GrowCFO Show

Wassia Kamon was the guest on episode 118. It's a year since that recording was made. A lot can happen in 12 months. Wassia changed jobs, moved to a different sector, and was promoted in her first three months. She has also risen to fame as an influencer on LinkedIn and has been published in the Wall Street Journal. Somebody has to be the best, so why not you? It was clearly visible behind Wassia as we recorded. It makes a great title for this episode. This episode provides valuable insights into how Wassia Kamon has developed her career over the past year through building soft skills like networking and personal branding. Some key lessons include: The importance of personal branding on LinkedIn to raise your profile and open up new opportunities How networking, both online and offline, can help make career-changing connections Developing a strategy for onboarding yourself into a new role in an unfamiliar industry or sector Managing imposter syndrome and limiting beliefs by surrounding yourself with a diverse "board of directors" for support and feedback Continually learning new skills beyond just certifications to stay relevant and advance to more strategic leadership roles Overall, this discussion highlights the soft skills needed to successfully pivot careers, industries, and accelerate your progression even in a tough job market. Listeners will take away practical advice on networking, personal development, and onboarding themselves for future success. https://youtu.be/veOsBRUXMKc Links Join GrowCFO today GrowCFO Future CFO Program Episode 118 Influencing Without Authority with Wassia Kamon Wassia Kamon on LinkedIn Kevin Appleby on LinkedIn View all podcast episodes. Timestamps What's happened to Wassia in the last 12 months? (0:12) Personal branding. (1:22) Career growth in finance and accounting. (5:37) Imposter syndrome, and onboarding in a new industry. (12:20) Personal development (18:51) Career growth and management with a focus on personal experiences and insights. (25:12) Find out more about GrowCFO If you enjoyed this podcast, you can subscribe to the GrowCFO Show with your favourite podcast app. The GrowCFO show is listed in the Apple podcast directory, Google Podcasts, Spotify and many others. Why not subscribe there today? That way, you never miss an episode. GrowCFO is a great place to extend your professional network. You can join GrowCFO as a free member today and participate in our regular networking events and webinars.  Premium members can also access our extensive training centre and CFO Digital Toolkit. Here, you can enrol in our flagship Future CFO or Finance Leader programmes.  You can find out more and join today at growcfo.net

Dovid Gurevich, CFO at Tynrose joins Kevin Appleby on this week's GrowCFO Show. Dovid shares his unique background, transitioning from engineering to finance roles. He explained how digital transformation requires clean, integrated data accessible in real-time. Dovid recommended HR platforms like Rippling and Paylocity as the core system to build around, as they integrate HR, payroll, benefits and other functions. This reduces manual work and improves the employee experience. Gurevich also discussed the role of managed service providers in helping small-to-medium businesses overhaul their systems for better data and efficiencies. Overall, the conversation provided insights into holistically rethinking business systems from a digital transformation perspective. Why start with HR and not finance systems? Dovid explained that while finance systems are essential for accurate numbers, they are often a passive recipient of data from other systems rather than the primary source. HR systems integrate data across the employee lifecycle and other critical functions like payroll, benefits and IT access management. This makes HR a better starting point to clean up data flows and drive organic changes to other systems. Finance systems alone don't contain all the essential quantitative and qualitative data businesses need, so taking a holistic view beyond just numbers is vital for digital transformation. https://youtu.be/BMMiVJrjfZw?si=kZMO-PxBbdv2s4nj Links Join GrowCFO today GrowCFO Finance Transformation Boot Camp Dovid Gurevich on LinkedIn Kevin Appleby on LinkedIn View all podcast episodes. Timestamps Introducing Dovid Gurevich (0:11) Entrepreneurship, investing, and business growth. (4:38) Restructuring, digital transformation, and CFO skills. (9:34) Digital transformation and data analysis for small to medium-sized businesses. (14:28) HR and finance integration for small businesses. (22:54) Digital transformation and HR systems integration. (28:35) Streamlining business processes through technology integration. (33:31) Digital transformation: Finance or HR systems first? (39:05) Find out more about GrowCFO If you enjoyed this podcast, you can subscribe to the GrowCFO Show with your favourite podcast app. The GrowCFO show is listed in the Apple podcast directory, Google Podcasts, Spotify and many others. Why not subscribe there today? That way, you never miss an episode. GrowCFO is a great place to extend your professional network. You can join GrowCFO as a free member today and participate in our regular networking events and webinars.  Premium members can also access our extensive training centre and CFO Digital Toolkit. Here, you can enrol in our flagship Future CFO or Finance Leader programmes.  You can find out more and join today at growcfo.net

