The insider baseball you didn’t ask for: I recorded the first episode of Run the Numbers from a haunted hotel in Cape May, New Jersey. I left the beach during a family vacation to interview a CFO of a major tech company using a suitcase as a desk. To make things even more professional, I was interrupted by the cleaners exactly twice.
A lot has changed since then. Well, not really; I still record in sandals most of the time. But now some of the best technology companies are paying to sponsor my ramblings (LOL), and more than 15,000 of you tune in each month. That’s neat.
I was scared shitless at the jump. First off, I hate the sound of my own voice (something you never really get over) and I was so worried I’d forget my next question that I blacked out whenever guests spoke (hopefully that didn’t show).
I was also terrified that the production company would drop me if we didn’t hit our month 1 targets, so I played the podcast on a loop while I slept the first night (as if those eight extra plays would push us over the edge 😂). Luckily they were wicked cool and stuck with me (shoutout Producer Nancy, you’s a Gangster).
Since then my life has changed. Not in like a hokey, “aw shucks” kinda way, but in a “I can’t believe these people pick up my phone call” kinda way. Having a podcast is an underrated superpower.
I really mean it. Shit, Tony Kim, the Head of Technology Investments at Blackrock came on RTN… Rich Gotham, the President and CEO of the Boston Celtics stopped by… Jim Cook, a founding member of Netflix and former CFO of Mozilla is a frequent guest…
And we’ve got some more heavy hitters on deck for April…
A special thanks to these stellar brands for believing in me this part quarter:
(And we’ve got one more spot open for April. Hit us up if you want to reach CFOs)
So if you’re just starting to listen to the number five business podcast in Cambodia, here are ten of my favorite quotes and takeaways from CFOs so far.
And one more quote to live by, courtesy of the show’s Patron Saint, Fat Joe:
1. Your parental leave isn't just about you: Jenny Decker CFO at Front
"It’s not just the amount of time you give; it's making sure people actually set an example and take it. If you have a generous paternity paternity leave, but nobody takes it, it’s actually not in service of any mother."
2. The CFO can sit in on any meeting: Sruthi Lanka CFO at Public
"In any company, the CFO should establish that they can sit in on pretty much any meeting in the company... Because you cannot represent the company in a financial model accurately without really knowing the bones of it...go sit in on that product meeting."
3. Perfection is a prison: Jim Cook Cook CFO at Mozilla
"Why is perfection a prison? Because there's nowhere else to go but down, point one. And point two, you are constraining yourself so much from any new learning that you're not growing…
So living that line of what's right and what's wrong and course correcting quickly is the key to being a great leader, a great CFO and embracing it."
4. The quality of your first hires are crucial: Ivan Makarov VP Finance at Webflow
"When you start a new job and you build a team from scratch, your first three hires are your most important hires...You cannot settle, because these three people will make or break your success."
5. Why execution eats strategy for breakfast: Adam Swiecicki CFO at Rippling
“Most companies spend a lot of time debating strategy. And there are a ton of books on strategy, but fewer on execution.
My opinion is execution matters way more than strategy for startups.
So if I were to ballpark it, it would be 95% execution, 5% strategy.”
6. Optimize for opportunity early on: Razzak Jallow CFO at FloQast
"It’s always easy to say this when you are later in your career, but worry less about the salary and more about are you are at a great company, with a great boss, getting to work on cool things."
7. How to say no gracefully: Sinohe Terrero CFO at Envoy
"My approach is called butter and knife: You want to butter people up before you have to poke them... You have to make that early investment in individuals so they see you as someone that is willing to say yes, but many times needs to say no."
8. Invest in the stuff that's not sexy: Olivier Adler CFO at Shippo
"There’s a real benefit to invest in the not super sexy stuff - the systems, passing an audit, and hiring a good team all the way through. Sometimes it’s hard to justify that spend to the CEO. But it really plays out when it matters in terms of M&A to help you close quickly."
9. When to communicate bad news: Charly Kevers CFO at Carta
"When you’ve set certain expectations and you know those expectations won't be met. The moment you know you will be off those major milestones, pick up the phone, and do it as fast as you can.”
10. Talk to your customers: Sonalee Parekh CFO at RingCentral
"I learn more from talking to our top ten customers than months and months of reading Q’s and K’s."
Next Thursday we’ll be returning with an entire series on Network Effects and Marketplaces. You should totally tag along by upgrading to paid below.