The Backbone — Episode 58: The makings of a well-rounded finance leader
By: Shubham Datta
Tags: Growth, Training, Finance, Backboneepisodes, Education

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Check out previous episodes of The Backbone

Episode 57: Lessons learned from hyper-growth & scaling to $100M+ ARR, 100k customers and raising $100M w/ Tim Compton, SVP of Finance at ActiveCampaign

Episode 56: Lessons from raising $50M during a global pandemic w/

Aly Khan Musani, CFO at Symend

Episode 55: The most important SaaS metric for a high-growth software company w/ Rob Froment, CFO at Clio

Episode 54: Getting the most out of a finance function w/ Srikant Nayak, CFO at GroupBy

Episode 53: Every finance leader must become a great storyteller w/

Darrell Cox, CFO at Vena

Episode 52: Why the tradeoff of balancing profitability and sustainability is a false dichotomy w/ David Reid, CFO & COO of Boll & Branch

Episode 51: The art of value-based pricing models w/ Karthik Srinivasan, Director of Finance at Chargebee

Episode 50: Behind the 7-year journey of scaling WIND Mobile to $500M in revenue and $1.6B sale w/ Brice Scheschuk, Managing Partner at Globalive Capital

Episode 49: Fiscally responsible growth vs growth at all costs w/ Johnathan Mirian, VP Finance at Justworks

Episode 48: Setting the right foundation in the first 100 days to scale the finance function for hyper growth w/ Khoi Le, VP Finance at Hopper

Episode 47: A framework for managing M&A as a CFO w/ Saeideh Fard, Chief Financial Officer at Tulip

Episode 46: Pushing company-wide transformation of a craft brewer through technology w/ Trevor Young, Chief Financial Officer at Steam Whistle Brewing

Episode 45: Driving growth through an omnichannel approach at an established wellness brand w/ Michelle Armstrong, Chief Operating Officer at Saje Natural Wellness

Episode 44: Striking the balance of growth and profitability as a bootstrapped company w/ Jessica Katz, Director of Finance at Format

Episode 43: A framework for growing and scaling finance functions w/ Mustafa Nafar, VP Finance at Modsy

Episode 42: What investors really care about from a CFO turned VC & the top metrics for direct-to-consumer businesses w/ Amy Wu, Partner at Lightspeed Venture Partners

Episode 41: The key differences between marketing-driven SaaS companies to sales-driven ones w/ Amar Shrivastava, VP Finance at Clubhouse

Episode 40: Mejuri’s data-driven approach to managing inventory as an omnichannel, emerging direct-to-consumer brand w/ Katie Sellers, Director of Finance at Mejuri

Episode 39: Balancing short term expectations of investors with longer term strategic roadmap decisions as a public company tech CFO w/ Shouvik Roy, Chief Financial Officer at Versapay (TSXV: VPY)

Episode 38: The Consumerization of the Enterprise & Key Differences Between a Strategic and Financial Acquirer w/ Alok Pandey, VP Finance & Corporate Development at AnchorFree

Episode 37: An Inside Look at Salesforce’s $689M Acquisition of Buddy Media & Lessons Learned from Raising $150M+ w/ Oliver Bell, CFO at Springbot

Episode 36: Key Considerations + Metrics for Expanding a Localized Marketplace w/ Corey Noyek, Finance Manager at Platterz

Episode 35: Getting Dirt Underneath Your Fingers as an Operator w/ Tom Finn, VP Finance at Solstice

Episode 34: An Inside Look into Lightspeed’s $275M+ IPO & Scaling a Global Organization w/ Brandon Nussey, CFO at Lightspeed POS

Episode 33: Behind the Scenes of SnapTravel’s $21m Slam Dunk Series A from Steph Curry w/ Ankur Bansal, Head of Finance and Business Development at SnapTravel

Episode 32: A CFO Must Master Being a Capital Allocator w/ Sujeet Kini, CFO at Solium Capital

Episode 31: A Former Banker + Growth Investor Turned Operator on the Consequences of Raising Too Much Capital w/ Steve Isom, VP Finance at Flywheel

Episode 30: Customer + Revenue Churn at a SaaS Company with Recurring + Services Revenue w/ Cory Michalyshyn, CFO / COO at Solink

Episode 29: The First 100 Days as a Finance Leader of a Venture-Backed Startup w/ Bryn Knox, Head of Finance at BenchSci

Episode 28: Scaling a Finance Function of a High Growth Company with Strategic & Institutional Investors w/ Tiffany Hsiao, VP Finance at Rubikloud

Episode 27: Raising a $27M Financing Round & Managing the Ever-Changing Priorities as CFO w/ Dave Pooley, Chief Financial Officer at Axonify

