The Evolution of the SaaS CFO Role - with Chad Gold, Salesloft

Chad Gold, the CFO at B2B SaaS Sales Engagement Platform leader Salesloft, shares how the role of a SaaS CFO has evolved over the last few years.

Chad and the Metrics that Measure Up podcast host, Ray Rike discuss the following topics during this episode:

• How the B2B SaaS CFO role has evolved
• How performance metrics are used to manage and report on the business
• How performance metrics are used for budgeting and planning
• How the B2B SaaS CFO Role will evolve over the next few years

Chad started his career as a corporate finance analyst at Ernst and Young (EY) and then migrated to the Home Depot in a variety of financial roles that built his foundation into the strategic side of finance. Chad's first B2B technology job was at Ariba, a division of SAP where he was able to apply his FP&A experience in a technology company. Chad has been the Salesloft CFO for 5 years and has seen the company grow by 10x including a majority investment by Vista Equity.

Chad shared his "lines not dots" which means the ability to meet people and then foster relationships with them over time is a key to being exposed to different opportunities which is how Chad transitioned into the B2B Technology industry.

Chad highlighted that his role as a CFO has not evolved that much over the last couple of years, beyond being asked to help identify those aspects of the business that are best positioned to drive efficient growth especially now that capital is more difficult to secure, and thus difficult capital allocation decisions are more important in 2023 than they were in 2020 - 2022.

What are "Chad's" go-to metrics? He started at a high level with momentum and velocity metrics like the ARR funnel, new booking, churn, expansions, and the leading indicators of pipeline and customer health. Chad highlighted the importance of the number of integrations to other systems which is a great indicator of retention!

He also highlighted his engagement with the key GTM functions, such as the Customer Success function to understand product engagement and utilization as an early indicator of churn and/or expansion - thus providing early visibility into making better forecasts. Chad used the term "you can read the news or make the news" which is how he approaches partnering with the other members of the executive team to ensure how the leading indicators metrics are performing, and even how to enhance their performance which will lead to better financial metrics outcomes.

If you work with a CFO in your business, would like to become a CFO or even just want to better understand CFO best practices to drive better financial results through cross-functional collaboration and of course...metrics this conversation with Chad Gold is a great listen!!!

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