Run the Numbers

In this episode, CJ discusses the business of global payments and B2B fintech with Camilla Matias Morais, COO of Brex. Camilla came up in the FP&A world and is a stellar guide to Brex’s strategic bets and moats. Also covered is how she balances the COO role of risk management and company strategy while also being in the weeds with customer feedback. If you're looking for an ERP head to NetSuite: h...

In this episode, CJ talks with the original duo of the Salem Witch Trials the HR Heretics podcast, Kelli Dragovich and Nolan Church about tech layoffs in 2024. Kelli and Nolan hold no punches and give straight answers to tough questions on layoffs, the job market, and employment best practices. If you're looking for an ERP head to NetSuite: https://netsuite.com/metrics and get a one-of-a-kind flex...

In this episode CJ is joined by Fred Havemeyer, a leading sell-side equity analyst from Macquarie specializing in AI and software research within the US. They delve deep into AI’s impact on the near term role of a CFO. Fred offers an unparalleled analysis of how to quantify productivity gains with AI, the difference between the metrics the sell side uses versus operators and their day to day model...

Todd Rakow, CFO of Gladly joins CJ for this deep dive into usage-based revenue models, strategic finance leadership, and the complexities of managing growth at scale. Todd shares tons of tactical insights, including building out the usage-based model, forecasting customer usage patterns, commissioning sales reps, and teaching your teams to distinguish between reoccurring and recurring revenue. If...

Today CJ is joined by Cameron Hyzer, the CFO of ZoomInfo, one of the world's most successful publicly traded data businesses. Cameron is a master capital allocator and this conversation touches on why you should focus on quality versus reducing costs as a CFO, share repurchase programs 101, and frameworks for making resource allocation bets. If you're looking for an ERP head to NetSuite: https://n...

Today CJ welcomes Dave Kline, a leadership coach and owner of the MGMT Accelerator to the pod. The discussion covers tactical advice for managers and leaders to develop high performance cultures among their current teams, including setting clear expectations, running productive 1:1s, and encouraging a compounding ownership mentality from direct reports. They also touch on Dave’s lessons from worki...

Today, the tables are turned as guest Alex Peterson, an expert in Financial Planning & Analysis (FP&A) – and CJ’s first hire – puts CJ in the hot seat. Tune in for two old friends sharing war stories and talking about performance reviews, net dollar retention rates, and Frank Slootman’s retirement. If you're looking for an ERP head to NetSuite: https://netsuite.com/metrics and get a customized KPI...

On this episode, CJ interviews Adam Swiecicki, CFO at Rippling and former CFO at Brex. They cover valuable strategies that have fueled Rippling's growth as a “Compound Startup” in the competitive HR, Finance, and IT space. Adam also shares lessons from being a short seller that he applies to being a company CFO, the ROI on R&D investment, capital allocation decision making frameworks and how to av...

In this episode, CJ interviews Jack Greco, the co-founder of ACV Auctions, a publicly traded B2B marketplace for automobiles. Greco is now a prolific Angel investor. In this conversation they cover the human element necessary in any marketplace business, setting up make-good budget for mistakes, business seasonality, and how the auction model affects supply and demand liquidity. This is truly a ma...

In this episode, CJ is joined by Matt Gallatin, CFO of Stack Overflow, the largest online community for developers and one of the most popular websites in the world. They cover the impact of doing SaaS 101 learning sessions with departments across the org, how CFOs can get involved in customer lifecycle reviews, CFO career stories that demonstrate high stress decision-making in action, and more.  ...

Today CJ welcomes back Jim Cook, a renowned coach to chief financial officers throughout Silicon Valley via his company BenchBoard Advisory -- and a co-founder of Netflix. Jim takes us through a number of frameworks for decision making and communication, including the three eras of CFO requirements, the concept of disagreeing, but still committing as a management team, challenging the problem, not...

On Today’s episode, CJ welcomes Chad Gold, the CFO of G2 and the former CFO of Salesloft. Gold shares valuable insights on the role of finance in startups and the qualities that set you on the path for a successful CFO career in venture-backed ecosystems. Chad has raised money from some of the best investors in the business, including Vista Equity, Permira, Accel, IVP, and Insight. And he’s built...

In this episode, CJ welcomes Andre Retterath , investing partner at Earlybird Venture Capital. This is a masterclass on AI where they cover the different levels of the AI tech stack and how to implement AI across tech organizations in the months and years ahead. They also cover how AI is changing back office functions for finance and operations folks, why large language models aren't necessarily b...

