Podcast
Run the Numbers
Hosted by CJ Gustafson · EN
Run the Numbers is a business podcast about financial metrics and business models for CFOs, aspiring CFOs, finance leaders, and ambitious people operating tech startups. Hosted by CJ Gustafson, CFO and writer of Mostly Metrics, the show shares lessons, frameworks, and operator insights from the trenches as a tech exec. Think of it as a playbook for the things CJ wishes he knew earlier in his career, covering SaaS metrics, annual budgeting, forecasting, headcount, equity, dilution, fundraising, and the decisions that drive performance and growth.
63episodes
Episodes
Newest firstAll episodes
The CFO Who Was “Ill Equipped” to Save Lehman Brothers
Jul 600:46:14Summary readyWhat actually prepares someone to become a CFO? CJ revisits Erin Callan’s short, brutal run as Lehman Brothers CFO and pulls lessons from past guests on operational reps, simple communication, fast-moving bad news, budget mistakes, and why great finance leaders can’t just report the numbers, they have to shape them.—SPONSORS:Anrok is the sales tax platform that watches your exposure everywhere, automates compliance, and flags risk before it turns into a surprise back-tax letter from a state you've never set foot in. Companies like Anthropic, Notion, and Vanta already trust Anrok to stay ahead of rules that move faster than any spreadsheet can. Talk to a sales tax expert for a personalized exposure estimate at https://www.anrok.com/rtnRightRev is an automated revenue recognition platform that lets your product team ship new pricing without asking finance for permission, and your sales team close deals without creating downstream chaos. Check out their free tool at calculator.rightrev.com It scores your rev rec process, shows what's exposing you to risk, and tells you exactly where to focus before it bites you in the rear end. Check it out at https://calculator.rightrev.comPulley is an equity management platform that lets you issue options, model dilution, and complete 409As without your cap table turning into a spreadsheet disaster. Founders raising, hiring, and scaling use Pulley to keep equity clean and stay focused on building. Learn more or request a demo at https://pulley.com/mostlymetricsRillet is an AI-native ERP built for modern finance teams that want to replace NetSuite and close faster. With revenue recognition, close management, multi-entity support, and native Stripe and Salesforce integrations, Rillet helps scaling companies run their finance stack in one place. Hundreds of teams, including Windsurf and Mercor, use Rillet to make the zero-day close real. Book a demo at https://www.rillet.com/cjMaximor is an autonomous finance platform that runs order-to-cash, procure-to-pay, the close, cash management, and reporting on self-learning agents instead of a dozen disconnected tools. One PE-backed customer cut their close in half, took audit findings from seven to zero, and cut back-office costs by 70% in six months. You pay for outcomes, not seats. See it at https://www.maximor.ai/Brex is an intelligent finance platform with AI-powered agents that capture expenses automatically, enforce policy before the spend happens, and close your books in minutes instead of weeks. 35,000+ companies like OpenAI, Coinbase, Anthropic, and DoorDash already run on Brex. It's time to get Brex AF. Learn more at https://www.brex.com/metrics—LINKS: Mostly Talent: https://mostlymetrics.typeform.com/to/cLTxtAsNCJ: https://www.linkedin.com/in/cj-gustafson-13140948/Slacker Stuff: https://www.slackerstuff.com/Ben on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/slackerstuff/Mostly metrics: https://www.mostlymetrics.com—RELATED EPISODES:Steve Isomhttps://youtu.be/a4lEdrgFW5EJake Kornreichhttps://youtu.be/GKo0B1w4bo4Manu Diwakarhttps://youtu.be/J0J4Rfne54EDan Betteshttps://youtu.be/b4w_OHpSNNwAlan Imbermanhttps://youtu.be/UD9lYhkfA6U—TIMESTAMPS:0:00 Erin Callan: Lehman's CFO Set up to Fail5:48 Steve Isom: broadcaster vs. team captain9:37 Be in rhythm with the business11:15 Sponsors — Anrok | RightRev | Pulley14:07 Jake Kornreich: title vs. impact18:23 Get into the room where decisions are made22:08 Sponsors — Rillet | Maximor | Brex25:23 Dan Betts: don't church it up27:11 The higher up you go, the simpler it gets29:04 Dan Betts: the many faces of EBITDA30:39 Understand what success means to them32:07 Jake Kornreich: the $5M budget bust33:04 Bad news travels fast35:01 Alan Imberman: the $100K coffee tab38:15 ROI on perks40:25 Alan Imberman: long-term vs. short-term investors43:28 Would you take the Lehman job?45:44 Credits#RunTheNumbersPodcast #CFO #FinanceLeadership #StartupGrowth #FinanceHistory
Summary
How Finance Teams Are Actually Using AI | Opendoor, Datadog, PwC
