In her first CFO role, Amanda Whalen revamped cost accounting, restructured sales incentives, and overhauled P&L reporting—driving a 10% profit increase in one year. The experience revealed finance’s power to align teams, influence decisions, and shape business outcomes—ultimately convincing her to pursue finance leadership as her long-term path. [ssp-player] Now Watch our Complete Episode Featuring […]
1110: When Leadership Mattered | Amanda Whalen, CFO, Klaviyo
Amanda Whalen’s first CFO role began with a question. “You’re not a finance technical person,” her company’s president told her, “but you’re the strongest leader on my team. Will you be willing to be the CFO and help me transform the finance function?” She accepted. Over the following year, Whalen tells us, her team tackled…
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1107: When Finance Leads with a CEO Mindset | John Rettig, CFO, Bill
What sets John Rettig’s CFO journey apart from most is not just its length—spanning more than two decades—but its unusual symmetry. His CFO career roughly divides into two decade-long tenures: first helping scale a digital advertising firm from $15 million to $250 million in revenue, and now serving as CFO of Bill, where he’s helped…
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UiPath CFO Ashim Gupta on Strategic AI Investments & Agentic Automation
Inside The Mentoring Round, CFO Ashim Gupta of UiPath reveals how he balances R&D investments with strict operational discipline. Reflecting on UiPath’s rapid rise from its Romanian origins to global acclaim, Ashim explains that while R&D drives innovation, operational costs must be tightly managed. He also unveils UiPath’s strategic pivot to agentic automation—integrating AI, robotics, […]
AI & Cloud Transitions: CFO Zack Johnson on Future-Ready Finance
1056: The Three Ps: A Data-Driven Approach to Sustainable Growth | Zach Johnson, CFO, Cribl
Ask any business manager about the “three Ps in business” and they will likely say People, Process, and Product. However, ask any finance team member at Cribl that question, and you’ll likely hear a different answer: Precision, Predictability, and Performance. These are the three Ps that guide CFO Zach Johnson’s data-driven approach to financial leadership.…
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Risk Management and AI Integration: Key Priorities from Yooz’s CFO
Inside The Mentoring Round, CFO John Gronen discusses Yooz’s strategic investment in AI and machine learning to enhance accounts payable (AP) automation, fraud detection, and efficiency. Gronen highlights how AI streamlines invoice processing and identifies fraud risks, reducing the need for manual checks and freeing up valuable employee time. He also shares insights on the […]
756: Start-Ups, SPACs, and Street Fights | Michael Levine, CFO, Payoneer
"The key to success is to build your team with people who have equal amounts of experience, intelligence, and passion, and the rest will take care of itself." –Michael Levine, CFO, Payoneer Start early, stay late, be prepared, and don’t shy away from the street-fight environments surrounding start-up companies. These methods have helped Michael Levine…
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