The CFO Playbook

On this episode of The CFO Playbook, we share some of the best advice for hiring and retaining top-tier talent that we’ve received from finance leaders who have been guests on the show.Lessons we cover in this episode:The trends don’t lie: What CFOs are looking for from their candidates (and vice versa). CFOs are looking for technical fluency more than ever, and want candidates that have an understanding of multiple aspects both within the finance domain and beyond. The days of siloed roles are coming to an end.   Talent benefits from an empathetic leader who will provide a clear career path for the finance team member, and this is increasingly becoming a requirement for CFOs. Hiring tips to build a dynamic team of business partners, risk-takers, and those looking for a challenge.  EQ is key when you’re hiring a finance team member who will engage with and partner with other lines of business.  Be transparent and observant throughout the hiring process to ensure the candidate is a good fit. Expand your talent pool if your company is set up for remote work. Hire a mix of experienced finance experts and green talent with potential. As CFO it’s important to have a balanced team of talent you can nurture and talent that can help you fill in the gaps of your knowledge base. Regardless of experience level, you need to show up as a mentor and leader for your team to help them reach their full potential. Hire for technology Technology literacy is as important as technical finance skills. Hiring for automation has the downstream impact of opening up opportunities for your team and making them happier at their jobs. Once you’ve built your team, incentivize them to stick around. Cultivate an employee-first work culture. Make sure your company goals are clear, and that you’ve laid out identifiable career paths for your finance team members so they know what they’re working towards. Tune in to the full episode to get all the best insights on hiring and retention.Take The CFO Playbook Listener Survey to help us improve the show. You’ll also be entered to win your choice of the latest iPad Pro or a Samsung Galaxy S7.Connect with our host Ross on LinkedIn.If you want a better way to track and control your team’s spend, check out Soldo.com  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In his role of CFO at Enable, Nick Rose is carrying forward what he enjoyed most working on business transformation projects at Travis Perkins, and is driven by the change he’s able to make happen at a small but quickly growing company.When Nick first joined Enable, he went from having 24,000 colleagues to 70. But headcount is rising fast, and Nick describes the company’s evolution as “a constant state of change” as Enable has gone through two rounds of funding and expanded to three different countries since he arrived. Nick credits his experience in business transformation to help him to shift to a fast moving environment; in fact, he embraces the change that’s necessary to achieve Enable’s ambitious goals.Whether evaluating automation opportunities to layer on top of Enable’s ERP system, or assessing whether a prospective hire is the right fit for his team, Nick takes a forward-thinking approach to his decision making. To help guide these decisions in the present, he and his team rely on measuring objectives and key results (OKRs) on a quarterly basis. As a result, Nick is confident that the finance department and beyond are aligned on the overarching goals of the company and how they’ll work together to achieve them.On this episode of The CFO Playbook, Nick Rose, CFO at Enable, shares how he brings a transformation mindset to his role, describes the ways in which he’s building a team that runs towards business challenges, and illustrates why adaptability is such an important quality in a CFO.Take The CFO Playbook Listener Survey to help us improve the show. You’ll also be entered to win your choice of the latest iPad Pro or a Samsung Galaxy S7.Connect with our guest Nick on LinkedIn.Connect with our host Ross on LinkedIn.If you want a better way to track and control your team’s spend, check out Soldo.com. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Ross Tennenbaum loved working in investment banking, so it took the right opportunity for him to make the jump into his first role as CFO at Avalara, a SAAS company building cloud-based tax compliance solutions to handle every transaction in the world.While in investment banking, Ross learned not only about capital markets and mergers and acquisitions, but about the strategy of the companies he advised on. Ross brought that mindset to Avalara, asking all kinds of questions to drive Avalara’s business forward.Ross is laying the groundwork at Avalara to help match the fast growth of today, as well as tomorrow. He’s doing this by investing in the right technology to help optimize finance operations, and hiring finance team members who have experience implementing automation. As he builds out the finance team in a competitive environment, he’s intentional about facilitating a fulfilling work environment with clear paths of success for the company as well as individual team members. On this episode of The CFO Playbook, Ross Tennenbaum, CFO at Avalara, describes why he left investment banking for the lure of CFO, outlines the key components of a high performing finance team, and shares the automation priorities he's focused on for the year ahead.Take The CFO Playbook Listener Survey to help us improve the show. You’ll also be entered to win your choice of the latest iPad Pro or a Samsung Galaxy S7.Connect with our guest Ross on LinkedIn.Connect with our host Ross on LinkedIn.If you want a better way to track and control your team’s spend, check out Soldo.com. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Craig Foster not only has over 25 years of management experience in finance, he’s also worked on 35 different IPOs over the course of his career. He brings that expertise and more to his role today as CFO at Picsart. Early in his career, Craig was working in an advisory role at a Big 4 public accounting firm when he was approached by one of their rapid-scale clients, LoudCloud, to come in house. The leaders of the company, Marc Andreessen and Ben Horowitz, were key players in the dot com boom and took a hands-on approach to leadership training. The “school” of LoudCloud was formative to how Craig would approach his management positions going forward. Being both a mentor and a mentee is important to Craig. Whether working in house or during his time as an adviser, he’s built a network to help increase his learning. When Craig made the decision to transition to CFO for his first tenure at Ubiquiti Networks in 2013, that network helped him stay supported. And today at Picsart, Craig mentors his finance team with a forward-thinking approach and is always looking for ways to maximize their potential through technology.On this episode of The CFO Playbook, Craig Foster, CFO at Picsart, talks about coming up under Marc Andreessen and Ben Horowitz during the dot com boom, shares his philosophy on mentoring future CFOs, and outlines how he is always on the lookout for the right technology to execute finance goals.Take The CFO Playbook Listener Survey to help us improve the show. You’ll also be entered to win your choice of the latest iPad Pro or a Samsung Galaxy S7.Connect with Craig on LinkedIn.Connect with our host Ross on LinkedIn.If you want a better way to track and control your team’s spend, check out Soldo.com. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

As the Global & US leader for Deloitte’s CFO Program, Steve Gallucci’s job is to understand all the pressing issues facing CFOs today. He brings over 30 years of experience at Deloitte in an advisory and assurance capacity to the role.Deloitte’s CFO Program delivers forward thinking insights for every stage of a CFO’s career through data-driven research and cutting edge resources. It was developed to offer CFOs and aspiring CFOs a comprehensive “go-to” resource for personal career success as the CFO role continues to evolve to meet the needs of the modern company.Here on The CFO Playbook, we’re dedicated to understanding the needs of and demands on the modern CFO. Steve walks us through the 4Q CFO Signals Survey, which includes the latest insights from 124 CFO respondents. On the whole, they’re predicting tempered expectations for growth, emphasizing the need to prioritize talent/labor, and citing opportunities for embedding technologies and automation into their organizations’ operations. On this episode of The CFO Playbook, Steve Gallucci, Global & US CFO Program Leader at Deloitte, shares his view on how to build a successful transition plan as a new CFO, explains how talent is top of the agenda for many CFOs today, and emphasizes why being both a strategist and a catalyst is critical for any successful finance leader.Connect with Steve on LinkedIn.Connect with Steve on Twitter.Connect with our host Ross on LinkedIn.If you want a better way to track and control your team’s spend, check out Soldo.com. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Back in 2015, Jared was being groomed as CFO at DSW and was 8 months into a 3-5 year program when there was an unexpected CEO change and the sitting CFO of Designer Brands decided to exit. All of a sudden, he was thrown into the role of CFO. It was a high-pressure situation, but one which taught Jared many lessons that he’s carried forward to today.It was the future CEO of Designer Brands who recruited Jared to work with him there, and Jared stresses how it’s key to nurture the CEO/CFO relationship. He says that it should be one of trust because it’s the foundation on which strategic decisions are made. And that’s been especially true in the past two years.Retail has gone through big changes over the course of Jared’s career, from the financial crisis of 2008 to the global pandemic in 2020. Whether navigating the bumpy terrain of these challenges or jumping into the role of CFO, Jared underlines the importance of staying calm, being intentional, emphasizing communication, and taking ownership of all that your role entails.On this episode of The CFO Playbook, Jared Poff, Executive Vice President & CFO at Designer Brands, talks about jumping into the CFO role unexpectedly early, how he navigated turbulence in the retail sector through the pandemic, and why he’s optimistic as we look ahead to 2022.Connect with Jared on LinkedIn.Connect with our host Ross on LinkedIn.If you want a better way to track and control your team’s spend, check out Soldo.com. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

On this episode of The CFO Playbook, we share some of the best career advice for aspiring CFOs that we’ve received from CFOs who have been guests on the show.Lessons we cover in this episode:An aspiring CFO must diversify their areas of expertise It’s critical to gain experience outside of the finance function. Finance leaders should be proactive in making themselves partners to other areas of the business. While gaining experience in areas of the business beyond finance is key, it’s also important for finance professionals to diversify their experiences within finance. Don’t be overly concerned about timetable or titles in your quest for the CFO position Your working life is long, be patient as you build your career over time. You don’t have to rush into the CFO role. If you’re able to, work for a great CFO first and learn. As you cultivate your hard, practical business skills, don’t forget to focus on your ‘soft skills’ Great CFOs develop their EQ as much as their technical skills and understanding of the business. Own your strengths and your unique vulnerabilities. It’ll make you a more relatable leader and help you build relationships with your employees. As the role of CFO continues to evolve from being purely an accountant to being an advisor to the rest of the executive team, and a driver of the business generally, it’s becoming more important to focus on these ‘soft skills’ that are required of leaders. On your path to CFO, keep an open mind Take advantage and learn from other CFOs you meet throughout your career. Stay curious, take risks, and keep learning. Tune into the full episode to get all the best insights on plotting your course towards the CFO position.Connect with our host Ross on LinkedIn.If you want a better way to track and control your team’s spend, check out Soldo.com. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Francis Trudeau recently took on the honor and challenge of being the first CFO at BrainBox AI, a tech startup that’s helping to fight climate change by making buildings smarter and more efficient. Coming off of a recognition at COP26 as the winner of the “Tech for Our Planet Challenge,” BrainBox is a leader in leveraging technology at scale for the greater good. Francis came to BrainBox after his first tenure as CFO at a more mature company, Logibec. For this new venture, Francis is tasked with building the operational and technical foundation for the finance department, while also acting as a strategic partner to the CEO and other areas of the business. Francis has jumped into the opportunity with passion for the mission of the company and an entrepreneurial mindset, both of which he looks for in hiring new recruits for the finance department.With valuations for tech companies at an all time high, Francis takes a measured approach as a CFO to ensure he’s able to deliver value to investors over time. With years of experience in corporate development and M&A, Francis brings this expertise to his role as CFO. For him, an integral part of sustainable growth is investing in the right technology and talent upfront.On this episode of The CFO Playbook, Francis Trudeau, CFO at BrainBox AI, talks about estimating company value in today’s hyped up market, outlines how BrainBox are fighting climate change through intelligent heating systems, and emphasizes why automation was a key mandate when starting his latest CFO role.Connect with Francis on LinkedIn.Connect with our host Ross on LinkedIn.If you want a better way to track and control your team’s spend, check out Soldo.com. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

David Harutian started working at Qualified just after they secured their Series A financing, and helped close a $51M Series B in May of this year. His background as an adviser in investment banking and corporate development helped David contribute to the diligence process and puts him in a unique position to nurture investor relationships.Like a lot of tech companies, Qualified hasn’t slowed down during the pandemic. Instead, David’s been there as they’ve tripled and quadrupled their growth. But as he’s forecasting for investors and the board, he emphasizes taking a conservative approach and making sure you’re analyzing the company’s potential while keeping in mind the macroeconomic environment. Heading into 2022, David foresees more growth for Qualified, and consolidation and marketing spend for the industry at large.David structured the finance team with proximity to data as a top priority. He stresses investing in data and analytics, technology, and data scientists early on for a hypergrowth company so you are able to accurately forecast and drive insights. Part of this investment is hiring the right talent that will be able to transform the data to move the business forward. David underlines recruiting for an entrepreneurial mindset and seeks out future employees who are problem-solvers who want to work as part of a team towards common goals.On this episode of The CFO Playbook, David Harutian, VP of Finance @ Qualified, talks about taking the leap from the advisory side to working in-house, shares lessons from Qualified’s latest financing round, and discloses the technology his team has prioritized to help scale finance on pace with the business. Connect with David on LinkedIn.Connect with our host Ross on LinkedIn.If you want a better way to track and control your team’s spend, check out Soldo.com Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Christian Lee has had the unique position of CFO in two industries that have been particularly impacted by the pandemic, real estate and supply chain. Christian left WeWork in early 2021 for Transfix, a hyper-growth startup and leading freight marketplace connecting shippers to carriers. His proximity to these industries has underscored in him the need for CFOs to pay attention to the problems the pandemic has surfaced.While 2022 is indeed a new year, Christian stresses that finance professionals shouldn’t overlook challenges in hopes of a ‘new normal.’ At Transfix, he’s taking a data-forward approach to solving the business problem of inefficiencies in the supply chain as well as leveraging automation on the finance side of the business. Christian emphasizes the importance of finance partnering with the data science team in order to best optimize and drive insights from the data gathered. He says the whole team should be on the same page by having equal access to real-time data, but it’s not enough to simply be in the know: you have to use it as a jumping off point for asking the right questions to move the business forward.On this episode of The CFO Playbook, Christian talks about disrupting the supply chain industry in the midst of a pandemic, describes why automation is in his top three priorities for 2022, and underlines why Transfix places real-time data at the center of every decision they make.Connect with Christian on LinkedIn.Connect with our host Ross on LinkedIn.If you want a better way to track and control your team’s spend, check out Soldo.com. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices