Podcasts about Brex

Welcome back to Trailblazers by Park Rangers Capital!In this week's solo episode, Erica Wenger breaks down her powerful 7-step time management framework called “The Bucket Method.”If you've ever felt overwhelmed, stretched too thin, or constantly busy but not actually productive, this episode is your reset. Erica walks through a simple, practical system for organizing your priorities, protecting your energy, and making sure what matters most actually gets done without burnout.Clear, actionable, and easy to implement, this is a must-listen for founders, operators, and anyone serious about taking control of their time.✨ This episode is presented by Brex.Brex: brex.com/trailblazerspodThis episode is supported by Rocketreach, Gusto, OpenPhone & Athena.RocketReach: rocketreach.co/trailblazersGusto: gusto.com/trailblazersQuo (formerly OpenPhone): Quo.com/trailblazersAthena: athenago.me/Erica-WengerFollow Us!@thetrailblazerspod: Instagram, YouTube, TikTokErica Wenger: @erica_wenger

In this episode of Run the Numbers, CJ breaks down the 5,000-year history of marketplaces—from Mesopotamia to Amazon—and the economics behind take rates, trust layers, and vertical unbundling. We unpack Airbnb's fee backlash, Facebook Marketplace's hidden value, why inventory kills platforms, and how AI will reshape discovery—without eliminating the middleman.—SPONSORS:Rillet is an AI-native ERP built for modern finance teams that want to close faster without fighting legacy systems. Designed to support complex revenue recognition, multi-entity operations, and real-time reporting, Rillet helps teams achieve a true zero-day close—with some customers closing in hours, not days. If you're scaling on an ERP that wasn't built in the 90s, book a demo at https://www.rillet.com/cjTabs is an AI-native revenue platform that unifies billing, collections, and revenue recognition for companies running usage-based or complex contracts. By bringing together ERP, CRM, and real product usage data into a single system of record, Tabs eliminates manual reconciliations and speeds up close and cash collection. Companies like Cortex, Statsig, and Cursor trust Tabs to scale revenue efficiently. Learn more at https://www.tabs.com/runAbacum is a modern FP&A platform built by former CFOs to replace slow, consultant-heavy planning tools. With self-service integrations and AI-powered workflows for forecasting, variance analysis, and scenario modeling, Abacum helps finance teams scale without becoming software admins. Trusted by teams at Strava, Replit, and JG Wentworth—learn more at https://www.abacum.aiBrex is an intelligent finance platform that combines corporate cards, built-in expense management, and AI agents to eliminate manual finance work. By automating expense reviews and reconciliations, Brex gives CFOs more time for the high-impact work that drives growth. Join 35,000+ companies like Anthropic, Coinbase, and DoorDash at https://www.brex.com/metricsMetronome is real-time billing built for modern software companies. Metronome turns raw usage events into accurate invoices, gives customers bills they actually understand, and keeps finance, product, and engineering perfectly in sync. That's why category-defining companies like OpenAI and Anthropic trust Metronome to power usage-based pricing and enterprise contracts at scale. Focus on your product — not your billing. Learn more and get started at https://www.metronome.comRightRev is an automated revenue recognition platform built for modern pricing models like usage-based pricing, bundles, and mid-cycle upgrades. RightRev lets companies scale monetization without slowing down close or compliance. For RevRec that keeps growth moving, visit https://www.rightrev.com—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: https://www.linkedin.com/in/slackerstuff/—RELATED EPISODES:The Mindshare Advantage Marketplace Success With Boris Wertz of Version One Ventureshttps://youtu.be/kN61sAxw_ykThe Marketplace Plus Model Explained | Colin Gardiner of Yonder VChttps://youtu.be/VIWFVwCfyLEA CFO Explains the History of EBITDAhttps://youtu.be/JySZv_fSNqs—TIMESTAMPS:0:00 Preview1:34 Marketplace Origins2:48 The Digital Shift5:55 Unbundling of Craigslist9:56 Sponsors — Rillet | Tabs | Abacum13:21 Smart Phone Revolution17:33 Take Rate Calculations21:08 When the Marketplace Crosses the Line24:49 Sponsors — Brex | Metronome | RightRev28:09 When Fees Become Friction30:37 The Marketplace Plus Model33:26 The $100B Flea Market36:14 The Inventory Trap40:07 The Disintermediation Problem42:35 Convenience Beats Inspection45:09 AI Compresses the Marketplace47:56 You Can't Cut Out the Middleman50:03 Credits#RunTheNumbersPodcast #Marketplaces #PlatformEconomy #Middleman #TechStrategy

JX Lye, Founder and CEO of Acme, joins Jeremy Au to unpack how execution compounds advantage in Southeast Asia fintech. They explore Acme's journey from solving delayed bank reconciliation to becoming a core bank connectivity layer serving fintech platforms, direct debit infrastructure, and ERP systems across Singapore and the region. The conversation covers the hard realities of going from zero to one customer, the discipline required from one to five, and how scaling to 80 customers shifts growth toward retention and upsell. Joshua reflects on fintech's COVID boom and 2023 reset, the Brex versus Ramp execution debate, and why Singapore rewards niche depth in financial services. He also shares how AI is shifting from model hype to vertical application, and why founder endurance, health, and signal reading matter more than chasing a visible summit. 03:12 Instant payments exposed a broken backend: FAST and PayNow moved money instantly, but apps waited days because reconciliation relied on end-of-day bank statements. 09:18 From one to five customers demands discipline: Founders must resist custom builds, stay product focused, and lead sales personally to avoid fragmentation. 13:08 Scaling to 80 customers shifts growth drivers: Upsells and retention begin compounding faster than new logo acquisition in Southeast Asia's shallow markets. 17:24 Fintech's COVID boom distorted reality: Easy capital and soaring markets fueled inflated valuations that later reset in 2023. 22:38 Execution beats first mover advantage: Ramp outcompounded Brex through speed, alignment, and focus rather than positioning alone. 25:42 Focus and alignment define execution quality: If teams describe different priorities, compounding slows and distraction spreads. 38:32 Founder stress never disappears, it evolves: Milestones do not remove pressure; resilience, health, and signal reading sustain long-term ambition. Watch, listen or read the full insight at https://www.bravesea.com/blog/jx-lye-compounding-execution Get transcripts, startup resources & community discussions at www.bravesea.com WhatsApp: https://whatsapp.com/channel/0029VakR55X6BIElUEvkN02e TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@jeremyau Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/jeremyauz Twitter: https://twitter.com/jeremyau LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/bravesea English: Spotify | YouTube | Apple Podcasts Bahasa Indonesia: Spotify | YouTube | Apple Podcasts Chinese: Spotify | YouTube | Apple Podcasts Vietnamese: Spotify | YouTube | Apple Podcasts #Fintech #SoutheastAsiaTech #StartupExecution #FounderJourney #BankingInfrastructure #B2BGrowth #AIinBusiness #SingaporeStartups #VentureBuilding #BRAVEpodcast

