How to Budget Your External Facing Time
Dealing with inbound requests from investors and bankers
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Let's face it: as a CFO of a high-growth company, your inbox probably looks like Times Square on New Year's Eve—a chaotic mess of flashing lights (read: meeting invites) all vying for your attention.
And, if you’re like me, you suffer from two diametrically opposed forces: FOMO, and lack of time.
Sarah Spoja, CFO of Tipalti, recently dropped some knowledge bombs on how to navigate this time-sucking labyrinth.
The Invite Tsunami
Once you hit that sweet spot of $100-250 million in revenue, prepare for the floodgates to open. Suddenly, everyone and their banker wants a piece of you. Conferences, panels, one-on-ones—you name it, they're inviting you to it. As Sarah puts it, it's "a hurricane of all these invites coming into your inbox."
It's tempting to channel your inner Jim Carrey and say "yes" to everything. After all, when Morgan Stanley comes knocking, who are we mere mortals to refuse? But pump the brakes. Sarah warns:
"I think naturally people want to be people pleasers. And so when you're a CFO and you're getting all these inbound messages from investors, from bankers, from all these different groups wanting your time, it can feel like, 'Oh, of course I should say yes.'"
This one hit home. I’m a people pleaser. I hate letting people down.
I’ll often come up with (crazy) reasons why I should say yes… maybe it will turn into something down the road… the firm has a great brand name… I don’t want them to think I’m an asshole.
Saying no gracefully is an art. But if that’s not enough, you can incorporate some science. Let’s get into it.
The Spoja Spreadsheet Method™
Instead of playing calendar roulette, Sarah developed a framework to tame the chaos. Here's the TL;DR:
Create a Spreadsheet: List out public comps in your space, including companies you secretly wish you were running (my words, not hers)
Research Coverage: Identify which banks have equity researchers currently covering these companies.
Track IPO History: Check the front page of the book to see which banks were involved in their IPOs (aka, who's got the Midas touch).
Identify Key Players: Pinpoint the specific individuals at these banks who were pulling the strings (remember: it’s about your relationships with individuals at the investment firms and banks… you can’t have a connection with a logo.)
The result? A laser-focused list of relationships worth building. As Sarah says:
"Instead of having 20 big banks, some of which are the big name banks and some of which are the smaller investment banks on my list and feeling like I had to give each of them a little bit of time and attention or go to one of their conferences, I ended up with a much shorter list."
With this shortlist in hand, Sarah could focus on building deeper relationships with key players. She emphasizes:
"Ultimately, over time, it's the depth of those relationships that really matter. These are people that you have to trust innately at different stages in the company life. And so for me, I wanted to have fewer of those relationships, but really go deep with them."
The Two-to-Three Day Rule
Inspired by her mentor Scott Wagner (former COO, CFO, and CEO of GoDaddy), Sarah adopted a structured approach:
"He dedicates two to three days a quarter to it. When he's doing it, he does it full-time. He doesn't try to take one-on-ones and then slice in other meetings and just make it really complicated. He gives two to three days a quarter. It's known in advance, it's scheduled out in advance."
This resonated with me. If you’re going to do something, don’t half ass it.
Since you can’t spend all your time externally, you should immerse yourself in it at the appropriate junctures, and really lean in. You want to get the most ROI from that time, and the people you meet with will quickly detect if you aren’t there mentally, answering Slacks midway through conversations and stepping out to call your controller.
Building Lines, Not Dots
This approach aligns with advice from Chad Gold, CFO of G2, who emphasizes building "lines, not dots" in relationships. Sarah agrees:
"You don't need everyone, and probably more true than now, you really only need, if it's coming from a fundraising round, you kind of only need one."
And to that point, Rome wasn't built in a day, and neither are solid investor relationships. Sarah notes:
"If I went one by one through each of these investors, these are all people that I had met a minimum 6 months earlier, if not 12 to 18 months earlier."
The Bottom Line
Budgeting your external-facing time isn't just about keeping your calendar from exploding—it's about strategically positioning yourself and your company for future success. By being selective and intentional with your engagements, you can build the deep, meaningful relationships that will truly move the needle for your business.
So, the next time you're drowning in a sea of calendar invites, channel your inner Sarah Spoja. Rip open that spreadsheet, identify your key players, and focus on building those lines, not dots. Your future self (and your company's balance sheet) will thank you.
And remember, just because you can attend every conference doesn't mean you should. Unless they're offering free AirPods. Then all bets are off. Because I’ve lost three pairs this year.
Run the Numbers
Apple | Spotify | YouTube
Sarah and I discuss:
Budgeting your external facing time as a CFO
The current state of tech M&A, and what will happen to point solutions
Distribution as a moat in software
“Giving up your Legos” as a company scales
Quote I’ve Been Pondering
“Pre runs that third lap hard.”
-Pre, by Tom Jordan