The CFO Playbook
Soldo
Subscribe
Being a good CFO isn’t just about managing money anymore. The modern CFO is being asked to implement new technology, guide product and business decisions, and look ahead to the future.
But how do you stay ahead of the curve?
In The CFO Playbook, you’ll learn how world-class CFO’s and finance leaders set goals, manage teams, leverage technology, plan for the future, improve systems and processes, and so much more.
Each week you’ll get insights that help you grow yourself and your company.
Have a specific topic you’d like us to cover? Head on over to cfoplaybook.fm to submit any questions you’d like our guests to answer on future episodes.
Available episodes
Newest first
Oldest first
4 days ago
The Expansive Financial Growth of the Gaming Sector with Ed Lu, CFO at Fandom
This episode of the CFO Playbook features an interview with Ed Lu, Chief Financial Officer at Fandom, a San Francisco-based gaming and entertainment community platform.
Ed is a gaming and media tech executive with deep finance, strategy and operational experiences focused on VC and PE-backed Gaming and B2C companies. He holds a Master’s in Management Science and Engineering from Stanford University, and a Bachelor’s in Economics from UC Berkeley.
In this episode, Ed talks about the explosive growth of the gaming industry over the course of the pandemic, the impact that generative AI will have on game development, and the ups and downs of the financial investment side of the sector.
--------
Guest Quotes:
“A lot of these [gaming] companies have had to somewhat bootstrap themselves, right? Or like, on a shoestring budget, get something out, show the metrics that the VCs will understand, ‘Oh, okay, I get it. Here's the D1, here's the D3, D7, D28, here's the monetization, here's the ARPU, whatnot. I can now project it out further.’ But they're not getting funding prior, right? And so they've been coming into the game a little later, like sort of post traction.” - Ed Lu
--------
Topics:
01:34 Ed’s background
06:53 The evolution of monetization in online gaming
15:44 Trials and tribulations of game development
20:21 Investment in the gaming sector
30:03 Downsides of VC investing
40:12 Managing employee retention as a CFO
49:24 Reflecting on his career
--------
Sponsor:
_This show is brought to you by Soldo, the brighter way to manage business spending and expenses. With Soldo, you can control every expense, track spend in real time, automate financial reporting, and then use those insights to fuel growth. Learn more at Soldo.com_
--------
Links:
Connect with Ed on LinkedIn
Connect with Fran on LinkedIn
The CFO Playbook Listener Survey
playlist_add
Aug 9, 2023
How a Remote-first Culture Has Affected Finance with Bill Fahrbach, CFO at Facet
This episode of the CFO Playbook features an interview with Bill Fahrbach, Chief Financial Officer at Facet, offering impartial and invaluable financial advice and services at an affordable membership fee.
Bill is a strategic Financial Executive and Entrepreneurial CFO/COO with an extensive investment banking background and rounded technology operational experience. With a track record of significant growth, capital raises, and exits, he’s a leader in finance, operations, systems, and legal capacities.
In this episode, Bill talks about the changing dynamics between CFO and CEO, the importance of a healthy work-life balance, and how a primarily remote-first culture affects the pathway to becoming a CFO.
--------
Guest Quotes:
“I think what has changed is, if you think about the CFO role, it's really critically important that you get the right information out to the organization. So, the organization wants to understand how we are doing as a business, and it's not as simple as sort of just saying like, look, here are the numbers, right? There's a lot of color, there's a lot of context. So I would say as CFO, it's been challenging. It's actually pushed probably the limits in terms of like how do you communicate effectively with the employee base, whereas when you're in the office in a physical office, it's more natural, I guess you could say, and more seamless to sort of be having routine discussions with, employees across the board and articulating, you know, the good, the bad, and everything in between and getting that message across. In a virtual environment, what I've found is that the struggle is always finding that balance of how do I get the right message out in the right forums. And not create, let's say, like a drain of unnecessary meetings that people get bored in, right? So, it's finding that balance, you know, articulating the right information, but also giving the right context in a way that employees will be engaged. I'd say that was, that's been the biggest challenge.” - Bill Fahrbach
--------
Topics:
00:38 Bill’s role and adjusting to remote work
03:49 How a remote first culture affects the pathway to CFO
07:51 Educational background
13:19 Dynamics between CFO and CEO
17:53 Facilitating company acquisitions
21:47 Work life balance
24:23 About Facet and IPO
29:18 Best decision he’s ever made
--------
Sponsor:
_This show is brought to you by Soldo, the brighter way to manage business spending and expenses. With Soldo, you can control every expense, track spend in real time, automate financial reporting, and then use those insights to fuel growth. Learn more at Soldo.com_
--------
Links:
Connect with Bill on LinkedIn
Connect with Fran on LinkedIn
The CFO Playbook Listener Survey
playlist_add
Jul 26, 2023
The Financial Resiliency of UK’s Social Care with Andy Dean, Chief Financial Officer at Eden Futures
This episode of the CFO Playbook features an interview with Andy Dean, Chief Financial Officer at Eden Futures, providing high quality, person-centered care, supported living and enablement for people with disabilities and support needs.
At Eden Futures, Andy leads the Finance, Service Development and IT teams. Prior, he started his career training with KPMG as a Chartered Accountant, gaining experience within both Audit and Transaction Services. He has since worked for a variety of care providers in social care starting with Craegmoor as Group Financial Accountant. From there he gained broader experience at GKN plc before joining what became Embrace Group in 2012 as Group Financial Controller. Andy helped to manage the recovery and subsequent sale of that business before joining Eden Futures.
In this episode, Andy talks about the current state of social care in the UK, his work as a leader for teams in finance, service development, and IT, and how policies, politics, and technology affect the space.
--------
Guest Quotes:
“ Part of your role, as CFO, is that wide base of stakeholders. You can be talking to your shareholder one day. You can be talking to your lender another day. You can be talking to your insurer. You know, CFOs like me are often responsible for the IT, so get involved in the IT discussions, talking to our customers. So, in our case, our commissioning partners around whatever issue it might be, say fee rates, occupancy. Get involved with the lawyers that are on the contractual side. So yes, it is a varied role. You know, the old adage that 'no day is ever the same' is absolutely right from a CFO perspective.” - Andy Dean
--------
Topics:
01:37 Andy’s background and role as CFO
07:22 Current state of social care in the UK
13:14 Technology in social care
17:43 Employee retention and politics
21:00 Dealing with uncertainties
25:45 Mentorship
--------
Sponsor:
_This show is brought to you by Soldo, the brighter way to manage business spending and expenses. With Soldo, you can control every expense, track spend in real time, automate financial reporting, and then use those insights to fuel growth. Learn more at Soldo.com_
--------
Links:
Connect with Andy on LinkedIn
Eden Futures Website
Connect with Fran on LinkedIn
The CFO Playbook Listener Survey
playlist_add
Jul 13, 2023
Employing Tactical Empathy in the Workplace with Chris Voss, Former FBI Hostage Negotiator
This episode of the CFO Playbook features an interview with Chris Voss, Founder and CEO of The Black Swan Group. Previously, Chris was the lead international kidnapping negotiator for the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the FBI’s hostage negotiation representative for the National Security Council’s Hostage Working Group.
Chris used his many years of experience in international crises and high-stakes negotiations to develop a unique program that applies globally proven techniques to the business world. Through the Black Swan Group, he provides training for a variety of businesses and individuals on negotiation skills. He’s also the author of _Never Split the Difference: Negotiating as if Your Life Depended on It._
In this episode, Chris and I talk about how he became an FBI hostage negotiator, what a CFO can learn from negotiation, and the three biggest mistakes to avoid when negotiating.
--------
Guest Quotes:
“Really counterintuitive stuff, this thing that we call empathy, you know, we call tactical empathy. It's ability to influence, if you can wrap your mind around what it really is, it works under all circumstances. Doesn't matter, as long as human beings are involved, whether it's a colleague, whether it's a client, whether it's an employee, whether it's somebody you work for, it seems mystical because it really operates on neuroscience and the feelings of being understood. But human beings are wired to be completely emotional. You know, every decision, you make up your mind based on what you care about, which makes decision making an emotional process because your fundamental basis is what you care about. And so then it's just applied emotional intelligence. And you know you can succeed in the boardroom or work with what I learned dealing with a drug dealer or a terrorist.” - Chris Voss
--------
Topics:
03:02 How to become an FBI hostage negotiator
03:41 What a CFO can learn from negotiation
12:52 Three biggest mistakes in negotiation
18:45 Achieving outcomes
22:28 In-person versus digital communication
27:38 Real life stories
--------
Sponsor:
_This show is brought to you by Soldo, the brighter way to manage business spending and expenses. With Soldo, you can control every expense, track spend in real time, automate financial reporting, and then use those insights to fuel growth. Learn more at Soldo.com_
--------
Links:
Connect with Chris on LinkedIn
The Black Swan Group LTD
Connect with Fran on LinkedIn
The CFO Playbook Listener Survey
playlist_add
Jun 28, 2023
How Social Evolution Affects the Dynamic of Organizations with Robin Dunbar, Professor of Evolutionary Psychology at University of Oxford
This episode of the CFO Playbook features an interview with Robin Dunbar, Professor of Evolutionary Psychology at University of Oxford and Co-author of _The Social Brain: The Psychology of Successful Groups_.
Professor Dunbar is British anthropologist and evolutionary psychologist and a specialist in primate behavior. He is best known for formulating Dunbar’s number, a measurement of the “cognitive limit to the number of individuals with whom any one person can maintain stable relationships.” His research is concerned with trying to understand the behavioral and cognitive mechanisms that underpin social bonding in primates and humans.
In this episode, Professor Dunbar talks about how evolution affects the dynamics of organizations, the seven pillars of friendship, the impact of work on personal relationships, and the observable changes in a sense of community overtime.
