once we solve that, I help them actually hit the goals along the way.

Sam Dillon

What Sam works on

The problems founders hand him

After 15+ years of in-house and fractional finance roles, Sam has seen the same patterns over and over. These are the areas he can riff on for an hour without notes.

Revenue forecasting

Most founders Sam meets on a discovery call don't realise real revenue forecasting (built on cohort data, contribution margin, and channel mix) is even possible. He builds the model and then teaches the team to run it.

Refinancing predatory cash advances

Almost every Australian DTC brand he works with has at least one merchant cash advance buried in the books. Sam decodes the true cost of those loans and engineers the way out of them.

Profit-per-channel analysis

When clients arrive from another CFO, it's usually because nobody could work out which channel was actually making money or where to scale next. Sam rebuilds the contribution-margin view by channel from the ground up.

M&A readiness & valuation

For owners who get an inbound acquisition offer, Sam preps the financial story, runs the LTV/CAC and contribution math, and stages disclosure so buyers don't anchor low.

Cohort & subscription unit economics

For subscription DTC and consumable brands, Sam builds the cohort and LTV view that founders actually trust, and that buyers, lenders, and boards will accept.

Cash-crisis turnarounds

Sam has done this twice in his career. Once at a UK marketing agency, again with an Australian DTC wellness brand. He knows what triage looks like when the runway is months, not years.

Tax & entity structuring

Sam's earlier career was in tax and small-business advisory for SMEs and high-net-worth individuals. He brings that lens to GST/BAS, entity structure, and tax-efficiency questions that come up when DTC brands scale or prepare to sell.

Career

Where Sam learned this

Now

Managing Partner, APAC at Eightx

Leads Eightx's Asia Pacific fractional-CFO practice. Runs CFO engagements for ecommerce and DTC brands doing $5M–$50M, plus M&A readiness work for owners considering a sale.

Previously

Full-time CFO at an Australian DTC brand

First finance hire. Scaled the business from $5M to $20M in revenue and built the finance team underneath him as it grew.

Before that

Finance Director at Raconteur (UK)

Number-one finance role at a London-based business with a serious cash-flow problem. Sam's job was to keep the lights on while the business restructured around him.

Earlier

Analyst / Management Accountant at Balderton Capital

London. Europe's largest venture-capital firm. Sat in on the second-round funding for Revolut and analysed pre-revenue companies for the deal team. "I was in the room for the deals, sometimes just as the analyst, but that's where I learned how investors actually think about valuation."

Started here

Tax and small-business advisory for SMEs and high-net-worth individuals

Sam's earliest professional work was in tax and structuring advisory, building entity structures and tax-efficient setups for owner-operated businesses and high-net-worth families. It's the background founders consistently flag on discovery calls.

Favourite client win

From 10 months to bankruptcy to 20% monthly profit

When Sam took on the engagement, the Australian DTC wellness brand had ten months of runway left before insolvency. By the time he was done, the business was producing 20% monthly profit margins, carried zero debt, and was positioned to scale again on its own terms.

"Revenue is smaller now than it was at the start. But they're alive, they have no debt, and they're profitable on a monthly basis. That's a much better launchpad than where they were."

Hot takes

What Sam thinks the industry gets wrong

Overrated

ROAS

"Founders obsess over return-on-ad-spend like it's the only number that matters. It isn't. It tells you nothing about whether the next dollar of ad spend will actually grow profit."

Underrated

Incremental contribution margin

"Contribution margin dollars on the incremental sale. That's the number that decides whether scaling actually creates value. Almost nobody tracks it. Everyone should."

Banned word

"Cash advance"

"Every Australian DTC brand I meet has one. They're advertised like working capital. They're not. They're a tax on growth. I'd ban the term tomorrow if I could."

Education & credentials

The qualifications behind the work

Sam works alongside

Eightx leadership

Matt Putra

Matt Putra

Founder, Managing Partner

Vancouver-based founder. Former Group CFO ($500M+ deployed). Closed multi-eight-figure exits including Turmeric Co. to A.G. Barr and Natural Dog Co. to Morgan Stanley.
Leandro D'Elia

Leandro D'Elia

Senior Partner & CFO

Argentina-based turnaround CFO. Took a pet brand from a $60K monthly loss to a $50K monthly profit in two months. Ex-YPF and ex-Galileo Technologies (IPO prep).
11+

The full Eightx team

Finance specialists across NA, EU, APAC

Advisory CFOs, Jr CFOs, financial analysts, senior accountants. Sam leads the APAC side of this practice.

Outside work

Football, family, travel

When Sam isn't running a forecast or talking through an acquisition deck, he's watching his football team, playing with his daughter, or travelling. He got into finance because his dad was a "numbers and desk-job worker", and stayed in it because he likes helping companies get better.

Work with Sam

Ready for a CFO who's been
on both sides of the table?

If you're an ecommerce or DTC brand between $5M and $50M and you want Sam on your team, book a 30-minute call.

Talk to Sam

30-min call · APAC hours friendly · For brands doing $5M–$50M