"Run The Numbers" | Startup Finance, Strategy, and Operations

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 crucial factor to consider when evaluating whether a company will go to IPO. Tropic is the next-generation Procurement Platform that’s helping modern CFOs take control of their budgets and bottom line, head to www.tropicapp.io/metrics --- SPONSORS: Tropic is the next-generation Procurement Platform that’s helping modern CFOs take control of their budgets and bottom line. By combining approval workflows, supplier management, and pricing benchmarks all in one place, Tropic makes savings opportunities easy to find and act on. 🌴 Visit www.tropicapp.io/metrics to learn how. --- X / TWITTER: @afc (Alex) @cjgustafson222 (CJ) @TurpentineMedia (Turpentine) --- LINKS: Alex’s S-1 Breakdowns at Meritech https://www.meritechcapital.com/insights/category/s-1-breakdowns Run The Numbers episode w/ Tomasz Tungus: https://youtu.be/ExU7Muwmi0M — TIMESTAMPS: (00:00) Intro (01:05) Mailbag questions - where should the customer success team show up as a cost? (04:56) Introducing Alex (08:19) Measuring overall efficiency of a business and rules of thumb for people out there of what good looks like? (10:46) Can you game the gross profit per employee metric? (11:29) Looking at operating plans, what's the metric that matters as per Alex? (12:52) Average contract value does not matter to long term value creation (15:31) The metrics public companies disclose (16:48) Disclosing net dollar retention (19:05) On the relationship between NDR and CAC payback period (23:12) Why Alex doesn't believe that LTV or LTV to CAC ratio is a very valuable metric for many software companies (28:18) How much revenue you should have when you go public? (32:40) On going public after you raise a certain amount and doing it sooner (33:55) would you say that founding teams are showing up to IPO with less equity than they used to historically? (35:43) The average age of a CEO when when they go public (36:42) On long-term company performance: is it better for founder CEOs or for professional CEOs? (40:18) Alex's latest thinking on valuation multiples (43:32) One thing Alex screwed up at work (44:35) Tropic presents Rep Yo Stack: Alex's VC tool stack

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 and death' stakes, demonstrating how old tools weren't built for the new challenges, and how to keep updating a company's strategic narrative. Tropic is the next-generation Procurement Platform that’s helping modern CFOs take control of their budgets and bottom line, head to www.tropicapp.io/metrics. --- SPONSORS: Tropic is the next-generation Procurement Platform that’s helping modern CFOs take control of their budgets and bottom line. By combining approval workflows, supplier management, and pricing benchmarks all in one place, Tropic makes savings opportunities easy to find and act on. 🌴 Visit www.tropicapp.io/metrics to learn how. --- LINKS: - Check out Andy's podcast The Bigger Narrative: https://andyraskin.com/podcast/ - Andy Raskin: The Best Sales Deck I've Ever Seen: https://medium.com/the-mission/the-greatest-sales-deck-ive-ever-seen-4f4ef3391ba0 --- X / TWITTER: @araskin @cjgustafson222 (CJ) @TurpentineMedia (Turpentine) --- TIMESTAMPS: (00:00) Intro (02:52) What is strategic narrative and positioning yourself to sell a movement (05:54) On fundraising: category vs narrative (08:10) Examples of a company with strategic narrative (10:31) Naming the old game (or the old mindset as per Andy) (12:50) Championing the new mindset (14:48) What happens next after naming the old game (16:48) Sponsor - Tropic (18:00) Andy's take on naming and comparing against competitors when on a sales pitch (21:28) The buyer mission statement (24:16) Andy gives feedback on CJ's strategic narrative for Partstech (30:30) How often should a company's strategic narrative be updated? (34:22) So how should the CFO specifically then get involved in the strategic narrative? (38:40) Where can people find Andy if they need help with their strategic narrative? (40:49) Wrap

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 modern CFOs take control of their budgets and bottom line, head to www.tropicapp.io/metrics. --- SPONSORS: Planful empowers teams just like yours to drive peak financial performance in every corner of your business. Think purpose-built applications for every department, from FP&A to accounting, marketing to HR, all with built-in financial intelligence. ✍️ Go to https://planful.com/metrics to see how you can tackle unwanted surprises in real-time. Tropic is the next-generation Procurement Platform that’s helping modern CFOs take control of their budgets and bottom line. By combining approval workflows, supplier management, and pricing benchmarks all in one place, Tropic makes savings opportunities easy to find and act on. 🌴 Visit www.tropicapp.io/metrics to learn how. --- X / TWITTER: @rohitdv8 (Rohit) @cjgustafson222 (CJ) @TurpentineMedia (Turpentine) --- TIMESTAMPS: (00:00) Intro (01:17) Mailbag questions - How does ARR, or Revenue Per Employee, scale over time as a company grows? (04:42) Introducing Rohit (05:40) How big was Gusto when Rohit started out and how big is it now? (08:00) How to get things done when a company grows big (11:10) How has Gusto's finance department change over time? (14:03) Tour of duty: handling change or roles and responsibilities in a finance team (15:21) Sponsor - Planful (16:20) A day in the life of Rohit: How much is spent on spreadsheets vs dealing with people (17:41) Risks and opportunities - knowing your financials (19:09) What are metrics that gets tracked daily and monthly? (21:50) What's the north star metric? (22:58) The metric that kept Rohit up at night (24:25) On using a non-standard calendar year for financials (25:25) Handling headcount forecasting for Gusto (27:46) Dollar base plans and having autonomy to build your team (29:46) Budgeting for contractors (30:56) The new headcount methodology and dollar-based planning (32:39) Rules of thumb for staffing ratio (34:32) What separates the great finance leaders from the good ones? (36:36) Qualities a CEO should test for in interviews (38:37) What's something Rohit has screwed up before on the job? (40:33) What's something you know now that you'd like to tell your younger self? (41:39) Sponsor - Tropic (42:15) Rohit's finance software stack (43:33) What's the craziest thing you've seen someone try to expense?