CJ sits down with Mike Jung, Co-Founder and Managing Partner of Founders Circle Capital. They unpack the rise of structured liquidity, how secondaries went mainstream, and what CFOs should know before running a tender. Mike shares lessons from the dot-com era, AI's “super cycle,” and what separates durable growth companies from hype.—SPONSORS:RightRev is an automated revenue recognition platform built for modern pricing models like usage-based pricing, bundles, and mid-cycle upgrades. RightRev lets companies scale monetization without slowing down close or compliance. For RevRec that keeps growth moving, visit https://www.rightrev.comRillet is an AI-native ERP built for modern finance teams that want to close faster without fighting legacy systems. Designed to support complex revenue recognition, multi-entity operations, and real-time reporting, Rillet helps teams achieve a true zero-day close—with some customers closing in hours, not days. If you're scaling on an ERP that wasn't built in the 90s, book a demo at https://www.rillet.com/cjTabs is an AI-native revenue platform that unifies billing, collections, and revenue recognition for companies running usage-based or complex contracts. By bringing together ERP, CRM, and real product usage data into a single system of record, Tabs eliminates manual reconciliations and speeds up close and cash collection. Companies like Cortex, Statsig, and Cursor trust Tabs to scale revenue efficiently. Learn more at https://www.tabs.com/runAbacum is a modern FP&A platform built by former CFOs to replace slow, consultant-heavy planning tools. With self-service integrations and AI-powered workflows for forecasting, variance analysis, and scenario modeling, Abacum helps finance teams scale without becoming software admins. Trusted by teams at Strava, Replit, and JG Wentworth—learn more at https://www.abacum.aiBrex is an intelligent finance platform that combines corporate cards, built-in expense management, and AI agents to eliminate manual finance work. By automating expense reviews and reconciliations, Brex gives CFOs more time for the high-impact work that drives growth. Join 35,000+ companies like Anthropic, Coinbase, and DoorDash at https://www.brex.com/metricsMetronome is real-time billing built for modern software companies. Metronome turns raw usage events into accurate invoices, gives customers bills they actually understand, and keeps finance, product, and engineering perfectly in sync. That's why category-defining companies like OpenAI and Anthropic trust Metronome to power usage-based pricing and enterprise contracts at scale. Focus on your product — not your billing. Learn more and get started at https://www.metronome.com—LINKS: Mostly Talent: https://mostlymetrics.typeform.com/to/cLTxtAsNMike: https://www.linkedin.com/in/mikjunghttps://www.founderscircle.com/CJ: https://www.linkedin.com/in/cj-gustafson-13140948/https://www.mostlymetrics.com—TIMESTAMPS:1:08 Founder Circle origin3:15 The founder liquidity insight5:16 Staying private longer problem6:04 Secondary market control vs chaos8:44 Secondaries over IPOs10:12 Liquidity keeps VC alive11:27 Ask Jeeves dot-com lesson12:26 $190 to $1 + AMT reality13:10 Sponsors — RightRev | Rillet | Tabs16:39 Private share opacity risk20:25 Founder + employee liquidity playbooks21:55 Early investors need liquidity too22:31 Cap table math actually matters24:17 SPV fee stacking insanity25:37 Sponsors — Abacum | Brex | Metronome28:54 Tender offer guardrails30:09 Minimum vs maximum liquidity balance33:01 Growth stage sweet spot + IPO bar rising34:17 AI Cambrian explosion34:58 Buying fear vs buying hype36:29 AI growth sustainability37:19 Founder-led advantage + product velocity38:47 TAM is created, not measured41:06 Anti-portfolio lessons43:01 What is a supercycle44:34 Do supercycles end in crashes?46:16 AI's unprecedented adoption curve48:31 Community as a moat52:50 Earning the right to be on the cap table

This week we chat with Eric Newcomer!Eric is the founder and writer behind Newcomer, which is a deeply reported newsletter on the inner workings of the startup industry. He's widely regarded as one of the sharpest independent journalists and observers of power, money, and ambition in tech. He's built Newcomer from a Substack newsletter into a must-read publication with over 100,000 subscribers.After spending six years at Bloomberg, Eric took the leap in 2020 to build Newcomer full time - breaking stories that shape how founders, investors, and operators understand the startup world. From leaked slide decks at Coatue and Tiger Global to deeply reported interviews with top venture capitalists, his work consistently uncovers breaking news. Eric is also the host of the Newcomer Podcast, which launched with a debut episode featuring Reid Hoffman, and the co-creator of major tech events like the Cerebral Valley AI Summit, bringing together CEOs from Stability, Runway, Hugging Face, and leading partners from firms like Sequoia and Greylock.Earlier in his career, Eric was the first employee at The Information, where he broke news including Amazon's acquisition of Twitch. A Harvard graduate with a background in philosophy and a journalist's instinct for truth, Eric has built a platform that founders and investors can't afford to ignore.✨ This episode is presented by Brex.Brex: brex.com/trailblazerspodThis episode is supported by RocketReach, Gusto, OpenPhone & Athena.RocketReach: rocketreach.co/trailblazersGusto: gusto.com/trailblazersQuo: Quo.com/trailblazersAthena: athenago.me/Erica-WengerFollow Us!@ericnewcomer https://www.newcomer.co/@thetrailblazerspod: Instagram, YouTube, TikTokErica Wenger: @erica_wenger

