What's Rarely Measured Matters Most

CFO

1190: Fixing What Growth Tries to Hide | Jaylene Kunze, LegitScript

When Jaylene Kunze was asked to help rebuild a struggling subsidiary in the United Kingdom, she packed up her family and moved overseas with her nine-month-old daughter. The assignment was one more example of the type of challenge that would come to define her career. Rather than following a traditional finance path, Kunze gravitated toward…
Listen to the Episode Below (0:49:41)
Apple PodcastsGoogle PodcastsPlayer EmbedShare Leave a ReviewListen in a New WindowDownloadSoundCloudStitcherSubscribe on AndroidSubscribe via RSSSpotifySurveyLinkedInYouTube

1189: Why Finance Should Lead with “Yes, And” | Bruno Annicq, CFO, Wellhub

A conversation from years earlier still stands out to Bruno Annicq. While working at AOL, he was supporting business leaders and helping tell the story of the business through data and analytics. Then a senior executive, Holly Hess, approached him with an unexpected suggestion: Why not become the CFO of AOL’s platforms business? Annicq’s reaction…
Listen to the Episode Below (0:50:44)
Apple PodcastsGoogle PodcastsPlayer EmbedShare Leave a ReviewListen in a New WindowDownloadSoundCloudStitcherSubscribe on AndroidSubscribe via RSSSpotifySurveyLinkedInYouTube

1188: Testing Assumptions Before Burning Capital | Kevin Hettrich, CFO, QuantumScape

Kevin Hettrich walked into a conference room with a whiteboard full of numbers and a problem no one had fully articulated. QuantumScape’s leadership team was discussing how to scale an expensive R&D tool used to produce early battery materials. Hettrich had spent two weeks gathering data, talking with engineers, and analyzing manufacturing economics. Then he…
Listen to the Episode Below (0:55:02)
Apple PodcastsGoogle PodcastsPlayer EmbedShare Leave a ReviewListen in a New WindowDownloadSoundCloudStitcherSubscribe on AndroidSubscribe via RSSSpotifySurveyLinkedInYouTube

1187: Pattern Recognition: How CFOs See Around Corners | Alex Chun, CFO, NEOGOV

Alex Chun already knew the management team at NEOGOV long before he became its CFO. As an investor at Warburg Pincus, he spent more than four years “in the trenches” with NEOGOV’s leadership team, flying to Los Angeles to work through operational challenges alongside them, Chun tells us. His path to finance leadership did not…
Listen to the Episode Below (0:43:21)
Apple PodcastsGoogle PodcastsPlayer EmbedShare Leave a ReviewListen in a New WindowDownloadSoundCloudStitcherSubscribe on AndroidSubscribe via RSSSpotifySurveyLinkedInYouTube

1179: Why Trust Can Outperform Price | Thomas Baumgartner, CFO, voestalpine Metsec

As a child in Austria, Thomas Baumgartner bundled unwanted toys into mystery bags and sold them to classmates. Buyers could not see what was inside—they simply paid and took their chances. He cleared out old toys and earned spending money, he tells us. The story is lighthearted, but it reveals something enduring: an instinct to…
Listen to the Episode Below (0:53:01)
Apple PodcastsGoogle PodcastsPlayer EmbedShare Leave a ReviewListen in a New WindowDownloadSoundCloudStitcherSubscribe on AndroidSubscribe via RSSSpotifySurveyLinkedInYouTube

1178: From Numbers to Narrative: Seeing the Business End-to-End | David Larson, CFO, Feedzai

David Larson still recalls the moment he challenged conventional thinking inside Thomson Reuters. A shared services team in Hyderabad, long viewed as transactional, held untapped potential. Rather than accept the status quo, Larson pushed to integrate the team into the broader finance function—despite resistance tied to time zones and skepticism. The effort required planning, persuasion,…
Listen to the Episode Below (0:54:46)
Apple PodcastsGoogle PodcastsPlayer EmbedShare Leave a ReviewListen in a New WindowDownloadSoundCloudStitcherSubscribe on AndroidSubscribe via RSSSpotifySurveyLinkedInYouTube

1177: Navigating an Acquisition at the Edge of Change | Tom DiDesidero, CFO, SmartRecruiters

Tom DiDesidero describes a period when SmartRecruiters was actively taking customers from a much larger competitor. It wasn’t just momentum—it was proof. “We were stealing a lot of their customers,” DiDesidero tells us, describing how that traction became a defining signal of value. At the same time, SmartRecruiters was moving quickly on a new front.…
Listen to the Episode Below (0:46:59)
Apple PodcastsGoogle PodcastsPlayer EmbedShare Leave a ReviewListen in a New WindowDownloadSoundCloudStitcherSubscribe on AndroidSubscribe via RSSSpotifySurveyLinkedInYouTube

Finance Guardrails For Smarter Growth | Blake Grayson, CFO, Docusign

Early in his tenure at Docusign, CFO Blake Grayson identified lingering inefficiencies and moved quickly to act. By making difficult decisions within his first 90 days, he stabilized operations, reset cost discipline, and positioned the business for growth—reinforcing his belief that speed in tough moments preserves momentum and clarity. Now Watch Our Complete Episode Featuring […]

1176: From Signatures to Systems of Value | Blake Grayson, CFO, Docusign

Within his first 90 days at Docusign, Blake Grayson recognized the company needed to make difficult efficiency decisions following a post-COVID slowdown. Acting quickly, he partnered with leadership to address the issue, noting that “making the hard decision faster is way better than waiting,” Grayson tells us. That moment set the tone for how he…
Listen to the Episode Below (0:54:49)
Apple PodcastsGoogle PodcastsPlayer EmbedShare Leave a ReviewListen in a New WindowDownloadSoundCloudStitcherSubscribe on AndroidSubscribe via RSSSpotifySurveyLinkedInYouTube

Let Data Drive Focus, Not Ambition | Tony MacDonald, CFO, Sama

At Sama, Tony MacDonald recognized the organization was overextended across too many initiatives. Rather than confront leadership directly, he used data to demonstrate where focus would drive stronger returns. By letting facts guide decisions, he helped narrow priorities—shifting the company from scattered effort to disciplined, higher-impact growth. Now Watch the Complete Episode Featuring CFO Tony […]

1172: Finance Isn’t the Brake—It’s the Steering Wheel for Growth | Tony MacDonald, CFO, Sama

Tony MacDonald prefers a different image of the CFO role—one that replaces restraint with direction. “I would like to be considered as one of the people on the stagecoach that helps hold the reins,” he tells us, describing sales as “the horses that I want galloping always full speed ahead.” That mindset was shaped during…
Listen to the Episode Below (0:50:48)
Apple PodcastsGoogle PodcastsPlayer EmbedShare Leave a ReviewListen in a New WindowDownloadSoundCloudStitcherSubscribe on AndroidSubscribe via RSSSpotifySurveyLinkedInYouTube

1170: How the ‘SaaS-pocalypse’ is Changing the CFO Conversation | Michael Perica, CFO, Rimini Street

Michael Perica had been discussing the market implications of AI with investors for a number of years, but the market didn’t fully react—until one particular moment. In late January and early February, a wave of announcements around enterprise-focused AI models and workflow plugins triggered what has become widely known as the “SaaS-pocalypse.” In a single…
Listen to the Episode Below (0:47:14)
Apple PodcastsGoogle PodcastsPlayer EmbedShare Leave a ReviewListen in a New WindowDownloadSoundCloudStitcherSubscribe on AndroidSubscribe via RSSSpotifySurveyLinkedInYouTube