Thirty years inside growing companies. One pattern I couldn’t stop seeing.
I’m Michael Achman. Most people call me Mike. I founded LaunchPoints and wrote The Scale Map.
I’ve spent more than 30 years in finance and C-suite roles inside growing companies: manufacturing, consumer products, agriculture, life sciences, real estate, and shared services. I’ve built forecasts, closed books, led acquisitions and exits, and sat across the table from owners at the moments that decide what comes next.
Across every one of those businesses, I kept seeing the same thing. The habits that built the company became the limits on how far it could grow. The owner’s instincts that made it work at 10 people turned into a bottleneck at 50. I call it the Scale Trap. It caught me too.
I was CFO at a family-owned food company when a keynote speaker made me admit something: I was playing small. It woke up the entrepreneur in me, and the wish to make a bigger impact. Not long after, I started LaunchPoints.
LaunchPoints exists for owners at critical moments: when growth outruns the numbers, when cash gets tight despite good sales, when a deal or a transition is on the table. That’s what Clarity at Critical Moments means to me.
Most owners will never hire a CFO. So I wrote The Scale Map to put the method in their hands.
The short version.
- C-suite and senior finance roles across six industries
- Full-cycle M&A: diligence, integration, divestitures, and exits
- Board-level advisory and governance
- ERP and finance systems transformation
- Author of The Scale Map (2026)
I live north of Dassel, Minnesota, with my wife, Tricia. We are the proud parents of two grown daughters.
Michael (Mike) Achman is a CFO and strategic business advisor with more than 30 years in finance and executive leadership inside growing companies. He has held C-suite roles across manufacturing, consumer packaged goods, life sciences, agriculture, real estate, and shared services, and has led full-cycle M&A and board-level advisory work. He founded LaunchPoints, LLC to help owners gain clarity at critical moments. His book, The Scale Map: Take Back Control of Your Cash, Business, and Time as You Grow, gives owners a practical operating system built around cash.
Event organizers are welcome to use this bio.
The Scale Map
Take back control of your cash, business, and time as you grow. The method behind every LaunchPoints engagement, written for owners.