The Backbone: a journey inside finance at a startup

By Shubham Datta

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Subscribers: 6
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Episodes: 69

Description

The Backbone explores the journey inside finance at high-growth technology startups. Our host Shubham Datta interviews finance leaders at various stages of emerging technology companies to find out their story, key financial and operating metrics they track, how they measure them and what their biggest challenges are. Hear directly from finance leaders at tech startups who are in there day in and day out, serving as the backbone of their company. For more information, check out the www.thebackbone.co

Episode Date
Ep. 67: Scaling for rapid growth & hiring for decision-making vs execution w/ Julian Rowlands, VP Finance at Spruce
Aug 11, 2021
Ep. 66: Finding the right path to go public for your company (IPOs, Direct Listings or SPACs) w/ Jeff Epstein, Operating Partner at Bessemer Venture Partners
May 12, 2021
Ep. 65: The right time for SMB SaaS companies to move upmarket featuring Ivan Makarov, VP Finance at Webflow
Apr 28, 2021
Ep. 64: Building a financially feasible business by aligning with customer incentives feat. Sruthi Lanka, CFO at Public
Apr 14, 2021
Ep. 63: What it means to be a finance exec for a publicly-traded software company with Blaine Fitzgerald, EVP Finance & Incoming CFO at Kinaxis (TSX: KXS)
Mar 24, 2021
Ep. 62: Taking care of your people, company, & customers while navigating through a crisis with Naeem Ishaq, CFO at Checkr
Mar 10, 2021
Ep. 61: The role of momentum and velocity in propelling Blackberry's epic run from $2M to $20B in sales with Dennis Kavelman, Partner at Inovia Capital (Former CFO / COO at Blackberry)
Feb 17, 2021
Ep. 60: IPO readiness and what it truly means to take a company public today with Curt Sigfstead, CFO at Clearbanc
Jan 27, 2021
Ep. 59: Determining the core competencies of the finance function with Etienne St-Martin, Director of Finance at Roadmunk
Jan 13, 2021
Ep. 58: The makings of a well-rounded finance leader with Brian Montminy, CFO at Lessonly
Dec 09, 2020
Ep. 57: Lessons learned from hyper-growth & scaling to $100M+ ARR, 100k customers and raising $100M with Tim Compton, SVP of Finance at ActiveCampaign
Nov 25, 2020
Ep. 56: Lessons from raising $50M during a global pandemic with Aly Khan Musani, CFO at Symend
Oct 28, 2020
Ep. 55: The most important SaaS metric for a high-growth software company with Rob Froment, CFO at Clio
Oct 14, 2020
Ep. 54: Getting the most out of a finance function with Srikant Nayak, CFO at GroupBy
Sep 30, 2020
Ep. 53: Every finance leader must become a great storyteller with Darrell Cox, CFO at Vena
Apr 22, 2020
Ep. 52: Why the tradeoff of balancing profitability and sustainability is a false dichotomy with David Reid, CFO & COO of Boll & Branch
Apr 01, 2020
Ep. 51: The art of value-based pricing models with Karthik Srinivasan, Director of Finance at Chargebee
Mar 18, 2020
Ep. 50: Behind the 7-year journey of scaling WIND Mobile to $500M in revenue and $1.6B sale w/ Brice Scheschuk, Managing Partner at Globalive Capital
Mar 04, 2020
Ep. 49: Fiscally responsible growth vs growth at all costs with Johnathan Mirian, VP Finance at Justworks
Feb 19, 2020
Ep. 48: Setting the right foundation in the first 100 days to scale the finance function for hyper growth with Khoi Le, VP Finance at Hopper
Feb 05, 2020
Ep. 47: A framework for managing M&A as a CFO with Saeideh Fard, Chief Financial Officer at Tulip