Jul 200:39:37Summary readyIn this episode of Run the Numbers, CJ goes live from Rillet Recon with Dana Decker (VP of Finance at Opendoor), AJ Ljubich (SVP, FP&A at Datadog), and Micah Richard (Principal, AI at PwC) to unpack how finance teams are actually using AI. —SPONSORS:Brex is an intelligent finance platform with AI-powered agents that capture expenses automatically, enforce policy before the spend happens, and close your books in minutes instead of weeks. 35,000+ companies like OpenAI, Coinbase, Anthropic, and DoorDash already run on Brex. It's time to get Brex AF. Learn more at https://www.brex.com/metricsAnrok is the sales tax platform that watches your exposure everywhere, automates compliance, and flags risk before it turns into a surprise back-tax letter from a state you've never set foot in. Companies like Anthropic, Notion, and Vanta already trust Anrok to stay ahead of rules that move faster than any spreadsheet can. Talk to a sales tax expert for a personalized exposure estimate at https://www.anrok.com/rtnRightRev is an automated revenue recognition platform that lets your product team ship new pricing without asking finance for permission, and your sales team close deals without creating downstream chaos. Check out their free tool at calculator.rightrev.com It scores your rev rec process, shows what's exposing you to risk, and tells you exactly where to focus before it bites you in the rear end. Check it out at https://calculator.rightrev.comPulley is an equity management platform that lets you issue options, model dilution, and complete 409As without your cap table turning into a spreadsheet disaster. Founders raising, hiring, and scaling use Pulley to keep equity clean and stay focused on building. Learn more or request a demo at https://pulley.com/mostlymetricsRillet is an AI-native ERP built for modern finance teams that want to replace NetSuite and close faster. With revenue recognition, close management, multi-entity support, and native Stripe and Salesforce integrations, Rillet helps scaling companies run their finance stack in one place. Hundreds of teams, including Windsurf and Mercor, use Rillet to make the zero-day close real. Book a demo at https://www.rillet.com/cjMaximor is an autonomous finance platform that runs order-to-cash, procure-to-pay, the close, cash management, and reporting on self-learning agents instead of a dozen disconnected tools. One PE-backed customer cut their close in half, took audit findings from seven to zero, and cut back-office costs by 70% in six months. You pay for outcomes, not seats. See it at https://www.maximor.ai/—LINKS: Mostly Talent: https://mostlymetrics.typeform.com/to/cLTxtAsNGuests:https://www.linkedin.com/in/aj-ljubich-cfa-727ab912/https://www.linkedin.com/in/dana-decker/https://www.linkedin.com/in/micah-richard-64a53238/Companies:https://www.datadoghq.com/https://www.opendoor.com/https://www.pwc.com/CJ: https://www.linkedin.com/in/cj-gustafson-13140948/Mostly metrics: https://www.mostlymetrics.com—TIMESTAMPS:0:00 Preview and Intro2:27 Panel intros: AJ, Micah, Dana4:00 FP&A a year ago vs. today6:45 Opendoor: default-to-AI company7:40 Leadership being in the weeds8:30 Building a daily P&L view with Claude9:39 Sponsors — Brex | Anrok | RightRev12:38 Forecasting at Datadog: consumption model14:20 AI picks up seasonality, misses customer context15:10 Semantic layer and blessed queries16:35 Self-serve data: how far can you go?20:10 Best-in-class adoption: build over buy20:23 Sponsors — Pulley | Rillet | Maximor23:30 Does a 2-year head start matter?24:10 Build vs. buy criteria haven't changed25:10 Evaluating vendor roadmaps26:20 Procurement shifting toward build28:00 Data access controls and RBAC31:00 Token usage: haves and have-nots32:50 Encouraging tokens across the org34:40 ROI metrics haven't changed35:45 90-day advice: just start36:55 Leadership has to pull the red tape38:05 Get the data right first39:07 Credits
Summary
Lime’s S-1 Breakdown: The $1.8B Scooter IPO
Jun 2500:43:17Summary readyIn this episode of Run the Numbers, CJ breaks down Lime’s S-1 as the scooter company heads toward the public markets. He gets into the $1.8B valuation, Wayne Ting’s turnaround playbook, Lime’s unit economics, the post-Covid recovery, and the debt wall that may be forcing the IPO window open.—SPONSORS:SpendHound cuts your SaaS and AI spend by up to 30% using real pricing benchmarks across 10,000 vendors, so you always know what fair pricing looks like before your next renewal. Rated #1 on G2 in SaaS spend management, it's free forever for teams up to 1,000 employees. Sign up by June 12th and get $500 just for getting started. Go to https://www.spendhound.com/cjBrex is an intelligent finance platform with AI-powered agents that capture expenses automatically, enforce policy before the spend happens, and close your books in minutes instead of weeks. 