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 to hypergrowth or part of an M&A process. CJ, Kelli, and Nolan describe what they've seen in Silicon Valley and what to watch out for. Kelli Dragovich has been a people leader at Pendo, Intuit, Github, Looker, Google, Hired.com and more. Nolan Church was head of talent at DoorDash and the former CPO at Carta. He is now the founder of Continuum Talent (www.joincontinuum.com) --- SPONSORS: NetSuite provides financial software for all your business needs. More than thirty-six thousand companies have already upgraded to NetSuite, gaining visibility and control over their financials, inventory, HR, eCommerce, and more. If you're looking for an ERP platform ✅ NetSuite: https://netsuite.com/metrics and defer payments of a FULL NetSuite implementation for six months. Tropic is the next-generation Procurement Platform that’s helping modern CFOs take control of their budgets and bottom line. By combining approval workflows, supplier management, and pricing benchmarks all in one place, Tropic makes savings opportunities easy to find and act on. 🌴 Visit www.tropicapp.io/metrics to learn how.  Planful empowers teams just like yours to drive peak financial performance in every corner of your business. Think purpose-built applications for every department, from FP&A to accounting, marketing to HR, all with built-in financial intelligence. ✍️ Go to https://planful.com/metrics to see how you can tackle unwanted surprises in real-time. --- RECOMMENDED PODCAST: HR HERETICS https://link.chtbl.com/hrheretics Has HR gotten too soft? Nolan and Kelli have discussions with people leaders, founders and board members about important and underdiscussed business topics -- and firsthand stories from scaling companies. Highly recommend episodes with Molly Graham on early Facebook, Steve Cadigan on early LinkedIn, and Patty McCord on building Netflix's culture (and infamous culture deck). --- LINKEDIN: CJ: https://www.linkedin.com/in/cj-gustafson/ Kelli: https://www.linkedin.com/in/kellidragovich/ Nolan: https://www.linkedin.com/in/nolan-church/ --- TIMESTAMPS: (00:00) Intro (00:20) How to approach exiting a member of the C suite (02:11) How to frame and handle an executive's termination (04:19) The best way to terminate somebody (07:30) Handling compensation when terminating someone (08:49) The most likely way for an executive to leave a company is to get fired (17:20) Sponsor - Netsuite | Planful (19:40) Equity acceleration and executive exits (23:01) What is a garden leave? (24:28) Single trigger versus a double trigger clause (28:00) Sponsor - Tropic (31:52) On employment agreements (39:40) How does a board approach firing a CEO (42:10) Who is more successful at galvanizing a company: founder CEOs or professional CEOs? (46:00) What if I'm the one getting fired?

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 and those aspiring to the seat. 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 NetSuite, gaining visibility and control over their financials, inventory, HR, eCommerce, and more. If you're looking for an ERP platform ✅ NetSuite: https://netsuite.com/metrics and defer payments of a FULL NetSuite implementation for six months. Planful empowers teams just like yours to drive peak financial performance in every corner of your business. Think purpose-built applications for every department, from FP&A to accounting, marketing to HR, all with built-in financial intelligence. ✍️ Go to https://planful.com/metrics to see how you can tackle unwanted surprises in real-time. Tropic is the next-generation Procurement Platform that’s helping modern CFOs take control of their budgets and bottom line. By combining approval workflows, supplier management, and pricing benchmarks all in one place, Tropic makes savings opportunities easy to find and act on. 🌴 Visit www.tropicapp.io/metrics to learn how.  --- X / TWITTER: @cjgustafson222 (CJ) @TurpentineMedia (Turpentine) --- TIMESTAMPS: (00:00) Episode Preview (01:55) Mailbag question (05:15) Sonalee's first earnings call as a public CFO (07:30) Handling curveball questions (09:06) The planning process for an earnings call (14:15) Messaging and metrics (15:50) Sponsor: NetSuite (17:00) Division of responsibilities (23:30) Sponsor: Planful (24:30) Disclosing ARR (26:40) Prepping for analysts (29:55) Who's actually in the room? (34:30) Making the jump to public company CFO (35:45) CEO - CFO relationship (40:30) What separates the great CFOs from the good CFOs (45:00) Rep Yo Stack sponsored by Tropic - Sonalee's tech stack