In this episode of Run the Numbers, CJ sits down with Mateo Bryant, CFO of Minted. They break down Minted's life-event flywheel and decades-long LTV, managing extreme seasonality when half the year happens in one month, and balancing long-term CAC with short-term monetization. Mateo also shares lessons from scaling Uber and Amazon globally, localization missteps, and making marketplaces work in emerging markets.—SPONSORS:Abacum is a modern FP&A platform built by former CFOs to replace slow, consultant-heavy planning tools. With self-service integrations and AI-powered workflows for forecasting, variance analysis, and scenario modeling, Abacum helps finance teams scale without becoming software admins. Trusted by teams at Strava, Replit, and JG Wentworth—learn more at https://www.abacum.aiBrex is an intelligent finance platform that combines corporate cards, built-in expense management, and AI agents to eliminate manual finance work. By automating expense reviews and reconciliations, Brex gives CFOs more time for the high-impact work that drives growth. Join 35,000+ companies like Anthropic, Coinbase, and DoorDash at https://www.brex.com/metricsMetronome is real-time billing built for modern software companies. Metronome turns raw usage events into accurate invoices, gives customers bills they actually understand, and keeps finance, product, and engineering perfectly in sync. That's why category-defining companies like OpenAI and Anthropic trust Metronome to power usage-based pricing and enterprise contracts at scale. Focus on your product — not your billing. Learn more and get started at https://www.metronome.comRightRev is an automated revenue recognition platform built for modern pricing models like usage-based pricing, bundles, and mid-cycle upgrades. RightRev lets companies scale monetization without slowing down close or compliance. For RevRec that keeps growth moving, visit https://www.rightrev.comRillet is an AI-native ERP built for modern finance teams that want to close faster without fighting legacy systems. Designed to support complex revenue recognition, multi-entity operations, and real-time reporting, Rillet helps teams achieve a true zero-day close—with some customers closing in hours, not days. If you're scaling on an ERP that wasn't built in the 90s, book a demo at https://www.rillet.com/cjTabs is an AI-native revenue platform that unifies billing, collections, and revenue recognition for companies running usage-based or complex contracts. By bringing together ERP, CRM, and real product usage data into a single system of record, Tabs eliminates manual reconciliations and speeds up close and cash collection. Companies like Cortex, Statsig, and Cursor trust Tabs to scale revenue efficiently. Learn more at https://www.tabs.com/run—LINKS: Mostly Talent: https://mostlymetrics.typeform.com/to/cLTxtAsNMateo: https://www.linkedin.com/in/bryantmatt/Minted: https://www.minted.com/CJ: https://www.linkedin.com/in/cj-gustafson-13140948/Mostly metrics: https://www.mostlymetrics.com—RELATED EPISODES:Peter Oey, CFO of Grab:https://youtu.be/tdq0AZO0dLU—TIMESTAMPS:00:00 Intro03:16 Fixer to CFO05:32 Mexico City Startups09:00 Minted Flywheel10:24 LTV Expansion11:04 Entry Points12:18 CAC and Cohorts13:42 Sponsors: Metronome | RightRev | Rillet17:06 Wedding Lifecycle19:49 Holiday Forecasting22:23 Retail Calendar24:03 Cash Flow Swings25:05 Marketing Over Sales26:06 Email Limits27:41 Sponsors: Tabs | Abacum | Brex31:02 Retail Strategy35:08 Global Experience40:47 Uber Cash Economics46:04 Cost of Not Localizing50:19 Importer of Record53:17 No Google Lesson55:34 QBR Mistake56:48 High Leverage Hours59:03 Finance Stack59:50 Seven Day Cruise Expense#RunTheNumbersPodcast #MarketplaceStrategy #EcommerceFinance #GigEconomy #CFOInsights

Ever wonder why some COOs scale businesses to legendary heights while others get swallowed by chaos and politics? If you're craving clarity, confidence, and uncommon edge in your second-in-command role, this Fan Favorite episode is your wake-up call. Cameron Herold sits down with Matt MacInnis, COO of Rippling and co-founder of Inkling, for a raw, actionable conversation about the real challenges behind hyper-growth, hiring, trust, and culture. They dig into what makes the COO role so “special,” how to build a game-changing flywheel, and why patience, precision, and authenticity are the ultimate power moves.The pain of “going it alone” is real. Tune in to learn how to avoid disaster, dodge politics, and harness proven tactics you won't find in any business book. Don't wait until burnout bites. Listen now for fiercely exclusive COO insights, bold truths, and systems that will let you scale smarter, not harder.Timestamped Highlights[00:02:22] – The hidden pain in HR, IT, and how Rippling breaks the “original sin” of bad data[00:05:55] – Why Matt almost walked away—then got schooled by Parker's contrarian “rocket ship” logic[00:08:30] – The untold power of preexisting trust between CEO and COO—and what happens if you hire without it[00:12:49] – Topgrading secrets: Why most executive hiring fails and how to get it right (even when everyone says they're an “A player”)[00:15:44] – Copilot dynamics: How Matt and Parker run the company with surprisingly little contact (and why it works)[00:19:18] – Should you debate the CEO in front of the team? The cathartic, risky art of public disagreement[00:23:13] – Inside Rippling's flywheel advantage—what Salesforce, Facebook, and Brex did differently and why you can too[00:31:04] – Killing bureaucracy and politics: The simple rule for hiring and process that most leaders ignore[00:39:29] – The brutal, proven formula for layoffs: What Sequoia teaches (and how to survive the “survivor's guilt”)About the GuestMatt MacInnis is the Chief Operating Officer of Rippling, a revolutionary all-in-one HR and IT platform transforming how businesses scale and manage people. Matt was also the co-founder and CEO of Inkling, a mobile learning platform that raised over $100M before its acquisition. With deep roots at Apple and a Harvard engineering degree, Matt blends big-company brilliance with entrepreneurial firepower. He's known for breaking boring business norms and igniting hyper-growth, all while refusing to tolerate politics, inefficiency, or shallow executive hiring.

In this episode of Run the Numbers, CJ sits down with Varsha Udayabhanu of Invisible to unpack what enterprise AI adoption actually looks like beyond the hype. They cover forward deployed engineers, eight-week solution sprints, value-based pricing when outcomes are hard to meter, ARR vs. services revenue, and why “momentum” beats traditional SaaS metrics. A tactical look at trust, expansion, and building durable AI revenue.—SPONSORS:Brex is an intelligent finance platform that combines corporate cards, built-in expense management, and AI agents to eliminate manual finance work. By automating expense reviews and reconciliations, Brex gives CFOs more time for the high-impact work that drives growth. Join 35,000+ companies like Anthropic, Coinbase, and DoorDash at https://www.brex.com/metricsMetronome is real-time billing built for modern software companies. Metronome turns raw usage events into accurate invoices, gives customers bills they actually understand, and keeps finance, product, and engineering perfectly in sync. That's why category-defining companies like OpenAI and Anthropic trust Metronome to power usage-based pricing and enterprise contracts at scale. Focus on your product — not your billing. Learn more and get started at https://www.metronome.comRightRev is an automated revenue recognition platform built for modern pricing models like usage-based pricing, bundles, and mid-cycle upgrades. RightRev lets companies scale monetization without slowing down close or compliance. For RevRec that keeps growth moving, visit https://www.rightrev.comRillet is an AI-native ERP built for modern finance teams that want to close faster without fighting legacy systems. Designed to support complex revenue recognition, multi-entity operations, and real-time reporting, Rillet helps teams achieve a true zero-day close—with some customers closing in hours, not days. If you're scaling on an ERP that wasn't built in the 90s, book a demo at https://www.rillet.com/cjTabs is an AI-native revenue platform that unifies billing, collections, and revenue recognition for companies running usage-based or complex contracts. By bringing together ERP, CRM, and real product usage data into a single system of record, Tabs eliminates manual reconciliations and speeds up close and cash collection. Companies like Cortex, Statsig, and Cursor trust Tabs to scale revenue efficiently. Learn more at https://www.tabs.com/runAbacum is a modern FP&A platform built by former CFOs to replace slow, consultant-heavy planning tools. With self-service integrations and AI-powered workflows for forecasting, variance analysis, and scenario modeling, Abacum helps finance teams scale without becoming software admins. Trusted by teams at Strava, Replit, and JG Wentworth—learn more at https://www.abacum.ai—LINKS: Varsha: https://www.linkedin.com/in/varshaudayabhanu/Company: https://invisibletech.ai/CJ: https://www.linkedin.com/in/cj-gustafson-13140948/Mostly metrics: https://www.mostlymetrics.com—RELATED EPISODES:Marketing as a Form of Capital Allocation With Carta's Head of Growth Angela Winegarhttps://youtu.be/rG09ehsrWv8—TIMESTAMPS:00:00 Intro03:21 What Invisible Technologies Does05:34 Enterprise AI Adoption Gap07:38 Forward Deployed Engineers09:44 Evolving GTM in AI Services10:36 Solution Sprints12:37 Sponsor — Brex | Metronome | RightRev15:56 Upfront Investment vs. Upside18:38 Bespoke Deals20:37 Value-Based Pricing in Enterprise AI22:12 Value Sold vs. Value Delivered23:31 Enterprise Revenue as a Portfolio of Bets24:53 Time-Bound Solution Sprints27:06 Sponsor — Rillet | Tabs | Abacum30:32 Humans in the Loop & Expert Incentives33:38 Niche Human Expertise34:10 Rethinking KPIs Beyond ARR35:44 Momentum Metrics39:00 Evaluating GenAI Financial Profiles40:47 Expansion as the Atomic Unit42:19 AdTech Lessons on Distribution & Brand43:23 Why Brand Matters for Enterprise47:10 Commoditization Risk48:31 Long-Ass Lightning Round53:20 Credits

