About
Finesse Blumenthal.
Founder and Principal, ScalePath Partners. Fractional Chief People Officer. Partner, Avant Search.
I have spent about twenty years building people functions inside companies that were changing shape: startups becoming real businesses, founder-run firms taking on institutional owners, and platforms absorbing acquisition after acquisition. Most of that work happened while the business was moving, not in a planning cycle.
I believe people decisions are financial decisions, and that treating them as anything softer is how companies lose a year of the value creation plan. I work fractionally now because the companies that need this judgment most are usually the ones that cannot yet justify a full-time seat — and because the work is better when the goal is to make yourself unnecessary.
Track record
Where the judgment comes from.
First Chief People Officer, Blackstone-backed SaaS
A platform serving legal and accounting firms. At board level on EBITDA, enterprise value, M&A integration, and leadership development.
Three times growth in three years
People leader for a litigation consulting firm through a period of tripled scale, including the hiring, comp, and management structure that carried it.
About 20 years, startup to institutional
Across startup-to-scale-up companies including hospitality, in the transition from founder-run to institutionally owned. Master's degree.
How I work
Three things you can count on.
I will tell you the truth early
- Bad news does not improve with age.
- If the recommendation is to hire full-time, or to do nothing this quarter, you will hear it.
- You are paying for judgment, not agreement.
I build what you can run without me
- Minimum effective process, documented and handed over.
- Your HR lead should be stronger at the end than at the start.
- The exit plan is part of the engagement, not an afterthought.
I measure what the board measures
- Attrition, time to fill, pay equity, bench depth, headcount against plan.
- One page on the fifth business day.
- People decisions translated into the numbers the plan is built on.
Beyond the work
Off the clock.
- Host of two podcasts: The Next Introduction and You Are Not Your Job.
- Writing a book.
- Mentoring, and active in chief-level peer groups.
- Atlanta native, seven years in Los Angeles.
- Married, one daughter.
Who I bring in when the work needs it.
Executive search
Avant Search for VP and C-level people roles, when the right answer is a full-time hire.
Employment counsel
Brought in for restructures, terminations, and multi-state exposure.
Benefits and HR technology
Specialist partners for plan design and system selection.
Engaged only when needed, and only at cost.
Thirty minutes with Finesse. No pitch.
Tell Finesse what is going on. You will leave with a clear read on the situation and what she would do first, whether or not you work with ScalePath.