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 founder of Theory Ventures. Prior to that he was a GP at Redpoint for 14 years, and worked at Google prior to that. He is the author of long-running business newsletter found at www.tomtunguz.com --- SPONSORS: NetSuite provides financial software for all your business needs. More than thirty-six thousand companies have already upgraded to NetSuite, gaining visibility and control over their financials, inventory, HR, eCommerce, and more. If you're looking for an ERP platform ✅ NetSuite: https://netsuite.com/metrics and defer payments of a FULL NetSuite implementation for six months. Tropic is the next-generation Procurement Platform that’s helping modern CFOs take control of their budgets and bottom line. By combining approval workflows, supplier management, and pricing benchmarks all in one place, Tropic makes savings opportunities easy to find and act on. 🌴 Visit www.tropicapp.io/metrics to learn how.  Planful empowers teams just like yours to drive peak financial performance in every corner of your business. Think purpose-built applications for every department, from FP&A to accounting, marketing to HR, all with built-in financial intelligence. ✍️ Go to https://planful.com/metrics to see how you can tackle unwanted surprises in real-time. — RECOMMENDED PODCAST: To go deeper in all things Venture, check out Turpentine VC on audio (https://link.chtbl.com/TurpentineVC) or YouTube (https://www.youtube.com/@TurpentineVC) X / TWITTER: @ttunguz (Tom) @cjgustafson222 (CJ) @eriktorenberg (Erik) @TurpentineMedia (Turpentine) — LINKS: Tom’s blog: https://tomtunguz.com/  Mostly Metrics: https://www.mostlymetrics.com/ Theory Ventures: https://theory.ventures/ Tom’s interview on HR Heretics: https://open.spotify.com/episode/1B4aYWnV9pJkcQuCgq1tTy  TIMESTAMPS: (00:00) Intro and CJ’s personal news (01:00) Tom Tunguz intro (03:50) Tom’s idea maze in getting Theory Ventures off the ground (05:40) What differentiates Theory from other VCs? (07:29) On bringing in someone more experienced to replace or level up a founder (09:10) Patterns that show a need to bring in a seasoned operator (11:28) What it takes for a founder to make it all the way through IPO (13:19) How long should company runway be? (15:05) Sponsors: NetSuite | Tropic (17:32) Counseling portfolio companies in hiring VPF or CFO (18:47) A good CFO vs a great CFO (24:13) Why now is a good time for young, ambitious people to step up and take a bigger role within their organization (26:02) Sponsor: Planful (27:08) The future of Theory Ventures

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. Prior to that, Jeff led marketing at Elastic (NYSE: ESTC) for over five years from $20M to $500M revenues, was a founding team member at Zuora (NYSE: ZUO) and an early employee at Salesforce (NYSE: CRM). Jeff is currently a co-founder of a startup to be launched in early 2024. --- SPONSORS: NetSuite provides financial software for all your business needs. More than thirty-six thousand companies have already upgraded to NetSuite, gaining visibility and control over their financials, inventory, HR, eCommerce, and more. If you're looking for an ERP platform ✅ NetSuite: https://netsuite.com/metrics and defer payments of a FULL NetSuite implementation for six months. Tropic is the next-generation Procurement Platform that’s helping modern CFOs take control of their budgets and bottom line. By combining approval workflows, supplier management, and pricing benchmarks all in one place, Tropic makes savings opportunities easy to find and act on. 🌴 Visit www.tropicapp.io/metrics to learn how.  Planful empowers teams just like yours to drive peak financial performance in every corner of your business. Think purpose-built applications for every department, from FP&A to accounting, marketing to HR, all with built-in financial intelligence. ✍️ Go to https://planful.com/metrics to see how you can tackle unwanted surprises in real-time. --- X / TWITTER: @cjgustafson222 (CJ) @TurpentineMedia (Turpentine) --- TIMESTAMPS:

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 provides financial software for all your business needs. More than thirty-six thousand companies have already upgraded to NetSuite, gaining visibility and control over their financials, inventory, HR, eCommerce, and more. If you're looking for an ERP platform ✅ NetSuite: https://netsuite.com/metrics and defer payments of a FULL NetSuite implementation for six months. Tropic is the next-generation Procurement Platform that’s helping modern CFOs take control of their budgets and bottom line. By combining approval workflows, supplier management, and pricing benchmarks all in one place, Tropic makes savings opportunities easy to find and act on. 🌴 Visit www.tropicapp.io/metrics to learn how.  Planful empowers teams just like yours to drive peak financial performance in every corner of your business. Think purpose-built applications for every department, from FP&A to accounting, marketing to HR, all with built-in financial intelligence. ✍️ Go to https://planful.com/metrics to see how you can tackle unwanted surprises in real-time. --- X / TWITTER: @cjgustafson222 (CJ) @TurpentineMedia (Turpentine) --- TIMESTAMPS: (00:00) Episode Preview (01:00) SEGMENT: CJ's opening “Off the Books” monologue: lessons learned from starting a marketplace business (09:34) Razzak on finance being curator of data (13:24) What kept Razzak up at night as an early CFO? (15:36) Sponsor: NetSuite (17:00) On dilution (22:02) Where should RevOps or SalesOps sit in the org? (24:40) Lessons from a transition period when a company is acquired (28:03) Sponsor: Planful (29:10) Org design / framework learnings from Google (33:36) Lessons from Apple (38:39) CFO decision-making frameworks from working at Google, London Club, Adobe, Apple (44:46) What are the qualities of a great CFO? (50:40) SEGMENT: Long-ass Lightning Round (53:44) SEGMENT: Rep Yo Stack - Sponsored by Tropic (56:13) Craziest expense attempt Razzak has seen