This week we chat with Jason Feifer! Jason is the Editor in Chief of Entrepreneur Magazine, where he's spent nearly a decade studying and telling the stories of the world's most successful entrepreneurs. He's also a startup advisor, keynote speaker, and a nonstop optimism machine.He's the author of the best-selling book Build For Tomorrow, host of the hit podcast Help Wanted with over one million monthly downloads, and the writer of the weekly newsletter One Thing Better, read by more than 70,000 leaders. LinkedIn has named him a Top Voice in Entrepreneurship.Beyond media, Jason is the cofounder of CPG Fast Track, Chief Content Officer for the business community Uncharted, and a trusted advisor to startups. He's delivered keynotes for global brands like Google, Microsoft, Pfizer, and Alibaba—helping teams turn adaptability into a competitive advantage.And above all, Jason is a husband and proud father of two, bringing heart and clarity to everything he builds.✨ This episode is presented by Brex.Brex: brex.com/trailblazerspodThis episode is supported by RocketReach, Gusto, OpenPhone & Athena.RocketReach: rocketreach.co/trailblazersGusto: gusto.com/trailblazersQuo: Quo.com/trailblazersAthena: athenago.me/Erica-WengerFollow Us!Jason Feifer: @heyfeifer@thetrailblazerspod: Instagram, YouTube, TikTokErica Wenger: @erica_wenger

Kiren Sekar (CPO @ Samsara) joins us to deconstruct the "Innovation Engine" behind Samsara, and how this system drives real-world impact and ROI across their products. We explore Samsara's decade-long compound product strategy and the mechanics of accelerating feedback loops in an era where the primary bottlenecks shift from code generation to customer feedback and absorption of change. Kiren details how their data flywheel expands the aperture of what is possible to build and we dive into the system of customer-driven innovation: advisory boards, “spark sessions” to test hypotheses and gain unfiltered feedback. Plus we talk about the power of embedding engineers in frontline environments (from truckyards to construction sites) to cultivate “taste,” customer empathy and trigger non-linear ideas. ABOUT KIREN SEKARKiren Sekar is the Chief Product Officer at Samsara (NYSE: IOT), where he has helped lead the company from a hardware-hacking startup in a basement to a global leader in Connected Operations with over $1.5B in ARR. An early leader at Meraki (acquired by Cisco for $1.2B) and an Apple veteran with multiple patents, Kiren specializes in the rare intersection of hardware, massive-scale data, and AI. He is the architect of a platform that now processes trillions of data points for the industries that keep the world running—trucking, construction, and logistics. This episode is brought to you by Retool!What happens when your team can't keep up with internal tool requests? Teams start building their own, Shadow IT spreads across the org, and six months later you're untangling the mess…Retool gives teams a better way: governed, secure, and no cleanup required.Retool is the leading enterprise AppGen platform, powering how the world's most innovative companies build the tools that run their business. Over 10,000 organizations including Amazon, Stripe, Adobe, Brex, and Orangetheory Fitness use the platform to safely harness AI and their enterprise data to create governed, production-ready apps.Learn more at Retool.com/elc SHOW NOTES:Real-world ROI The Intersection of Bits and Atoms: How Samsara supported customers through a once-in-a-century snowstorm using real-time AI insights (3:59)The Practicality Filter: Why low-margin, high-utility businesses are the best "BS detectors" for product builders (9:25)Deconstructing the compound product strategy: 10 years of feedback loops, scaling empathy, and technical capabilities (10:53)Accelerating your innovation flywheel, customer and product feedback loops (14:39)The New Bottleneck: Why writing code is no longer the constraint, and how to optimize for customer absorption of change (19:58)The Data Flywheel: Leveraging trillions of proprietary data points to solve new problems and expand your innovation engine into new capabilities (23:36)Embedding engineers in customer problems: Why there is no substitute for engineers seeing the frontline environment firsthand (29:56)How customer empathy and "taste" amplify the benefits of AI coding agents (33:26)Building a system of customer-driven innovation: Utilizing Advisory Boards and "Spark Sessions" to turn 10,000+ customers into co-creators (37:40)Rapid fire questions (47:50)This episode wouldn't have been possible without the help of our incredible production team:Patrick Gallagher - Producer & Co-HostJerry Li - Co-HostNoah Olberding - Associate Producer, Audio & Video Editor https://www.linkedin.com/in/noah-olberding/Dan Overheim - Audio Engineer, Dan's also an avid 3D printer - https://www.bnd3d.com/Ellie Coggins Angus - Copywriter, Check out her other work at https://elliecoggins.com/about/ Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

