Out of the Corporate Frying Pan, Into the Start-up Fire.

• Author: Gray, Carol Lippert

"It stopped being fun." Those four little words are the main reason Bill Murray left his job as vice president of operations of a $230-million roll-up food business eight months ago to become CFO of software start-up Allegro Development in Dallas. And before his food business stint, Murray had worked for a European bank, based in New York, with $60 billion in assets worldwide. So why this tendency to professional downsizing?

"I've never been much for large groups of reports," he says. At Allegro, which specializes in software for the energy industry, Murray adds, "I deal with more people as individuals. Their personality quirks tend to be more exaggerated. But overall there's probably less stress than in a large, political organization."

Keith Taylor, CFO at Career Central, a venture-capital-backed start-up e-recruiter, has a similar story. Taylor worked at Apple Computer for nine years, and was a senior controller when he left. He then became vice president, finance, and controller for North American operations at Adecco, a $12-billion global staffing company. He's been at Career Central since May 1999. Why? "There's a culture and a passion in the Internet space," he explains. "I want to be involved in shaping the future by building and creating something new. I wanted a smaller, more nimble company where decisions can be made more quickly. My search was to find an industry whose future will be determined by its intellectual and human-resource capital."

Many Hats, Lots of Pies

"You end up with your fingers in more pies," Bill Murray says of being with a small firm. "You deal with more issues." Accounting, human resources, legal and other areas currently report to him. "I get involved in collecting receivables and that type of stuff. I also effectively am the general counsel of the company," he adds, "although I refer particularly hairy items to a lawyer." And his colleagues joke that CFO stands for "chief furniture officer," since Murray selects the decor for new satellite offices.

While he doesn't log less time than before, "the hours are more enjoyable," he thinks. "It's more fun and easier to be in a business that's growing 100 percent-plus a year than in one that's growing the bottom line by cutting people." And while his cash compensation is about equal to his previous position's, Murray says, "Compensation is better from an equity viewpoint. And the bonus is better."

Keith Taylor echoes those thoughts. "I'm ready, willing and able to...