Soufyan Hamid, founder and financial storytelling trainer at SouFBP joins Kevin Appleby on the GrowCFO Show. They discuss storytelling in finance presentations. Soufyan started his career in auditing at PwC, then moved to consulting at Deloitte. He realized the importance of storytelling when he became a finance business partner for a telecommunications company in Belgium, as he needed to convince internal stakeholders who did not automatically trust him like external consultants. Soufyan now trains others in storytelling and presentation skills, drawing from his experience of making mistakes and learning over time. He shared five common issues with finance presentations There is no clear message that the audience remembers after the presentation. The presentations use the same structure and format for all audiences. The narrative structure does not follow a compelling story and business reality. The visuals/slides contain too much text, graphs, and tables. The delivery is not practised and focuses more on the slides than engaging the audience. Soufyan then introduced his "STORY" framework for creating effective presentations. The letters stand for Select your message, Target your audience, Organize your thoughts, Review your visuals, and question "Why". He discussed how to apply each step, such as determining the key message, adapting to different types of audiences, and using inductive or deductive structures. Soufyan emphasized the importance of rehearsing and preparing for questions from the audience. https://youtu.be/LGlk9GCC7mY Links Join GrowCFO today Soufyan Hamid on LinkedIn Kevin Appleby on LinkedIn View all podcast episodes Timestamps Introducing Soufyan Hamid. (0:12) ve problems with financial presentations (4:15 Presenting financial results to executives. (7:54) Understand the audience. (13:16) Practical presentation skills in finance. (20:51) Rehearsing presentations and overcoming nerves. (28:00) Understanding storytelling techniques. (32:24) Find out more about GrowCFO If you enjoyed this podcast, you can subscribe to the GrowCFO Show with your favourite podcast app. The GrowCFO show is listed in the Apple podcast directory, Google Podcasts, Spotify and many others. Why not subscribe there today? That way, you never miss an episode. GrowCFO is a great place to extend your professional network. You can join GrowCFO as a free member today and participate in our regular networking events and webinars.  Premium members can also access our extensive training centre and CFO Digital Toolkit. Here, you can enrol in our flagship Future CFO or Finance Leader programmes.  You can find out more and join today at growcfo.net

Dan Perez, Head of Finance at EdgeDelta joins Kevin Appleby on The GrowCFO Show to discuss observability. EdgeDelta supply observability solutions. Dan explains that observability allows teams to monitor an application's health based on the data it generates, helping them quickly identify issues and their root causes. This is important for meeting service level agreements and avoiding costly downtime. Observability and FP&A Dan highlights ways that his background in finance and FP&A is relevant to his role focusing on observability. Understanding cost structures and modeling complex pricing is important given the huge volumes of data and unpredictable growth curves that observability systems deal with. Dan also sees potential for AI and machine learning to help automate some FP&A tasks like variance analysis, forecasting, and financial modeling over time. While the technology isn't fully mature, Dan is excited about the possibilities for using observability data to drive insights and efficiencies for finance teams. His experience in both worlds gives him a unique perspective on their intersection. The challenge of remote working Kevin and Dan discuss the challenges and best practices of managing a distributed remote team. Dan shares that his company Edge Delta is headquartered in Seattle but has employees all over the world, including Dan working remotely from Michigan. They agree it's important for remote companies to build in social connections between employees. Edge Delta focuses on local meetups when possible and annual all-company events. Over-communicating through Slack is also key. Dan emphasizes respecting different time zones to avoid late-night messages. Having clear priorities helps teams understand what requires immediate response. Both note remote work requires extra effort to feel empowered asking questions outside traditional office settings through virtual office hours. Overall, open communication, respecting work-life balance, and finding ways to socially connect remote employees are important for culture, according to their discussion. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=heMh-83mZq4&ab_channel=GrowCFO Links Join GrowCFO today Find out more about EdgeDelta Dan Perez on LinkedIn Kevin Appleby on LinkedIn View all podcast episodes Timestamps Dan Perez explains observability.0:11 Using observability to identify issues in a system.2:40 Observability, data growth, and pricing models in the tech industry.6:07 Data quality, AI, and observability in finance.12:37 Company culture at EdgeDelta and hybrid working.18:32 Market competition, and growth ambitions.23:53 Find out more about GrowCFO If you enjoyed this podcast, you can subscribe to the GrowCFO Show with your favourite podcast app. The GrowCFO show is listed in the Apple podcast directory, Google Podcasts, Spotify and many others. Why not subscribe there today? That way, you never miss an episode. GrowCFO is a great place to extend your professional network. You can join GrowCFO as a free member today and participate in our regular networking events and webinars.  Premium members can also access our extensive training centre and CFO Digital Toolkit. Here, you can enrol in our flagship Future CFO or Finance Leader programmes.  You can find out more and join today at growcfo.net

Carrie Gallant is a dynamic speaker, author, coach and facilitator; she is a licensed associate of the Impostor Syndrome Institute. In this episode, Carrie discusses imposter syndrome and how it affects finance leaders with Kevin Appleby. Carrie shares how she got into studying imposter syndrome and how it can impact people differently based on gender and culture. Common feelings associated with imposter syndrome include feeling like a fraud or not being good enough. Often, the finance leader might suffer from imposter syndrome, but it could just as easily be other members of the finance team. So, as a leader, how do you spot when this affects somebody on your team? Some signs a leader should look out for in their team include underperformance, isolation, or holding back contributions. Strategies to overcome imposter syndrome include acknowledging feelings, focusing on facts and past successes, asking, "What if I felt confident?" and keeping a success journal. The conversation also covers how imposter syndrome can discourage people from applying for promotions or new jobs. Signs of Imposter syndrome a leader should look out for Carrie Gallant mentioned a few signs that a leader should look out for in their team that could indicate someone is experiencing imposter syndrome: - Underperformance - If someone seems not to be performing to their full potential or up to the level expected. - Isolation - If a team member appears more isolated from the rest of the team than others and not fully engaging or participating. - Holding back contributions - Noticing if someone holds back from saying something, contributing ideas, or hesitating to take on responsibilities. This could be a sign they lack confidence. - Surveys showing a lack of belonging - If organizational surveys find a team member has reported not feeling like there is a strong team atmosphere or that they entirely belong. A lack of belonging can contribute to lower confidence. Key strategies for overcoming imposter syndrome Some key strategies Carrie Gallant discussed for overcoming imposter syndrome include: Acknowledging the feelings rather than ignoring them, which helps to normalize the experience. Focusing on facts and looking at past successes, strengths, and accomplishments to provide a counterbalance to negative feelings. Asking oneself, "What if I felt confident?" to shift perspective and think about what actions a confident person might take. Keeping a "success journal" or "bank vault of value" to record achievements and positive feedback as a resource to consult when confidence is low. Leveraging assessment tools like StrengthsFinder to understand better one's natural talents and strengths to feel more competent in certain roles. Having open conversations with managers using questions like "What's holding you back?" and "What would you do if you felt confident?" for support and new perspectives. https://youtu.be/IblyotJkGHs Links Join GrowCFO today Overcome Imposter Syndrome: A Guide to Building Confidence for Finance Leaders GrowCFO Show Episode 15: Imposter Syndrome and the CFO with Catherine Clark "Conversation secrets for tomorrow's leaders" By Carrie Gallant on Amazon UK and Amazon US Carrie Gallant on LinkedIn Kevin Appleby on LinkedIn Timestamps Introducing Carrie Gallant (0:11) The finance leader's role is spotting the problem. (1:59) Imposter syndrome and its impact on workplace performance. (6:11) What are the leading causes of imposter syndrome? (11:47) Job descriptions and hiring biases. (17:06) Overcoming imposter syndrome in the workplace. (22:43) Leadership development. (27:33) Find out more about GrowCFO If you enjoyed this podcast, you can subscribe to the GrowCFO Show with your favourite podcast app. The GrowCFO show is listed in the Apple podcast directory, Google Podcasts, Spotify and many others. Why not subscribe there today? That way, you never miss an episode.

