Fractional CEO/CFO · Strategic Finance · Founder-Led & PE-Backed Companies
Hands-on fractional CEO/CFO and strategic finance leadership for founder-led, PE-backed, and growth-stage companies navigating growth, turnaround, capital needs, operational complexity, and ownership transition.
Institutional-grade financial leadership. Founder-accessible engagement.
Visibility, forecasting, reporting, margin, and capital readiness — built and run by an operator who has carried the P&L, not a packaged advisory program. Without the cost and commitment of a full-time executive hire.
What We Do
Hands-on financial leadership across the situations that actually determine outcomes — scoped to what your company needs, not to a packaged program.
Executive finance leadership without the full-time hire. Visibility, forecasting, reporting, and capital readiness — built and then run week to week.
For companies where the numbers have stopped supporting the decisions — margin compression, tight liquidity, or a plan that no longer matches the economics.
For owners whose transaction is 12–36 months out. The companies that hold their value in diligence built the reporting long before they went to market.
Selective fractional CEO leadership is also available where a company needs broader operating leadership through transformation, transition, or a period of owner support.
How It Works
Every engagement starts with visibility. What follows depends on the situation — how far the company has to move, and how fast.
The Operator
Karl Ohlemann · Principal | Fractional CEO/CFO
Karl is a 25+ year founder-operator and CFO who has scaled companies from startup to $30M+ ARR and more than $200M in cumulative revenue. His experience spans financial turnarounds, FP&A, capital planning, lender relations, construction finance, contracts, commercial risk, outside-counsel management, operating systems, technology strategy, and executive leadership.
Most recently, as CFO of Broadband Development Group, he helped deliver a transformation from a $242K net loss to $2.34M net profit while revenue grew from $5.1M to $9.2M.
He also operates BlackBoxx.ai, an independent AI Systems Lab focused on practical AI systems, automation, and agentic workflows.
"I'm a strategist and problem solver at my core. Complex situations with high stakes and no clear playbook — that's where I do my best work."
— Karl Ohlemann, Principal · Fractional CEO/CFOCredentials
The Network
"KSIG doesn't try to do everything internally. We do what we're exceptional at — and we know who to bring in for the rest."
KSIG maintains relationships across M&A, capital, legal, accounting, technology, operations, and executive leadership, and can coordinate additional expertise when the situation requires it.
These are independent third-party specialists, engaged directly by the client. Most engagements never need them — but when one does, the relationships are already in place.
M&A advisory, growth capital, debt structuring, and private equity and family office relationships — independent firms, engaged directly by the client when a transaction or raise is genuinely in front of them.
Business and commercial counsel, contract structuring, employment and equity, regulatory matters, disputes, and transaction documentation through independent law firms. Karl remains actively involved in commercial strategy, issue assessment, and outside-counsel coordination.
Controller and accounting depth, tax strategy and compliance, audit preparation, construction and job-cost accounting, and additional fractional finance capacity when scope demands it.
ERP and accounting systems, AI-enabled finance workflows, data infrastructure, and technology governance—designed around permissions, auditability, and human review.
Operational leadership, HR and organizational design, supply chain, process optimization, and executive coaching — including support that reduces owner and operator dependency.
Personal financial planning, wealth management, estate strategy, and trust structuring for founders and executives following a transaction — provided by independent third-party advisory firms under their own agreements and regulatory obligations.
The Name
"Built on something that lasts."
KSIG carries a deliberate legacy. Karl Siegmar Ohlemann and his father Siegmar Karl Ohlemann — two names, mirrored across a generation. His father escaped East Germany at 14, became the fastest 800m runner in North America, won Silver at the Pan American Games, and carried Canada's closing ceremony flag at the 1960 Rome Olympics.
He trained under Bill Bowerman at the University of Oregon alongside a young Phil Knight, and remained a lifelong friend of both men. He is named in Bowerman and the Men of Oregon — the book that documents the founding of Nike.
Two generations. One belief — the people who build lasting things do it through will, over time, without a safety net.
Working Together
KSIG works with a limited number of founder-led and PE-backed companies where hands-on CEO/CFO leadership can materially improve visibility, cash management, reporting, capital readiness, or transaction preparation — without adding a full-time executive.