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 provides financial software for all your business needs. More than thirty-six thousand companies have already upgraded to NetSuite, gaining visibility and control over their financials, inventory, HR, eCommerce, and more. If you're looking for an ERP platform ✅ NetSuite: https://netsuite.com/metrics and defer payments of a FULL NetSuite implementation for six months. Tropic is the next-generation Procurement Platform that’s helping modern CFOs take control of their budgets and bottom line. By combining approval workflows, supplier management, and pricing benchmarks all in one place, Tropic makes savings opportunities easy to find and act on. 🌴 Visit www.tropicapp.io/metrics to learn how.  Planful empowers teams just like yours to drive peak financial performance in every corner of your business. Think purpose-built applications for every department, from FP&A to accounting, marketing to HR, all with built-in financial intelligence. ✍️ Go to https://planful.com/metrics to see how you can tackle unwanted surprises in real-time. --- X / TWITTER: @poyark (Kyle) @cjgustafson222 (CJ) @TurpentineMedia (Turpentine) --- TIMESTAMPS: (00:00) Episode Preview (01:19) What is price elasticity? (04:02) Psychology and price hacks (05:47) On pricing and giving discounts (08:17) PLG pricing and transparency (13:57) Negotiation and haggling (15:27) Sponsor: NetSuite (17:04) The fun in pricing tactics (19:30) Raising prices and the rule of nine (26:18) Raising prices and going public (27:38) Sponsor: Planful (28:56) Free trials vs freenium (36:10) 11 characteristics of the best PLG companies (42:05) SEGMENT: Long-ass lightning round (46:56) SEGMENT: Rep Yo Stack - Sponsored by Tropic

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 thousand companies have already upgraded to NetSuite, gaining visibility and control over their financials, inventory, HR, eCommerce, and more. If you're looking for an ERP platform ✅ NetSuite: https://netsuite.com/metrics and defer payments of a FULL NetSuite implementation for six months. Tropic is the next-generation Procurement Platform that’s helping modern CFOs take control of their budgets and bottom line. By combining approval workflows, supplier management, and pricing benchmarks all in one place, Tropic makes savings opportunities easy to find and act on. 🌴 Visit www.tropicapp.io/metrics to learn how.  Planful empowers teams just like yours to drive peak financial performance in every corner of your business. Think purpose-built applications for every department, from FP&A to accounting, marketing to HR, all with built-in financial intelligence. ✍️ Go to https://planful.com/metrics to see how you can tackle unwanted surprises in real-time. --- X / TWITTER: @Kellblog (Dave) @cjgustafson222 (CJ) @TurpentineMedia (Turpentine) --- TIMESTAMPS: (00:00) Intro (00:50) SEGMENT: CJ's opening “Off the Books” monologue - Mailbag (4:21) Start of interview (05:10) On how to prepare for a board presentation (08:00) What the start of a board meeting and structure should look like (14:15) What numbers and metrics to have in your board presentation (16:40) Sponsor: NetSuite + Tropic (20:26]) Dave's template for a VP session (24:15) Closed-door sessions: what is this and what goes on here? (27:19) Board members vs. board observers (30:17) On board dynamics (31:06) When to send out your board deck (33:40) Sponsor: Planful (34:50) Why you should have no surprises during a board meeting (36:04) The role of an independent board member (50:09) Missteps people make when presenting an operating plan

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 NetSuite, gaining visibility and control over their financials, inventory, HR, eCommerce, and more. If you're looking for an ERP platform ✅ NetSuite: https://netsuite.com/metrics and defer payments of a FULL NetSuite implementation for six months. Tropic is the next-generation Procurement Platform that’s helping modern CFOs take control of their budgets and bottom line. By combining approval workflows, supplier management, and pricing benchmarks all in one place, Tropic makes savings opportunities easy to find and act on. 🌴 Visit www.tropicapp.io/metrics to learn how.  --- X / TWITTER: @cjgustafson222 (CJ) @TurpentineMedia (Turpentine) --- TIMESTAMPS: (00:00) Episode Preview (01:24) Reflections on the FP&A function (02:12) On available tools for FP&A professionals (04:35) Paul on Gen 1 tools (06:31) How did we get to Gen 3 tools (10:35) New FP&A tools x BI (15:19) Are the current tools partially behind in terms of the shift on the CFO role? (17:02) Sponsor - NetSuite (19:04) The challenge of aligning on finance metric definitions (21:44) What tools should a CFO buy? (25:54) The finance tech stack in 10 years (27:58) Paul on the current AI revolution (33:09) SEGMENT: Long-ass lightning round