In this episode, CJ talks with Paul Stansik of ParkerGale Capital about what separates Simplifiers from Complicators. They unpack why most board meetings miss the point, how to answer the actual question, and why naming the real problem builds trust.—SPONSORS:Abacum is a modern FP&A platform built by former CFOs to replace slow, consultant-heavy planning tools. With self-service integrations and AI-powered workflows for forecasting, variance analysis, and scenario modeling, Abacum helps finance teams scale without becoming software admins. Trusted by teams at Strava, Replit, and JG Wentworth—learn more at https://www.abacum.aiBrex is an intelligent finance platform that combines corporate cards, built-in expense management, and AI agents to eliminate manual finance work. By automating expense reviews and reconciliations, Brex gives CFOs more time for the high-impact work that drives growth. Join 35,000+ companies like Anthropic, Coinbase, and DoorDash at https://www.brex.com/metricsMetronome is real-time billing built for modern software companies. Metronome turns raw usage events into accurate invoices, gives customers bills they actually understand, and keeps finance, product, and engineering perfectly in sync. That's why category-defining companies like OpenAI and Anthropic trust Metronome to power usage-based pricing and enterprise contracts at scale. Focus on your product — not your billing. Learn more and get started at https://www.metronome.comRightRev is an automated revenue recognition platform built for modern pricing models like usage-based pricing, bundles, and mid-cycle upgrades. RightRev lets companies scale monetization without slowing down close or compliance. For RevRec that keeps growth moving, visit https://www.rightrev.comRillet is an AI-native ERP built for modern finance teams that want to close faster without fighting legacy systems. Designed to support complex revenue recognition, multi-entity operations, and real-time reporting, Rillet helps teams achieve a true zero-day close—with some customers closing in hours, not days. If you're scaling on an ERP that wasn't built in the 90s, book a demo at https://www.rillet.com/cjTabs is an AI-native revenue platform that unifies billing, collections, and revenue recognition for companies running usage-based or complex contracts. By bringing together ERP, CRM, and real product usage data into a single system of record, Tabs eliminates manual reconciliations and speeds up close and cash collection. Companies like Cortex, Statsig, and Cursor trust Tabs to scale revenue efficiently. Learn more at https://www.tabs.com/run—LINKS: Paul on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/paulstansik/ParkerGale Capital: https://www.parkergale.com/https://hellooperator.substack.com/CJ on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/cj-gustafson-13140948/Mostly metrics: https://www.mostlymetrics.com—TIMESTAMPS:0:00 Fixing Broken Windows in Investing3:08 What an Operating Partner Actually Does5:35 Managing Nine Portfolio Companies6:07 Where PE Investors Spend Their Time9:02 Do Investors Think About You All Day?10:16 The Operator “Bermuda Triangle”12:35 Sponsors — Abacum | Brex | Metronome15:52 The CFO “Triangle of Doom”17:47 How to Become an Investor Favorite18:42 Templates Build Trust in Board Communication20:54 Using Trusted Data22:10 The Board Payback Record Scratch23:18 Building Your “Data Diet” With the Board25:19 Sponsors — RightRev | Rillet | Tabs28:47 Signs a Team Isn't in Command31:30 Board Meetings Aren't a Performance34:16 “20 Board Meetings—Don't Waste Them”35:15 Ask Permission to Reallocate the Agenda37:54 When to Send Board Materials40:28 Simplifiers vs. Complicators41:58 The Simplifier Finds the One Question That Matters42:16 Three Traits of a Simplifier: Answer, Find, Do43:15 Why Complicated Operators Take You on a Ride44:26 Selling vs. Substance46:23 “Get There, Bob”47:25 Why We Hedge49:36 You Can't Fix a Secret52:50 Credits

In this episode of Run the Numbers, CJ Gustafson talks with Rivian CFO Claire McDonough about financing one of the most capital-intensive businesses in the world. They cover long-term investment decisions, capacity planning, cash management as production scales, lessons from Rivian's nearly $14B IPO, the risks of over- and under-building, and why federal EV tax credits matter more than most people think.—SPONSORS:Tabs is an AI-native revenue platform that unifies billing, collections, and revenue recognition for companies running usage-based or complex contracts. By bringing together ERP, CRM, and real product usage data into a single system of record, Tabs eliminates manual reconciliations and speeds up close and cash collection. Companies like Cortex, Statsig, and Cursor trust Tabs to scale revenue efficiently. Learn more at https://www.tabs.com/runAbacum is a modern FP&A platform built by former CFOs to replace slow, consultant-heavy planning tools. With self-service integrations and AI-powered workflows for forecasting, variance analysis, and scenario modeling, Abacum helps finance teams scale without becoming software admins. Trusted by teams at Strava, Replit, and JG Wentworth—learn more at https://www.abacum.aiBrex is an intelligent finance platform that combines corporate cards, built-in expense management, and AI agents to eliminate manual finance work. By automating expense reviews and reconciliations, Brex gives CFOs more time for the high-impact work that drives growth. Join 35,000+ companies like Anthropic, Coinbase, and DoorDash at https://www.brex.com/metricsMetronome is real-time billing built for modern software companies. Metronome turns raw usage events into accurate invoices, gives customers bills they actually understand, and keeps finance, product, and engineering perfectly in sync. That's why category-defining companies like OpenAI and Anthropic trust Metronome to power usage-based pricing and enterprise contracts at scale. Focus on your product — not your billing. Learn more and get started at https://www.metronome.comRightRev is an automated revenue recognition platform built for modern pricing models like usage-based pricing, bundles, and mid-cycle upgrades. RightRev lets companies scale monetization without slowing down close or compliance. For RevRec that keeps growth moving, visit https://www.rightrev.comRillet is an AI-native ERP built for modern finance teams that want to close faster without fighting legacy systems. Designed to support complex revenue recognition, multi-entity operations, and real-time reporting, Rillet helps teams achieve a true zero-day close—with some customers closing in hours, not days. If you're scaling on an ERP that wasn't built in the 90s, book a demo at https://www.rillet.com/cj—LINKS: Claire on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/claire-rauh-mcdonough-5291b946/Rivian: https://rivian.com/CJ on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/cj-gustafson-13140948/Mostly metrics: https://www.mostlymetrics.com—RELATED EPISODES:Why Revenue Recognition Is the Next AI Battleground | Dan Miller of RightRevhttps://youtu.be/TxhTtwmOass—TIMESTAMPS:00:00:00 Craziest Expense Story at Rivian00:01:22 Intro to Claire McDonough00:03:09 Capital Intensity and Vertical Integration at Rivian00:06:44 Raising $14B: How Rivian Planned Its IPO Capital00:10:22 Capacity Planning and Scaling R2 Production00:12:13 Sponsors — Tabs, Abacum, Brex00:15:34 Sweating Existing Capacity vs Overbuilding00:18:22 Winning EV Adoption from ICE Buyers00:22:27 How Federal EV Tax Credits Shape EV Pricing00:26:03 Sponsors — Metronome, RightRev, Rillet00:29:27 R2 as a Driver of Long-Term Profitability00:33:14 Supply Chain as the Critical Path to Launch00:36:53 Product Roadmap as the Anchor for Capital and Headcount00:39:40 Peloton and Flipkart Lessons from Banking00:43:42 Biggest Career Mistake00:44:50 Advice to Younger Self00:47:19 Rivian's Finance Software Stack

Keith Rabois joins the Newcomer Podcast for a wide-ranging conversation that moves between tech, venture capital, and politics.On the tech side, we start with Brex being acquired by Capital One and what that means for Ramp. Rabois argues that banks won't build the “finance organization of the 21st century,” and frames Ramp's ambition as building the CFO's “eyes, ears, and actions” across a company. We also discuss Rippling's strategy, investor responsibilities around integrity and ethics, and how he thinks about “barrels and ammunition” when companies try to do many things at once.From there we get into AI investing and Rabois's view that what matters is the end-customer value proposition and the durability of the advantage. He explains Rogo as an AI “copilot” for investment bankers and talks about workflow and data moats.The episode also turns heavily to politics and current events: Trump, tech's relationship with the administration, immigration (including H-1B and O-1 visas), free speech, and foreign policy debates (including China, Europe, and the Middle East). We also argue through a recent incident involving law enforcement and protest/obstruction, and close with Opendoor—where Rabois lays out his view of the company's turnaround, retail investors, and the company's weekly “accountability” metrics updates.