Prudence Muchinouta, CFO of Community Markets for Conservation in Zambia, discusses her journey from her roots in Zimbabwe to becoming a CFO focused on sustainability and ESG. She talks about the challenges of registering smallholder farmers and implementing mobile payment systems in rural areas with limited infrastructure and identification. Prudence is passionate about gender equality and discusses the ongoing challenges facing women and girls in accessing opportunities in Zimbabwe and Zambia. Prudence talks about winning the ACCA Africa 2022 CFO ESG Award. She did not know about the nominations process and was surprised to be nominated. After an initial interview, she had to submit articles and documents about her work on environmental, social and governance issues as well as sustainability. This included her participation at COP26 where she submitted a letter presenting her perspectives. She went through multiple interviews as part of the selection process against two other strong finalists. Winning the award was a surprise and made her cry on the day, as finance professionals rarely receive such recognition. It has significantly impacted her career and visibility in working on ESG and sustainability issues from a finance perspective. Prudence highlights how gender inequality remains a challenge in Zimbabwe and Zambia. In rural areas, girls often only receive education up to a certain level before being married off. Their bride price also supports the education of boy children. While opportunities are more equal in professional circles, discrimination remains. As the only female executive in her organization, Prudence faces pushback when advocating for the "feminine" perspectives that contribute to their strategies. Employers also often prefer to hire male graduates over females, assuming women will take time off for families. While laws require accommodation, internal biases remain. Prudence feels more discrimination is faced by underprivileged women and girls beyond the towns and cities. Economic challenges also exacerbate issues of unequal access to opportunities. https://youtu.be/qozb9RnwniALinks Join GrowCFO today Prudence Muchinouta on LinkedIn Kevin Appleby on LinkedIn Timestamps Introducing Prudence Muchinouta (0:11) Career progression from financial reporting to CFO in the telecom industry. (4:27) Sustainable agriculture and financial inclusion in Africa. (10:24) ESG challenges in Africa with a passionate advocate. (15:39) Winning the ACCA CFO ESG Award (19:04) Gender inequality in finance and leadership. (25:07)   Find out more about GrowCFO If you enjoyed this podcast, you can subscribe to the GrowCFO Show with your favourite podcast app. The GrowCFO show is listed in the Apple podcast directory, Google Podcasts, Spotify and many others. Why not subscribe there today? That way, you never miss an episode. GrowCFO is a great place to extend your professional network. You can join GrowCFO as a free member today and take part in our regular networking events and webinars.  Premium members also have access to our extensive training centre and CFO Digital Toolkit. Here you can enrol in our flagship Future CFO or Finance Leader programmes.  You can find out more and join today at growcfo.net

Kevin Appleby is in conversation with Roi Ben Daniel. Roi is the founder and CEO of Received, a billing and accounts receivable solution focused on the specialised needs of B2B sales organisations. They discuss the challenges facing mid-market SaaS companies and the pressures CFOs face around software costs, pricing models, and customer unit economics. Roi also shares insights into opportunities like service monetisation and why building invoicing in-house often doesn't make sense compared to a dedicated solution. Roi discussed how companies are gaining more pricing flexibility to address demands from both customers and investors. Offering tiered pricing through levels of service like bronze, silver and gold helps give customers options while protecting recurring revenues. He also talked about how services, which can be one of the highest costs for software businesses, are often provided for free historically. Now, companies are finding innovative ways to monetise services through recurring tiers with bank hours and overage fees. Organisations