35,000+ companies like OpenAI, Coinbase, Anthropic, and DoorDash already run on Brex. It's time to get Brex AF. Learn more at https://www.brex.com/metricsAleph is a modern FP&A platform built for teams that want more than another planning tool. By connecting your ERP, CRM, and other systems into one trusted data layer with AI workflows, Aleph helps you move faster with real-time insights. Get a personalized demo at https://www.getaleph.com/runRightRev is an automated revenue recognition platform that lets your product team ship new pricing without asking finance for permission, and your sales team close deals without creating downstream chaos. Check out their free tool at calculator.rightrev.com It scores your rev rec process, shows what's exposing you to risk, and tells you exactly where to focus before it bites you in the rear end. Check it out at https://calculator.rightrev.comRillet is an AI-native ERP built for modern finance teams that want to replace NetSuite and close faster. With revenue recognition, close management, multi-entity support, and native Stripe and Salesforce integrations, Rillet helps scaling companies run their finance stack in one place. Hundreds of teams, including Windsurf and Mercor, use Rillet to make the zero-day close real. Book a demo at https://www.rillet.com/cjEY has been part of Silicon Valley since it was just a valley, helping the most successful names in tech go from startup to exit to megacap. With teams across strategy, tax, audit, and transactions, EY helps you get your financials right early, long before your investors start asking for it. You build the next big thing, and EY will help you build it right. Learn more at https://www.ey.com/techstartups—LINKS: Mostly Talent: https://mostlymetrics.typeform.com/to/cLTxtAsNCJ: https://www.linkedin.com/in/cj-gustafson-13140948/Mostly metrics: https://www.mostlymetrics.com—RELATED EPISODES:SpaceX S1 Breakdownhttps://youtu.be/AARjbTO8FKo—TIMESTAMPS:0:00 Intro1:48 What Lime does2:47 Phoenix rising from the ashes3:53 Revenue: $887M, 29% growth6:38 Gross margin and the depreciation trick7:53 Adjusted EBITDA: $218M, up 42%8:27 Why the net loss got bigger9:54 Sponsors — SpendHound | Brex | Aleph13:08 Revenue per vehicle per day13:42 Marketing: only 2% of revenue14:01 Subscription mix: 28% and rising14:25 The debt: $821M but most converts15:37 The turnaround story16:42 What Wayne found taking over17:31 The three numbers he locked in on18:05 The warehouse overhaul19:31 Sponsors — RightRev | Rillet | EY22:33 The debt deep dive23:20 Why the net loss widened24:27 Post-IPO: nearly debt free25:07 Why more scooters make each scooter worth more28:43 How a scooter pays for itself30:43 The swappable battery32:39 Is this a real moat?34:14 Red flag 1: going concern35:11 Red flag 2: depreciation change before IPO36:11 Red flag 3: permits can disappear36:32 Red flag 4: Uber is everything37:24 Red flag 5: vehicles catch fire37:56 Valuation: under 2x revenue39:55 Comps: between Lyft and Uber40:55 Bull vs. bear41:52 Legal name is Neutron Holdings42:47 Credits
Summary
How Confluent’s CFO Runs Planning, Pricing, and Prioritization
Jun 2200:44:14Summary readyOn this episode of Run the Numbers, CJ sits down with Confluent CFO Rohan Sivaram to talk goal setting, prioritization, consumption-based pricing, hybrid zero-based budgeting, and the frameworks finance leaders use to scale companies. Rohan shares why he carries his 12-month goals with him, how he evaluates opportunities through TAM, technology, and team, and why usage-based pricing changes the entire operating model.—SPONSORS:EY has been part of Silicon Valley since it was just a valley, helping the most successful names in tech go from startup to exit to megacap. With teams across strategy, tax, audit, and transactions, EY helps you get your financials right early, long before your investors start asking for it. You build the next big thing, and EY will help you build it right. Learn more at https://www.ey.com/techstartupsSpendHound cuts your SaaS and AI spend by up to 30% using real pricing benchmarks across 10,000 vendors, so you always know what fair pricing looks like before your next renewal. Rated #1 on G2 in SaaS spend management, it's free forever for teams up to 1,000 employees. Sign up by June 12th and get $500 just for getting started. Go to https://www.spendhound.com/cjBrex is an intelligent finance platform with AI-powered agents that capture expenses automatically, enforce policy before the spend happens, and close your books in minutes instead of weeks. 35,000+ companies like OpenAI, Coinbase, Anthropic, and DoorDash already run on Brex. It's time to get Brex AF. Learn more at https://www.brex.com/metricsAleph is a modern FP&A platform built for teams that want more than another planning tool. By connecting your ERP, CRM, and other systems into one trusted data layer with AI workflows, Aleph helps you move faster with real-time insights. Get a personalized demo at https://www.getaleph.com/runRightRev is an automated revenue recognition platform that lets your product team ship new pricing without asking finance for permission, and your sales team close deals without creating downstream chaos. Check out their free tool at calculator.rightrev.com It scores your rev rec process, shows what's exposing you to risk, and tells you exactly where to focus before it bites you in the rear end. Check it out at https://calculator.rightrev.comRillet is an AI-native ERP built for modern finance teams that want to replace NetSuite and close faster. With revenue recognition, close management, multi-entity support, and native Stripe and Salesforce integrations, Rillet helps scaling