--------
Guest Quotes:
“In a C-suite level, you have to find ways of sharing your time and not micromanaging everything, that's where the disaster comes, I think, because you destroy everything. You try and micromanage the whole of a big organization, not only do you make a hash of that because it's too big, but you also don't have any time left over for your family relationships and so on, and they fall apart. So, you’ve got to trust the people you work with, as it were, below you, in the layers below you to do their job, and that has to be the culture. And, there are places where that happens, you have this sense of trust and obligation and people work willingly, as it were, and overwork, maybe, willingly, not for the money they're paid but out of a sense of pride and obligation to the job they do. If you encourage that kind of attitude again, which used to be much more common, then you don't have to worry about what's going on down below because that's being taken care of in the layers below you. You can sit back and deal with strategy, which is what C-suite folks should be really concerned with because, and sparing yourself enough time at the corners of the day to invest in your own kind of family and social environments.” - Robin Dunbar
--------
Topics:
02:51 Introducing Robin’s book: _The Social Brain: The Psychology of Successful Groups_
06:35 How evolution affects the dynamics of organizations
11:36 The seven pillars of friendship
18:21 Difference in application for group sizes in a workplace setting
30:32 Generational changes in the sense of community
38:47 The impact of work on personal relationships
--------
Sponsor:
_This show is brought to you by Soldo, the brighter way to manage business spending and expenses. With Soldo, you can control every expense, track spend in real time, automate financial reporting, and then use those insights to fuel growth. Learn more at Soldo.com_
--------
Links:
Connect with Robin on LinkedIn
_The Social Brain: The Psychology of Successful Groups_
Connect with Fran on LinkedIn
The CFO Playbook Listener Survey
playlist_add
Jun 14, 2023
Challenging Accountancy Stereotypes with Tom Herbert, Tech Editor at AccountingWEB
This episode of the CFO Playbook features an interview with Tom Herbert, Tech Editor at AccountingWEB, the largest independent online community for accounting and finance professionals in the UK.
Tom is a journalist, editor and broadcaster with experience across digital and print publications. For the past seven years, he’s specialized in business, accountancy and technology journalism. He writes and edits news, features, interviews and opinion pieces and also features on a variety of podcasts, videos and webinars as both a host and guest.
In this episode, Tom talks about ChatGPT and the future of AI, the recent Silicon Valley Bank situation, _The Tyranny of Expense Reclaim, _and his opinions on accountancy stereotypes.
--------
Guest Quotes:
“I think that accountants, the stereotype is, Nigel in the corner office with his spreadsheet, and they're incredibly boring people, like Monty Python and various others have spread this around. But, I actually find accountants incredibly entertaining. I think they're generally very quirky, quite eccentric, and often quite blunt. But, when I pitched up in 2015, after, as you said, a series of events, writing, travel, writing, sports, journalism, like my wife's, yeah, ‘accounting journalism, are you sure?’ But, yeah, I've loved every minute of it, genuinely. It's been great fun.” - Tom Herbert
--------
Topics:
03:54 Chat GPT and AI
10:21 Silicon Valley Bank
14:14 Resumes and trust
18:44 _The_ _Tyranny of Expense Reclaim_
24:44 Opinions on accountancy stereotypes
--------
Sponsor:
_This show is brought to you by Soldo, the brighter way to manage business spending and expenses. With Soldo, you can control every expense, track spend in real time, automate financial reporting, and then use those insights to fuel growth. Learn more at Soldo.com_
--------
Links:
Connect with Tom on LinkedIn
Connect with Fran on LinkedIn
The CFO Playbook Listener Survey
playlist_add
May 24, 2023
Cultivating Career Relationships in Finance with Peter de Silva, Author, Director, and Trustee
This episode of the CFO Playbook features an interview with Peter de Silva, Author, Director, and Trustee.
Peter is an experienced chairman, CEO, president, executive committee member, public and private company director and trustee for national not-for-profit organizations and national charitable foundations. He’s a Former Harvard University Senior Fellow - Advanced Leadership Initiative, and author of _Taking Stock: 10 Life_ _Leadership Principles from My Seat at the Table_.
In this episode, Peter talks about the importance of successfully cultivating relationships for career progression, the financial impacts of the 2020 ‘meme’ stock craze, and leaves us with his top three pieces of advice for the CFOs of the future.
--------
Guest Quotes:
“If I think about three or four pieces of advice for aspiring financial leaders, I would leave you with this. One, take intelligent risks. I didn't want to move to Cincinnati. I didn't want to move to Kansas City. But I did, and I grew much more quickly. I got way ahead from where I would've been if I sat in my office in Boston. So, take those intelligent risks. Second, and something that has to be learned, you need to hire people that compliment you and challenge you. The leader that hires people that look just like them and marches in line, it doesn't work. You want people who challenge you around that table. And, as long as they do it respectfully and ethically, it's all good with me. But, ensure you find people who compliment and challenge you. Third, constantly challenge yourself to improve. None of us are done learning and growing and we won't be until we draw our last breath because that's the essence of life, is to learn and grow and to develop. And my last piece of advice for everyone is to do what you love and love what you do. And, if you don't, It's time to move on.” - Peter de Silva
--------
Topics:
01:22 Peter’s background
06:12 Early career
09:28 Experience at Harvard
14:38 Meme stock craze
22:56 Peter’s book
25:43 Cultivating relationships
30:40 What’s next for Peter
31:26 Advice for upcoming CFOs
34:00 Learning experiences
--------
Sponsor:
_This show is brought to you by Soldo, the brighter way to manage business spending and expenses. With Soldo, you can control every expense, track spend in real time, automate financial reporting, and then use those insights to fuel growth. Learn more at Soldo.com_
--------
Links:
Connect with Peter on LinkedIn
Connect with Fran on LinkedIn
The CFO Playbook Listener Survey
playlist_add
May 3, 2023
How Premier Businesses Fill the Finance Role with Chris Gaunt, CFO Practice Leader at Spencer Stuart
This episode of the CFO Playbook features an interview with Chris Gaunt. He is the CFO Practice Leader for Europe, Middle East and Africa at Spencer Stuart, an executive search, board, and leadership advisory service.
In his role, Chris works on a variety of Group CFO appointments for many of the world’s largest publicly traded companies, as well as for private equity-backed portfolio companies. He has a strong international focus, often for clients in emerging economies who wish to access the global executive talent pool. Prior to joining Spencer Stuart, Chris worked with another leading international executive search firm, most recently serving as the Managing Partner of its UK CFO practice. He began his career in the financial leadership search field in the firm’s New York office. Earlier, Chris worked as a management consultant for the Washington, D.C.-based Advisory Board Company. In that capacity, he led consulting teams working with senior executives across industries on their human resources strategy and operations. Chris holds a master’s degree from the London School of Economics and a bachelor’s degree from Georgetown University.
In this episode, Chris talks about the ever changing role of the CFO, the modern challenges of headhunting, leadership as a whole, and the steps you can take to reach the top.
--------
Guest Quotes:
“You need a certain stiffness, a certain toughness, of character to survive the sort of constant battering and the loneliness that is involved in being a CEO. I won't dispute that. I would say that we're seeing, again, an evolutionary change where the command control type of the CEOs of yesteryear are simply no longer in vogue. What we've seen, and the Covid crisis amplified this, is that CEOs today, more than ever, have to demonstrate real empathetic and inclusive leadership." - Chris Gaunt
--------
Topics:
02:08 Introducing Chris
03:11 Current state of CFOs
06:30 Challenges in headhunting
10:11 The skill set of a modern CFO
16:21 Prerequisites for becoming a CFO
22:53 The process of CFO headhunting
27:45 Examples of successful CFO searches
--------
Sponsor:
_This show is brought to you by Soldo, the brighter way to manage business spending and expenses. With Soldo, you can control every expense, track spend in real time, automate financial reporting, and then use those insights to fuel growth. Learn more at Soldo.com_
--------
Links:
Connect with Chris on LinkedIn
Connect with Fran on LinkedIn
The CFO Playbook Listener Survey
playlist_add
Mar 8, 2023
Driving Growth with a Clear Path to Profitability with Kevin Benmoussa, EVP & CFO at Aleph Farms
This episode of the CFO Playbook features an interview with Kevin Benmoussa, EVP & CFO at Aleph Farms, a company growing beef steaks from non-genetically engineered and non-immortalized cells isolated from a living cow. This is done without slaughtering the animal and with a significantly reduced impact to the environment.
Before helping to drive growth at Aleph, Kevin held numerous leadership positions at some of the biggest brands in the world. His previous roles include CFO at The Vita Coco Company, where he was responsible for expanding the company’s global finance functions before leading that company’s IPO in 2021, and positions at Nestlé and PepsiCo where he drove growth and profitability through mergers and acquisitions, strategic alliances, and business development.
In this episode, Kevin talks about the ever-changing role of the CFO, the importance of profitability and forecasting in growing companies, and the booming expansion of the cultivated meat industry in recent years.
--------
Guest Quotes:
“The CFO role has evolved dramatically over the last decade or so. As you would think before, with the CFO being the traditional bean counter and the policy maker within the company, just saying no to things. And really focusing on accounting, I think this definition of CFO has really, really changed today. I view myself, you know, as part of that new generation of CFO that are much more business focused. And, trying to be an enabler for a business and as an organization, and leverage the finance function as a tool, to really enable the company to achieve what it needs to achieve.”
“You want to make sure you're growing profitably. That's always something that has stuck with me over the years. I've seen great businesses, great startups, great companies that they've had tremendous revenue runways, tremendous growth, but at no real path to profit. And we've seen a lot of those cases, especially the last year or two, where we've seen a company fail because of that, right? Because, you know, expectations are very high from a growth point of view, which is great because growth is the key element of any company. But, at the same time investors start to realize, hey, beyond the growth we need to understand the profitability because, at the end of the day, a business needs to make money.”
“I want to always stay optimistic but I say, cautiously optimistic, right? Which is, I want to make sure, you know, I look at things in the best optimal way as possible, and ready to spend, and ready to support the growth of the company as best as we can. At the same time, making sure we keep some flexibility to adjust and course correct if need be throughout the year, depending on the situation. I think this is crucial and every CFO in every company, whether very large or very small, has to be prepared to do that today.”
“Don't constrain yourself to your specific job description. And what that means is to always go beyond what you're supposed to do and really understand what's around you, understand the context, and see how can you help others in what they do, even though it doesn't necessarily impact what you're doing today. Because, that's how you're gonna become the most effective, and that's how you're gonna bring the most value to the organization as a whole.”
--------
Topics:
03:05 What is cultivated meat?
04:25 Kevin’s background
08:19 Organizational structure at Aleph Farms
10:02 The changing role of CFO
17:39 Profitability and forecasting the future
22:11 Important KPIs for Kevin
25:01 Preparing for disaster scenarios
28:52 Mentorship
30:22 Final advice
--------
Sponsor:
_This show is brought to you by Soldo, the brighter way to manage business spending and expenses. With Soldo, you can control every expense, track spend in real time, automate financial reporting, and then use those insights to fuel growth. Learn more at Soldo.com_
--------
Links:
Connect with Kevin on LinkedIn
Connect with Fran on LinkedIn
The CFO Playbook Listener Survey
playlist_add
Mar 1, 2023
Finding a Balance Between Efficient and Effective with Justin Lackey, CFO at Asset Panda
This episode of the CFO Playbook features an interview with Justin Lackey, CFO at Asset Panda, a powerful, highly configurable asset tracking and management SaaS platform on a mission to help the world work smarter.
