On episode four of Run The Numbers, Sruthi Lanka (CFO of Public.com) joins host CJ Gustafson to discuss the unexpected qualities of great CFOs, how to manage your team well and achieve great retention, how to build relationships across company stakeholders, and more. If you’re looking for an ERP platform, check out our sponsor, NetSuite: https://netsuite.com/metrics  TIMESTAMPS: (00:00) Episode Preview: CJ’s learnings from Sruthi (03:40) SEGMENT: CJ's opening “Off the Books” monologue - listener mailbag: where to allocate engineers who maintain infrastructure (05:17) Start of interview: Sruthi on how a CFO and CEO partnership should look like (09:59) How do you define important metrics for your team? (13:03) Data ownership at Public.com (14:36) Sponsor: Netsuite (16:00) Sruthi's favorite frameworks for decision-making (20:57) What separates a great CFO from a good CFO? (24:25) Tactics on how to be more embedded in different departments within your company (29:24) The biggest differences between a traditional SaaS CFO and CFO at Public.com (31:33) On retention (34:45) How to deal with situations where you are wrong (38:15) Tactics on modeling (39:20) On mentorship, management, giving advice (45:31) Balancing being a mother with being CFO (47:52) Long-ass lightning round: an example of when Sruthi screwed up on the job, Public.com’s finance software stack, the craziest thing someone has tried to expense X / TWITTER: @sruthilanka (Sruthi) @cjgustafson222 (CJ) @TurpentineMedia (Turpentine) SPONSORS: SPONSOR: NetSuite provides financial software for all your business needs. More than thirty-six thousand companies have already upgraded to NetSuite, gaining visibility and control over their financials, inventory, HR, eCommerce, and more. If you're looking for an ERP platform ✅ NetSuite: https://netsuite.com/metrics and defer payments of a FULL NetSuite implementation for six months.

This week on Run The Numbers, host CJ Gustafson is joined by an all-time great: Jim Cook, one of the six original co-founders of Netflix, ex CFO of Mozilla (2009 - 2018), and one of the first 100 employees at Intuit—needless to say, Jim’s resume is stacked. Nowadays, he’s taking his 30+years of operating experience and paying it forward as a top CFO coach to some of the best in the business, including episode 2 guest, Ivan Makarov. In this episode, Jim and CJ chat about Jim’s top frameworks for CFOs, the key differences between a good and great CFO, perfection as a prison, and more. If you’re looking for an ERP platform, check out our sponsor, NetSuite: http://netsuite.com/metrics  TIMESTAMPS: (00:00) Episode Preview: CJ’s learnings from Jim (03:40) SEGMENT: CJ's opening “Off the Books” monologue on Instacart’s S-1 and advertising business (07:18) Start of CJ and Jim’s interview (08:05) What qualities separate a great CFO from a good CFO? (10:15) How do CFOs develop accountability as a skill? (14:26) Sponsor: Netsuite (15:52) Why CFOs quit (17:25) The importance of storytelling as a CFO (22:15) Jim explains first principles (24:40) The fallacy of a right decision and perfection as a prison (28:25) What was it like having Reid Hoffman on Mozilla’s board? (29:39) Jim on what a good relationship between the CFO and their board looks like (33:30) Transparency requires trust, trust requires transparency (34:53) Being vulnerable as a CFO (37:36) A time where Jim had to tell the board the hard truth (38:57) Key frameworks Jim teaches in his coaching (44:24) A learning Jim took away from his career at Intuit, Netflix, and Mozilla (46:20) SEGMENT: Long-ass lightning round: an example of when Jim screwed up on the job, the ideal finance software stack, the craziest thing someone has tried to expense X / TWITTER: @cookflix (Jim) @cjgustafson222 (CJ) @TurpentineMedia (Turpentine) SPONSORS: SPONSOR: NetSuite provides financial software for all your business needs. More than thirty-six thousand companies have already upgraded to NetSuite, gaining visibility and control over their financials, inventory, HR, eCommerce, and more. If you're looking for an ERP platform ✅ NetSuite: http://netsuite.com/metrics and defer payments of a FULL NetSuite implementation for six months.