companies run their finance stack in one place. Hundreds of teams, including Windsurf and Mercor, use Rillet to make the zero-day close real. Book a demo at https://www.rillet.com/cj—LINKS: Mostly Talent: https://mostlymetrics.typeform.com/to/cLTxtAsNGuest: https://www.linkedin.com/in/rohan-sivaram-69007b7/Company: https://www.confluent.io/CJ: https://www.linkedin.com/in/cj-gustafson-13140948/Mostly metrics: https://www.mostlymetrics.com—RELATED EPISODES:A CFO Explains Marketplaceshttps://youtu.be/LpbH9GpBrSY—TIMESTAMPS:0:00 Preview and Intro2:26 Writing down 12-month goals and carrying them6:33 Rule of 168: 168 hours a week7:36 Delegation and calendar management9:25 Learning to say no: cultural shift11:32 Sponsors — EY | SpendHound | Brex14:29 Joining Confluent: the state of the company16:57 Building blocks of a budgeting process19:46 Execute, learn, adapt21:59 Healthy tension in the planning cycle22:26 Sponsors — Aleph | RightRev | Rillet25:46 What is hybrid zero-based budgeting?30:37 Moving from subscription to consumption pricing32:22 Why this was a one-way door33:56 New metrics required in a consumption business35:28 Evaluating job opportunities: the three T's37:39 Networking and reciprocity39:54 Lightning round40:04 Screwed up: free cash flow sign error42:03 Advice to younger self: take more risks42:38 Finance software stack43:00 AI tools the team has built43:44 Credits
Summary
Salesforce Paid $2.1 Billion for His Company: Meet the CFO Who Made it Happen
Jun 1800:38:51Summary readyIn this episode of Run the Numbers, CJ sits down with Jake Kornreich, CFO of CoLab and former CFO of Own, live from the New York Stock Exchange. Jake breaks down the six-part framework behind Own’s $2.1B sale to Salesforce, why “control your destiny” matters, how CFOs should think about IPO readiness, board communication, share price theater, and why great finance leaders operate beyond the spreadsheet.—SPONSORS:Rillet is an AI-native ERP built for modern finance teams that want to replace NetSuite and close faster. With revenue recognition, close management, multi-entity support, and native Stripe and Salesforce integrations, Rillet helps scaling companies run their finance stack in one place. Hundreds of teams, including Windsurf and Mercor, use Rillet to make the zero-day close real. Book a demo at https://www.rillet.com/cjEY has been part of Silicon Valley since it was just a valley, helping the most successful names in tech go from startup to exit to megacap. With teams across strategy, tax, audit, and transactions, EY helps you get your financials right early, long before your investors start asking for it. You build the next big thing, and EY will help you build it right. Learn more at https://www.ey.com/techstartupsSpendHound cuts your SaaS and AI spend by up to 30% using real pricing benchmarks across 10,000 vendors, so you always know what fair pricing looks like before your next renewal. Rated #1 on G2 in SaaS spend management, it's free forever for teams up to 1,000 employees. Sign up by June 12th and get $500 just for getting started. Go to https://www.spendhound.com/cjBrex is an intelligent finance platform with AI-powered agents that capture expenses automatically, enforce policy before the spend happens, and close your books in minutes instead of weeks. 35,000+ companies like OpenAI, Coinbase, Anthropic, and DoorDash already run on Brex. It's time to get Brex AF. Learn more at https://www.brex.com/metricsAleph is a modern FP&A platform built for teams that want more than another planning tool. By connecting your ERP, CRM, and other systems into one trusted data layer with AI workflows, Aleph helps you move faster with real-time insights. Get a personalized demo at https://www.getaleph.com/runRightRev is an automated revenue recognition platform that lets your product team ship new pricing without asking finance for permission, and your sales team close deals without creating downstream chaos. Check out their free tool at calculator.rightrev.com It scores your rev rec process, shows what's exposing you to risk, and tells you exactly where to focus before it bites you in the rear end. Check it out at https://calculator.rightrev.com—LINKS: Mostly Talent: https://mostlymetrics.typeform.com/to/cLTxtAsNGuest: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jake-kornreich/Company: https://www.colabsoftware.com/CJ: https://www.linkedin.com/in/cj-gustafson-13140948/Mostly metrics: https://www.mostlymetrics.comTIMESTAMPS:0:00 Preview and Intro2:20 First stock3:28 Benefits of going public today5:42 Come-up: chief of staff to CFO6:31 Running HR like a sales org8:32 Control your destiny9:24 Synergies with Salesforce10:09 Sponsors — Rillet | EY | SpendHound13:10 Do your own ROI due diligence14:40 Share price equals entertainment16:26 Disciplined execution17:45 Performance, not stories19:24 Activist investors and the acquirer's board20:13 Write the memo for the other side20:45 Sponsors — Brex | Aleph | RightRev24:02 Triangulate your way to success25:18 Your board takes snapshots, you run the movie26:21 Knowing when to sell27:16 Valuation limits your exit options27:38 Stakeholder comms during the acquisition29:58 CFO as operator, not just function31:31 What is CoLab?32:09 Why Jake joined post-Series C33:50 Personal product market fit for CFOs35:27 Lightning round35:42 Screwed up: $5M budget error36:17 Advice to younger self36:41 Finance software stack37:34 Culture of expense discipline38:22 Credits