Special Feature: Exploring a New & Revolutionary Revenue Model for Education w/ Austen Allred, Co-Founder and CEO of Lambda School

Episode 26: Lessons Learned from Raising $32M Growth Round + the Symbiotic Relationship Between Finance & Operations w/ Samiksha Khanna, VP Finance and Operations at Uberflip

Episode 25: Correlating Non-Financial Metrics into Financial Outcomes + Balancing Ad-load & Revenue Generated Through Sponsored Contentw/ Trisha Egberts, Finance Manager at Figure1

Episode 24: Learnings from Starting and Shutting Down a Startup + Balancing Multiple Product Stakeholders w/ Mark Jarvie, VP Finance at Drop

Episode 23: Learnings from Raising/Exiting $700M+ in Deal Value for Software + Hardware and the Importance of a People-First Approach in Finance w/ David Brennan, Chief Financial Officer at Ecobee

Episode 22: Raising $47M from Strategic vs Traditional VC & the Level of Finance Leader to Hire at Each Stage of a Company’s Evolution w/ Danielle Cerisano, VP Finance at League

Episode 21: Using Analytics and Predictive Models to Improve Budgeting + the Role of Attribution in Assessing Digital Marketing ROI w/ Emma Lyndon, CFO at Canopy Labs

Episode 20: Considerations for CAC and Churn in a Self-Serve Pricing Model w/ Matt Dove, VP Finance at Celtx

Episode 19: The Journey of Raising $100M ICO (Initial Coin Offering) as a Venture-Backed Unicorn w/ Brandon Brunet, Controller at Kik

Episode 18: Bootstrapped to $12M Series A & What it Means for the Finance Function w/ Jennifer Pollock, Director of Finance & Operations at RateHub

Episode 17: The Added Complexities of Hardware Tech Companies & How to Price a New Medical Device w/ Travis Phung, Director of Finance & Administration at Exact Imaging

Episode 16: Monetizing a Free Product & Navigating Complexities of the Financial Services Space w/ Brian Wu, Finance Lead at Borrowell

Episode 15: Serving the Restaurant Industry & Breaking Into Tech in a Finance Capacity w/ Rob Curcio, Director of Finance at TouchBistro

Episode 14: Scaling the Finance Function, Fundraising, Making Acquisitions & Operationalizing Metrics w/ Ryan Magee, Chief Financial Officer at Cority

Episode 13: Serving the SMB Market at a Publicly Traded Software Company vs a High-Growth Startup w/ Darren Wood, Director of Finance & Operations at Jobber

Episode 12: Leading Finance at NPOs to High Growth Tech & Bootstrapping vs Raising Venture Capital w/ Anthony Scolaro, VP Finance & Operations at Lucova

Episode 11: Raising $17M Series A Round & What it Means to be ‘Venture-Backed’ w/ Frank Jessop, Director of Finance, Sensibill

Episode 10: Vendor Selection Considerations & Viewing the Finance Function from an Engineering Perspective w/ Gerti Dervishi, VP Finance at Flybits

Episode 9: The Process of Acquiring Companies as a Startup & Best Practices for Investor Relations w/ Ryan Levenberg, VP Finance at Q4 Systems Inc.

Episode 8: Raising VC Funding to Executing an $110M Acquisition + Demystifying the Progressive Roles of the Finance Leader within a Startupw/ Dwayne Walker, CFO at LookbookHQ

Episode 7: Going Through an Acquisition of an eCommerce Company & Keeping Both Sides of a Marketplace Happy w/ Elena Armstrong, Co-Founder & VP Finance at Exact Media

Episode 6: From Finance to Founding an IoT Startup & Bootstrapping vs. Raising Venture Capital w/ Sacha Sawaya, Co-Founder and CFO at Litmus Automation

Episode 5: Difference Between Being an Advisor vs Finance Leader for Tech Startups & When to Raise Capital w/ Eugene Bomba, CFO & VP Operations at ThoughtWire

Episode 4: Transitioning from Professional Services to Finance Leader of Pre-Revenue Tech Startup w/ Chris Parkes, CFO at NuraLogix

Episode 3: Why Finance & Operations go Together & Dealing with the Highly Regulated Financial Services Industry w/ Leen Li, Head of Finance at Wealthsimple

Episode 2: How Finance Scales Growing from 25 to 200+ Employees & Transfer Pricing w/ Les Cullen, Director Finance & Operations at TopHat

Episode 1: Managing Churn & Being Private Equity Backed w/ Daniel Israelsohn, VP Finance & Operations at Firmex