Jan 22, 2020
Ep. 46: Pushing company-wide transformation of a craft brewer through technology with Trevor Young, Chief Financial Officer at Steam Whistle Brewing
Jan 08, 2020
Ep. 45: Driving growth through an omnichannel approach at an established wellness brand with Michelle Armstrong, Chief Operating Officer at Saje Natural Wellness
Nov 27, 2019
Ep. 44: Striking the balance of growth and profitability as a bootstrapped company with Jessica Katz, Director of Finance at Format
Nov 12, 2019
Ep. 43: A framework for growing and scaling finance functions with Mustafa Nafar, VP Finance at Modsy
Oct 30, 2019
Ep. 42: What investors really care about from a CFO turned VC & the top metrics for direct-to-consumer businesses with Amy Wu, Partner at Lightspeed Venture Partners
Oct 16, 2019
Ep. 41: The key differences between marketing-driven SaaS companies to sales-driven ones with Amar Shrivastava, VP Finance at Clubhouse
Oct 02, 2019
Ep. 40: Mejuri's data-driven approach to managing inventory as an omnichannel, emerging direct-to-consumer brand with Katie Sellers, Director of Finance at Mejuri
Sep 18, 2019
Ep. 39: Balancing short term expectations of investors with longer term strategic roadmap decisions as a public company tech CFO with Shouvik Roy, CFO at Versapay
Sep 04, 2019
Ep. 38: The Consumerization of the Enterprise & Key Differences Between a Strategic and Financial Acquirer with Alok Pandey, VP Finance & Corporate Development at AnchorFree
Jun 26, 2019
Ep. 37: An Inside Look at Salesforce's $689M Acquisition of Buddy Media & Lessons Learned from Raising $150M+ with Oliver Bell, CFO at Springbot
May 29, 2019
Ep. 36: Key Considerations + Metrics for Expanding a Localized Marketplace with Corey Noyek, Finance Manager at Platterz
May 15, 2019
Ep. 35: Getting Dirt Underneath Your Fingers as an Operator with Tom Finn, VP Finance at Solstice
May 01, 2019
Ep. 34: An Inside Look into Lightspeed's $275M+ IPO & Scaling a Global Organization
Apr 17, 2019
Ep. 33: Behind the Scenes of SnapTravel's $21m Slam Dunk Series A from Steph Curry with Ankur Bansal, Head of Finance + Business Development
Apr 03, 2019
Ep. 32: A CFO Must Master Being a Capital Allocator with Sujeet Kini, CFO at Solium Capital
Mar 20, 2019
Ep. 31: A Former Banker + Growth Investor Turned Operator on the Consequences of Raising Too Much Capital with Steve Isom, VP Finance at Flywheel
Mar 06, 2019
Ep. 30: Customer + Revenue Churn at a SaaS Company with Recurring + Services Revenue w/ Cory Michalyshyn, CFO/COO at Solink
Feb 20, 2019
Ep. 29: The First 100 Days as a Finance Leader of a Venture-Backed Startup w/ Bryn Knox @ BenchSci
Feb 06, 2019
#28: Scaling a Finance Function of a High Growth Company with Strategic & Institutional Investors
Jan 23, 2019
Ep. 27: Raising a $27M Financing Round & Managing the Ever-Changing Priorities as CFO w/ Dave Pooley
Jan 09, 2019
Special: Exploring a Revolutionary Revenue Model for Education w/ Austen Allred, CEO @ Lambda School
Dec 19, 2018
Ep. 26: Raising a $32M Growth Round + the Symbiotic Relationship Between Finance & Operations
Dec 05, 2018
Ep. 25: Correlating Non-Financial Metrics into Financial Outcomes + More w/ Trisha Egberts @ Figure1
Nov 14, 2018
Episode 24: Learnings from Starting and Shutting Down a Startup + Balancing Multiple Product Stakeholders with Mark Jarvie, VP Finance at Drop
Oct 30, 2018
Episode 23: Learnings from Raising/Exiting $700M+ in Deal Value for Software + Hardware and the Importance of a People-First Approach in Finance with David Brennan, Chief Financial Officer at Ecobee