are also looking to "productise" services in order to maximise commercial value from each customer relationship. https://youtu.be/WVWwci4Ba7Y Links Join GrowCFO today GrowCFO Finance Transformation Boot Camp GrowCFO Show episode 137 "Subscription Pricing and Packaging" with Wolter Rebergen, Commercial Director at Younium Roi Ben Daniel on LinkedIn Kevin Appleby on LinkedIn Timestamps Cash flow and revenue management for B2B sales lead organizations. (0:11) Fintech industry trends and the future of invoicing systems. (8:14) Automating b2b software sales and invoicing. (16:02) Mid-market software, pricing, and customer strategies. (21:32) Find out more about GrowCFO If you enjoyed this podcast, you can subscribe to the GrowCFO Show with your favourite podcast app. The GrowCFO show is listed in the Apple podcast directory, Google Podcasts, Spotify and many others. Why not subscribe there today? That way, you never miss an episode. GrowCFO is a great place to extend your professional network. You can join GrowCFO as a free member today and take part in our regular networking events and webinars.  Premium members also have access to our extensive training centre and CFO Digital Toolkit. Here you can enrol in our flagship Future CFO or Finance Leader programmes.  You can find out more and join today at growcfo.net

Blake Wetzel, CEO of AuctionIQ, discusses how companies can save money on technology expenses through a reverse auction process. Blake has experience as both a CFO and CEO and explains how his financial background helps him as a CEO. He outlines how AIQ evaluates a company's entire technology spend, identifies areas for savings, and runs a competitive bidding process to get the best price while still meeting quality requirements. Companies can typically save 40% on costs this way compared to 15% through traditional negotiations. Benefits include increased cash flow and enterprise value. The process takes 3-4 months on average. Tips for CFOs include finding an expert partner to manage the process and getting contracts and invoices organised beforehand. Blake explains that AIQ's patented reverse auction process involves first vetting suppliers to ensure they meet the client's technical and other requirements. AIQ sits down individually with each potential supplier to evaluate how well their solution matches what the client needs. Suppliers are given a qualitative score based on this evaluation. The suppliers that pass the threshold then participate in a live auction where they can see other suppliers' bids and bid against each other in real-time. This competitive dynamic drives prices down further than traditional one-on-one negotiations. On average, reverse auctions yield savings of 40% compared to 15% for direct negotiations. The process aims to find the best supplier at the right price, not necessarily the lowest price bidder. https://youtu.be/coiW6ti0Ydc Links Join GrowCFO today GrowCFO Finance Transformation Boot Camp Blake Wetzel on LinkedIn Kevin Appleby on LinkedIn Timestamps Introducing Blake Wetzel (0.11) Saving cash through technology expenses with a former CFO. (2:11) Using auctions to negotiate better deals for IT services. (6:28) ERP implementation and process optimization. (13:59) Optimizing IT infrastructure spend through reverse auctions. (17:20) Procurement auctions and evaluating suppliers. (23:25) IT supplier evaluation and cost savings. (26:46) Evaluating and acquiring fintech companies. (32:49) Find out more about GrowCFO If you enjoyed this podcast, you can subscribe to the GrowCFO Show with your favourite podcast app. The GrowCFO show is listed in the Apple podcast directory, Google Podcasts, Spotify and many others. Why not subscribe there today? That way, you never miss an episode. GrowCFO is a great place to extend your professional network. You can join GrowCFO as a free member today and take part in our regular networking events and webinars.  Premium members also have access to our extensive training centre and CFO Digital Toolkit. Here you can enrol in our flagship Future CFO or Finance Leader programmes.  You can find out more and join today at growcfo.net