In his current role as the Chief Financial Officer, Justin oversees revenue operations, pricing, and data analysis, which are all transferable skills brought over from his previous positions as Director of Revenue Operations, and Manager of Pricing Strategy and Finance. Prior to Asset Panda, Justin held four separate financial analyst positions at ACTIVE Network, a premier global marketplace for activities and events. He graduated with a degree in general finance from Texas A&M University in 2017.
In this episode, Justin talks about the importance of maintaining transparency in the new world of finance, navigating risk appetite when conducting business during black swan events, and adapting to and remaining motivated in remote work environments.
--------
Guest Quotes:
“I like to look at everything as a revenue generating role, right? What are you doing to impact revenue? Whether it's a tweak you're making in our sales process, our marketing process, insights you're helping give them, there’s a direct downstream impact on revenue for that. Becoming obsessed with that revenue side of the business, I think is important for any young analyst, any aspiring CFO.”
“I think a really good quality for a CFO, CRO is, can you take a complexity and can you make it digestible, right? That is always the million dollar question of, okay, we have this set, this data set, this preexisting analytics set, right, of historical information. How do I put this into an action item and how do I deliver it so anyone can understand it?”
“I think haste of pivot is super important. Boils back down to that data collection piece of, how long is too long for a project to kind of run its course, right? You have the opportunity to act much quicker based on leading indicators than you could've. It's not all about waiting until seeing the win rate anymore, waiting until seeing total revenue, right? You can kind of grab some of that upfront data, make some pretty educated guesses, and pivot quickly.”
“There's a famous kind of mindset model that talks about the different zones that people can find themselves in. And there's a reactive zone and a proactive zone, along with a waste and a distraction zone, things like that. We spend a lot of time in that reactive zone today, but we're not necessarily using time in the proactive zone that can lead to efficiencies within that reactive zone. What am I doing day-to-day that really could be automated that's taking up a lot of my time, and how do I invest that time back into my personal life?”
--------
Topics:
02:06 Justin’s role and background
07:53 The new world of finance
13:22 Transparency in finance
18:06 Addressing risk appetite
22:08 Black swan events
28:31 Remaining motivated in remote work
33:51 Siege mentality in company leadership
37:33 Tips for success in business
--------
Sponsor:
_This show is brought to you by Soldo, the brighter way to manage business spending and expenses. With Soldo, you can control every expense, track spend in real time, automate financial reporting, and then use those insights to fuel growth. Learn more at Soldo.com_
--------
Links:
Connect with Justin on LinkedIn
Connect with Fran on LinkedIn
The CFO Playbook Listener Survey
playlist_add
Feb 22, 2023
Building Financial Runway in a Down Market with Rebecca Kacaba, CEO & Co-Founder of Dealmaker
This episode of the CFO Playbook features an interview with Rebecca Kacaba, CEO & Co-Founder of Dealmaker, the leading platform turning all capital raise types into simple ecommerce.
Rebecca practiced law on Bay Street for over 10 years, founded the startup practice group at one law firm, and was co-chair of the Toronto Venture Technology and Emerging Growth Companies Group. Rebecca’s vision and drive have landed her in Lexpert’s Top 40 Under 40 and recognized as one of North America’s most innovative lawyers by the Financial Times. Rebecca led DealMaker to be Canada’s 3rd Fastest Growing Company 2022.
In this episode, Rebecca talks about equity crowdfunding as a go-to method for raising capital, leading and persevering through the global pandemic, and provides advice for aspiring female entrepreneurs as she is considered one of the most powerful women in Canada.
--------
Guest Quotes:
“If you think about that [equity crowdfunding] versus the traditional process of walki…
playlist_add
Feb 2, 2023
CFO Playbook Launches Season 2
Being a good CFO isn’t just about managing money anymore. The modern CFO is being asked to implement new technology, guide product and business decisions, and look ahead to the future. On the CFO Playbook we look at how the finance functions at companies stay ahead of the curve.
In season 2 we bring you new host, Fran Badenhorst, a career journalist and UK Content Lead for Soldo. You will still get the same interesting and informative content for the financial professional you heard before, but we are expanding our sights on the growing working world and universe of business.
Each episode you’ll get insights that help you grow yourself, your team, and your company. We’ll explore how old school finance traditions fit into the new world of business. You’ll hear from established and up-and-coming CFO’s, Thought Leaders, Technology Trend Setters, and other C-Suite Leaders and professionals that impact the finance function.
Our casual conversations will take a deep dive to get…
playlist_add
Oct 13, 2022
Be a Nimble CFO with Paul Cunningham, Partner and CFO at Helios Investment Partners
This episode of the CFO Playbook features an interview with Paul Cunningham, Partner and CFO at Helios Investment Partners, an Africa-focused private firm managing funds totalling $3.6 billion. With 34 years in the industry, Paul has an overall responsibility for all matters relating to accounting, financial control, taxation, fund administration and reporting and regulatory compliance for the Helios group entities.
Paul served as Chief Financial Officer and Chief Operating Officer for Barclays Private Equity for six years prior to joining Helios in May 2008, and previously as Director, Head of Finance & Product Control Projects at Barclays Capital. He’s also Chairman of the International Private Equity and Venture Capital Valuation Guidelines Board. Prior to joining Barclays, he worked within the finance functions of various major investment banks, including Deutsche Bank and Credit Suisse, since qualifying as a Chartered Accountant with Ernst & Whinney in 1989.
In this episode of…
playlist_add
Sep 29, 2022
Start With a Commercial Story, Then Solve for Accounting with Chris Stefani, CFO at DWF
This episode of the CFO Playbook features an interview with Chris Stefani, CFO at DWF, a leading global provider of integrated legal and business services.
Chris is a specialist in performance improvement in professional services, finance transformation and profit improvement. He oversees all of DWF's financial operations in the UK and internationally, with a focus on enhancing revenue, improving profitability and driving working capital management to support the firm's growth. He has extensive experience in advising executive boards on all aspects of financial management and control, and the development of financial reporting and analysis mechanisms. Chris has worked in many different finance function roles in the UK and Ireland and more recently in EMEIA, including as Head of Finance for UK&I Tax and CFO for the Republic of Ireland.
In this episode, Chris talks about why the legal sector provides variety for someone working in the finance function. He explains what it’s like to l…
playlist_add
Sep 15, 2022
Building a Bank From Scratch with Alwyn Jones, Group CFO at Luno
This episode of the CFO Playbook features an interview with Alwyn Jones, Group CFO at Luno, a leading global cryptocurrency company with over 9 million customers in 43 countries that provides services for making it safe and easy to buy, store and learn about cryptocurrencies.
Alwyn has more than 20 years of experience as a hands-on leader with a track record of delivery in financial and digital services. He strives to deliver exceptional business performance based around a deep understanding of the customer, clear strategic focus, and developing winning teams. Throughout his career, Alwyn has covered strategy development, capital markets, corporate finance, retail and digital financial services, and operational execution. During that time he’s become heavily metrics and results driven, leveraging customer voice and analyses to define strategy, leading change initiatives to obtain and measure commercial results.
In this episode of the CFO Playbook, Alwyn talks about the novel and ev…
playlist_add
Sep 1, 2022
Searching for Fire in the Belly with Manish Sarin, CFO at Sprinklr
This episode of the CFO Playbook features an interview with Manish Sarin, CFO at Sprinklr, a leading enterprise company for all customer-facing functions. With advanced AI, Sprinklr's unified customer experience management platform helps companies deliver human experiences to customers across modern channels.
Manish is an experienced public company executive leading finance teams, investor relations, and corporate development. He has extensive experience in building finance systems and processes for high growth SaaS companies, defining inorganic strategy, identifying and evaluating acquisition targets, structuring and negotiating transactions, and integrating acquired companies. His prior experience includes working with major Wall Street investment banks. He started his career at JP Morgan / H&Q and earned an M.B.A. from Columbia and B.Tech in Computer Science from IIT, India.
In this episode of the CFO Playbook, Manish talks about how he got into finance so he could be in a positio…
playlist_add
Aug 18, 2022
Headhunting During the Great Resignation with Mark Freebairn, Head of Board Practice and CFO Practice at Odgers Berndtson
This episode of the CFO Playbook features an interview with Mark Freebairn, Partner, Head of the Board Practice, and the Financial Management Practice at Odgers Berndtson a global executive search, interim management, talent assessment, and leadership development firm based in London.
Mark focuses on advising Odgers Berndtson’s Board as a whole and others, while maintaining the track record the Financial Management Practice has built working with the finance function to identify and develop talent. Mark led the CFO Practice for 18 years before broadening his area of focus to lead the Board Practice. He benefits from seven years of experience as a Non-Executive Director on the Board of GlobalData plc and also sits on the Remuneration Committee for the Institute of Chartered Accountants in England and Wales.
In this episode of the CFO Playbook, Mark talks about his current role as a CFO headhunter, his unique approach to solidifying his place as a knowledgeable expert in the finance…
playlist_add
Jul 28, 2022
Building Trust and Credibility with Chitra Balasubramanian, CFO at CircleCI
This episode of the CFO Playbook features an interview with Chitra Balasubramanian, CFO at CircleCI, a continuous integration and continuous delivery platform that can be used to implement DevOps practices in the cloud or on private infrustructures.
With more than 20 years of experience accelerating business growth through data analysis, Chitra is best known for scaling technology startups. As the current CFO, and one of two C-suite females, at fast-growth unicorn CircleCI, she's led the company through major wins to establish it as a leader in the space. Chitra has been critical to the company’s fundraising alongside CircleCI’s CEO, Jim Rose. She has led the company through multiple rounds of financing, raising more than $215 million throughout her tenure.
In this episode of the CFO Playbook, Chitra talks about her interest in being involved in technology forward finance, which led her to the startup world. She speaks about using data to identify and model the impact of change t…
playlist_add
Jul 7, 2022
There’s Not One Way to be a CFO with Christopher Yoshida, President & Chief Financial Officer at Northern Data AG
This episode of the CFO Playbook features an interview with Christopher Yoshida, President & Chief Financial Officer at Northern Data AG, a company that combines intelligent and sustainable data centers, cutting-edge hardware, and self-developed software for various HPC applications such as bitcoin mining, blockchain, Artificial Intelligence, big data analytics, IoT, and graphics rendering.
Christopher is an entrepreneurial executive with more than 20 years of experience as a global financial leader. He is deeply invested in understanding financial markets and has a passion for building dynamically successful teams. He began his career at Goldman Sachs and spent more than eleven years as part of the international management team at Morgan Stanley. Afterwards, he successfully worked as a Senior Advisor and Head of European Capital Solutions for The Carlyle Group, and was a Senior Advisor for BottlePay and AIX, which both had successful exits in 2021.
