Spend Culture: CFOs on People, Cash, and Organizations

Shouvik Roy, the CFO of Drop joined the company during the 2020 pandemic, having to adapt to a new team and environment while being completely remote. As a seasoned financial executive in the fintech sector, Shouvik discusses the challenges in tech startups during downturns, as well as the CFO's role in setting vision, strategy, and fundraising in 2021

In this episode, Jenny Bloom, the Chief Financial Officer at Zapier shares her learnings as a seasoned finance executive at multiple fast-growing tech companies. She chats with us about how to support team members during remote work, how Zapier has adapted throughout the downturn, and their plans for growth in 2021.

Wajdi Goussoub, the Director of Finance at Plooto gets honest about the changes and sacrifices made during the pandemic, and how he built a successful spend processes that empowers the individual team members within the company. Wajdi also draws to his prior experience as a VC and identifies what makes successful startups stand out from the rest.

Managing Hypergrowth and Achieving IPO in a Downturn Economy In this episode, Jim Kelliher, the CFO at Drift shares how Drift became the fastest growing tech company in Boston, and how they navigated strategic challenges during a downturn by being customer-centric, trusting the team, and investing in the right processes and people. In addition, Jim shares his advice on IPO best practices from his previous CFO roles, and what a finance executive needs to think about before going public. Speakers: Jim Kelliher, Chief Financial Officer, Drift Jim Kelliher is the Chief Financial Officer at Drift, a Boston-based tech company. Drift is a Revenue Acceleration platform that uses Conversational Marketing and Conversational Sales to help companies grow revenue and sales. He is an expert at building tech startups through escalating organizational processes and expanded systems of growth as a financial executive. Jim shares his skill set on adapting towards long term market scale and how investing in people-based training and development aligns with the strategic goals in a growing company.

Why Finance Leaders Should Stay Informed, Connected, and Humble In this episode, Kingsley Chan, Director of Finance at Finn Ai shares his insights on what makes a forward-thinking, strategic finance leader, and why being informed, connected, and humble and keys to success. In addition, he shares his remote work tips on how Finn Ai was able to adapt with agility to the downturn. Speakers: Kingsley Chan, Director of Finance, Finn AiKingsley Chan, CPA, CA is currently the Director of Finance at Finn AI with 14 years of work experience in a variety of company sizes and sectors. With experience in public companies to private companies, the energy sector to the technology sector, he is currently heavily involved in the Vancouver startup scene specializing in scaling companies for hyper-growth. An alumni from UBC's Sauder School of Business, he is both a mentor of CPA students and a creator looking to disrupt the information flow within the finance tech realm through Disrupt Finance, an organization he co-founded. On the side, he founded an apparel brand called The Uglies Brand, which looks to inspire self-confidence by preaching "you are safe to be who you are, we all have our inner uglies."

In this episode, Dana Small, the Senior Category Manager, Head of Global Commercial Strategic Sourcing at BioMarin Pharmaceuticals, and procurement blogger join us to chat about how women in procurement can thrive in the profession and the category management must-knows for biotech procurement leaders. Speaker: Dana Small, Senior Category Manager at BioMarin Pharmaceuticals & Blogger at Ms. Category Management Dana Small is the current Senior Category Manager, Head of Global Commercial Strategic Sourcing at BioMarin Pharmaceuticals. Dana has over 13 years of experience in finance, with 10 supporting the sales and marketing function including FP&A and Global Category Management Procurement/Sourcing, and over 17 years of experience within the Pharmaceutical / Biotech (BioPharma) Industry. Also known as “Ms. Category Management” on LinkedIn, Dana is also a blogger and public speaker who is passionate about sharing her learnings with the audience. Please visit her on her website at - https://mscategorymanagement.com/

In this episode, John Tabis, the Founder of The Bouqs Company shares his thoughts on why building a long-lasting brand is the best investment against a downturn, and his fundraising journeys through Shark Tank and beyond. In addition, he shares why a vision-driven CFO is the best business partner a CEO can get, and what traits to look for in a CFO hire.

In this episode of Spend Culture Stories, Karthik Rama joins us to chat about how procurement can find alignment with finance and work together as business partners, and how procurement leaders can successfully lead a cross-departmental digital transformation project. Speakers: Karthik Rama, Procurement Doctor Karthik is all about Procurement Transformations, with over 16+ years of experience in helping organizations from varied industries, from all over the world. He is inquisitive to understand the subtle differences in industries and regions and has a complete grasp of the Source to Pay cycle. Karthik has worn multiple hats over the years, right from being the Procurement guy to the IT guy deploying the Procurement System - this gives him an edge when speaking the language of technology to the IT teams and Procurement to the Procurement teams.

In this episode of Spend Culture Stories, Daniel Barnes chats with us on procurement and contract management horror stories he's seen throughout the years, and how to combat the biggest blockers to procurement efficiency. In addition, we chat about how procurement leaders can build a personal brand, and how to communicate the value of procurement in organizations. Speakers: Daniel Barnes, Founder of The World of Procurement Daniel Barnes is an independent commercial, procurement, and supply chain consultant that specializes in driving cost savings and adding value to your business. He is also the producer & host of the World of Procurement podcast - talking about all things procurement, supply chain, and contract management. His website, World of Procurement also provides procurement and supply chain content, tips, and thought leadership for the procurement profession.

In this episode of Spend Culture Stories, Cynthia Del'Aria shares the challenges of launching a startup as a tech CEO, and how to determine the product-market fit for your organization and to validate an idea before seeking investment capital. Cynthia also shares her thoughts on making the right strategic calls on investment to truly build a sustainable business that lasts even during recessions.