It is common for accounting and finance teams to work together. However, for a business to grow, it is important for executives to create a culture encouraging partnership between all the departments. Although accountants are not perceived as the most creative people in an organization, their expertise and unique perspective can help other teams, including marketing, to build sustainable business models. In this episode of The Role Forward, our host Joe Michalowski chats with Amy Garefis, the Chief Accounting Officer at ZipRecruiter. The two discuss the role of an accountant in a startup, how Amy has scaled accounting at ZipRecruiter from Series A to a public listing, the ways to create a high-quality tech stack, and the value of internal partnerships. Guest-at-a-Glance💡 Name: Amy Garefis💡 What she does: Amy is the Chief Accounting Officer at ZipRecruiter.💡 Company: ZipRecruiter💡 Noteworthy: Amy was the first hire of the ZipRecruiter accounting team, which now comprises around 40 employees. 💡 Where to find Amy: LinkedIn

In this era where there’s a better SaaS tool for every workflow, ERP solutions are ripe for innovation.Many finance and accounting teams leverage a distributed EPR model that they’ve cobbled together using various point solutions coupled with spreadsheets to fill additional gaps between the systems. What they’re often lacking is a solution that ties all of these accounting workflows together.                One solution for this is Nixsheets, a workflow and automation platform for accounting teams that have outgrown ERPs like QuickBooks but don’t want the headache that comes with a more enterprise-focused system like NetSuite. This platform promises to reduce data integrity issues, support a super-fast month-end close, reduce manual work, and lower costs.In this episode of The Role Forward, Joe Michalowski welcomes Sal Abdulla, the founder and CEO of Nixsheets. Joe and Sal get into the transformation of the finance industry and the ongoing challenges for accounting teams. They talk about common ERP limitations, how accounting workflows should be simplified, and new finance and accounting tools.Guest-at-a-Glance💡 Name: Sal Abdulla💡 What he does: Sal is the founder and CEO of Nixsheets.💡 Company: Nixsheets💡 Noteworthy: Sal started his career working in politics and spent two years working on Capitol Hill in Washington, D.C. In his mid-twenties, he got an opportunity to join a startup overseas, where he became the head of finance. Then he came back to the States, did a stint for a year at a nonprofit, and finally made his way into SaaS. Today Sal is the founder and CEO of Nixsheets, an accounting automation platform.💡 Where to find Sal: LinkedIn | Website

Jason Peretz, CBO of Galley, talks about the importance of CRM hygiene, building a CRM effectively, and utilizing RevOps. They discuss the challenges of cleaning up the CRM system, managing contracts and spreadsheets, improving product packaging, and transitioning between finance and sales.

SaaS companies have a lot of different efficiency metrics. And customer acquisition cost — the amount of money a company spends to get a new customer — is a ubiquitous SaaS metric.How can SaaS companies achieve financial stability and transparency and calculate CAC correctly? What if we have basic calculations and our company matures? How are other metrics involved in the company's performance?In this episode of The Role Forward, Joe Michalowski welcomes Ben Murray, the founder of The SaaS CFO. Joe and Ben get into SaaS, CAC calculations, and CAC profiles. They discuss the importance of having fully burdened cost centers to calculate CAC and describe LTV to CAC, CAC payback period, and CAC ratio metric calculating.Guest-at-a-Glance💡 Name: Ben Murray💡 What he does: Ben is the founder of The SaaS CFO.💡 Company: The SaaS CFO💡 Noteworthy: Ben has worked in finance and accounting for 25+ years. He has been a SaaS CFO for 8+ years and began his career in the FP&A function. From debits and credits to financial forecasting and M&A, Ben's experience has not just been siloed in the accounting or finance track but on both sides of the desk. His operations background at several airlines has improved his ability to translate operational performance into improved financial understanding and foresight.💡 Where to find Ben: LinkedIn | Website

