Unconventional Paths to CFO

This chapter features a light-hearted discussion on a speaker's unique journey from a geography major to a CFO, emphasizing the diversity of educational backgrounds in finance. It highlights the importance of adaptability, real-world experience, and personal dedication over traditional educational paths in achieving career success.

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Nick Rose, CFO of Enable, joins CJ to discuss one of the most overlooked yet powerful levers for growth, trust, and alignment in B2B commerce: rebates. They talk about how rebates are often dismissed as accounting clean-up or mistaken for discounts, but they are actually critical pricing incentives that foster long-term relationships. Nick describes how he first came to Enable as a customer and how it helped him uncover more than $7 million in missed rebates. He breaks down how rebates differ from discounts, how they can exceed net profit, and why manual rebate systems are so complex and inaccurate. Nick also explains how Enable is building a new SaaS category, and the importance of becoming a business’s top three priority as a SaaS platform.

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@cjgustafson222 (CJ)

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TIMESTAMPS:

(00:00) Preview and Intro

(02:18) Sponsor – Subscript | Rippling Spend | Vanta | Tropic

(07:22) From Geography Major to CFO

(10:44) How Nick Became an Enable Customer

(13:45) $7–8 Million in Missed Rebates

(17:01) Sponsor – MUFG | NetSuite | Planful

(20:27) Complexity in Manual Rebate Systems

(21:45) What Is a Rebate?