In this episode of the CFO Playboo…
playlist_add
Jun 23, 2022
Collaboration is Key with Gemma Castle, CFO at Cult Wines
This episode of the CFO Playbook features an interview with Gemma Castle, CFO at Cult Wines, which blends heritage, expertise, and innovative technology to transform the fine wine industry for producers, wine enthusiasts, collectors, and investors alike. With over 20 years of experience, Gemma Castle is well versed in delivering nuanced and sophisticated financial strategies in the fast growth SME sector.
As CFO at Cult Wines, Gemma has been pivotal in providing financial leadership and guiding the company through critical stages of growth, including navigating the implementation of North American offices. Before joining Cult Wines, Gemma worked in the leisure and hospitality industry for 10 years, where she served as Director of Finance for Travelzest and Yotel Limited Global Hotels, as well as CFO for Light Cinemas Limited.
In this episode of the CFO Playbook, Gemma talks about the process of investing in wine and how her company ensures a high level of quality control. She explain…
playlist_add
Jun 9, 2022
Taking Stock of Your Priorities with Leigh Ramsden, CFO at Trulioo
This episode of the CFO Playbook features an interview with Leigh Ramsden, CFO at Trulioo, a leading global identity and business verification provider specializing in anti-money laundering and ‘know your customer’ compliance. With over 15 years in senior level finance, Leigh is accomplished in the leadership of finance teams while implementing strategies and managing effective business processes to achieve corporate goals and maximize growth in high-volume environments.
As CFO at Trulioo, Leigh has been an effective operational leader, providing financial and business strategy and direction to the organization. Throughout his career, he has excelled at building teams and successfully linking overall corporate goals to individual personal achievement. His previous experience includes financial leadership positions at Absolute Software, Deloitte, Radiant Communications, and PricewaterhouseCoopers.
In this episode of the CFO Playbook, Leigh talks about what it takes to be a product…
playlist_add
Jun 2, 2022
Challenge the Status Quo with Kirstine Archer, CFO at Bam Boom Cloud
This episode of the CFO Playbook features an interview with Kirstine Archer, CFO at Bam Boom Cloud. Although having been in finance for over 20 years, Kirstine says she fell into accountancy rather than making it a deliberate career move. Even though she may have taken a non-traditional path to CFO, Kirstine has a clear passion and expertise for helping small to midsize businesses by increasing their efficiency through advising and technology.
Kirstine has worked for Bam Boom Cloud for the past two years. As CFO, her role isn’t just about making sure the numbers balance, she is always striving for the company to have the best finance team around. Her goal is to make sure the company delivers world class finance systems, both as their number one fan and number one customer. Her previous experience includes financial leadership positions at Cooper Parry, Equifax, TDX, Boots and more.
In this episode of the CFO Playbook, Kirstine talks about the many opportunities that technology prov…
playlist_add
May 26, 2022
Mingling Finance with Product with Mariana Lazaro, CFO Latin America at SumUp
This episode of the CFO Playbook features an interview with Mariana Lazaro, CFO Latin America at SumUp. Mariana has extensive experience in driving continuous financial and operational improvement, designing and implementing accounting processes and systems, developing and implementing strategic plans, and evaluating and executing mergers and acquisitions. From early in life, Mariana knew that she wanted to work in finance because it was important to her as a woman from an immigrant family to show she knew how to be an independent thinker that was able to own and manage finances. She thinks it is important for any CFO to be creative and nimble, building a finance tribe that invests in technology to be successful.
Throughout her career, Mariana has become experienced with leading providers in the Technology, Bio Technology, Agriculture and Financial Services industries with Fortune 500 publicly traded corporations and private equity backed companies. She has been recognized for her abi…
playlist_add
May 19, 2022
Get Everything You Can Out of Technology with Ben Chrnelich, CFO at Symphony.com
This episode of the CFO Playbook features an interview with Ben Chrnelich, CFO at Symphony.com. Ben has a passion for Capital Markets Technology. He has spent his career focused on enabling trading organizations to utilize technology that drives efficiency and productivity. Always aspiring to become a CFO, Ben sees technology as a tool that can empower financial leaders to have an impact at organizations that previously was not possible because the volume of work was too much and too manual.
Over the past two decades Ben has held financial and management leadership positions at Charles Schwab, Lehman Brothers, NYSE and IPC where he drove business strategy to adapt to the constantly evolving trading landscape. When not working, Ben is on the pitch, coaching soccer for NJ ODP and his daughter’s teams.
In this episode of the CFO Playbook, Ben talks about his appreciation for the rate of change that technology is bringing both to capital markets and the finance profession. He feels ada…
playlist_add
May 12, 2022
Becoming an Accidental CFO with Navpreet Randhawa, CFO at Minna
With 7 years of leadership experience, Navpreet Randhawa has a passion for Enterprise SaaS businesses with focus on the financial technology sector. He found himself on the path to being a self-described “accidental CFO” by having a drive to help build companies and be successful. Navpreet has leaned into prioritizing what is best for his business through the help of using technical tools and outsourcing many traditional aspects of a company’s finance department. As CFO at Minna, he strives to be as efficient and effective as possible by being a strategic finance leader that is open to any options that may help the bottom line.
To be a successful CFO, Navpreet feels you need to be practical and honest with your time and responsibilities. If you are stretching yourself too thin, then you need to reassess how your role is functioning. He thinks it is important to be open to using outside resources to make your job easier and better supported, searching out the best specialists to…
playlist_add
Apr 28, 2022
Tapping into Technology with Bijan Moallemi, Co-Founder and CEO of Mosaic
Bijan Moallemi has nearly a decade of experience building and leading finance functions at companies like Qualcomm and Palantir. He knew CFOs deserved access to better tools, so he co-founded Mosaic Finance to build the next generation of finance software for CFOs and their teams. Born out of their own experiences in finance, Bijan and his co-founders have built the Mosaic platform as a resource that combines big data and machine learning to provide powerful predictive reporting capabilities.
To be a successful CFO, Bijan feels you need the tools and basic technical skills to support your business now and to plan for the future, while reducing the effort required by your team to achieve your goals. He thinks CFOs have historically been underserved, and financial professionals deserve accessible tools that save time and money, while providing key insights and analytics to better your business.
Bijan believes that improving workflows that are self-serving, rather than adding to your li…
playlist_add
Apr 21, 2022
How to be Successful, Happy, and Satisfied in your Role with Anthony Rawlinson, CFO at Papier
Anthony Rawlinson has more than 12 years of experience working in finance. He joined Papier as CFO four years ago, after serving as a consultant for the brand beforehand. Previously, Anthony worked in investment banking with Greenhill & Co. and PwC, providing generalist corporate finance advice. Since he started as the finance leader at Papier, the team has grown to 20 people. Not only does Anthony lead the finance operations at Papier, but he also oversees Data at the company. He believes it is important to have synergy between the two functions to help better the organization.
To be a successful CFO, Anthony feels you need to challenge yourself to take a holistic approach to business and be as forward thinking as possible. In business it is important to not just think about if you can do things faster, but what are the best ways to accomplish your goals and make sure you’re spending your time efficiently. He stresses that however you solve challenges today, it also needs to be don…
playlist_add
Apr 7, 2022
Promote Partnerships with Huw Slater, COO at TravelPerk
Huw Slater is hugely passionate about technology that facilitates innovation and enhances both people’s work and personal lives. Currently, he is COO at TravelPerk, a next-generation travel booking and management platform that is pioneering the future of corporate travel. Previously, Huw served as CFO at TravelPerk and Typeform, with a long career in finance, business, and technology. Huw has helped lead his company through the pandemic and into the new world of corporate collaboration and business travel. Through the use of strategic partnerships, TravelPerk is ensuring the future of travel is successfully supported by top-level technology.
To be a successful CFO, Huw feels you need to do whatever you can to remove friction and extra effort when driving towards success. This requires that you bring in modern tools to help free up your team and employ people that can be creative and don’t just follow standard processes. You need to be someone who over-indexes on being a leader, fo…
playlist_add
Mar 31, 2022
Driving for Diversity with Tiziana Figliolia, CFO at Hootsuite
Tiziana Figliolia has more than 25 years experience in the technology industry leading a wide range of strategic, financial, and operational functions at billion-dollar global publicly traded companies. Currently, she is CFO at Hootsuite, the global leader in social media management. Having a passion for advancing diversity and inclusion initiatives in the workplace and in the community, she is also the co-founder of Full STEAM Forward, a non-profit whose mission is to tackle inequalities in education.
To be a successful CFO, Tiziana believes you need to focus on having a growth mindset. To do this, she feels you need to be customer obsessed, provide the best employee experience, and always build for the long term financial sustainability of the company. Tiziana feels strongly that you need to look at the opportunities that you have in front of you and double down on the investments you have with your customers and partners.
To help your organization become world-class as a CFO, you…
playlist_add
Mar 24, 2022
The Road to Success is Always Under Construction with Chris Roling, CFO at Coinme
Chris Roling has 35 years of commercial and private equity experience, having served in board, CEO, COO, and CFO positions with a number of global public and private companies. Currently he is CFO at Coinme, a crypto financial services and blockchain technology company that is dedicated to helping the world gain access to virtual currency. A self proclaimed, ‘global nomad,’ Chris has worked across the world for many different companies and verticals. His vast experience in nearly every functional area of finance, and mindset of taking the path less traveled, has allowed Chris to successfully guide and help Coinme prosper as it scales quickly in an expanding industry.
To be a successful CFO, Chris believes you need to take chances and get out of your comfort zone. At the same time, he encourages a philosophy of keeping it simple and not over-complicating things. He sees the role of a CFO as someone who provides a common sense approach to their company.
Chris feels strongly that va…
playlist_add
Mar 17, 2022
Forecasting Finance Functions with Paul Sheriff, CFO at NewDay
Paul Sheriff, CFO at NewDay has over 25 years of experience in financial services organizations spanning banking, asset management and insurance. Paul is currently working as Chief Financial Officer for NewDay, a private equity backed consumer finance business providing branded and co-branded credit cards, including Amazon’s credit card in the UK. His specialities include, finance, operations, financial services, and change management. Paul’s vast experience with large corporations and smaller companies across the world have helped provide insight and expertise to have success in his role today.
To be a successful CFO, Paul strongly believes that you need to take opportunities as they arise. He recommends that in doing so you always look forward and be one step ahead so you set up your company and leadership to always look good and be prepared. While technical abilities are very important, how you interact and communicate with others helps you to gain trust and confidence in your…
playlist_add
Mar 10, 2022
Taking Risks Brings Big Rewards with Charly Kevers, CFO at Carta
Charly Kevers, CFO at Carta, has more than 20 years of experience holding various roles in finance and strategy, including investor relations and corporate development in multiple countries across North America, Europe, and Asia. While he didn’t take a straight path to his current role, his breadth of experience in consulting and the financial world has given him great exposure to different businesses and executives to help prepare him to be a leader at Carta.
