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.

48:42

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Episode guests

Andrew Lynch

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Episode notes

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Quick takeaways

Skill stacking allows individuals to excel by being proficient in multiple related skills rather than trying to be the best in the world at just one.

Creating a culture of accountability within a company starts with clean and accurate financial data and regular finance review meetings.

Focusing on the basics, such as clean financial reporting and accurate budgets, as well as driving a culture of accountability, can transform a company's financial results.

Deep dives

The Power of Skill Stacking

Skill stacking refers to the idea that it's often easier and more effective to be proficient in multiple related skills rather than trying to be the best in the world at just one. By combining skills such as Excel proficiency, communication skills, and writing abilities, individuals can create a unique set of talents that sets them apart and opens up various opportunities for success.

Introduction

2min

Challenges in Building Modeling and Forecasting Tools

20min

The Concept of Skill Stacking

4min

Skill Stacking: Combining Multiple Skills for Career Success

7min

Comedy, Accounting, and Billionaires

13min

Favorite Excel Feature and Career Advice for FP&A Professionals

2min

Andrew Lynch, Head of FP&A at UK card discount scheme for public service employees, Blue LIght Card, is known to his nearly 11,000 Twitter followers as The SMB Finance Guy.

The FP&A leader also runs the highly popular Net Income newsletter regularly posts small business opportunities, scaling companies, systems, strategy, “with a few shitposts thrown in for good measure” (His writing has also been picked up by Business Insider).

In this episode Andrew reveals:

The power of mentors in transforming his finance career from a “struggle to find someone who would take me” to high-profile roles at Anabas, Capital One, and Blue LIght Card.
Starting a new budget from scratch and building an FP&A team at Blue Light Card
Negotiation and sandbagging with sales and how FP&A can deal with the challenges
How FP&A best practice saw Andrew deliver one SMB £10 million a year in revenue and from £8k in profit to £23 million
Being Fired by Four times Bestselling New York Times author Tucker Max the day before Xmas Eve
Skill stacking – getting to be the top 25% in the world at four or five different related things – rather than trying to be the best
Being one of the few FP&A leaders on the comedy circuit

Subscribe to Net Income at https://www.netincome.co/

Follow Andrew at https://www.linkedin.com/in/andrewglynch/

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FP&A Today

Andrew Lynch -the SMB Finance Guy-on Mentors, Skill Stacking, and why getting Fired Saved my Career

Episode guests

Podcast summary created with Snipd AI

Quick takeaways

Deep dives

The Power of Skill Stacking

Creating a Culture of Accountability

Lessons from Increasing Revenue and Profit

Why Billionaires Keep Working

Business Insider Experience

Remember Everything You Learn from Podcasts