During the pandemic, Lisa Cummins Dulchinos realized that doing tasks herself wasn’t the best use of her time as CFO. Encouraged by a peer, she began delegating, gaining strategic clarity. The shift allowed her to better engage with executives, boards, and investors by focusing on the bigger picture rather than day-to-day execution.
Made Possible By
When Lisa Cummins Dulchinos joined Ayar Labs in 2019, the company had 17 employees and no finance function. Her first focus was “cash out”—ensuring operational efficiency while R&D advanced product feasibility. Today, as Ayar Labs prepares for scale, she’s centered on improving chip yield—a key driver of gross margin in the semiconductor industry. Dulchinos articulates the business value of Ayar’s breakthrough: a laser-powered chiplet that replaces copper, delivering 10× bandwidth and 4–8× power reduction. Her mindset blends operational precision with big-picture clarity, helping finance power deep tech innovation.
| CFO’s Strategy Playbook |
|---|
| • Build finance from zero up |
| • Focus on yield-driven margins |
| • Translate science into strategy |