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 thirty-six thousand companies have already upgraded to NetSuite, gaining visibility and control over their financials, inventory, HR, eCommerce, and more. If you're looking for an ERP platform ✅ NetSuite: https://netsuite.com/metrics and defer payments of a FULL NetSuite implementation for six months. Tropic is the next-generation Procurement Platform that’s helping modern CFOs take control of their budgets and bottom line. By combining approval workflows, supplier management, and pricing benchmarks all in one place, Tropic makes savings opportunities easy to find and act on. 🌴 Visit www.tropicapp.io/metrics to learn how.  --- RECOMMENDED PODCAST: The HR industry is at a crossroads. What will it take to construct the next generation of incredible businesses – and where can people leaders have the most business impact? Hosts Nolan Church and Kelli Dragovich have been through it all, the highs and the lows – IPOs, layoffs, executive turnover, board meetings, culture changes, and more. With a lineup of industry vets and experts, Nolan and Kelli break down the nitty-gritty details, trade offs, and dynamics of constructing high performing companies. Through unfiltered conversations that can only happen between seasoned practitioners, Kelli and Nolan dive deep into the kind of leadership-level strategy that often happens behind closed doors. Check out the first episode with the architect of Netflix’s culture deck Patty McCord. https://link.chtbl.com/hrheretics --- X / TWITTER: @cjgustafson222 (CJ) @TurpentineMedia (Turpentine) --- TIMESTAMPS: (00:00) Episode Preview (00:14) Mailbag Q and A: What is your #1 model for finance and strategy? (04:01) Mailbag Q and A: How do you convince early stage founders that having good financial and operational hygiene is super important? (08:32) Mailbag Q and A: How do you make resource allocation decisions? (14:29) The UiPath experience on going global (16:40) What UiPath could have done better (19:35) Sponsor: Netsuite (23:05) Making conscious trade-offs when going international (25:38) A guide for founders on the go to market aspects of a company (28:16) War stories leading up to the IPO (31:32) Brandon's foot faults and what he's done to avoid repeating mistakes (34:57) Run in with Jim Cramer

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 financial software for all your business needs. More than thirty-six thousand companies have already upgraded to NetSuite, gaining visibility and control over their financials, inventory, HR, eCommerce, and more. If you're looking for an ERP platform ✅ NetSuite: https://netsuite.com/metrics and defer payments of a FULL NetSuite implementation for six months. Tropic is the next-generation Procurement Platform that’s helping modern CFOs take control of their budgets and bottom line. By combining approval workflows, supplier management, and pricing benchmarks all in one place, Tropic makes savings opportunities easy to find and act on. 🌴 Visit www.tropicapp.io/metrics to learn how.  --- RECOMMENDED PODCAST: The HR industry is at a crossroads. What will it take to construct the next generation of incredible businesses – and where can people leaders have the most business impact? Hosts Nolan Church and Kelli Dragovich have been through it all, the highs and the lows – IPOs, layoffs, executive turnover, board meetings, culture changes, and more. With a lineup of industry vets and experts, Nolan and Kelli break down the nitty-gritty details, trade offs, and dynamics of constructing high performing companies. Through unfiltered conversations that can only happen between seasoned practitioners, Kelli and Nolan dive deep into the kind of leadership-level strategy that often happens behind closed doors. Check out the first episode with the architect of Netflix’s culture deck Patty McCord. https://link.chtbl.com/hrheretics --- X / TWITTER: @cjgustafson222 (CJ) @TurpentineMedia (Turpentine) --- TIMESTAMPS: (00:00) Episode Preview (01:09) Start of interview (02:37) How finance and sales can work together to set and achieve revenue goals (05:36) How to create a winning culture within your sales team (11:06) On ramping up and lead times (13:29) Are sales people ever the victim of their own success? (14:55) Sponsor: NetSuite (17:21) On discounts and getting quick wins (21:58) On SPIFFs: when to use them, structure, etc. (27:23) Where should sales ops sit? (30:54) When should you bring in sales enablement? (31:42) How to think about PIPs (36:31) SEGMENT: Long-ass Lightning Round (39:06) SEGMENT: Rep Yo Stack - Sponsored by Tropic (40:58) Craziest things a salesperson has tried to expense