This week we chat with Felix Levine!Felix is an entrepreneur, investor, and media operator who began his career in podcasting back in 2019—recording interviews straight out of his freshman-year dorm room at UC Santa Barbara.After transferring to Boston University, where he earned a dual degree in Business Law and Management, Felix spent his college years traveling the country interviewing everyone from high-growth founders and world champion athletes to creators, reality TV stars, and even figures from the criminal underworld.Drawn early to entrepreneurship and venture, Felix knew a traditional career path wasn't for him. After graduating, he went all-in on the podcast, which eventually led to the launch of Lynx, an events and tech company. While Lynx ultimately failed, it became one of his most formative experiences and clarified his desire to operate on the investor side of the table.Around that time, Felix met his business partner Brett and joined Bulletpitch, where he became a partner focused on bringing creators onto cap tables and bridging the gap between venture capital and the creator economy. Today, Felix is helping build a next-generation venture platform—one that uses creator influence not just for deal flow, but as a core de-risking mechanism for early-stage companies.✨ This episode is presented by Brex.Brex: brex.com/trailblazerspodThis episode is supported by RocketReach, Gusto, OpenPhone & Athena.RocketReach: rocketreach.co/trailblazersGusto: gusto.com/trailblazersQuo: Quo.com/trailblazersAthena: athenago.me/Erica-WengerFollow Us!Felix LevineOlder Hotter Wiser @thetrailblazerspod: Instagram, YouTube, TikTokErica Wenger: @erica_wenger

It's Calcutta Cup week! Payno, Hask & Mike Brown preview England's trip to Murrayfield and ask if Gregor Townsend get a response out of his team. They dissect England's business-like win over Wales, praise Italy's resurgence, and debate if Ireland can bounce back. Plus, Round 2 predictions. 00:00

Founders often delay leadership coaching until a major crisis hits, leading to significant costs in productivity, team churn, and poor decisions. In this episode, James Birchler (Technical Advisor & Executive Leadership Coach) argues that early coaching is a game-changer for a startup's success. We explore the hidden costs of waiting and the benefits of intentionally installing leadership and communication systems before you scale. James shares specific self-awareness mechanisms, like advisory groups and feedback loops, to help founders design their day and create accountability. You'll also learn practical strategies like the "5-Minute Alignment Loop" for spotting communication breakdowns & for reinforcing clarity. Plus insights on how to "install your leadership OS" so it can scale with your company. ABOUT JAMES BIRCHLERJames Birchler is an executive leadership coach and technical advisor who specializes in helping engineering leaders and founders develop greater self-awareness and build high-performing teams. He combines deep technical expertise with practical leadership development, making him particularly valuable for technical leaders scaling their organizations.As both a founder and engineering leader, James has more than 20 years of experience leading teams at companies ranging from early-stage startups to Amazon, where his current role is Technical Advisor to the VP of Amazon Delivery Routing and Planning. Most recently, he founded NICER, a premium natural personal care company, and Actuate Partners, his executive coaching and technical advisory practice. He also held VP of Engineering roles at companies including Caffeine (backed by Greylock and Andreessen Horowitz), SmugMug (where his team acquired Flickr), and IMVU.At IMVU, James implemented the Lean Startup methodologies alongside Eric Ries, author of The Lean Startup and creator of the methodology, literally the first company to apply these principles. His team helped pioneer the DevOps movement by building infrastructure to ship code to production 50 times per day and coining the term "continuous deployment." This experience in systematic experimentation and continuous improvement now informs his coaching approach through frameworks like CAMS (Coaching, Advising, Mentoring, Supporting) and the Think-Do-Learn Loop.James completed his executive coaching certification at UC Berkeley Haas School of Business Executive Coaching Institute. His coaching practice focuses on self-awareness, integrity, accountability, and fostering growth mindsets that support continuous learning and high performance. He writes the Continuous Growth newsletter and offers both individual executive coaching and peer learning circles for technical leaders.Through his advisory work with growth-stage startups in the US and Europe, James helps leaders navigate common scaling challenges including hiring and interviewing, implementing development methodologies, establishing operational cadences, and developing other leaders. His approach treats leadership development like product development—with systematic feedback loops, measurable outcomes, and continuous improvement.You can find James at jamesbirchler.com, LinkedIn, and Substack. This episode is brought to you by Retool!What happens when your team can't keep up with internal tool requests? Teams start building their own, Shadow IT spreads across the org, and six months later you're untangling the mess…Retool gives teams a better way: governed, secure, and no cleanup required.Retool is the leading enterprise AppGen platform, powering how the world's most innovative companies build the tools that run their business. Over 10,000 organizations including Amazon, Stripe, Adobe, Brex, and Orangetheory Fitness use the platform to safely harness AI and their enterprise data to create governed, production-ready apps.Learn more at Retool.com/elc SHOW NOTES:Why founders should seek coaching earlier rather than waiting for a crisis to occur (2:45)The high stakes of ignoring this critical advice & how this leads to communication & scaling problems (4:50)The importance of effective communication channels & leadership mechanisms before pressure increases (6:12)How investing a small amount in coaching early on can prevent hundreds of thousands of dollars in future costs (8:07)Frameworks for cultivating self-awareness / leadership blind spots (11:06)James's practice of "designing your day" around a desired identity, not just a list of tasks (12:30)Why designing your day is about intentionality (15:13)How this practice leads to better relationships & opportunities to reflect (17:44)Reflective listening & its impact on customer relationships (19:32)Strategies for improving self-awareness / uncovering blind spots (22:05)An example of how awareness can lead to better results  (26:03)Day-to-day rituals for improving self-awareness (28:14)Signals that your communication methods are effective & getting through (30:37)Reflect on & define the desired outcome you want to generate (33:26)The five-minute alignment loop for creating clarity & confirming ownership as a leader (35:21)Why creating clarity & finding alignment is key as a founder (37:02)How the same communication & leadership patterns recur as your org scales, from small startup to large enterprise (39:46)The increasing importance of human skills like emotional intelligence and reflective listening in an age of AI (42:03)Rapid fire questions (44:38)This episode wouldn't have been possible without the help of our incredible production team:Patrick Gallagher - Producer & Co-HostJerry Li - Co-HostNoah Olberding - Associate Producer, Audio & Video Editor https://www.linkedin.com/in/noah-olberding/Dan Overheim - Audio Engineer, Dan's also an avid 3D printer - https://www.bnd3d.com/Ellie Coggins Angus - Copywriter, Check out her other work at https://elliecoggins.com/about/ Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

In this episode of Run the Numbers, CJ Gustafson sits down with Dan Miller, CFO at RightRev. They unpack why leasing is underused in software, how RevTech emerged, and why revenue recognition may be the next AI battleground. Dan also shares how he evaluates durable growth vs. hypergrowth.—SPONSORS:Rillet is an AI-native ERP built for modern finance teams that want to close faster without fighting legacy systems. Designed to support complex revenue recognition, multi-entity operations, and real-time reporting, Rillet helps teams achieve a true zero-day close—with some customers closing in hours, not days. If you're scaling on an ERP that wasn't built in the 90s, book a demo at https://www.rillet.com/cjTabs is an AI-native revenue platform that unifies billing, collections, and revenue recognition for companies running usage-based or complex contracts. By bringing together ERP, CRM, and real product usage data into a single system of record, Tabs eliminates manual reconciliations and speeds up close and cash collection. Companies like Cortex, Statsig, and Cursor trust Tabs to scale revenue efficiently. Learn more at https://www.tabs.com/runAbacum is a modern FP&A platform built by former CFOs to replace slow, consultant-heavy planning tools. With self-service integrations and AI-powered workflows for forecasting, variance analysis, and scenario modeling, Abacum helps finance teams scale without becoming software admins. Trusted by teams at Strava, Replit, and JG Wentworth—learn more at https://www.abacum.aiBrex is an intelligent finance platform that combines corporate cards, built-in expense management, and AI agents to eliminate manual finance work. By automating expense reviews and reconciliations, Brex gives CFOs more time for the high-impact work that drives growth. Join 35,000+ companies like Anthropic, Coinbase, and DoorDash at https://www.brex.com/metricsMetronome is real-time billing built for modern software companies. Metronome turns raw usage events into accurate invoices, gives customers bills they actually understand, and keeps finance, product, and engineering perfectly in sync. That's why category-defining companies like OpenAI and Anthropic trust Metronome to power usage-based pricing and enterprise contracts at scale. Focus on your product — not your billing. Learn more and get started at https://www.metronome.comRightRev is an automated revenue recognition platform built for modern pricing models like usage-based pricing, bundles, and mid-cycle upgrades. RightRev lets companies scale monetization without slowing down close or compliance. For RevRec that keeps growth moving, visit https://www.rightrev.com—LINKS: Dan on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/danmillercpa/RightRev: https://www.rightrev.com/CJ on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/cj-gustafson-13140948/Mostly metrics: https://www.mostlymetrics.com—TIMESTAMPS:00:00:00 Preview and Intro00:02:41 Why Operating Experience Matters for CFOs00:04:08 Defining Durable Growth00:06:06 Snowflake and Consumption Revenue Complexity00:10:17 Forecasting in Consumption Models00:11:29 AI's Role in Revenue Forecasting00:12:14 Sponsors — Rillet | Tabs | Abacus AI00:15:39 Comping Sales in Usage-Based Models00:18:15 Leasing as a Software Monetization Tool00:20:47 The CFO's Role in Sales and GTM00:22:29 How CFOs Help Close Deals00:24:14 Rev Tech vs RevOps00:26:20 Sponsors — Brex | Metronome | RightRev00:29:40 Where AI Actually Helps Rev Rec00:31:55 Deterministic vs Probabilistic AI00:33:05 Why Enterprises Hesitate on AI Agents00:34:18 Startups vs Incumbents in the AI Race00:35:13 FOMO, Overfunding, and Market Distortions00:38:13 CFO Playbooks Without Hypergrowth00:39:38 Finding PMF as a CFO00:41:15 Career Advice: Growth vs Shiny Objects00:42:00 Building the CEO–CFO Relationship00:42:49 Learning Beyond the Back Office00:43:22 Lightning Round00:44:28 Advice to My Younger Self00:45:09 Finance Tech Stack00:46:36 Credits

In our latest ELC episode, we are addressing some of the biggest challenges facing engineers today: identifying your scaling thesis, putting that thesis into practice, and addressing implementation challenges. Jaikumar Ganesh, Head of Engineering @ Anyscale, shares insights from his experience working at top tech companies like Android and Uber, and how to apply those lessons within your own orgs. We also cover strategies for identifying what to build, using data effectively when it comes to understanding AI agents, and keeping your intent (and customer success) top of mind. Additionally, Jaikumar discusses his experience as a GM and why all orgs should adopt cross-functional skillsets as part of their company culture. ABOUT JAIKUMAR GANESHJaikumar Ganesh is an accomplished technology leader and the Head of Engineering at Anyscale. With a deep background in engineering and customer-facing roles, Jaikumar has a proven track record of building and scaling engineering organizations. He is passionate about pushing the boundaries of product and engineering innovation while ensuring customer needs are met, and is committed to building empowering organizations rooted in trust, respect, and growth. Jaikumar is excited about working with companies to harness the power of AI and distributed computing to achieve their goals. He previously co-started and co-led Uber's AI group—the central ML group at Uber—and was also on the early team at Android @ Google. This episode is brought to you by Retool!What happens when your team can't keep up with internal tool requests? Teams start building their own, Shadow IT spreads across the org, and six months later you're untangling the mess…Retool gives teams a better way: governed, secure, and no cleanup required.Retool is the leading enterprise AppGen platform, powering how the world's most innovative companies build the tools that run their business. Over 10,000 organizations including Amazon, Stripe, Adobe, Brex, and Orangetheory Fitness use the platform to safely harness AI and their enterprise data to create governed, production-ready apps.Learn more at Retool.com/elc SHOW NOTES:Reflecting on scaling patterns across the 2000s, 2010s, and the AI era (03:27)Why "copy-pasting" scaling strategies from other companies leads to failure (5:56)How to define a scaling thesis by mapping revenue projections to infrastructure strategy (7:52)Infrastructure shifts: From Android's OS abstractions to Uber's on-prem data centers (9:56)The "Build vs. Buy" dilemma in the age of AI agents and third-party solutions (12:09)Why "Knowing What to Build" is the new long pole in engineering productivity (20:17)Developing "Product Thinking" within engineering and infrastructure teams (23:10)The emergence of Context Graphs and "Source of Truth" platforms for AI agents (24:46)How to avoid data & context graphs becoming bottlenecks (27:05)Lessons from GM leadership: Bridging the gap between engineering, product, and sales (29:06)The "6-20" Initiative: Uniting cross-functional teams around specific customer wins (32:45)Training engineers to empathize with customer pain and translate technical wins into the language of sales (33:48)Utilizing cross-departmental daily standups and leaderboards to drive aggressive "block and tackle" execution (36:18)Tracing execution failures back to early decision-making and judgment gaps (38:42)Rapid fire questions (45:28) This episode wouldn't have been possible without the help of our incredible production team:Patrick Gallagher - Producer & Co-HostJerry Li - Co-HostNoah Olberding - Associate Producer, Audio & Video Editor https://www.linkedin.com/in/noah-olberding/Dan Overheim - Audio Engineer, Dan's also an avid 3D printer - https://www.bnd3d.com/Ellie Coggins Angus - Copywriter, Check out her other work at https://elliecoggins.com/about/ Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