Summary
SoundCloud CFO Dan Bettes on Marketplace Liquidity, Music, and Forecasting
Jun 1500:40:47Summary readyIn this episode of Run the Numbers, CJ sits down with Dan Bettes, CFO of SoundCloud, at the New York Stock Exchange. Dan breaks down how SoundCloud operates as a two-sided music marketplace, how he thinks about liquidity between fans and creators, and why great finance leaders need to make forecasting feel owned by the business—SPONSORS:Aleph is a modern FP&A platform built for teams that want more than another planning tool. By connecting your ERP, CRM, and other systems into one trusted data layer with AI workflows, Aleph helps you move faster with real-time insights. Get a personalized demo at https://www.getaleph.com/runRightRev is an automated revenue recognition platform that lets your product team ship new pricing without asking finance for permission, and your sales team close deals without creating downstream chaos. Check out their free tool at calculator.rightrev.com It scores your rev rec process, shows what's exposing you to risk, and tells you exactly where to focus before it bites you in the rear end. Check it out at https://calculator.rightrev.comRillet is an AI-native ERP built for modern finance teams that want to replace NetSuite and close faster. With revenue recognition, close management, multi-entity support, and native Stripe and Salesforce integrations, Rillet helps scaling companies run their finance stack in one place. Hundreds of teams, including Windsurf and Mercor, use Rillet to make the zero-day close real. Book a demo at https://www.rillet.com/cjEY has been part of Silicon Valley since it was just a valley, helping the most successful names in tech go from startup to exit to megacap. With teams across strategy, tax, audit, and transactions, EY helps you get your financials right early, long before your investors start asking for it. You build the next big thing, and EY will help you build it right. Learn more at https://www.ey.com/techstartupsSpendHound cuts your SaaS and AI spend by up to 30% using real pricing benchmarks across 10,000 vendors, so you always know what fair pricing looks like before your next renewal. Rated #1 on G2 in SaaS spend management, it's free forever for teams up to 1,000 employees. Sign up by June 12th and get $500 just for getting started. Go to https://www.spendhound.com/cjBrex is an intelligent finance platform with AI-powered agents that capture expenses automatically, enforce policy before the spend happens, and close your books in minutes instead of weeks. 35,000+ companies like OpenAI, Coinbase, Anthropic, and DoorDash already run on Brex. It's time to get Brex AF. Learn more at https://www.brex.com/metrics—LINKS: Mostly Talent: https://mostlymetrics.typeform.com/to/cLTxtAsNGuest: https://www.linkedin.com/in/danielbettes/Company: https://soundcloud.com/CJ: https://www.linkedin.com/in/cj-gustafson-13140948/Mostly metrics: https://www.mostlymetrics.com—TIMESTAMPS:0:00 Preview and Intro2:17 First stock: a Vanguard index fund3:13 Most memorable IPO: Groupon4:54 Benefits of going public have changed5:47 SoundCloud and the music industry7:21 Three eras: physical, streaming, creator platform8:49 Streaming unbundled the album10:03 Artists don't need labels anymore11:40 Sponsors — Aleph | RightRev | Rillet15:00 SoundCloud's two-sided business model16:23 Touring replaced the album17:17 First metric every morning: net adds18:31 DAU vs. MAU: it's a funnel19:14 Viral moments and exogenous pops20:10 LTV and the subscription funnel21:38 Sponsors — EY | SpendHound | Brex24:35 Tops-down vs. bottoms-up: reconcile both26:21 Revenue is an output27:45 Handling forecast deviation29:24 How often to reforecast30:23 The final boss: indirect cash flow statement33:09 Cash vs. EBITDA fluency35:04 Plain English and the power of reps36:52 Tailor the message to the audience37:45 Lightning round37:45 Screwed up: miscounted corn at a banquet38:41 Lean into discomfort39:55 Craziest expense: a post-flight massage40:17 Credits
Summary
Bending Spoons S1: How Italy's Software Acquirer Built a $20B Empire From the Discount Rack