Sinohe Terrero, CFO of Envoy, sits down with CJ in episode nine of Run the Numbers to discuss why CFOs should actually say "yes" more, and be known as an enabler, not a blocker, to your organization. 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 NetSuite, gaining visibility and control over their financials, inventory, HR, eCommerce, and more. If you're looking for an ERP platform ✅ NetSuite: https://netsuite.com/metrics and defer payments of a FULL NetSuite implementation for six months. Tropic is the next-generation Procurement Platform that’s helping modern CFOs take control of their budgets and bottom line. By combining approval workflows, supplier management, and pricing benchmarks all in one place, Tropic makes savings opportunities easy to find and act on. 🌴 Visit www.tropicapp.io/metrics to learn how.  --- RECOMMENDED PODCAST: The HR industry is at a crossroads. What will it take to construct the next generation of incredible businesses – and where can people leaders have the most business impact? Hosts Nolan Church and Kelli Dragovich have been through it all, the highs and the lows – IPOs, layoffs, executive turnover, board meetings, culture changes, and more. With a lineup of industry vets and experts, Nolan and Kelli break down the nitty-gritty details, trade offs, and dynamics of constructing high performing companies. Through unfiltered conversations that can only happen between seasoned practitioners, Kelli and Nolan dive deep into the kind of leadership-level strategy that often happens behind closed doors. Check out the first episode with the architect of Netflix’s culture deck Patty McCord. https://link.chtbl.com/hrheretics --- X / TWITTER: @sinohe (Sinohe) @cjgustafson222 (CJ) @TurpentineMedia (Turpentine) --- TIMESTAMPS: (00:00) Episode Preview (00:50) SEGMENT: CJ's opening “Off the Books” monologue - the Butter and Knife approach (02:59) Start of interview (03:42) On the CFO as the enabler of the organization (06:11) How to say "yes" more: Butter and Knife framework (09:22) Examples of unblocking / enabling in Sinohe's career (12:17) How to lead your BI team to success (16:00) Sponsor: NetSuite (19:51) Why you should re-define terms in your board deck (23:40) How to prioritize the right questions for your BI team (28:23) How to bucket / segment data within your org (33:30) The story of Envoy and Covid (38:50) Qualities that separate a good CFO from a great CFO (40:39) SEGMENT: Long-ass Lightning Round (44:15) SEGMENT: Rep Yo Stack - Sponsored by Tropic (46:08) Craziest expense attempt Sinohe has seen

Kurtis Hanni, SMB CFO and writer of Frameworks & Finance, joins CJ for a special listener mailbag episode of Run the Numbers, where they answer questions about career advice, finance leader lies, pricing strategy tricks, and more. 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 NetSuite, gaining visibility and control over their financials, inventory, HR, eCommerce, and more. If you're looking for an ERP platform ✅ NetSuite: https://netsuite.com/metrics and defer payments of a FULL NetSuite implementation for six months. Tropic is the next-generation Procurement Platform that’s helping modern CFOs take control of their budgets and bottom line. By combining approval workflows, supplier management, and pricing benchmarks all in one place, Tropic makes savings opportunities easy to find and act on. 🌴 Visit www.tropicapp.io/metrics to learn how.  --- RECOMMENDED PODCAST: The HR industry is at a crossroads. What will it take to construct the next generation of incredible businesses – and where can people leaders have the most business impact? Hosts Nolan Church and Kelli Dragovich have been through it all, the highs and the lows – IPOs, layoffs, executive turnover, board meetings, culture changes, and more. With a lineup of industry vets and experts, Nolan and Kelli break down the nitty-gritty details, trade offs, and dynamics of constructing high performing companies. Through unfiltered conversations that can only happen between seasoned practitioners, Kelli and Nolan dive deep into the kind of leadership-level strategy that often happens behind closed doors. Check out the first episode with the architect of Netflix’s culture deck Patty McCord. https://link.chtbl.com/hrheretics --- X / TWITTER: @KurtisHanni (Kurtis) @cjgustafson222 (CJ) @TurpentineMedia (Turpentine) --- TIMESTAMPS: (00:00) Intro (03:40) What's the backstory of Run the Numbers? (09:46) What's the biggest lie we tell ourselves as finance leaders? (14:16) Sponsor: NetSuite (17:54) What's the best/worst career advice you've ever received? (24:10) What's the first financial metric to track for your business? (32:46) What's your take on the current economic landscape and how it might impact startups and small businesses? (40:10) How is startup finance different from SMB finance? (46:41) How can you close the books faster?

Sebastian Duesterhoeft, partner at Lightspeed Ventures, joins CJ to talk about anything and everything start-up operators need to know about your Total Addressable Market (TAM). 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 NetSuite, gaining visibility and control over their financials, inventory, HR, eCommerce, and more. If you're looking for an ERP platform ✅ NetSuite: https://netsuite.com/metrics and defer payments of a FULL NetSuite implementation for six months. Tropic is the next-generation Procurement Platform that’s helping modern CFOs take control of their budgets and bottom line. By combining approval workflows, supplier management, and pricing benchmarks all in one place, Tropic makes savings opportunities easy to find and act on. 🌴 Visit www.tropicapp.io/metrics to learn how.  --- RECOMMENDED PODCAST: The HR industry is at a crossroads. What will it take to construct the next generation of incredible businesses – and where can people leaders have the most business impact? Hosts Nolan Church and Kelli Dragovich have been through it all, the highs and the lows – IPOs, layoffs, executive turnover, board meetings, culture changes, and more. With a lineup of industry vets and experts, Nolan and Kelli break down the nitty-gritty details, trade offs, and dynamics of constructing high performing companies. Through unfiltered conversations that can only happen between seasoned practitioners, Kelli and Nolan dive deep into the kind of leadership-level strategy that often happens behind closed doors. Check out the first episode with the architect of Netflix’s culture deck Patty McCord. https://link.chtbl.com/hrheretics --- X / TWITTER: @cjgustafson222 (CJ) @TurpentineMedia (Turpentine) --- TIMESTAMPS: (00:00) Episode Preview (00:55) SEGMENT: CJ's opening “Off the Books” monologue - the Billion Dollar outcome (02:59) Start of interview (04:38) Why is TAM so important to investors? (09:19) Is a $2B TAM not good enough? (12:06) How big is enough TAM? (13:23) Sponsor: NetSuite (14:44) Frameworks to calculate TAM (19:19) Second and third growth engines (25:18) On "maturity of the market" (28:36) On extensibility (32:27) Why your initial insertion point is crucial to your business (36:22) ServiceNow and Datadog: why these companies are shining examples of expanding their TAM (45:03) SEGMENT: Long-ass Lightning Round (48:43) SEGMENT: Rep Yo Stack - Sponsored by Tropic

On episode seven of Run the Numbers, Olivier Adler (CFO of Shippo, and former CFO of eero) and CJ dive deep into the world of acquisitions, and go a layer deeper than what you find online through Olivier's previous experience as CFO of a company acquired by Amazon. 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 NetSuite, gaining visibility and control over their financials, inventory, HR, eCommerce, and more. If you're looking for an ERP platform ✅ NetSuite: https://netsuite.com/metrics and defer payments of a FULL NetSuite implementation for six months. Tropic is the next-generation Procurement Platform that’s helping modern CFOs take control of their budgets and bottom line. By combining approval workflows, supplier management, and pricing benchmarks all in one place, Tropic makes savings opportunities easy to find and act on. 🌴 Visit www.tropicapp.io/metrics to learn how.  --- RECOMMENDED PODCAST: The HR industry is at a crossroads. What will it take to construct the next generation of incredible businesses – and where can people leaders have the most business impact? Hosts Nolan Church and Kelli Dragovich have been through it all, the highs and the lows – IPOs, layoffs, executive turnover, board meetings, culture changes, and more. With a lineup of industry vets and experts, Nolan and Kelli break down the nitty-gritty details, trade offs, and dynamics of constructing high performing companies. Through unfiltered conversations that can only happen between seasoned practitioners, Kelli and Nolan dive deep into the kind of leadership-level strategy that often happens behind closed doors. Check out the first episode with the architect of Netflix’s culture deck Patty McCord. https://link.chtbl.com/hrheretics --- X / TWITTER: @OliAdler (Olivier) @cjgustafson222 (CJ) @TurpentineMedia (Turpentine) --- TIMESTAMPS: (00:00) Episode Preview (01:15) SEGMENT: CJ's opening “Off the Books” monologue - Listener mailbag on annual planning (05:00) Update on CJ's car saga (06:52) Start of interview: the story of eero (08:12) How the sale to Amazon happened (11:48) Highs and lows of Olivier's journey at eero (13:46) Sponsor: NetSuite (15:09) When incumbents start competing with start-ups (17:09) M&A advice for CFOs (21:05) The year after acquisition at Amazon (25:38) Olivier's current experience as CFO of Shippo (27:14) Olivier's current experience as CFO of Shippo (31:20) Advice for first-time CFOs (35:43) Time management tips for CFOs (36:17) SEGMENT: Long-ass Lightning Round (38:52) SEGMENT: Rep Yo Stack - Sponsored by Tropic (40:16) Craziest thing someone has tried to expense

Charly Kevers (CFO of Carta) joins CJ on episode six of Run the Numbers, where they talk through the most important qualities of great CFOs, why you should look at every part of your business as a startup, and more. 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 NetSuite, gaining visibility and control over their financials, inventory, HR, eCommerce, and more. If you're looking for an ERP platform ✅ NetSuite: https://netsuite.com/metrics and defer payments of a FULL NetSuite implementation for six months. Tropic is the next-generation Procurement Platform that’s helping modern CFOs take control of their budgets and bottom line. By combining approval workflows, supplier management, and pricing benchmarks all in one place, Tropic makes savings opportunities easy to find and act on. 🌴 Visit www.tropicapp.io/metrics to learn how.  --- RECOMMENDED PODCAST: The HR industry is at a crossroads. What will it take to construct the next generation of incredible businesses – and where can people leaders have the most business impact? Hosts Nolan Church and Kelli Dragovich have been through it all, the highs and the lows – IPOs, layoffs, executive turnover, board meetings, culture changes, and more. With a lineup of industry vets and experts, Nolan and Kelli break down the nitty-gritty details, trade offs, and dynamics of constructing high performing companies. Through unfiltered conversations that can only happen between seasoned practitioners, Kelli and Nolan dive deep into the kind of leadership-level strategy that often happens behind closed doors. Check out the first episode with the architect of Netflix’s culture deck Patty McCord. https://link.chtbl.com/hrheretics --- X / TWITTER: @CKevers (Charly) @cjgustafson222 (CJ) @TurpentineMedia (Turpentine) --- TIMESTAMPS: (00:00) Episode Preview (00:15) SEGMENT: CJ's opening “Off the Books” monologue - CJ’s First Negotiation (06:54) Start of interview (08:22) The #1 thing that kept Charly up at night when he started at Carta (09:00) Sponsor: Netsuite (10:24) How Charly communicated with his CEO when he started (11:43) Charly's tactics on truth-telling (13:07) How to talk to investors (16:25) Frameworks on communicating the tough news (17:33) Charly's experience at HP (20:03) Qualities of great vs. good CFOs (22:20) Metrics to share with investors (28:22) Relationship with Carta CEO and how the dynamic has changed (34:23) How Charly works with his CEO to make decisions (40:33) On Carta X (48:53) SEGMENT: Long-ass Lightning Round (50:01) SEGMENT: Rep Yo Stack - Sponsored by Tropic (51:36) Craziest thing someone has tried to expense at Carta

