Run the Numbers

In this episode, CJ Gustafson interviews Lily Yang, CFO of Strava, to delve into the company's business model, growth strategies, and the role of community engagement in driving user retention. They discuss how Strava's business model has evolved as they've moved into diverse activities, demographics, and countries. Lily sheds light on Strava’s growing revenue streams and the impact of brand partn...

Kyle Poyar, author of Growth Unhinged and a leading expert in pricing, packaging, and product-led growth, joins CJ for this episode. Together they explore the evolving landscape of SaaS metrics in the age of AI with a focus on the paradigm shift from access-based pricing to outcome-based models. They also examine success-based pricing and how to attach metrics to these models. The discussion delve...

In this episode, CJ sits down with Marc Greenberg, former VP of Finance & Strategy at Pixar and current CFO at Altruist, for a fascinating conversation about his career in finance. Marc sheds light on the complex budgeting process at Pixar and the long lead times, challenges, and seasonality of the movie industry. He explains how decisions are made about sequels and other financial considerations...

In this episode, CJ interviews Naeem Ishaq of Checkr, Inc., and three-time CFO. Naeem shares insights into what a CFO should aim to accomplish in their first 100 days at a new company, including key topics for their first board meeting and the importance of training the board on relevant metrics. The discussion delves into navigating diverse business models, where Naeem unpacks the nuances of fore...

In this solo episode, CJ provides a comprehensive guide on annual planning and delves into the complexities of budgeting for hypergrowth companies. He covers topics such as building sales capacity, modeling out rep time, over-assignment, designing marketing budgets, and costing out the full P&L. He discusses the role of various departments in the annual planning process, including R&D (Research &...

Michael Linford, the COO and CFO of Affirm joins CJ to delve into the Buy Now, Pay Later (BNPL) business model and its rise to mainstream popularity. They discuss the importance of transparent, consumer-friendly financial products and how Affirm differentiates itself by avoiding the predatory practices common in traditional credit models. Michael explains how Affirm structures its fees and generat...

In this episode, CJ sits down with Jon Cochrane, VP of Strategy at Maxio, to unpack the latest insights from Maxio’s newly released benchmarking report. Maxio, known for its industry-leading SaaS metrics and billing solutions, serves over 2,400 subscription customers. Jon and CJ dive into practical takeaways from the report, revealing the real rate at which companies are growing, among other insig...

In this episode, CJ interviews Stephen Grist, a seasoned seven-time CFO, to discuss what a CFO should aim to accomplish in their first 100 days at a company. Stephen provides an extensive playbook. He covers assessing and shoring up a team, understanding cash drivers, and implementing necessary systems and processes. He also emphasizes the importance of evaluating potential exit strategies from th...

In this episode, CJ interviews Anthony “Tony” Boor, Executive Vice President and CFO of Blackbaud, who shares the unique path he took from working at a motorcycle shop in New Mexico to becoming a CFO. Tony reflects on his first management experiences and the lessons learned as he navigated his early career. The conversation dives into the evolving role of CFOs, particularly as they take on more GM...

Daniel Kang, VP of finance at Mercury, joins CJ for a dive deep into the nuances of annual planning. Dan talks about why if annual planning feels like a finance exercise, it is destined to fail and will feel like pulling teeth. He describes how to use this exercise to lead a broader strategic discussion about a company's direction for a process that is more impactful and less tedious. Dan also hig...

In this episode, CJ sits down with Dr. Julie Gurner, the author behind the Substack Ultra Successful, to explore how top CEOs, CFOs, and entrepreneurs manage their ambition, goals, and self-talk. They examine if being hard on yourself necessary for success and Dr. Gurner shares helpful reframes that can be used to overcome negative self-talk. The conversation delves into the concept of “haunting a...

In this episode, Joseph Floyd from Emergence Capital joins CJ to dive into the venture capital firm’s latest benchmarking report, offering insights into the enterprise software space. Compiled from over 650 responses from Emergence Capital’s portfolio and additional seed firms, the report covers a range of companies from pre-seed to pre-IPO. Joe discusses key trends in AI adoption, highlighting th...