Jun 1100:35:55Summary readyIn this episode of Run the Numbers, CJ breaks down Bending Spoons’ F-1 filing and the acquisition machine behind AOL, Evernote, Vimeo, Eventbrite, and more. He unpacks the company’s playbook: buy under-optimized digital businesses, transform operations, raise prices, reinvest earnings, and repeat — while asking the core question: how much was built, and how much was bought?—SPONSORS:RightRev is an automated revenue recognition platform that lets your product team ship new pricing without asking finance for permission, and your sales team close deals without creating downstream chaos. Check out their free tool at calculator.rightrev.com It scores your rev rec process, shows what's exposing you to risk, and tells you exactly where to focus before it bites you in the rear end. Check it out at https://calculator.rightrev.comRillet is an AI-native ERP built for modern finance teams that want to replace NetSuite and close faster. With revenue recognition, close management, multi-entity support, and native Stripe and Salesforce integrations, Rillet helps scaling companies run their finance stack in one place. Hundreds of teams, including Windsurf and Mercor, use Rillet to make the zero-day close real. Book a demo at https://www.rillet.com/cjEY has been part of Silicon Valley since it was just a valley, helping the most successful names in tech go from startup to exit to megacap. With teams across strategy, tax, audit, and transactions, EY helps you get your financials right early, long before your investors start asking for it. You build the next big thing, and EY will help you build it right. Learn more at https://www.ey.com/techstartupsSpendHound cuts your SaaS and AI spend by up to 30% using real pricing benchmarks across 10,000 vendors, so you always know what fair pricing looks like before your next renewal. Rated #1 on G2 in SaaS spend management, it's free forever for teams up to 1,000 employees. Sign up by June 12th and get $500 just for getting started. Go to https://www.spendhound.com/cjBrex is an intelligent finance platform with AI-powered agents that capture expenses automatically, enforce policy before the spend happens, and close your books in minutes instead of weeks. 35,000+ companies like OpenAI, Coinbase, Anthropic, and DoorDash already run on Brex. It's time to get Brex AF. Learn more at https://www.brex.com/metricsAleph is a modern FP&A platform built for teams that want more than another planning tool. By connecting your ERP, CRM, and other systems into one trusted data layer with AI workflows, Aleph helps you move faster with real-time insights. Get a personalized demo at https://www.getaleph.com/run—LINKS: Mostly Talent: https://mostlymetrics.typeform.com/to/cLTxtAsNCJ: https://www.linkedin.com/in/cj-gustafson-13140948/Mostly metrics: https://www.mostlymetrics.com—TIMESTAMPS:0:00 What is Bending Spoons?1:03 The Internet's attic: the portfolio3:11 The metrics rundown5:44 Revenue: $1.3B, 95% growth6:04 82% of growth was bought, not built6:29 Gross margin: 66%6:50 Subscription mix and NRR7:33 Net income: basically zero8:00 Cash: $741M, debt: $4.4B8:35 Revenue per employee: $2.57M9:39 Sponsors — RightRev | Rillet | EY12:42 Organic growth is mostly price hikes13:50 A house of adjustments14:54 Add-backs bigger than the profit15:22 The reorganization line: cost of firing19:21 Sponsors — SpendHound | Brex | Aleph22:51 Does the playbook actually work?23:07 Evernote: the proof point23:45 Romini: the growth proof point24:10 AI in three directions at once25:45 The debt engine27:50 Red flag 1: material accounting weaknesses28:38 Red flag 2: pro forma numbers come with a confession29:00 Red flag 3: App Store dependency29:11 Red flag 4: no long-term contracts29:30 Red flag 5: foreign private issuer29:52 Red flag 6: they've never sold anything30:19 Cap table and board31:07 Valuation: 14–18x33:00 Bull vs. bear case33:55 Miscellaneous: the S1 is already stale35:25 Credits
Summary
Vercel's CFO Marten Abrahamsen: Move Fast or Fall Behind
Jun 800:53:42Summary readyCJ Gustafson sits down with Marten Abrahamsen, CFO of Vercel, at the NYSE to talk about running finance inside a hypergrowth AI company. They cover AI use cases in finance, rev rec, forecasting, KPI dashboards, PLG, consumption pricing, and Marten’s “speeding tickets vs. parking tickets” framework for moving fast without losing control.—SPONSORS:Brex is an intelligent finance platform with AI-powered agents that capture expenses automatically, enforce policy before the spend happens, and close your books in minutes instead of weeks. 35,000+ companies like OpenAI, Coinbase, Anthropic, and DoorDash already run on Brex. It's time to get Brex AF. Learn more at https://www.brex.com/metricsAleph is a modern FP&A platform built for teams that want more than another planning tool. By connecting your ERP, CRM, and other systems into one trusted data layer with AI workflows, Aleph helps you move faster with real-time insights. Get a personalized demo at https://www.getaleph.com/runRightRev is an automated revenue recognition platform that lets your product team ship new pricing without asking finance for permission, and your sales team close deals without creating downstream chaos. Check out their free tool at calculator.rightrev.com It scores your rev rec process, shows what's exposing you to risk, and tells you exactly where to focus before it bites you in the rear end. Check it out at https://calculator.rightrev.comRillet is an AI-native ERP built for modern finance teams that want to replace NetSuite and close faster. With revenue recognition, close management, multi-entity support, and native Stripe and Salesforce integrations, Rillet