Breakthrough Work Podcast

Join us as Erik Zhou, SVP of Finance and Accounting at Brex, walks through 7-plus years building the finance function behind one of the most consequential deals in financial services: Capital Ones $5.15 billion acquisition of Brex. Topics covered:   • The range of emotions inside Brex when the deal hit, and why longtime employees felt pride and relief at the same time (2:13) • What Brex gets on da...

Join us as Will Billings, CAO and Treasurer at Chewy, walks through a finance career built across six industries, two public company boards, and one of the most-cited pandemic RIFs in tech history. Topics covered: The three foundational lessons from Big Four audit that still govern how he leads (2:22) Why he left audit for industry, and the shift from validating to building (8:47) Joining GE and t...

Join host Ravi Kumar as he sits down with Greg Henry, CFO of 1Password and former CFO of Couchbase, for a masterclass in turning crisis into career-defining moments. Greg shares his journey from the Big Four to leading finance teams through IPOs, FDA shutdowns, and global pandemics, as well as fully embracing AI as a CFO. In this episode, Greg takes listeners inside:   • CFO factories (2:52)   • T...

Larry Fitzgerald Jr., recent Pro Football Hall of Fame Inductee, and Kelvin Beachum, 14-year NFL veteran, investor, and philanthropist, join Ravi Kumar for an in-depth conversation on elite performance, leadership, investing, and service beyond the game. What does it take to perform at an elite level for decades and successfully transition from the field to finance? Together, Larry and Kelvin refl...

From scaling Silicon Valley icons like Yahoo and SurveyMonkey to helping bring more than 1,000 missing people home, Dharti Patel, Chief Accounting Officer at Flock Safety, reveals what it truly means to lead when the stakes are real. In this episode, Dharti takes listeners inside: Building career foundations at high-growth tech companies (2:55) Finding courage in discomfort (4:29) The emotional we...

Join breakout leader, entrepreneur and investor Lauren Maillian as she takes listeners through a remarkable journey defined by curiosity, reinvention and the courage to push past expectations. In this episode, Lauren opens up about her early ambitions, personal challenges and the pivotal moments that shaped her 20-year career across wine, venture capital, tech, media and board leadership. Lauren s...

Join us as Shannon Nash, Silicon Valley CFO and public company board member, shares her remarkable journey through: - The courage to leave comfort for California's unknown opportunities (4:35) - A life-changing pivot when her son was diagnosed with autism (11:33) - How working with Debbie Allen revolutionized her leadership approach (15:18) - The power of improv classes in transforming finance tea...

Join us as Josh Waldron, Chief Accounting Officer at Scale AI, takes listeners on an enlightening journey through: • The surprising skills from Big 4 accounting that are crucial in tech unicorns (2:20) • Inside the chaotic world of finance in hypergrowth startups (10:15) • How he weathered the storm by staying at Uber when others jumped ship—and how it propelled his career (15:46) • AI isn't just...

Join us as Mike Bufano, CFO and Youth Club President of League One Volleyball, takes listeners on an exhilarating journey through: The thrilling world of sports business (2:48) A career-defining piece of advice that landed him the CFO role (7:45) Raw truths about conquering mental health challenges in high-stakes environments (10:22) Insider secrets to navigating the IPO rollercoaster (17:08) The...

Go inside OpenAI with VP of Finance Janine Korovesis for a rare look at the finance engine powering the fastest-growing company in history. Janine reveals and discusses:    Scaling a finance team during hypergrowth (29:03)   Balancing internal expertise with external resources (35:08)   The importance of "healthy fear" in financial leadership (30:59)   Why every finance leader should do hackathons...

Introducing Breakthrough Work, the show that lets leaders and companies who shattered the status quo tell their stories about getting to the other side. Our guest is Chris Lowe, CEO at Nusano, the most exciting high-tech company you may have never heard of, but will probably have a life-changing impact on you and those you love. Chris’s experience includes:  4x CFO and 2x CEO  Raising over $500M i...