Your Company Is a Utility Function: Here’s How to Pull the Right Levers

Have you ever tried running a business like it’s a utility function? Today’s guest has. CJ is joined by Michaela Lehr, a seasoned FP&A leader and former CFO of ActionIQ, who breaks down how CFOs can pull levers like growth, retention, margin, and cash runway to maximize value without blowing something up. Michaela explains how not all growth is created equal and why how you grow matters as much as how much you grow. She talks about gross margin as the most sensitive area of the P&L and how to communicate with engineers about their impacts on it. The conversation also covers the rise of “experimental recurring revenue” in AI-first products, why investors are obsessed with net dollar retention, the risks of over-servicing customers, looking out for your own finance team, and what it means to budget in the real world when everything changes after board approval.

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LINKS:

Michaela Lehr on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/michaela-lehr-2908996/

ActionIQ: https://www.uniphore.com/actioniq

CJ on X (@cjgustafson222): https://x.com/cjgustafson222

Mostly metrics:

Loveable:

https://lovable.dev

Canva:

https://www.canva.com

Concourse:

https://www.concourse.co

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TIMESTAMPS:

(00:00) Preview and Intro

(02:20) Sponsor – Rillet | Pulley | Brex

(07:33) What It Means To Run a Company Like a Utility Function

(10:45) An Example of Optimising for This Utility Function Regarding AI Spend

(15:36) Sponsor – Aleph | RightRev | Navan

(19:35) Less Visible but High-Impact Levers That Drive Revenue

(22:15) Gating Headcount Based on Performance Milestones

(25:09) Cloud Costs as a Hidden Lever

(27:30) Why How You Grow Matters As Much as How Much You Grow

(30:08) Professional Services as a Necessary Investment

(32:43) What ERR (Experimental Recurring Revenue) Is

(36:39) Margin As the Most Sensitive Area of the P&L

(38:13) Communicating With Engineers About Gross Margin

(41:56) Why Investors Care So Much About Net Dollar Attention

(43:53) Making Sure Your Upsells Don’t Mask a Churn Problem

(44:40) What Over-Servicing Your Customer Looks Like

(46:58) Why the “Just Give Me My Budget” Mindset Doesn’t Work

(49:23) Brokering the Budget With Execs in Real Time

(51:38) Looking Out for Your Own Team as a CFO

(56:26) The First Sign of an Erosion of Trust

(59:50) Finance’s Role in Upholding Capital-T Truth

(1:01:31) Long-Ass Lightning Round: A COVID-Era Multitasking Mistake

(1:02:06 ) Advice to Younger Self

(1:04:07) Michaela’s Favorite Finance Tool

(1:04:17) Craziest Expense Story

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SPONSORS:

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#UtilityFunction #FPandA #BusinessStrategy #GrossMargin #NetDollarRetention