Oct 16, 2018
Episode 22: Raising $47M from Strategic vs Traditional VC & the Level of Finance Leader to Hire at Each Stage of a Company's Evolution with Danielle Cerisano, VP Finance at League
Oct 03, 2018
Episode 21: Using Analytics and Predictive Models to Improve Budgeting + the Role of Attribution in Assessing Digital Marketing ROI with Emma Lyndon, CFO at Canopy Labs
Sep 12, 2018
Episode 20: Considerations for CAC and Churn in a Self-Serve Pricing Model with Matt Dove, VP FInance at Celtx
Aug 01, 2018
Episode 19: The Journey of Raising $100M ICO (Initial Coin Offering) as a Venture-Backed Unicorn with Brandon Brunet, Controller at Kik
Jun 27, 2018
Episode 18: Bootstrapped to $12M Series A & What it Means for the Finance Function with Jennifer Pollock, Director of Finance & Operations at RateHub
May 30, 2018
Episode 17: The Added Complexities of Hardware Tech Companies & How to Price a New Medical Device with Travis Phung, Director of Finance & Administration at Exact Imaging
May 09, 2018
Episode 16: Monetizing a Free Product & Navigating Complexities of the Financial Services Space with Brian Wu, Finance Lead at Borrowell
Apr 25, 2018
Episode 15: Serving the Restaurant Industry & Breaking Into Tech in a Finance Capacity with Rob Curcio, Director of Finance at TouchBistro
Apr 11, 2018
Episode 14: Scaling the Finance Function, Fundraising, Making Acquisitions & Operationalizing Metrics with Ryan Magee, CFO at Cority
Mar 28, 2018
Episode 13: Serving the SMB Market at a Publicly Traded Software Company vs a High-Growth Startup with Darren Wood, Director of Finance & Operations at Jobber
Jul 12, 2017
Leading Finance at NPOs to High Growth Tech & Bootstrapping vs Raising Venture Capital with Anthony Scolaro, VP Finance & Operations at Lucova
Jun 07, 2017
Raising $17M Series A Round & What it Means to be ‘Venture-Backed’ with Frank Jessop, Director of Finance at Sensibill
May 17, 2017
Vendor Selection Considerations & Viewing the Finance Function from an Engineering Perspective with Gerti Dervishi, VP Finance at Flybits
Apr 26, 2017
The Process of Acquiring Companies as a Startup & Best Practices for Investor Relations with Ryan Levenberg, VP Finance  at  Q4 Systems Inc.
Apr 19, 2017
Raising VC Funding to Executing an $110M Acquisition + Demystifying the Progressive Roles of the Finance Leader within a Startup with Dwayne Walker, CFO at LookbookHQ
Apr 12, 2017
Going Through an Acquisition of an eCommerce Company & Keeping Both Sides of a Marketplace Happy with Elena Armstrong, Co-Founder & VP Finance at Exact Media
Apr 05, 2017
From Finance to Founding an IoT Startup & Bootstrapping vs. Raising Venture Capital with Sacha Sawaya, Co-Founder and CFO at Litmus Automation
Mar 29, 2017
Difference Between Being an Advisor vs Finance Leader for Tech Startups & When to Raise Capital with Eugene Bomba, CFO & VP Operations at ThoughtWire
Mar 22, 2017
Transitioning from Professional Services to Finance Leader of Pre-Revenue Tech Startup with Chris Parkes, CFO at NuraLogix
Mar 15, 2017
Why Finance & Operations go Together & Dealing with the Highly Regulated Financial Services Industry with Leen Li, Head of Finance at Wealthsimple
Mar 01, 2017
How Finance Scales Growing from 25 to 200+ Employees & Transfer Pricing with Les Cullen, Director of Finance & Operations at TopHat
Feb 22, 2017
Managing Churn & Being Private Equity Backed with Daniel Israelsohn, VP Finance & Operations at Firmex
Feb 15, 2017
Introducing the Backbone: a journey inside finance at a startup
Feb 14, 2017