In this episode, CJ interviews Philip Brenckle, CFO of West Shore Home, a company that's revolutionizing the way that people are remodeling their homes. Phil shares insights on the home remodeling market, an unconsolidated industry with a total addressable market (TAM) of $500 billion. He explains how West Shore Home is growing its TAM by meeting customers where they are, before shedding light on...

Amanda Whalen, CFO of Klaviyo, joins CJ in this episode for a deep dive into the roadshow, the IPO process, and ringing that bell. Amanda reflects on the company’s bold decision to go public last year, despite a challenging macroeconomic environment. She shares the factors that guided the management team's timing, the valuation criteria they used to determine the offering price, and how they prepa...

After requests for another pricing episode, CJ sits down with returning guest Jason Kap, the founder and CEO of Blue Rocket, a long-tenured Microsoft leader, and an expert in pricing and packaging. Together, they take a deep dive into the evolution of software pricing, tracing its journey from the early days of buying hardware and software together to buying software separately, and all the way th...

In this episode, CJ talks with Kingsley Afemikhe, CFO of Shield AI, a company pioneering the future of autonomous jets. Together, they dive deep into the defense tech industry, exploring the critical differences between autonomous vehicles and flight technology, and how innovative private tech companies like Shield AI are driving advancements in the sector. Kingsley provides an insider’s look into...

In this bucket list interview, CJ speaks with Larry Roseman, the CFO of Thumbtack, who shares his deep understanding of running marketplace businesses at scale. They explore Thumbtack's business model and monetization strategy, discussing the customer acquisition cost for both service providers and homeowners. Larry explains why going broad rather than niche can be fundamental for marketplace succ...

In this episode, CJ sits down with Eric Newcomer, who runs “Newcomer," or newcomer.co, the largest independent media outlet focused on venture capital. They delve into the art of crafting fundraising announcements, particularly from the CFO’s angle when pitching a company’s raise to the media. The conversation explores the unique appeal of venture capitalists as a subject matter and some of the bi...

In this episode, CJ interviews Bryan Morris, CFO of Demandbase, for an in-depth discussion on the complexities of OKRs (Objectives and Key Results). As the planning season for 2025 kicks into gear, Bryan shares his insights on setting the right OKRs, aligning them across departments, and explaining why they often lose momentum. He discusses his approach to tracking OKRs, the tools he uses, and his...

In this mailbag edition, CJ introduces listeners to Run the Numbers’ first intern. Intern Charlie fills us in on what his internship entails and the nature of the early recruitment process for college internships these days. Then CJ answers questions submitted by listeners. He shares his thoughts on when to join a startup to maximize your equity outcome, where to pull cash from when you need to fr...

Having listened to a number of Couchbase’s earning calls, the company’s CFO Greg Henry sits down with CJ to answer some in-depth questions, starting with the rationale behind Couchbase's non-standard fiscal year and the advantages of it. He then delves into his experience of transforming a traditional enterprise subscription model into a managed service consumption business. The conversation cover...

In this episode, CJ talks to Jessica Lanier, CFO of Restaurant365 and the first CFO guest on the podcast who has firsthand experience as a founder. On top of this, every company she has worked for has been acquired, so she has a wealth of knowledge on all things M&A. She talks about what makes a great CEO-CFO relationship and why a good relationship with the CRO is also so important. She also expl...

In this solo episode, Run the Numbers host CJ Gustafson breaks down all the different ways software businesses make money. He does an overview of the different monetization models including subscription, consumption, hybrid, transaction-based, and advertising models. He then zooms in on subscription contracts and references the piece he wrote “The ‘Planet Fitness’ Era of SaaS is Over” to discuss p...

Today on the number one podcast for CFOs, CJ talks to Nicolette Turner, CFO of Headspace. Nicolette shares her unconventional journey into her role and how she first came to work for the company during the pandemic while she was seven months pregnant with her first child. She explains why CFOs should use their company’s products and why and how they should talk directly to customers. Nicolette the...

In this solo episode, CJ does a deep dive into cash conversion cycles, telling listeners what he’s learned about them, sharing real-life tales from his career, and explaining how certain companies are excelling at theirs. CJ starts by breaking down how he got his company’s Days Sales Outstanding (DSO) down from 55 days to 37 days (a 33% improvement) and Days Payable Outstanding (DPO) up from 35 da...