On episode five of Run the Numbers, Jenny Decker (CFO of Front) sits down with host CJ Gustafson to talk top frameworks at Front, the importance of storytelling, and taking the road less traveled. 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 NetSuite, gaining visibility and control over their financials, inventory, HR, eCommerce, and more. If you're looking for an ERP platform ✅ NetSuite: https://netsuite.com/metrics and defer payments of a FULL NetSuite implementation for six months. Tropic is the next-generation Procurement Platform that’s helping modern CFOs take control of their budgets and bottom line. By combining approval workflows, supplier management, and pricing benchmarks all in one place, Tropic makes savings opportunities easy to find and act on. 🌴 Visit www.tropicapp.io/metrics to learn how.  --- RECOMMENDED PODCAST: The HR industry is at a crossroads. What will it take to construct the next generation of incredible businesses – and where can people leaders have the most business impact? Hosts Nolan Church and Kelli Dragovich have been through it all, the highs and the lows – IPOs, layoffs, executive turnover, board meetings, culture changes, and more. With a lineup of industry vets and experts, Nolan and Kelli break down the nitty-gritty details, trade offs, and dynamics of constructing high performing companies. Through unfiltered conversations that can only happen between seasoned practitioners, Kelli and Nolan dive deep into the kind of leadership-level strategy that often happens behind closed doors. Check out the first episode with the architect of Netflix’s culture deck Patty McCord. https://link.chtbl.com/hrheretics --- X / TWITTER: @cjgustafson222 (CJ) @TurpentineMedia (Turpentine) --- TIMESTAMPS: (00:00) Episode Preview (00:15) SEGMENT: CJ's opening “Off the Books” monologue - listener mailbag question one: Why don't you put attrition/vacancy assumptions in your headcount budget? (03:09) Listener mailbag question two: What does CJ think about hybrid pricing (usage- and subscription-based)? (09:04) What was keeping Jenny up at night when she first became CFO at Front? (11:21) Sponsor: Netsuite (12:43) Frameworks on decision-making (14:22) How do Jenny implement frameworks and create buy-in at Front? (17:35) What keeps Jenny up at night now? (18:55) What separates the great vs. good CFOs (24:15) On how to foster relationships with internal stakeholders (26:03) On hiring (31:40) Jenny's advice for CJ's paternity leave (33:50) Jenny's path to CFO (42:02) Long-ass lightning round: an example of when Jenny screwed up on the job, Front’s finance software stack, the craziest thing someone tried to expense

Sruthi Lanka (CFO of Public.com) joins host CJ Gustafson to discuss the unexpected qualities of great CFOs. 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 NetSuite, gaining visibility and control over their financials, inventory, HR, eCommerce, and more. If you're looking for an ERP platform ✅ NetSuite: https://netsuite.com/metrics and defer payments of a FULL NetSuite implementation for six months. Tropic is the next-generation Procurement Platform that’s helping modern CFOs take control of their budgets and bottom line. By combining approval workflows, supplier management, and pricing benchmarks all in one place, Tropic makes savings opportunities easy to find and act on. 🌴 Visit www.tropicapp.io/metrics to learn how.  --- RECOMMENDED PODCAST: The HR industry is at a crossroads. What will it take to construct the next generation of incredible businesses – and where can people leaders have the most business impact? Hosts Nolan Church and Kelli Dragovich have been through it all, the highs and the lows – IPOs, layoffs, executive turnover, board meetings, culture changes, and more. With a lineup of industry vets and experts, Nolan and Kelli break down the nitty-gritty details, trade offs, and dynamics of constructing high performing companies. Through unfiltered conversations that can only happen between seasoned practitioners, Kelli and Nolan dive deep into the kind of leadership-level strategy that often happens behind closed doors. Check out the first episode with the architect of Netflix’s culture deck Patty McCord. https://link.chtbl.com/hrheretics --- X / TWITTER: @sruthilanka (Sruthi) @cjgustafson222 (CJ) @TurpentineMedia (Turpentine) --- TIMESTAMPS: (00:00) Episode Preview: CJ’s learnings from Sruthi (03:40) SEGMENT: CJ's opening “Off the Books” monologue - listener mailbag: where to allocate engineers who maintain infrastructure (05:17) Start of interview: Sruthi on how a CFO and CEO partnership should look like (09:59) How do you define important metrics for your team? (13:03) Data ownership at Public.com (14:36) Sponsor: Netsuite (16:00) Sruthi's favorite frameworks for decision-making (20:57) What separates a great CFO from a good CFO? (24:25) Tactics on how to be more embedded in different departments within your company (29:24) The biggest differences between a traditional SaaS CFO and CFO at Public.com (31:33) On retention (34:45) How to deal with situations where you are wrong (38:15) Tactics on modeling (39:20) On mentorship, management, giving advice (45:31) Balancing being a mother with being CFO (47:52) Long-ass lightning round: an example of when Sruthi screwed up on the job, Public.com’s finance software stack, the craziest thing someone has tried to expense