FP&A Today Andrew Lynch -the SMB Finance Guy-on Mentors, Skill Stacking, and why getting Fired Saved my Career
Feb 13, 2024
Andrew Lynch, the Head of FP&A at Blue Light Card, discusses the power of mentors, the challenges of building an FP&A team, negotiation tactics, and skill stacking in his finance career. He also shares his experience of being fired by a bestselling author and being one of the few FP&A leaders on the comedy circuit.
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Tough Budgeting at Blue Light Card
- Andrew Lynch shares his current budget process experience as challenging since the FP&A team is new, working mainly in Excel without established systems.
- He recalls difficult negotiations with contract managers who underreported profit, requiring finance to intervene and set realistic base targets.
Nontraditional Finance Career Journey
- Andrew describes his winding career path from an economics degree and graduate finance scheme to a startup role and back to FP&A.
- Mentorship played a pivotal role in his return to finance and advancement to Head of FP&A positions.
Mentor Transformed His Career
- Andrew credits a key mentor who took a chance on him when he struggled to find finance roles and trained him extensively.
- Being close to a skilled finance director helped him absorb tacit knowledge on meetings, modeling, and senior stakeholder management.