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The Summer of ‘25
It’s official. My tan has faded and people are asking me about ERPs again. Boo hoo.
What did finance teams set out to do this summer, and where did they actually make meaningful progress?
Me and the fine folks at Brex ran a 3-part pulse check with Mostly Metrics readers throughout Q3 to track how priorities evolved over time, and whether intentions turned into results. Nearly 1,000 of you weighed in (whew!!!!)
Here’s what we found.
Poll #1 (July): What’s going to keep you busy in Q3?
Heading into the quarter, readers were clear on their top priorities:
Hiring the Right People – 36%
Assessing ROI on AI Investments – 23%
Optimizing our Tech Stack – 23%
Improving CAC Payback – 9%
Increasing Gross Margins – 9%
Hiring topped the list… even in a cautious macro.
When growth slows, the best lever is still better people.
Poll #2 (August): Are you planning to swap out any tools?
Finance teams don’t just wake up and say, “You know what would be fun? Ripping out our billing system this Wednesday.” Tooling changes are contemplated and budgeted for (and usually painful).
That’s why it wasn’t surprising that the top individual response was:
→ “Nope, we’re locked in” (29%)
Which is a lesson in and of itself for vendors selling into CFOs... You have to stay top of mind whether people are in market for a new solution or not. That’s how you earn the right to be in the consideration set during that fleeting, and incredible valuable, moment when it is.
As for the folks who did decide to make a move, here’s where they were pointing their dollars:
Spend management software – 18%
FP&A software – 15%
ERP software – 11%
Cash management solution – 10%
Accounting software – 9%
Revenue tracking software – 5%
Other – 3%
Another way to read this is 71% of respondents were looking to buy something.
So yeah, many weren’t in a rush to change… but when they did, it was in the guts of the finance stack: where the money comes in, goes out, and gets reported.
No small boy stuff.
And Q3 saw vendors moving fast to catch that demand. By my count, the six vendors below raised ~$400M in capital this summer.
Rillet ($100M Series A + B) and Campfire ($35M Series A) raised big cash money to tackle the big ass ERP category…
Abacum ($60M Series B) and Aleph ($29M Series B) both start with the letter A (and are looking to redefine the ‘Analysis’ portion of fp&A)…
Tabs ($55M Series B) and RightRev ($13M Series A) received lot’s of money to help companies get better at receiving money
And for later stage companies in the CFO tech stack, major milestones abounded:
Brex announced it crossed $700M in annualized revenue, flexing as the default operating system modern finance teams.
It was certainly a Hot CFO Summer.
Poll #3 (September): Where did you make the most progress in Q3?
We asked readers to pick the one area where they actually moved the needle. The results?
Hiring the Right People – 36%
Optimizing our Tech Stack – 25%
Improving CAC Payback – 17%
Increasing Gross Margins – 13%
Assessing ROI on AI Investments – 9%
Wait, hold up.
AI ROI?
Dead last.
For all you finance people asking your CRO and CTO’s for the ROI on their AI investments:
In the Age of AI, People Still Win
We’re told that AI will replace us. Eat finance jobs. Ctrl Alt Delete us from the payrolls we run.
But here’s what operators actually did in Q3:
They invested in talent before tools to replace it.
Hiring was the top priority and the top progress area
AI was the most buzzed-about, but the least actioned, and least measured
Tool swaps happened, but only in high-leverage areas (spend, ERP, FP&A)
This past summer, finance PEOPLE were the real winners - they got more help, in the form of teammates and tools.
NEW: Mostly Growth Podcast
To compliment the critically acclaimed Run the Numbers Podcast (#3 business podcast in Zambia), me and GTM expert Kyle Poyar have spun off a new show. It’s called Mostly Growth. And it’s for the C Suite tasked with producing topline results… the tech workers trying to figure out what their CAC Payback period is… and all the pricing and packaging homies.
While RTN is an interview show, Mostly Growth is two practitioners jamming out on the most recent tech themes each week, reflecting on what makes a durable business model (with stories and laughs).
If you work at a startup trying to triple triple double double double in the age of AI, this show is for you. It’s when a CFO and a GTM expert collide.
This episode covers:
Prompt Bars Are Everywhere: The rise of “blank box” UX, why every app suddenly looks like ChatGPT, and how that’s giving users prompt anxiety.
Referral Programs: Ponzi Scheme? Incentives are up, CAC is down — but is this growth channel actually sustainable or just marketing MLMs in disguise?
When to Disclose AI-Generated: We debate where the ethical (and strategic) line is for AI transparency.
Sad Dinners: Why every LinkedIn dinner photo looks depressing — and what it says about startup culture
ChatGPT Bad Chart: An incredible dataset ruined by a rainbow mess of tiny fonts and meaningless categories.
Arnold Twins Revenue: The wild deal behind Arnold Schwarzenegger’s comedy debut — and how it made more money than Terminator
And more…
Run the Numbers Podcast
Your fund size is your strategy…The people accepting the funding just don’t always realize it.
I sat down with Kyle Harrison, General Partner at Contrary Capital and the writer behind the excellent Investing 101 to talk capital agglomerates vs the VC cottage keepers.
We discuss:
How the ethics of backing competitors have changed
Why it’s dangerous to not know what game your competitor is playing
Why the most valuable thing a VC can offer just might be ‘borrowed credibility’
Looking for Leverage Newsletter
Take Private Szn
The first three quarters of 2025 have been a masterclass in private-equity opportunism.
Global PE deal value is up almost 20% year-on-year, but deal counts are down.
Reading between the lines: sponsors are swinging at fewer pitches, but they’re connecting for extra-base hits when the do.
The juiciest pitch right now? Public SaaS companies with steady cash flow and cooling growth.
We look at Pagerduty, a live player in the arena weighing a return to private, and transactions like Olo and Couchbase.
There’s a lot for operators to learn about liquidity loops.
Wishing you an AI strategy that addresses ROI,
CJ