To be a successful CFO, Charly strongly believes in trying out different roles and opportunities, including learning about mergers and acquisitions and investor relations. This will help you as a CFO to gain an understanding of how investors approach their investments, and how to better communicate with them. Carta takes a unique and transparent approach to their business, being open with employees and investors. While at first, this was a bit jarring for Charly, he has embraced how being open and honest about the business can…
playlist_add
Mar 3, 2022
Be Humble and Hungry with Nitesh Sharan, CFO at SoundHound
Nitesh Sharan, CFO at SoundHound, is a strategic finance executive with experience fueling growth and profitability in firms across the consumer, technology and industrial sectors. His diverse background working in many different verticals across multiple industries allows Nitesh to be a great fit for the evolving and expanding role of CFO in today’s business world. He also has a passion for development, diversity, inclusivity, and sustainability for his company and team.
Anchored by a variety of experiences in industries throughout the world, Nitesh’s desire to grow and try new things is an asset to SoundHound; an organization that believes every brand should have a voice and every person should be able to interact naturally with the products around them, by simply talking.
Nitesh sees the role of a CFO as one that is constantly changing and adapting to a new world of business. He thinks today’s CFO needs to be in tune and involved with many parts of their company. That includ…
playlist_add
Feb 24, 2022
Create Options in Everything You Do, with Dynshaw Italia, CFO at Soldo
Dynshaw Italia, CFO at Soldo, brings 20 years of experience working and developing fast growing consumer brands to navigate change and growth. At Soldo, he is using his ability as an adaptable leader to help their mission of lighting a brighter way for businesses to pay for advertising, software, travel expenses, online procurement, and more. Soldo believes businesses deserve better than painful, slow, and costly spending, and is providing a solution that is smarter, faster, and more connected to build an entirely new financial architecture for them.
When Dynshaw joined Soldo, he brought with him years of experience working in various disciplines and companies of all sizes. He is using that experience as an asset to help drive financial stability and success for the company. He believes that a CFO should never stand still to be successful - need to have a desire to improve and a willingness to adapt to whatever situations come about. A key to that is pushing for more efficiency and en…
playlist_add
Feb 17, 2022
How Great CFOs Hire & Retain Talent
On this episode of The CFO Playbook, we share some of the best advice for hiring and retaining top-tier talent that we’ve received from finance leaders who have been guests on the show.
Lessons we cover in this episode:
The trends don’t lie: What CFOs are looking for from their candidates (and vice versa).
* CFOs are looking for technical fluency more than ever, and want candidates that have an understanding of multiple aspects both within the finance domain and beyond. The days of siloed roles are coming to an end.
* Talent benefits from an empathetic leader who will provide a clear career path for the finance team member, and this is increasingly becoming a requirement for CFOs.
Hiring tips to build a dynamic team of business partners, risk-takers, and those looking for a challenge.
* EQ is key when you’re hiring a finance team member who will engage with and partner with other lines of business.
* Be transparent and observant throughout the hiring process to ensur…
playlist_add
Feb 10, 2022
Leading a Transformation with Nick Rose, CFO at Enable
In his role of CFO at Enable, Nick Rose is carrying forward what he enjoyed most working on business transformation projects at Travis Perkins, and is driven by the change he’s able to make happen at a small but quickly growing company.
When Nick first joined Enable, he went from having 24,000 colleagues to 70. But headcount is rising fast, and Nick describes the company’s evolution as “a constant state of change” as Enable has gone through two rounds of funding and expanded to three different countries since he arrived. Nick credits his experience in business transformation to help him to shift to a fast moving environment; in fact, he embraces the change that’s necessary to achieve Enable’s ambitious goals.
Whether evaluating automation opportunities to layer on top of Enable’s ERP system, or assessing whether a prospective hire is the right fit for his team, Nick takes a forward-thinking approach to his decision making. To help guide these decisions in the present, h…
playlist_add
Feb 3, 2022
Laying the Groundwork for Growth with Ross Tennenbaum, CFO at Avalara
Ross Tennenbaum loved working in investment banking, so it took the right opportunity for him to make the jump into his first role as CFO at Avalara, a SAAS company building cloud-based tax compliance solutions to handle every transaction in the world.
While in investment banking, Ross learned not only about capital markets and mergers and acquisitions, but about the strategy of the companies he advised on. Ross brought that mindset to Avalara, asking all kinds of questions to drive Avalara’s business forward.
Ross is laying the groundwork at Avalara to help match the fast growth of today, as well as tomorrow. He’s doing this by investing in the right technology to help optimize finance operations, and hiring finance team members who have experience implementing automation. As he builds out the finance team in a competitive environment, he’s intentional about facilitating a fulfilling work environment with clear paths of success for the company as well as individual team member…
playlist_add
Jan 27, 2022
Mentoring Future CFOs with Craig Foster, CFO at Picsart
Craig Foster not only has over 25 years of management experience in finance, he’s also worked on 35 different IPOs over the course of his career. He brings that expertise and more to his role today as CFO at Picsart.
Early in his career, Craig was working in an advisory role at a Big 4 public accounting firm when he was approached by one of their rapid-scale clients, LoudCloud, to come in house. The leaders of the company, Marc Andreessen and Ben Horowitz, were key players in the dot com boom and took a hands-on approach to leadership training. The “school” of LoudCloud was formative to how Craig would approach his management positions going forward.
Being both a mentor and a mentee is important to Craig. Whether working in house or during his time as an adviser, he’s built a network to help increase his learning. When Craig made the decision to transition to CFO for his first tenure at Ubiquiti Networks in 2013, that network helped him stay supported. And today at Picsart, C…
playlist_add
Jan 20, 2022
The Latest CFO Trends with Steve Gallucci, Global & US CFO Program Leader at Deloitte
As the Global & US leader for Deloitte’s CFO Program, Steve Gallucci’s job is to understand all the pressing issues facing CFOs today. He brings over 30 years of experience at Deloitte in an advisory and assurance capacity to the role.
Deloitte’s CFO Program delivers forward thinking insights for every stage of a CFO’s career through data-driven research and cutting edge resources. It was developed to offer CFOs and aspiring CFOs a comprehensive “go-to” resource for personal career success as the CFO role continues to evolve to meet the needs of the modern company.
Here on The CFO Playbook, we’re dedicated to understanding the needs of and demands on the modern CFO. Steve walks us through the 4Q CFO Signals Survey, which includes the latest insights from 124 CFO respondents. On the whole, they’re predicting tempered expectations for growth, emphasizing the need to prioritize talent/labor, and citing opportunities for embedding technologies and automation into their or…
playlist_add
Jan 13, 2022
Be an Intentional Leader with Jared Poff, EVP CFO at Designer Brands
Back in 2015, Jared was being groomed as CFO at DSW and was 8 months into a 3-5 year program when there was an unexpected CEO change and the sitting CFO of Designer Brands decided to exit. All of a sudden, he was thrown into the role of CFO. It was a high-pressure situation, but one which taught Jared many lessons that he’s carried forward to today.
It was the future CEO of Designer Brands who recruited Jared to work with him there, and Jared stresses how it’s key to nurture the CEO/CFO relationship. He says that it should be one of trust because it’s the foundation on which strategic decisions are made. And that’s been especially true in the past two years.
Retail has gone through big changes over the course of Jared’s career, from the financial crisis of 2008 to the global pandemic in 2020. Whether navigating the bumpy terrain of these challenges or jumping into the role of CFO, Jared underlines the importance of staying calm, being intentional, emphasizing communication,…
playlist_add
Jan 6, 2022
Best Career Advice for Aspiring CFOs
On this episode of The CFO Playbook, we share some of the best career advice for aspiring CFOs that we’ve received from CFOs who have been guests on the show.
Lessons we cover in this episode:
An aspiring CFO must diversify their areas of expertise
* It’s critical to gain experience outside of the finance function.
* Finance leaders should be proactive in making themselves partners to other areas of the business.
* While gaining experience in areas of the business beyond finance is key, it’s also important for finance professionals to diversify their experiences within finance.
Don’t be overly concerned about timetable or titles in your quest for the CFO position
* Your working life is long, be patient as you build your career over time.
* You don’t have to rush into the CFO role. If you’re able to, work for a great CFO first and learn.
As you cultivate your hard, practical business skills, don’t forget to focus on your ‘soft skills’
* Great CFOs de…
playlist_add
Dec 16, 2021
Investing in Automation with Francis Trudeau, CFO at BrainBox AI
Francis Trudeau recently took on the honor and challenge of being the first CFO at BrainBox AI, a tech startup that’s helping to fight climate change by making buildings smarter and more efficient. Coming off of a recognition at COP26 as the winner of the “Tech for Our Planet Challenge,” BrainBox is a leader in leveraging technology at scale for the greater good.
Francis came to BrainBox after his first tenure as CFO at a more mature company, Logibec. For this new venture, Francis is tasked with building the operational and technical foundation for the finance department, while also acting as a strategic partner to the CEO and other areas of the business. Francis has jumped into the opportunity with passion for the mission of the company and an entrepreneurial mindset, both of which he looks for in hiring new recruits for the finance department.
With valuations for tech companies at an all time high, Francis takes a measured approach as a CFO to ensure he’s able to deliver va…
playlist_add
Dec 8, 2021
Think Like an Adviser with David Harutian, VP of Finance @ Qualified
David Harutian started working at Qualified just after they secured their Series A financing, and helped close a $51M Series B in May of this year. His background as an adviser in investment banking and corporate development helped David contribute to the diligence process and puts him in a unique position to nurture investor relationships.
Like a lot of tech companies, Qualified hasn’t slowed down during the pandemic. Instead, David’s been there as they’ve tripled and quadrupled their growth. But as he’s forecasting for investors and the board, he emphasizes taking a conservative approach and making sure you’re analyzing the company’s potential while keeping in mind the macroeconomic environment. Heading into 2022, David foresees more growth for Qualified, and consolidation and marketing spend for the industry at large.
David structured the finance team with proximity to data as a top priority. He stresses investing in data and analytics, technology, and data scientists…
playlist_add
Dec 2, 2021
Leveraging Real-Time Data with Christian Lee, CFO of Transfix
Christian Lee has had the unique position of CFO in two industries that have been particularly impacted by the pandemic, real estate and supply chain. Christian left WeWork in early 2021 for Transfix, a hyper-growth startup and leading freight marketplace connecting shippers to carriers. His proximity to these industries has underscored in him the need for CFOs to pay attention to the problems the pandemic has surfaced.
While 2022 is indeed a new year, Christian stresses that finance professionals shouldn’t overlook challenges in hopes of a ‘new normal.’ At Transfix, he’s taking a data-forward approach to solving the business problem of inefficiencies in the supply chain as well as leveraging automation on the finance side of the business.
