Drew Laxton explains how clearly communicating strategy to sales teams—especially around setting a minimum deal size aligned with the company’s ICP—helped improve performance and morale. By grounding decisions in product fit and disciplined planning, finance drove positive quarterly results and strengthened company-wide confidence. Now Watch our Complete Episode Featuring CFO Drew Laxton of Outreach In […]
1154: When Finance Becomes the Company’s Storyteller | Drew Laxton, CFO, Outreach
When Drew Laxton looks back on the past year at Outreach, one moment stands out—not a transaction, but a plan. The company set its annual targets, executed against them, and then exceeded expectations. “When you see green numbers at every quarterly all-hands,” Laxton tells us, “it’s amazing how that little bit of momentum just builds…
Listen to the Episode Below (0:41:35)
Why Restraint, Not Reach, Defines Modern Finance Leadership | Manny Korakis, CFO, Presidio
Manny Korakis points to McGraw Hill’s growth and value plan as his defining finance moment, when portfolio management replaced pure accounting focus. Finance drove decisions on which assets to acquire or divest, shifting the function toward enterprise value creation and long-term growth rather than record-keeping alone. Now Watch the Complete Episode Featuring CFO Manny Korakis […]
1152: Value Creation Starts with Portfolio and Capital Discipline | Manny Korakis, CFO, Presidio
In his first “60 to 90 days” as CFO of Presidio, Manny Korakis learned that preparation doesn’t cancel pressure, he tells us. “Now the buck stops here,” he tells us, and he “didn’t really appreciate the pace” required until he was living it daily, he tells us. Korakis traces his move into enterprise thinking back…
Listen to the Episode Below (0:38:19)
1136: From Projects to Playbooks: Making Transformation Stick | Joe Custer, CFO, Intrado
When Joe Custer describes Intrado’s purpose, he begins with a story that traces back almost half a century. The company, he tells us, was born inside the Boulder County Sheriff’s Department when someone asked whether there might be a better way to connect a caller in distress with a first responder. “Turns out they were…
Listen to the Episode Below (0:59:52)
1133: Finance That Explains (and Scales) the Why | Kimberlee Duval, CFO, Cymbiotika
When Kimberlee Duval arrived at Cymbiotika, the wellness company was preparing a leap few bootstrapped brands attempt—moving from direct-to-consumer to retail shelves. “Our two owners, Charlene and Shahab, have done everything direct,” she tells us. “They wanted to build an organization for the long term.” That resolve led the company to take on debt rather…
Listen to the Episode Below (1:02:43)
Culture, Strategy, And AI Converge | Jay Peir, CFO, Pigment
Jay Peir’s Finance Strategic Moment revealed how CFOs shape culture as much as strategy. Inspired by Tableau’s CFO Tom Walker, he embraced rituals that united teams and reinforced the mindset: “You either sell the product or build the product,” guiding his own leadership at Pigment toward cultural impact. Now Watch the Complete Episode Featuring CFO […]
1125: Finance Lessons in the AI Era | Jay Peir, CFO, Pigment
At 30, Jay Peir stepped into the CFO role at SunPower, a high-efficiency solar cell manufacturer. The appointment came after leading M&A and venture investments at Cypress Semiconductor, where SunPower was the largest portfolio company. “I had my first CFO experience at the age of 30,” Peir tells us, recalling how corporate development responsibilities opened…
Listen to the Episode Below (0:41:38)
1106: Scaling Smarter: Inside the Finance Revenue Engine | Tim Ritters, CFO, Gong
During his decade at Google, Tim Ritters worked at the intersection of product and finance, helping to launch financial systems in collaboration with engineering, marketing, and product teams. The role gave him early exposure to cross-functional work and large-scale data environments. “Day one, you’re working cross-functionally,” Ritters tells us. He adds that this mindset became…
Listen to the Episode Below (0:39:37)
Embedding AI Into Finance Workflows | Gillian Munson, CFO, Vimeo
A Finance Strategic Moment One week into a CFO post, Munson was air‑dropped into a foreign audit room and told to fix a complex tax exposure outside her expertise. She mobilized auditors, tapped her network, and resolved it quickly. The baptism fortified her “learn‑fast, call‑everyone” playbook, sharpening courage and pattern recognition for future unknowns. Now […]
1096: Why Usage Beats Revenue in Video SaaS | Gillian Munson, CFO, Vimeo
When Gillian Munson pictures a Vimeo customer, she doesn’t start with a filmmaker, she imagines an insurance company executive or a corner grocery store owner uploading a training clip into Vimeo’s ever thirsty player, and hitting publish without ever surrendering control—or ad space—to a third‑party network. That simple embed workflow, she tells us, explains why “eight…
Listen to the Episode Below (0:49:23)
1079: Staying Ahead of Growth: How Finance Powers Proactive Scaling | Brandon Sullivan, CFO, 2X
The moment 2X secured private equity backing in March 2023, CFO Brandon Sullivan knew expectations would shift overnight. “There’s gonna be a press release,” he remembers thinking. “Our new PE partners will open up a treasure chest of relationships for us—we need to be ready.” In anticipation, Sullivan and his team ramped up hiring, ensuring…
Listen to the Episode Below (0:50:31)