Cryptocurrency is a hot topic not just in the finance or business world but also in our everyday interactions. But, with all the information available today, it's still challenging for most of us to understand what it is and how it has and will change the global monetary system.Luckily, the number of subject matter experts is growing daily, and one of them is our guest, Alex Song, the Head of Finance and Capital Markets at Ramp.At the beginning of the episode, Alex emphasized that he is not a cryptocurrency expert but is deeply involved in the subject for his current role at Ramp. However, Alex added considerable value to our show by bringing the concept of one specific cryptocurrency closer to the audience. Alex and our host Joe Michalowski discussed stablecoins, why Ramp invested in them, and how they can benefit Ramp in the long term. Alex and Joe also touched upon the past, present, and future of crypto. Guest-at-a-Glance💡 Name: Alex Song💡 What he does: Alex is the Head of Finance and Capital Markets at Ramp.💡 Company: Ramp💡 Noteworthy: Before joining Ramp, Alex spent almost 12 years on Wall Street as a FinTech investor.💡 Where to find Alex: LinkedIn

Steve Groccia, Head of Customer Success Operations at Mosaic, discusses the reasons finance leaders don't use cohort analysis, the difference between segment-based and time-based cohort analysis, and the importance of collaboration between finance and customer success.

A successful pitch deck is an informative presentation that includes all relevant details and critical metrics that SaaS investors want to see. And you should use that space wisely to get your message across.But there's no one-size-fits-all pitch deck template. You need to tell your company's unique story.In this episode of The Role Forward podcast, our host Joe Michalowski is joined by John Luttig, a Principal at Founders Fund and Mosaic Co-Founder and COO, Joe Garafalo. They chat about the building blocks of a SaaS pitch deck, the CAC Payback Period metric, and how to address investors' most significant concerns in your pitch. You'll also hear about why Founders Fund chose invest in the strategic finance space by leading Mosaic's, just announced, Series B round. Guest-at-a-Glance💡 Name: John Luttig💡 What he does: He's a Principal at Founders Fund.💡 Company: Founders Fund💡 Noteworthy: John’s worked on investments such as Scale AI, Rippling, Figma, Newfront Insurance, Flock Safety, Origin, The Org, Tagomi (acquired by Coinbase), Escher Reality (acquired by Niantic), Luko, Coder, DoNotPay, and a few other organizations in stealth.💡 Where to find John: LinkedIn | Twitter

Brad Silicani, Head of Fi at Anrok, discusses the challenges of cash optimization in different market conditions and the relationship between tax and cash optimization. They also cover topics such as cash flow optimization for VC backed startups, the role of treasury in startups, balancing risk and cash flow optimization, and building non-transactional relationships in finance.

There are lots of stereotypes around accounting teams, and one of them is that they're controlling and "no" people. Their stereotypical reputation arises from the fact that they live and die by their routine, spreadsheets, and statements, and they seem to like it that way.But one of the goals of CFOs is to align finance and accounting with other teams within the company, including sales and marketing. By aligning teams and including accounting in other important matters inside the company, this department can become more strategic and forward-thinking.In the new episode of The Role Forward, host Joe Michalowski welcomes Howard Katzenberg, the Founder and CEO of Glean. They get into the typical stereotypes around accounting, the best ways to make accounting more strategic, and the importance of building relationships and trust with other departments inside the company.Name: Howard KatzenbergWhat he does: Howard is the Founder and CEO of Glean.Company: Glean Noteworthy: Before starting Glean, Howard was the CFO at Better Mortgage and OnDeck.Where to find Howard: LinkedIn | Glean Company

With data as one of the most valuable assets, most companies, regardless of their size, work on ways to better organize and leverage this information to drive their business growth. But becoming a data-driven company requires several technical and administrative changes.The success of such a venture depends on collaborative work between all the departments within your company. It also requires the help of a professional with a background in finance (mostly) or business analytics and consulting. In this episode of The Role Forward, we are joined by Aneal Vallurupalli, the CFO of Airbase. Aneal shares what it is like to build a data-driven company, the importance of creating a data engineering infrastructure, and how a freemium model helps companies add value to their customers' experience. Guest-at-a-GlanceName: Aneal VallurupalliWhat he does: Aneal is the CFO of Airbase.Company: AirbaseWhere to find Aneal: Off the Ledger｜LinkedIn