Christian emphasizes the importance of finance partnering with the data science team in order to best optimize and drive insights from the data gathered. He says the whole team should be on the same page by having equal access to real-time…
playlist_add
Nov 25, 2021
Top Automation Lessons from Finance Leaders
On this episode of The CFO Playbook, we share some of the best advice on technology and automation that we’ve received from recent guests.
Lessons we cover in this episode:
It’s key to build a structural foundation for finance upon automation and technology:
* Hyper growth companies view technology as the ‘engine room’ of growth and a critical foundation for scale.
* The days of thinking that automation is a “nice to have” are over.
* Building automation can be far more rewarding for teams than following a well-trodden playbook.
Once you’ve laid the groundwork, with the right technology for your company:
* Be deliberate in determining which technology tools to invest in and why. Start by identifying your pain points.
* Automation increases efficiency and creates more time to harness strategic thinking.
* If done well, technology beats throwing headcount at a problem.
Hiring and managing for automation is vital:
* Automation can be great for employee r…
playlist_add
Nov 18, 2021
Balancing Speed and Discipline when Scaling with Tony Russo, CFO of Imply
Tony Russo took the helm as CFO at Imply in August of 2020 after having been a CFO or dual COO/CFO at over 10 companies in the last 25 years. With multiple successful M&A transactions under his belt, Tony takes a measured and strategic approach to evaluating opportunities, whether with the goal of benefitting the companies he works for or in determining which challenges to take on as a CFO.
While assessing risk, upside, and diligence capabilities are all vital components of determining whether a new CFO opportunity is the right fit, Tony stresses the importance of making sure your values are aligned with the mission of the company and the executive team above all else. Believing in the company and getting along with your team go a long way in driving future success. For this reason, Tony also recommends prioritizing values and attitude when hiring for the finance team.
Though the right team members are key, Tony prefers to keep finance lean as the company scales. One way he accomplis…
playlist_add
Nov 11, 2021
Leading with Curiosity: Mark Nasiff, CFO & COO of Lookout
With over 30 years of finance and operations experience, Mark Nasiff has seen the role of CFO evolve over time from one focused on financial reporting and analysis to one that’s not afraid to take strategic risks. As both CFO and COO of Lookout, Mark showcases the keen ability to step back and understand the business operations as a whole, as well as to prioritize digging into the data to drive meaningful insights.
According to Mark, data is at the core of all decision making done by the finance team at Lookout - whether it’s used to measure risk, acquired by speaking to members of the sales or engineering departments, or the catalyst for asking better questions.
For this reason, Mark is always seeking ways to leverage more data through automation. When assessing the need for a tool, he asks two simple questions: Will it help the finance team be more efficient? And, will automation help us understand the business better? In his experience, efficiencies open up room for critical t…
playlist_add
Nov 4, 2021
Scaling Sustainably with Jim Buckle, CFO of Gousto
With a 100% CAGR year over year since 2016, Jim Buckle has seen incredible growth during his time at the helm as CFO of Gousto. And with plans to double headcount for the second year in a row, there’s no slowdown in sight. While some might think that in order to maintain this rapid growth, you have to sacrifice sustainability in terms of people and planet, Jim’s leadership and insights prove this isn’t the case.
In fact, Jim would say that businesses need to act fast to “do the right thing” socially and environmentally, or they’ll be left behind by both consumers and investors. Consumers are holding businesses to a high standard, and acting with their dollars. Investors are following suit because they know the market demands it.
In his role as CFO, Jim prioritizes forward-thinking so both the company and the finance team thrives for the long term, all while practicing a sustainability mindset. While Gousto has experienced rapid growth that has only picked up speed during…
playlist_add
Oct 28, 2021
Know Enough to Be Dangerous: How to Be a Well-rounded CFO with Jeannie De Guzman, CFO of 1Password
During her tenure as CFO, Jeannie De Guzman has seen 1Password grow from 180 employees to over 520. That organizational growth has meant large-scale changes for the finance team. And it still means leaders have the ability to have extensive influence across the company. HR, for example, falls under Jeannie’s banner, and it’s helped her learn a lot about the value of soft skills and clear communication.
Whether it’s partnering closely with HR or making strategic leadership decisions, Jeannie believes finance’s role is to be a business partner, serving the rest of the organization with a customer service mindset.
Viewing her team through this lens means Jeannie values technical, analytical, and soft skills in her team members. She believes finance professionals should embrace opportunities to wear multiple hats and become well-rounded in their financial expertise. She also values clear, concise communication, especially when it comes to budget, and champions the idea that if yo…
playlist_add
Oct 21, 2021
Raising Over $480M in 18 Months with Lena Loiberg, VP of Finance at Melio
Lena Loiberg joined Melio as Head of Finance in February 2020, just before the Covid-19 pandemic changed everything.
Lena arrived with a background in finance at companies like PwC, Mobileye, and Jelly Button, ready to build out a team and help lead Melio into its next phase of growth. Within weeks, however, she was forced to adjust every plan she had for the business to account for the external circumstances changing the world as we knew it.
During her tenure, Melio’s B2B payments processing platform has increased its monthly processing volumes by 5,000% and she has spearheaded four separate funding rounds totaling more than $480M and culminating in a $4B valuation.
Lena is extremely passionate about finance, and she derives a tangible joy from being in the unique position of working for the finance department within a hyper-growth FinTech company. She believes firmly in the value of data, automation, and integration of tools for finance teams, and invests heavily in technology a…
playlist_add
Oct 14, 2021
Illumio | With Anup Singh, CFO
Since Anup Singh was hired to his first CFO job in 2006, he’s seen the role evolve from strictly financial-focused to what he calls “GM of the business.” (That’s general manager, non-sports fans.)
The CFO’s main role used to be crunching the numbers, publishing reports, building the budget, and controlling spending. They’re still doing all that, but they’re also expected to be more involved in setting business goals, and helping orchestrate growth.
One point on which Anup has never wavered is his commitment to building a culture of trust and transparency.
That includes among the people he works with closely. Every quarter he gives someone in the finance department his CFO Excellence Award, for going the extra mile to achieve one of the company’s business objectives. Anup also makes himself available to people working In the rest of the business, through an “Ask Me Anything” Slack channel, and small Q&A sessions he calls The Bottom Line.
On this episode of The CF…
playlist_add
Oct 7, 2021
Nuvemshop | With Tatiana Rezende, CFO
Tatiana Rezende joined Brazil-based Nuvemshop, the leading e-commerce platform in Latin America, as its CFO in 2020.
Previously, Tatiana worked in private equity and finance in both Brazil and the United States. She began her career as an engineer, and says she still sees the world from that perspective.
Instead of construction projects, now Tatiana engineers the creation of businesses, combining her passion for financial markets with her drive to build from scratch. When she came upon the opportunity with Nuvemshop, she jumped at the chance to lead finance for a company that is leading e-commerce into the future.
Tatiana is a lesbian, and her experiences as a member of the LGBTQIA+ community and being a pregnant woman and mother in the workforce have shaped her perspective on workplace diversity. She says staying true to herself in her career has been empowering, and she wants to help other people in high-level finance roles accomplish the same thing.
Tune into this episode of The…
playlist_add
Sep 30, 2021
Corelight | With Russ Keefe, VP of Finance and Operations
Russ Keefe had never worked at a cybersecurity firm before he became CFO of Corelight in 2017. To prepare, he read “a bunch of books” on the history of the industry, which helped him understand the business more deeply — something Russ believes is essential for finance leaders.
Russ learned about non-finance roles first-hand when he was given the opportunity to work in sales ops. This experience made him appreciate that financial calculations should be collaborative.
It’s not just Russ who’s started to think about finance roles as more than just a numbers game.
Today, the brightest finance graduates expect to exercise some entrepreneurial muscle. This puts pressure on the finance leaders who want to hire them, to create a role that allows for input into the business.
On this episode of The CFO Playbook, Russ explains why he believes transparency is key, his collaborative approach to budgets, and who the finance team's customers are (they’re nearer than you might think.)…
playlist_add
Sep 23, 2021
Elder HQ | With Kevin Fleming, CFO
Kevin Fleming is the CFO at Elder HQ, a UK-based company working to revolutionize eldercare by providing an alternative to traditional residential care homes.
Since starting this position in June 2019, the global pandemic has changed a lot about the world of healthcare and eldercare. It was up to Kevin to make sure Elder HQ was up to the task of handling it.
To Kevin, finance is at the heart of a well-running business with a strong value system. Especially in rocky times, where the future of the eldercare industry — not to mention the worldwide economy as a whole — is in flux, a company with a finance team that’s ready to take the lead is going to have a better shot at success.
On this episode of The CFO Playbook, Kevin talks about the importance of a knowledgeable CFO, how to make financial technology systems work for you so you can leave the menial tasks to the automation systems, and the importance of agility when working in an industry that’s as mercurial as the healthca…
playlist_add
Sep 9, 2021
Ada | With Long Dinh, VP of Finance
When Long Dinh joined Ada as the company’s first finance hire, he was thrilled to build the finance function and kickstart growth for the pre-seed startup.
Fast-forward three years and Ada has become a powerhouse player in the customer experience space. In this time, Long has helped grow Ada’s employee base by more than 10X and raised over $200M in funding.
According to Long, the most important factor in being a successful finance leader is the ability to understand not what the business needs immediately, but what it will need in the quarters and years to come.
This forward-looking lens served him well when the unimaginable happened: COVID-19. The start of the pandemic stalled growth for companies everywhere and like many leaders, Long had to make some tough financial decisions.
Rather than stalling, however, the AI chatbot company took off as more businesses needed to scale remote customer support operations. In May 2021, the company announced a $130M Series C financing round…
playlist_add
Sep 2, 2021
Luko | With Margaux Gregoir, VP of Finance
Margaux Gregoir started her job as the Vice President of Finance at Luko — a France-based home insurtech startup — right as the COVID-19 pandemic hit.
The worldwide economy ground to a halt, as did Margaux’s plans for building out Luko’s finance team.
As someone who’d just made the jump from advisor to financial director, Margaux could’ve panicked. Instead, she got creative.
Margaux used the emergency to take a deep-dive into every aspect of the company, and familiarize herself with its operations. Through this company-wide audit, she learned what Luko could afford to give up for a while, if it meant that the company could eventually achieve the kind of growth Margaux knew it deserved.
Having led the Luko finance team through periods of both stalled and intense growth, Margaux now has a better understanding of what she values in her colleagues and in her own work.
In this episode of The CFO Playbook, Margaux talks about what she thinks is important in a finance leader,…
playlist_add
Aug 26, 2021
Snyk | With Ken MacAskill, CFO
Having technical expertise is important, but successful CFOs will tell you that you must go beyond this, to take a step back to see the larger picture. How can you position yourself to solve problems your company is facing?