helps scaling companies run their finance stack in one place. Hundreds of teams, including Windsurf and Mercor, use Rillet to make the zero-day close real. Book a demo at https://www.rillet.com/cjEY has been part of Silicon Valley since it was just a valley, helping the most successful names in tech go from startup to exit to megacap. With teams across strategy, tax, audit, and transactions, EY helps you get your financials right early, long before your investors start asking for it. You build the next big thing, and EY will help you build it right. Learn more at https://www.ey.com/techstartupsSpendHound cuts your SaaS and AI spend by up to 30% using real pricing benchmarks across 10,000 vendors, so you always know what fair pricing looks like before your next renewal. Rated #1 on G2 in SaaS spend management, it's free forever for teams up to 1,000 employees. Sign up by June 12th and get $500 just for getting started. Go to https://www.spendhound.com/cj—LINKS: Mostly Talent: https://mostlymetrics.typeform.com/to/cLTxtAsNGuest: https://www.linkedin.com/in/martenabrahamsen/Company: http://vercel.com/CJ: https://www.linkedin.com/in/cj-gustafson-13140948/Mostly metrics: https://www.mostlymetrics.com—TIMESTAMPS:0:00 Speeding tickets vs. parking tickets3:21 Visa IPO in the financial crisis5:09 Going public has changed6:45 Private market: 22–24 trillion9:03 More or fewer public companies?9:48 Sponsors — Brex | Aleph | RightRev13:04 KPI dashboard on your phone14:12 Revenue flux via Slack and Notion15:37 RevRec tool: green, yellow, red17:56 V0 is a job requirement19:43 Speeding tickets vs. parking tickets20:33 Sponsors — Rillet | EY | SpendHound23:49 Very few one-way doors25:02 Finance in hypergrowth25:39 Three-scenario planning27:00 Honest with the board31:00 PLG + consumption at Vercel33:32 What Marten checks every morning34:03 Why RPO doesn't work here35:36 Holiday usage is up37:10 ICP shifted to solo developer39:22 Capital allocation in a fast market41:32 Growth compounds; margin can't43:22 SaaS gross margins: spicy take44:24 Cash-burning AI: 2026 vs. 202147:29 Are some hypergrowth cos destroying value?50:00 Lightning round50:11 Bank of Ireland mix-up51:10 Don't punt problems forward52:04 Finance software stack52:38 Expensed an oven53:12 Credits
Summary
A CFO Explains Stock Exchanges
Jun 400:37:18Summary readyIn this episode of Run the Numbers, CJ breaks down how stock exchanges became the operating system of modern capitalism. From ship captains raising voyage money, to the Dutch East India Company’s first tradable shares, to coffee house traders, the Buttonwood Agreement, market crashes, Robinhood, and GameStop, this is the story of how markets turned ownership into something liquid, global, and very, very human.—SPONSORS:SpendHound cuts your SaaS and AI spend by up to 30% using real pricing benchmarks across 10,000 vendors, so you always know what fair pricing looks like before your next renewal. Rated #1 on G2 in SaaS spend management, it's free forever for teams up to 1,000 employees. Sign up by June 12th and get $500 just for getting started. Go to https://www.spendhound.com/cjBrex is an intelligent finance platform with AI-powered agents that capture expenses automatically, enforce policy before the spend happens, and close your books in minutes instead of weeks. 35,000+ companies like OpenAI, Coinbase, Anthropic, and DoorDash already run on Brex. It's time to get Brex AF. Learn more at https://www.brex.com/metricsAleph is a modern FP&A platform built for teams that want more than another planning tool. By connecting your ERP, CRM, and other systems into one trusted data layer with AI workflows, Aleph helps you move faster with real-time insights. Get a personalized demo at https://www.getaleph.com/runRightRev is an automated revenue recognition platform that lets your product team ship new pricing without asking finance for permission, and your sales team close deals without creating downstream chaos. Check out their free tool at calculator.rightrev.com It scores your rev rec process, shows what's exposing you to risk, and tells you exactly where to focus before it bites you in the rear end. Check it out at https://calculator.rightrev.comRillet is an AI-native ERP built for modern finance teams that want to replace NetSuite and close faster. With revenue recognition, close management, multi-entity support, and native Stripe and Salesforce integrations, Rillet helps scaling companies run their finance stack in one place. Hundreds of teams, including Windsurf and Mercor, use Rillet to make the zero-day close real. Book a demo at https://www.rillet.com/cjEY has been part of Silicon Valley since it was just a valley, helping the most successful names in tech go from startup to exit to megacap. With teams across strategy, tax, audit, and transactions, EY helps you get your financials right early, long before your investors start asking for it. You build the next big thing, and EY will help you build it right. Learn more at https://www.ey.com/techstartups—LINKS: Mostly Talent: https://mostlymetrics.typeform.com/to/cLTxtAsNCJ: https://www.linkedin.com/in/cj-gustafson-13140948/Mostly metrics: https://www.mostlymetrics.comSlacker Stuff: https://www.slackerstuff.com/Ben on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/slackerstuff/—RELATED EPISODES:A CFO Explains Secondarieshttps://youtu.be/pENvBuXhGukA CFO Explains the Diamond Industryhttps://youtu.be/fPrho7hvykAA CFO Explains Marketplaceshttps://youtu.be/LpbH9GpBrSY—TIMESTAMPS:0:00 The First IPO, and Why It Changed Everything2:50 Coffee, Buttonwood Trees, and the First Insider Trading Scandal6:31 The Railroads Built Your Month-End Close10:17 Sponsors — SpendHound | Brex | Aleph13:47 Buying Stocks on Credit, and How That Ended18:13 Merrill Lynch Goes to the Suburbs, and the Paper Almost Wins21:44 Sponsors — RightRev | Rillet | EY24:47 NASDAQ, Pets.com, and the Most Expensive Sock Puppet in History28:49 The Phone in Your Pocket Democratized Everything, For Better or Worse33:03 The Stock Market Was Never Really About Stocks36:47 Credits#RunTheNumbersPodcast #FinanceHistory #StockMarket #Investing #FinanceLeadership
Summary
Zapier's CFO on Closing the Books in 5 Days, AI Hiring Bars, and M&A Discipline
Jun 100:49:48Summary readyIn this episode of Run the Numbers, CJ sits down with Ryan Roccon, CFO of Zapier, to cover AI hiring standards, automating month-end close, measuring ROI on AI spend, and why determinism still beats agents most of the time.—SPONSORS:EY has been part of Silicon Valley since it was just a valley, helping the most successful names in tech go from startup to exit to megacap. With teams across strategy, tax, audit, and transactions, EY helps you get your financials right early, long before your investors start asking for it. You build the next big thing, and EY will help you build it right. Learn more at https://www.ey.com/techstartupsSpendHound cuts your SaaS and AI spend by up to 30% using real pricing benchmarks across 10,000 vendors, so you always know what fair pricing looks like before your next renewal. Rated #1 on G2 in SaaS spend management, it's free forever for teams up to 1,000 employees. Sign up by June 12th and get $500 just for getting started. Go to https://www.spendhound.com/cjBrex is an intelligent finance platform with AI-powered agents that capture expenses automatically, enforce policy before the spend happens, and close your books in minutes instead of weeks. 35,000+ companies like OpenAI, Coinbase, Anthropic, and DoorDash already run on Brex. It's time to get Brex AF. Learn more at https://www.brex.com/metricsAleph is a modern FP&A platform built for teams that want more than another planning tool. By connecting your ERP, CRM, and other systems into one trusted data layer with AI workflows, Aleph helps you move faster with real-time insights. Get a personalized demo at https://www.getaleph.com/runRightRev is an automated revenue recognition platform that lets your product team ship new pricing without asking finance for permission, and your sales team close deals without creating downstream chaos. Check out their free tool at calculator.rightrev.com It scores your rev rec process, shows what's exposing you to risk, and tells you exactly where to focus before it bites you in the rear end. Check it out at https://calculator.rightrev.comRillet is an AI-native ERP built for modern finance teams that want to replace NetSuite and close faster. With revenue recognition, close management, multi-entity support, and native Stripe and Salesforce integrations, Rillet helps scaling companies run their finance stack in one place. Hundreds of teams, including Windsurf and Mercor, use Rillet to make the zero-day close real. Book a demo at https://www.rillet.com/cj—LINKS: Mostly Talent: https://mostlymetrics.typeform.com/to/cLTxtAsNGuest: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ryanroccon/Company: https://zapier.com/CJ: https://www.linkedin.com/in/cj-gustafson-13140948/Mostly metrics: https://www.mostlymetrics.com—RELATED EPISODES:Ryan’s First Appearancehttps://youtu.be/VIZ_RzfV78IChris Byington, Head of Data @ Superhumanhttps://youtu.be/ydH38JnWfww—TIMESTAMPS:0:00 Preview and intro2:11 Ryan's scope at Zapier3:17 Why the finance guy runs ecosystems6:19 AI is a required hire competency6:46 The four levels: unacceptable to transformative8:48 How Zapier tests for it11:50 Favorite interview question13:06 Sponsors — EY | SpendHound | Brex16:18 AI changes the hiring profile17:07 Support becomes customer-facing engineering18:44 Where AI beats deterministic Zaps21:00 80-90% of builds are deterministic22:41 Sponsors — Aleph | RightRev | Rillet26:00 Month end close on Zaps27:40 Time saved is a leading indicator29:53 AI token costs: COGS or investment?31:51 Performance issue or measurement issue?33:41 Partner ARR: chasing the wrong thing35:56 Build around what changes the decision37:17 The initiative sizing coach40:00 Escalate on magnitude, not certainty41:55 The 9,000 integration story44:02 M&A process and minimum model46:19 Cash vs. stock: incentive alignment48:06 CFO's role in M&A: show up early49:18 Credits
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