Webflow’s VP of Finance, Ivan Makarov, joins host CJ Gustafson on the second episode of Run The Numbers, where they go straight into the unfiltered: they chat about what kept Ivan up at night in the early days at Webflow, the most misunderstood elements of startup equity, Ivan’s unique philosophy and approach to achieving “work-life balance,” and more. If you’re looking for an ERP platform, check out our sponsor, NetSuite: http://netsuite.com/metrics  TIMESTAMPS: (00:00) Episode Preview (00:34) CJ's opening monologue: on startup equity (05:03) Start of CJ and Ivan's interview (06:00) How Ivan been able to evolve his role over time at Webflow (09:17) What kept Ivan up at night in the early days of Webflow? (11:01) On recruiting  (13:23) The inflection point for Webflow (14:20) Setting culture at Webflow as a finance leader (15:45) Sponsor: Netsuite (17:00) On taking risks in your career (19:30) The most misunderstood elements of startup equity (23:01) How Ivan thinks about addressing equity questions from Webflow employees (25:22) How to think about equity (26:13) Ivan's philosophy on taking advantage of secondary opportunities (28:25) Ivan's take on Ramp's down round and if companies should allow employees to sell (30:13) How much should founders take off the table? (31:50) The first metric Ivan looks at in the morning (33:22) The top 3 metrics Ivan steers his exec team to look at (34:29) The last thing Ivan's asked his team to run the numbers on (37:52) ​​Ivan's approach to work-life balance (40:46) Long-ass lightning round: an example of when Ivan screwed up on the job, Webflow’s finance software stack, the craziest thing someone has tried to expense X / TWITTER: @cjgustafson222 (CJ) @TurpentineMedia (Turpentine) SPONSORS: SPONSOR: NetSuite provides financial software for all your business needs. More than thirty-six thousand companies have already upgraded to NetSuite, gaining visibility and control over their financials, inventory, HR, eCommerce, and more. If you're looking for an ERP platform ✅ NetSuite: http://netsuite.com/metrics and defer payments of a FULL NetSuite implementation for six months.

On the inaugural episode of Run The Numbers, the COO/CFO of Brex, Michael Tannenbaum, joins host CJ Gustafson to talk through a wide-range of finance, business, and personal growth strategies, including: the startup hierarchy of needs, acquiring great talent, taking lopsided risks, and more. If you’re looking for an ERP platform, check out our sponsor, NetSuite: http://netsuite.com/metrics TIMESTAMPS: (00:00) Episode Preview (2:25) CJ's opening monologue: on risk (6:56) Start of CJ and Michael's interview (7:14) Michael's key to longevity in his role at Brex (8:09) The startup hierarchy of needs (11:25) Two key signs of market validation at Brex (12:54) On taking the leap from SoFi to employee #1 at Brex (16:03) Sponsor: Netsuite (17:54) The key differences and considerations in being CFO of a fintech company (20:36) Michael on strategy for build vs. buy vs. partner M&A decisions (25:14) Michael's family CFO lineage (26:32) Where to find great talent (29:24) What does Michael look for in terms of talent profile? (31:22) Brex co-CEO dynamic (34:00) How Brex arrived at the decision to move away from serving SMBs (36:20) Long-ass lightning round: an example of when Michael screwed up on the job, advice for his younger self, Brex's finance software stack, the craziest thing someone has tried to expense X / TWITTER: @cjgustafson222 (CJ) @TurpentineMedia (Turpentine) SPONSORS: SPONSOR: NetSuite provides financial software for all your business needs. More than thirty-six thousand companies have already upgraded to NetSuite, gaining visibility and control over their financials, inventory, HR, eCommerce, and more. If you're looking for an ERP platform ✅ NetSuite: http://netsuite.com/metrics and defer payments of a FULL NetSuite implementation for six months.

Run the Numbers is a weekly podcast about financial metrics and business models, designed for ambitious people operating tech startups. It's a collection of things host CJ Gustafson (CFO at Partstech and writer of Mostly Metrics) has learned and thought about in the trenches as a tech CFO. This show is meant to serve as a playbook of sorts for the stuff CJ wishes he knew earlier in his career, both from experience and from copying people smarter than himself. Topics frequently touch upon Startup SaaS Metrics, Annual Budgeting, Financial Forecasting, Headcount, Equity, Dilution, and Fundraising – and how all of these drive business performance and growth. Subscribe on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@Run-the-Numbers Check out our website: podpage.com/run-the-numbers Run The Numbers is a part of the Turpentine podcast network. Learn more: www.turpentine.co