To do this, you must first learn the business.
For Ken MacAskill, it’s a mindset he wishes he could have learned sooner in his 20-year career working with emerging and high-growth companies. Over his career, he held CFO positions at five companies before landing as CFO of tech company Snyk in 2019.
Understanding the business that you’re in takes patience, according to Ken. Don’t rush the process. He describes his journey as an evolution. With each project, he learned something new from it and used it to inform how to approach the next. Learn not only your own role, but also the role of others, and how they intersect on a large scale.
This growth mentality has been integral to Ken’s development over the course of his career, and it’s one he encourages t…
playlist_add
Aug 19, 2021
Lyst | With Joel Stephens, VP of Finance
Joel Stephens’ career at Lyst started in 2015, when the fashion shopping app and website was still a startup and he was its financial controller. Fast forward to 2021, and Joel is now VP2, leading three teams in the finance department. He recently finished heading up the financial part of an $85 million pre-IPO round.
Joel has found several strategies that help him get the best from his team. He encourages them to use the Minimum Viable Product (MVP) framework — a concept he learned from the book “Lean Startup” by Eric Ries. This encourages everyone to focus on the larger picture, rather than getting lost in the details from the beginning.
In this episode of The CFO Playbook, Joel explains how his time at Lyst has shaped his leadership style, how the models he used to fundraise during the pre-IPO round were changed by the pandemic, and some of his favorite goal-setting methodologies.
Connect with Joel on LinkedIn.
Connect with our host Ross on LinkedIn.
If you want a bette…
playlist_add
Aug 12, 2021
Moglix | With Rahul Goel, VP of Finance
COVID-19 created unique challenges across a range of industries.
Managers and business leaders had the difficult task of finding ways to keep employees motivated amidst all the uncertainty and new ways of working.
Motivation wasn’t in short supply for Rahul Goel and his team. Moglix, the B2B e-commerce company where Rahul is Vice President of Finance, sells oxygen concentrators and PPE among other medical and industrial supplies.
Knowing that the company provided important medical equipment to fight the pandemic was a great source of motivation for his team and employees across the Asia-based company.
Apart from motivating a team, Rahul says being fearless and transparent are key traits when you’re managing people.
On this episode of The CFO Playbook, Rahul shares insights into how technology and automation can streamline processes, and why you should look beyond financial KPIs.
Connect with Rahul on LinkedIn.
Connect with our host Ross on LinkedIn.
If you want a better way…
playlist_add
Aug 5, 2021
Legendary Entertainment | With Ronald Hohauser, CFO
After starting his career as a computer programmer, Ronald Hohauser stumbled on a chance to join the entertainment industry, and was excited by the opportunities it presented.
In 2004, Ron became Senior Vice President of Finance and Operations at Marvel Studios. He helped the studio transition from licensing its products to independently turning the then-niche comic book character Iron Man into a superhero icon — with the help of Robert Downey Jr., of course.
Ron is now the CFO of Legendary Entertainment, the studio responsible for blockbusters like the “Jurassic World” franchise and 2021’s “Godzilla vs. Kong.”
As Ron worked his way up the ladder in the entertainment industry, he learned that a CFO doesn’t have to do all the work themselves: in fact, they shouldn’t. Ron has got to a place where he’s comfortable relying on his team members, and mentoring emerging financial leaders is a big source of pride for him.
In this episode of The CFO Playbook, Ron talks abou…
playlist_add
Jul 29, 2021
GoCardless | With Catherine Birkett, CFO
Catherine Birkett’s career as a CFO started in 2004, when she was promoted into the position at the telecommunications company Interoute. Looking back, she says she sometimes had to struggle to keep her head above water while addressing the large challenges the company was facing.
But Catherine pushed forward, and she now attributes her success as a CFO to these experiences. She sees past mistakes and hardships as ultimately putting her on a path to growth.
After becoming intimately familiar with her own strengths and weaknesses, Catherine now feels comfortable leading a finance team through tough spots and helping other people grow. At GoCardless, where she has worked as the CFO since January 2019, she was able to take the reins during the COVID-19 pandemic and keep the business-to-business banking service on a growth trajectory as its scope expands.
In this episode of The CFO Playbook, Catherine details how she grew from tough experiences early in her CFO career, how she maintai…
playlist_add
Jul 22, 2021
Genesys | With Sharon Virag, Chief Accounting Officer
When Sharon Virag became Chief Accounting Officer of customer service software company Genesys, she had already worked for Fortune 500 companies including General Electric, and served as CFO for NeoGenomics Laboratories.
But for Sharon, who loves building out company infrastructure, working with an emerging organization like Genesys was just as intriguing and exciting.
With her help, the company has grown and hit financial milestones. Highlights include navigating new regulations and financial reporting requirements, and building strong, diverse teams that work in lockstep with one another.
Sharon believes that working on your leadership habits is one of the most important things you can do as a financial chief. This means knowing when — and how — to speak your mind, and figuring out how to delegate tasks to your team, so you can let go of some of the details and see the full scope of the company’s needs.
On this episode of The CFO Playbook, Sharon talks about her strategy fo…
playlist_add
Jul 15, 2021
Bevy | With Maddy Devine, VP of Finance
Maddy Devine traded consulting with multinational corporations for building startup finance teams from the ground up — and she’s never looked back.
Her first finance job was consulting for Accenture, and she’s now VP of Finance at virtual conference software company Bevy.
Maddy believes that the two key components of building a finance department that fuels business growth are the tech and the people. Not necessarily in that order.
Maddy looks for people who share the belief that finance should be about more than making sure what’s going out is balanced out by what’s coming in. Her team outsources that work, so they can focus on strategizing.
On the tech side, Maddy won’t settle for a tool that can’t scale along with the business. Researching and implementing software is a significant commitment of time and energy, so you need to make sure you’re not going to outgrow your investment within a few months.
On this episode of The CFO Playbook, Maddy explains which part…
playlist_add
Jul 8, 2021
Hillspire | With Ken Goldman, President
When Ken Goldman became CFO of Yahoo in 2012, he had more experience in business administration than accounting. But he used his background to his advantage, approaching the CFO role from a globalist perspective.
To Ken, the relationship between the CEO and CFO of a company is vital to its success. A CFO’s job is to provide objective counsel to the CEO, who can use that information to make informed decisions about a company’s future.
Ken values having positive relationships with everyone in the company, including the board members and the engineering and accounting teams. A strong, company-wide rapport encourages collaboration in administrative and accounting tasks, and ensures everything runs smoothly.
In this episode of The CFO Playbook, Ken encourages people to take a look at CFO roles even if they don’t have a background in accounting, and discusses the importance of software system management, maintaining relationships with activist investors, and work-life balance.
Conn…
playlist_add
Jul 1, 2021
Connect Ventures | With Mark Pettit, CFO
Mark Pettit joined London-based venture capital firm Connect Ventures in 2016 as Head of Finance. Earlier this year, he was made CFO, and sees his new job as assisting the partners in making strong financial and investment decisions, putting the firm on the front line of SaaS, fintech and digital health.
“My role was to come in and take as much of that finance slack away from the partners [as possible] so they can focus on the areas where they can make a big difference,” Mark says.
One of his first missions has been driving the team toward using data management software that helps create a more reliable source of truth, which the entire firm can look at when making decisions. Mark has also helped create a KPI framework which Connect Ventures can use when deciding which early stage startups to invest in.
On this episode of The CFO Playbook, Mark lays out how he manages day-to-day workflow as a CFO, the challenges of growing a small venture capital firm’s finance team, and his o…
playlist_add
Jun 24, 2021
DataStax | With Don Dixon, CFO
Don Dixon has held finance positions in startups and established organizations, been through acquisitions and IPOs, and is now CFO at DataStax. In his experience, rising to the CFO position requires understanding something much more complicated than finance: people.
Once you’re at that executive position, managing numbers is a smaller part of your daily job than managing the people on your team.
Don is so committed to empowering the people in the finance department that he doesn’t even think of it as managing.
He sees his role as closer to coaching. Instead of trying to mold each person to fit DataStax, he helps them improve their all-round skill sets so that they can achieve their career goals.
Even if that means employees end up leaving for a higher position the organization can’t currently offer, Don knows he’s done his job.
On this episode of The CFO Playbook, Don discusses how to help the finance department feel connected to customers and how to give everyone on the t…
playlist_add
Jun 17, 2021
Johnson Matthey | With Malcolm Finn, Director of Finance - Global Operations and Control
In October 2020, Malcolm Finn followed his conscience to chemicals company Johnson Matthey, which is transitioning its business model to focus on producing clean energy sources. As Director of Finance Operations and Control, Malcolm has been a key figure in that change.
Guiding a company through such a major transition would have been challenging even for a seasoned leader at the best of times. But not only was Malcolm new to the company, most of the team was working from home, thanks to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Everyone has struggled with the world-altering impact of the pandemic to some degree, and leaders can no longer afford to ignore this emotional fallout.
In addition, in the midst of such uncertainty, confident assertions that everything will be fine don’t carry the same weight they once did.
Now, the best leaders are those who treat their employees with understanding and leniency, while also admitting that they don’t have the answers to every problem.
On this episode of…
playlist_add
Jun 10, 2021
dotdigital | With Paraag Amin, CFO
Paraag Amin’s route to becoming CFO of omnichannel digital marketing company dotdigital isn’t conventional — but he believes it set him up for success.
Paraag started his career as an analyst working for investment banks, beginning at Goldman Sachs and including Citi and RBS. These jobs taught him what makes a promising investment opportunity — and the best way to present a company as a promising investment opportunity.
His experience on one side of the transaction helped Paraag transition to the other side. He founded luxury lifestyle platform StyleCard in 2011, and in 2018 he was hired as dotdigital’s CFO. Helming the finances of a publicly traded company brings extra pressure, but knowing the company has a strong business model behind it makes him feel secure.
On this episode of the CFO Playbook, Paraag explains why analysts make great CFOs, his inside take on pitching investors, and why knowing an industry before you dive in will help you wrangle with the numbers in yo…
playlist_add
Jun 3, 2021
Quantilope | With Andreas Melzer, Associate Director of Finance
Andreas Melzer joined the consumer research company Quantilope two years ago and is the company’s Associate Director of Finance, which is similar to a Chief of Staff role with a finance focus.
An advocate for helping SaaS startups stay on top of their finances, he published a B2B SaaS finance model that has received more than 8,000 downloads.
While determining which KPIs and metrics a company should share while fundraising, Andreas believes in being transparent about the state of the business while keeping things simple.