In this episode, CJ welcomes Dan Zhang, the CFO of ClickUp for a highly tactical and transparent conversation about getting–and staying– in the CFO seat. They cover her time at Amazon, her personal finance philosophy, and important frameworks for decision-making such as the Trust Formula and the Empty Boat Test.   If you’re looking for an ERP platform, check out our sponsor, NetSuite: https://nets...

Listen now on: * Apple * Spotify * YouTube In this episode, CJ dives into the complexities of IPOs and acquisitions with Philip Watson, the CFO of Paddle. Philip covers acquisitions for tech versus acquisitions for revenue, what it's like to operate within debt covenants and how to track them as an FP&A professional, FP&A's role in the IPO process, picking which metrics you'll disclose, frameworks...

In this episode, CJ is joined by Lee Kirkpatrick, the former CFO of the cloud communications platform, Twilio. Lee shares his journey of leading Twilio through its 2016 IPO, shedding light on the preparations, roadshows, and decisions (bankers, soundtrack, tv appearances) made at different stages of the process. This is inside baseball to taking your company public - a must listen.  If you’re look...

Today CJ hosts Dave Yuan, the founder and partner at Tidemark — a legend in the world of vertical SaaS. Dave has been investing, advising, and building technology companies for over 20 years. Before founding Tidemark, Dave spent 15 years as a general partner at Technology Crossover Ventures (TCV), where he was fortunate to invest in and help 25 companies scale and win. Twelve companies have gone p...

Tony Kim, Managing Director at Blackrock, joins CJ this week to touch on the secrets of durable businesses, why TAM is an unreliable measure of potential, competitive moats and 2nd/3rd acts as necessary means for sustainable growth, and more. Supercharge your financial operations with Maxio. Request a demo at www.maxio.com/runthenumbers for 10% off your first year. --- SPONSORS: Maxio | Tropic | T...

Jonathan Becker, CEO of Thrive Digital, breaks down learnings from his 12+ years of running data-led marketing campaigns for top startups like Uber, Asana, and Square. Supercharge your financial operations with Maxio. Request a demo at www.maxio.com/runthenumbers for 10% off your first year. --- SPONSORS: Maxio | Tropic | Thoropass Maxio is the only billing and financial operations platform that w...

Sebastian Duesterhoeft, partner at Lightspeed Ventures, returns to the pod to talk about anything and everything startup operators need to know about Competitive Moats aka the durable competitive advantage of a company. Supercharge financial operations with Maxio. Request a demo at www.maxio.com/runthenumbers for 10% off your first year. --- SPONSORS: Maxio | Tropic | Thoropass Maxio is the only b...

In this episode, Hubspot SVP of RevOps Sid Kumar discusses the most crucial aspects of revenue operations, the importance of data strategy, perspectives on rep productivity and commission structures, discounting, and more. The conversation also touches on how the lines between go-to-market and product strategies are increasingly blurring. Sid also gives us his take on comp plan design. Supercharge...

CJ welcomes the president of the Boston Celtics, Rich Gotham. Rich discusses his journey in the NBA and provides insight into the business side of one of the world's most recognizable sports brands. He highlights the emphasis placed on embracing digital technology, retaining fans, creating effective partnerships, and the importance of community involvement for the team. Rich also talks about the i...

In this episode, Bonfire VC partner Brett Queener, who was also the first sales ops and sales strategy person at Salesforce, shares insights on staffing ratios and building sales capacity. Brett unleashes his wisdom on driving alignment and setting sales quotas, forecasting revenue for new products, targeting existing customers vs. net new, the importance of sales enablement, expanding product off...

Matthew Newcomb, the CFO of Chime, joins host CJ Gustafson to delve into the complex world of the payments ecosystem. Matthew demystifies the business model of neobanks, different types of transactions, as well as how unit economics plays a key role in a neobank's business model and strategy. CJ's intro is about the controversy at Carta. Supercharge financial operations with Maxio. Request a demo...

Your most pressing questions are answered today by CJ Gustafson and Kurtis Hanni. They tackle Q's such as how best to scale the finance department for startups, what keeps them up at night, and predictions for how the CFO role will change in the near future. They also offer advice about cold emailing, relating to money, and dunking. Kurtis Hanni is a SMB CFO and writer of Frameworks & Finance ( ht...