Run the Numbers

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...

Today we're flipping the script: CJ is the guest, and he's demystifying annual planning on The Role Forward podcast. CJ and host Joe Michalowski dive into the intricacies of annual planning, the practical steps of strategic planning (breaking down the process into digestible stages), and the complexities of financial forecasting in the startup ecosystem. Tropic is the next-generation Procurement P...

In this episode James Currier the founder and General Partner at venture capitalist firm NFX, guides CJ on the inner workings of marketplace businesses and network effects. He shares insights on the importance of finding a 'white hot center' when starting a marketplace, strategic ways to tackle the trademark chicken and egg problem, and the significance of retention as a metric. Tropic is the next...

In this episode, CJ Gustafson interviews creator and writer Kyla Scanlon about the role of the Federal Reserve and its impact on the economy. They discuss the concept of the 'Vibecession' which refers to the disconnect between consumer sentiment and economic data. The conversation also touches on the Fed's communication strategies and the challenges of understanding and predicting market reactions...

In this episode, CJ Gustafson interviews Ryan Wash the Founder and CEO of RepVue whose mission is to help sales pros find the best companies to work for and ensure they're paid fairly. Ryan gives CJ a data-driven inside look into sales capacity, planning models, and sales rep commission plans. Tropic is the next-generation Procurement Platform that’s helping modern CFOs take control of their budge...

In this episode, CJ Gustafson interviews Alex Clayton of Meritech Capital who leads the firm’s enterprise software, infrastructure, and fintech practices. They discuss the most important metrics used in the software industry, including ARR per employee, average contract value (ACV), net dollar retention (NDR), and valuation multiples. Alex also goes deeper into understanding market structure as a...

On the 21st episode of Run The Numbers, CJ sits down with Andy Raskin, a prominent Strategic Narrative consultant to venture-backed CEO and leadership teams. They discuss the importance of strategic narrative in conveying the value of a company and tell a powerful story to investors, highlighting the approach of naming the old game and the new game, interpreting transitions in the market as 'life...

On the 20th episode of Run The Numbers, CJ sits down with Rohit Divate, Head of Corporate Finance at Gusto. Rohit Divate has seen Gusto 10x in terms of revenue and headcount in his six years at the company. He and CJ discuss headcount planning, countermetrics, how to set up scalable decisionmaking in hyperscaling startups, and more. Tropic is the next-generation Procurement Platform that’s helping...

At scaling companies. parting ways with an executive requires finesse, strategic insights, and insider experience. CJ invited longtime people leaders - and hosts of the HR Heretics podcast - to break down every facet, lever, and little known facts behind successfully exiting execs. If you’re looking for an ERP platform, check out our sponsor, NetSuite: https://netsuite.com/metrics Whether its due...

Earnings calls. If you’re at a pre-IPO company, the' before, during, and after' of an earnings call can be a black box. That's why we brought on Sonalee Parekh, the Chief Financial Officer at RingCentral, for a masterclass about the best ways to prepare for an earnings call -- down to the most granular details and pitfalls to avoid. Along the way she dispenses some excellent career advice to CFOs...

On this episode on Run the Numbers CJ and Erik Torenberg welcome Tomasz Tunguz from Theory Ventures for an in-depth conversation about building businesses, how CFOs can evolve with realtime needs of venture-backed companies, and an investor’s lens on what makes a great CFO. If you’re looking for an ERP platform, check out our sponsor, NetSuite: https://netsuite.com/metrics Tom Tunguz is the founde...

On this episode on Run the Numbers Ex-CMO turned founder, Jeff Yoshimura shares with us how high-performing marketing and finance teams should work together. Jeff is a seasoned enterprise technology operator, founder, investor, advisor, and executive leader. Most recently, over two and a half years, as CMO of Snyk, Jeff helped Snyk grow from a $2.2B to a $7.4B valuation and 500 to 2,500+ customers...

On episode 15 of Run the Numbers, CFO of FloQast Razzak Jallow joins CJ to make the argument for why finance teams should think of themselves as data curators, why a great CFO is someone who will forge the path for their CEO's vision, lessons from Apple's execution, and more. If you’re looking for an ERP platform, check out our sponsor, NetSuite: https://netsuite.com/metrics --- SPONSORS: NetSuite...

What's the right way to think about pricing your product? This is a difficult challenge for executives to nail down, and can make or break your company—that's why we brought on Kyle Poyar, Operating Partner at OpenView, to distill how to think about pricing the right way. If you’re looking for an ERP platform, check out our sponsor, NetSuite: https://netsuite.com/metrics --- SPONSORS: NetSuite pro...

Board meetings are hard to get right as a CFO—that's why we brought on Dave Kellogg, who's sat on both sides of the table, to give you the ultimate run-down of how to execute a great board meeting. If you’re looking for an ERP platform, check out our sponsor, NetSuite: https://netsuite.com/metrics --- SPONSORS: NetSuite provides financial software for all your business needs. More than thirty-six...

This Thursday, Paul Barnhurst, the renowned "FPandA Guy" on LinkedIn, joins CJ to crack down on all things FP&A tools to create the ultimate FP&A guide. If you’re looking for an ERP platform, check out our sponsor, NetSuite: https://netsuite.com/metrics --- SPONSORS: NetSuite provides financial software for all your business needs. More than thirty-six thousand companies have already upgraded to N...

Brandon Deer, Chief Strategy Officer of UiPath, joins CJ this week to talk through how UiPath scaled a lightning-fast pace, and the unforeseen sacrifices they had to make in order to move as fast as possible. If you’re looking for an ERP platform, check out our sponsor, NetSuite: https://netsuite.com/metrics --- SPONSORS: NetSuite provides financial software for all your business needs. More than...

We kick off our Thursday operator series with the VP of Sales at Snyk, Ethan Schechter. He and CJ get into how finance and sales can work together to set and achieve revenue goals, how to create a winning culture within your sales team, SPIFFs, PIPs, and much more. If you’re looking for an ERP platform, check out our sponsor, NetSuite: https://netsuite.com/metrics --- SPONSORS: NetSuite provides f...