Quantilope leverages a “land and expand” strategy. As a result, net retention is a main KPI that is a centerpiece of its pitch to investors. Additional data, such as how long it takes to upsell, is also included, “but really net retention is what it comes down to,” he says.
On this episode of The CFO Playbook, Andreas talks about how he’s scaling Quantilope’s international finance team, why you shouldn’t be tracking more than 10 KPIs, and how he’s…
playlist_add
May 27, 2021
Awin | With Virpy Richter, CFO
Now CFO of affiliate marketing network Awin, Virpy Richter has never been the kind of finance professional who prefers to hide in a corner with her spreadsheets. Not only has she worked all over Europe, for startups and big companies, she’s also held positions in human resources and legal departments.
Diving into different cultures has taught Virpy the importance of local knowledge, especially in companies with a global reach. Understanding the similarities and differences between how things work in other countries underscored for her the value of adapting to an environment, while also standardizing frameworks and processes for the sake of efficiency.
Far from stymying her financial career, these international insights into workplace culture make Virpy more qualified to hold the CFO spot. As she argues, CFOs today need to think more like business partners than number-crunchers if they want to claim a seat in the C-suite.
On this episode of The CFO Playbook, Virpy explains the chal…
playlist_add
May 20, 2021
How Top CFO's Operate
Lessons we cover in this episode:
* Successful CFOs look at the big picture.
* As the source of financial truth, CFOs need to be able to look at any number and know if it’s “true” or not.
* Decide where you want to be on the spectrum of strategic vs operational. A good CFO needs to be a thinker and business partner, but they also need to be a doer (able to build a team, get work done, etc.).
* When you first step into a new role, focus on people, process and technology.
* When you get it wrong, acknowledge it, fix it, forgive yourself and move on.
* Focus on 2 things as a CFO: growing yourself, and growing your team.
playlist_add
May 13, 2021
Top Finance Leadership Lessons
Lessons we cover in this episode:
* As you progress in your career, your responsibility is increasingly to ask good questions - not have the right answers
* You should maintain a humble mindset as you grow in your career
* When you’re a CFO and have a firm grasp on the numbers, you often have the right answer on decisions. But in feeling that you’re right - there can be a temptation to not listen to what others think. You need to maintain a listening posture in your team, even if you don’t agree with all that’s being said
* As a CFO, you need to take responsibility for your team’s output, be aware of the big picture and the details, and be forward-thinking - you can’t rest on past successes, or simply repeat the plan that you ran last year
* Find out what your team’s goals are, and help them succeed by achieving their goals
* The top things that make a great leader
* To be a great CFO, you have to learn to prioritize and know what you should say “yes” t…
playlist_add
Apr 29, 2021
Meet our new host, Ross MacKay!
In this brief episode, Rob passes the torch to the new host of The CFO Playbook, Ross MacKay.
playlist_add
Apr 15, 2021
We’ll be back April 29th!
The CFO Playbook is taking a break until April 29th, but we’ll be back then with an exciting announcement followed by more interviews with some really incredible guests. Until then, we’d love to invite you to catch up on previous episodes at cfoplaybook.com or leave us a review on Apple Podcasts, and as always, thanks for listening.
playlist_add
Apr 8, 2021
Alpha Medical | With Kelly Battles, Acting CFO
After spending more than three decades in finance, Kelly Battles has come to appreciate that the budget isn’t the only balancing act CFOs have to master. The finance team needs to support the growth of the company, while also knowing when to implement limits.
Kelly learned that lesson in her first operational finance role, at internet security company IronPort. Under Kelly’s six-year watch, IronPort’s worth grew from $2 million to $250 million. The company was eventually bought by Cisco for $830 million in 2007.
To achieve that balance between growth and restriction, Kelly emphasizes a streamlined approach to data and robust company-wide communication.
Data collection and utilization must be as simple, accessible, and connected as possible; this way, different parts of the business will be focused on the same information. As for the human element, Kelly says there are two levels of culture — culture with a “capital C” and culture with a “lowercase C” — both of whic…
playlist_add
Apr 1, 2021
Vena Solutions | With Darrell Cox, CFO
Darrell Cox has 15+ years of senior leadership experience in finance and business development. As a former VP of Finance at FreshBooks, he is no stranger to growth-stage companies.
His recipe for finance leadership success relies upon leveraging “Agile CFO” methodology, an iterative process adopted from software development.
Now, as the CFO at Vena Solutions — a growing company specializing in cloud-based financial planning and analysis software — Darrell has worked to build a finance team that leverages technology to meet business goals and avoid rear-view mirror reporting.
Applying forward-thinking Agile CFO methodology to Vena Solutions, Darrell looked at the company’s five-year trajectory and thought about: 1) where the company wanted to be, and 2) how it could get there while balancing spending and growth.
On this episode of The CFO Playbook, Darrell discusses his principles for applying an Agile approach to finance, how it can help you become a proactive CFO, and ho…
playlist_add
Mar 25, 2021
BMW Group Financial Services | With Talita Ferreira, Former CFO
Talita Ferreira always dreamed of becoming a CFO before turning 30. She missed this target by five years, but she’s OK with that because she became the CFO of a company far larger than she could’ve ever imagined: BMW Group Financial Services.
Talita spent more than 11 years with BMW, where she managed a team of 45 and landed amongst the top 300 leaders of the company worldwide. She served as the CFO of BMW Group Financial Services before becoming the CFO of BMW UK. And she wasn’t just the CFO. Shortly after her promotion, the company’s CEO approached Talita to also head up the people function (HR), which she admits pushed her entirely out of her comfort zone.
Even so, Talita excelled, and she learned a lot from her experience — so much that she left the company, wrote a book on leadership and launched her own company, Authentic Change Solutions, where she works with individual leaders.
Lately, Talita’s been building online leadership courses, which has involved interview…
playlist_add
Mar 18, 2021
Business Partnering Institute | With Anders Liu-Lindberg, co-founder, CMO and COO
If you enjoy nerding out over numbers but also consider yourself a people person, Anders Liu-Lindberg, co-founder of the Business Partnering Institute, has a new finance job for your consideration: business partner.
“Unlike other roles in finance, business partnering is an interaction between people — whereas if you're an Accountant or a Controller, you mostly interact with the numbers,” Anders says on this episode of The CFO Playbook.
Another incentive: more companies are hiring CFOs with business partnering experience instead of finance alone, because the skill set lends itself so well to a high-level role.
“You need to be able to influence decisions, communicate assertively, build relationships with people,” Anders says of both the business partner and CFO roles. “That's how you build trust. If you're not trusted, you cannot influence any decisions.”
Anders previously worked as the business partner for the Europe and Middle East region for Maesrk, the largest conta…
playlist_add
Mar 11, 2021
Dawn Capital | With Raxita Kapashi, CFO
Raxita Kapashi has worked in private equity for more than 15 years. Along the way, she did a stint at fintech consolidator TruFin, where she served as the group’s CFO. While at TruFin, she brought through an IPO and raised 70 million GBP ($96 million USD) in 2018.
With this accomplishment under her belt, it’s no surprise numerous venture capital firms sought to bring her onto their team. However, it was the inclusive company culture of Dawn Capital that dazzled and ultimately won Raxita over.
An early-stage venture fund, Dawn is Europe’s largest specialist B2B software investor. As the company’s first official CFO, Raxita oversees its $1 billion in assets and 50 investments. That means her day-to-day is filled with financial planning, budgeting and forecasting, cash flow management and performing valuations — plus, tons of meetings. She also monitors Dawn’s portfolio investments to help them get acquired.
In this episode of The CFO Playbook, tune in to hear Raxita discus…
playlist_add
Mar 4, 2021
Pricefx | With Tom Fencl, CFO
When Tom Fencl joined the Pricefx team in late 2017, the global SaaS startup had about 70 employees.
Fast forward and they now have close to 400 employees stationed all over the world and have raised more than $131 million in funding. It’s safe to say Tom has played a key role in this growth.
“As a CFO, it is your responsibility to make sure data, which is clearly one of the hidden resources of every company, is managed well, and that means centralization and consistency and some sort of hygiene around that,” he says.
In this episode of The CFO Playbook, Tom touches on the challenges he has confronted as the CFO of such a fast-growing company, including learning how to develop a team and navigate the global landscape.
He also dives deep into what data he uses to track the company’s financials, his unique approach to the reporting process, and how he teaches his team to approach these numbers (hint: It’s with skepticism and a good old-fashioned pen and paper).
Connect wit…
playlist_add
Feb 25, 2021
LogicGate | With Kevin Jacobson, CFO/COO
What exactly is behind the skyward trajectory of a fast-growing software company? Turns out that it’s more than just growth.
In this episode of The CFO Playbook, host Rob Norman sits down with Kevin Jacobson, CFO and COO of LogicGate, which develops cloud software solutions for automating governance, risk, and compliance processes.
As the first business operations employee hired in the company’s early years, Kevin keeps his eyes not only on LogicGate’s rapid annual growth but also on efficiency and — perhaps most importantly — customer retention.
In October 2020, Kevin joined the growing ranks of executives worldwide who combine the roles of CFO and COO. He discusses how his dual role invites him to bring a finance lens to customer service operations, and he shares his insight into slicing the data to learn the most from a company’s financial indicators.
Connect with Kevin on LinkedIn.
Connect with our host Rob on LinkedIn.
Full show notes and resources from this epis…
playlist_add
Feb 18, 2021
Capita | With Patrick Butcher, CFO
When Patrick Butcher joined Capita more than two years ago, the international outsourcing company was loaded with debt. Sure, from the outside it seemed profitable, but Patrick, who has been a CFO for 25+ years, took it upon himself to financially transform the company and focus on cash — not revenue and profit.
The company generated between $70 million and $80 million in cash. How? A whole lot of change.
But getting your team — and an entire company — to buy into change isn’t always easy. Patrick leaned on leadership principles he calls the 5 C’s: Context, Commitment, Clarity, Connections and Compassion.
On the premiere episode of The CFO Playbook, Patrick dives deep and explains his strategy for repositioning Capita for growth, how he got buy-in from his team (with a little help from the 5 C’s) and some smart ways to become a better CFO.
Full show notes and resources from this episode can be found here!
Connect with Patrick on LinkedIn.
Connect with our host Rob on…
playlist_add
Jan 27, 2021
Introducing The CFO Playbook
Being a great CFO in the modern, ever-evolving business ecosystem we’re living in, requires much more than excellent money management skills. It requires the ability to implement new technologies, guide business decisions, and help steer the company towards its vision for the future.
To demystify how you can do that, Rob Norman, VP of Marketing at Soldo, chats with CFOs and other financial leaders from world-class companies on The CFO Playbook.
Each week, you’ll hear insights that will help you grow yourself and your company as you face the challenges of being a modern CFO.
playlist_add