This episode features Tom Schultz, author of the book "So You Want to be a Fractional CFO?". Tom shares his story of how he accidentally got into fractional CFO work in 2006 after helping sell the company he worked for. He discusses building his business through referrals from his network and eventually forming a firm called Next Gen CFO with 18 fractional CFOs. Tom provides advice on how to build a referral network and develop fractional CFO business. He also discusses how the book came to be written to help others entering this field. The book is available on Amazon and provides guidance for those considering or new to the role of fractional CFO. Tom formed NextGen CFO in 2010 with another fractional CFO he met. They decided to combine forces to be able to handle more referrals and pass clients to each other if one was too busy. They launched with just the two of them. Another established firm was looking to enter their area, so they grew to five people to establish themselves first. Since then, they have continued growing, with 18 fractional CFOs serving around 70 clients. Forming the firm provides stability since no one person loses their whole paycheck if a client leaves, and it's less impactful than if they were solo practitioners. https://youtu.be/NMWNlDYiPjw Links Join GrowCFO today So You Want to be a Fractional CFO? On Amazon US and UK NextGen CFO Tom Schultz on LinkedIn Kevin Appleby on LinkedIn Timestamps Introducing Tom Schultz. (0:11) Becoming an accidental fractional CFO and managing multiple clients. (4:43) Fractional CFO role and relationship building. (9:46) Building a network for business development. (13:54) Building a successful fractional CFO business. (18:16) Fractional CFO roles and market demand. (22:39) Find out more about GrowCFO If you enjoyed this podcast, you can subscribe to the GrowCFO Show with your favourite podcast app. The GrowCFO show is listed in the Apple podcast directory, Google Podcasts, Spotify and many others. Why not subscribe there today? That way, you never miss an episode. GrowCFO is a great place to extend your professional network. You can join GrowCFO as a free member today and take part in our regular networking events and webinars.  Premium members also have access to our extensive training centre and CFO Digital Toolkit. Here you can enrol in our flagship Future CFO or Finance Leader programmes.  You can find out more and join today at growcfo.net

This week on The GrowCFO Show, Kevin Appleby sits down with Charles Fisher, CFO of Turo, the world's largest peer-to-peer car-sharing marketplace. Chuck shares the story of how Turo is disrupting the traditional car rental industry by allowing people to list, discover and book cars anywhere without owning a large fleet. He discusses his role overseeing finance and operations as Turo scales rapidly while maintaining profitability. Chuck also offers insights from his previous career in investment banking and lessons learned from the collapse of Lehman Brothers. Tune in for a fascinating discussion on finance, entrepreneurship and leadership in a fast-growing tech company. Chuck also discusses Turo's transition to a flexible remote and hybrid working model. He notes the benefits of accessing talent anywhere and the challenges of managing teams remotely. Key points include: Scheduling more intentional check-ins and meetings to prevent issues from "festering below the surface" Finding ways to connect teams who no longer interact serendipitously in offices socially The importance of in-person interactions for building culture and mentorship, especially for junior employees His efforts to regularly visit San Francisco to interact with teams directly Bringing the entire global company together twice per year to reinforce connections. https://youtu.be/afVX8At_jnA Links Join GrowCFO today GrowCFO Finance Team Training Turo Charles Fisher on LinkedIn Kevin Appleby on LinkedIn   Timestamps Introducing Charles Fisher (0:11) Disrupting the car rental industry with a platform offering convenience and variety. (2:53) Growth strategies for Turo. (8:44) How to prepare for an IPO. (13:41) Remote work challenges and benefits. (16:14) Hybrid work models and their impact on career development. (21:35) Becoming a CFO and leading a marketplace business. (27:19) Lessons learned from Lehman Brothers' bankruptcy and its impact on employees. (30:42) Career advice, networking, and business growth. (35:48)