In this episode of Run the Numbers, CJ sits down with Brett Queener, Managing Director at Bonfire Ventures, to trace the origins of ARR and examine how new revenue models are reshaping B2B software. Drawing on Brett's time at Salesforce and SmartRecruiters, they explore the shift from annual contracts to outcome-based pricing, what it means for forecasting and gtm strategy, and where the next major inflection points in SaaS are likely to emerge.—SPONSORS:RightRev is an automated revenue recognition platform built for modern pricing models like usage-based pricing, bundles, and mid-cycle upgrades. RightRev lets companies scale monetization without slowing down close or compliance. For RevRec that keeps growth moving, visit https://www.rightrev.comRillet is an AI-native ERP built for modern finance teams that want to close faster without fighting legacy systems. Designed to support complex revenue recognition, multi-entity operations, and real-time reporting, Rillet helps teams achieve a true zero-day close—with some customers closing in hours, not days. If you're scaling on an ERP that wasn't built in the 90s, book a demo at https://www.rillet.com/cjTabs is an AI-native revenue platform that unifies billing, collections, and revenue recognition for companies running usage-based or complex contracts. By bringing together ERP, CRM, and real product usage data into a single system of record, Tabs eliminates manual reconciliations and speeds up close and cash collection. Companies like Cortex, Statsig, and Cursor trust Tabs to scale revenue efficiently. Learn more at https://www.tabs.com/runAbacum is a modern FP&A platform built by former CFOs to replace slow, consultant-heavy planning tools. With self-service integrations and AI-powered workflows for forecasting, variance analysis, and scenario modeling, Abacum helps finance teams scale without becoming software admins. Trusted by teams at Strava, Replit, and JG Wentworth—learn more at https://www.abacum.aiBrex is an intelligent finance platform that combines corporate cards, built-in expense management, and AI agents to eliminate manual finance work. By automating expense reviews and reconciliations, Brex gives CFOs more time for the high-impact work that drives growth. Join 35,000+ companies like Anthropic, Coinbase, and DoorDash at https://www.brex.com/metricsMetronome is real-time billing built for modern software companies. Metronome turns raw usage events into accurate invoices, gives customers bills they actually understand, and keeps finance, product, and engineering perfectly in sync. That's why category-defining companies like OpenAI and Anthropic trust Metronome to power usage-based pricing and enterprise contracts at scale. Focus on your product — not your billing. Learn more and get started at https://www.metronome.com—LINKS: Brett on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/brettqueener/Brett's Substack: https://queener.substack.com/CJ on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/cj-gustafson-13140948/Mostly metrics: https://www.mostlymetrics.comThe Staffing Ratios Salesforce Used, with Brett Queener of Bonfire VChttps://youtu.be/lJVgstAXjJs—TIMESTAMPS:00:02:54 Welcome Brett & episode setup00:03:51 On-prem software to SaaS00:05:54 Salesforce & recurring revenue00:07:15 On-prem costs & partner bloat00:09:58 Contracts, control & comp shifts00:14:15 Lock-in, renewals & SaaS drift00:16:20 Sponsors — RightRev | Rillet | Tabs00:19:48 From buying to hiring software00:21:59 Agents change pricing & planning00:25:59 Forecasting without ARR00:28:03 Talent models break00:29:45 Sponsors — Abacum | Brex | Metronome00:33:01 Rethinking sales & comp00:36:47 Selling by doing the job00:40:50 The future role of sales00:46:10 Zombie SaaS & category collapse00:51:07 Context as the moat00:56:07 Where AI hits next00:58:44 Vertical AI & hidden TAMs01:02:12 $1B startups vs mega rounds01:05:48 Dilution, fund math & pressure01:08:03 Choosing your founder path

Welcome back to Fintech Recap. I'm Alex Johnson, joined (as always) by my partner in recapping, Jason Mikula. Even if we aren't sailing to BaaS Island, the news keeps flooding in. We kick off with crypto market structure, which nearly cleared Congress before imploding. The Clarity Act would've locked in broad crypto rules, including limits on stablecoin yield. Banks had momentum to close a key Genius Act loophole (until Coinbase pulled support at the last second). The backlash was swift: other crypto firms were blindsided, lawmakers were furious, and Brian Armstrong ended up in Davos, facing off with Jamie Dimon (who, reportedly, told him to stop lying on TV).  Then it's onto banking charters. NewBank got conditional OCC approval. Ford, GM, and PayPal all made ILC moves. Affirm filed in Nevada, citing "flexibility and diversification," but this is about control. With rising scrutiny on partner banks and consent orders in the air, a charter gives Affirm cleaner economics and regulatory insulation. Like Square and LendingClub before it, the goal is clear: own the balance sheet, shift volume gradually, and keep options open. From there, Capital One's surprise acquisition of Brex for $5B. Most commentary focused on the exit. More interesting is what CapOne wants: startup spend volume and a wedge into high-growth business banking. Integration will take time, and as Ramp scales faster on a leaner model, pressure around ROI will be mounting. Plus, in our Can't Let It Go corner, we look at fintech's dumbest lawsuit: Prism v. TomoCredit. A fake cash flow underwriting product. A stolen trademark. Fabricated and backdated blog posts. An agreed settlement … that Tomo then refused to sign or memorialize. Meanwhile, the site still takes credit card details from consumers who can't unsubscribe. And somehow, it's still going! This episode is brought to you by Plaid.  Plaid helps lenders approve more creditworthy borrowers without taking on more risk, combining real-time cash flow data with behavioral insights. It's a fast, familiar experience people trust, and that actually converts. Learn more at www.plaid.com/ftt Sign up for Alex's Fintech Takes newsletter for the latest insightful analysis on fintech trends, along with a heaping pile of pop culture references and copious footnotes. Every Monday and Thursday: https://workweek.com/brand/fintech-takes/  And for more exclusive insider content, don't forget to check out my YouTube page. Follow Jason: Newsletter: https://fintechbusinessweekly.substack.com/ LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jasonmikula/   Follow Alex:  YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCJgfH47QEwbQmkQlz1V9rQA/videos LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/alexhjohnsonTwitter: https://www.twitter.com/AlexH_Johnson

This week, we chat with Terri Burns! Terri is the founder of Type Capital, an early-stage venture firm focused on being the first check for ambitious founders at pre-seed and seed. Most recently, she was a partner at GV, where she made history as the firm's youngest partner and its first-ever Black female partner, with a focus on digital consumer and emerging technology.During her time at GV, Terri led and supported investments that went on to raise follow-on capital from top-tier firms and achieve meaningful exits, including the social app HAGS, which was acquired by Snapchat. She's also an active angel investor and cofounder of an angel collective that has backed companies like Clubhouse.Terri's impact extends well beyond investing. She's a Forbes 30 Under 30 awardee for Venture Capital, a three-time co-chair of Fortune Magazine's Brainstorm Tech Conference, and a frequent speaker at institutions like Stanford GSB and Harvard Business School. Her work has been featured in publications including Vogue, Fortune, and TechCrunch.Before venture, Terri began her career as an associate product manager at Twitter, studied computer science at NYU, and today serves on NYU's Board of Trustees.✨ This episode is presented by Brex.Brex: brex.com/trailblazerspodThis episode is supported by RocketReach, Gusto, OpenPhone & Athena.RocketReach: rocketreach.co/trailblazersGusto: gusto.com/trailblazersQuo: Quo.com/trailblazersAthena: athenago.me/Erica-WengerFollow Us!Terri Burns: @tcburning @thetrailblazerspod: Instagram, YouTube, TikTokErica Wenger: @erica_wenger

In this special CFO Explains episode of Run the Numbers, CJ Gustafson sits down with executive producer Ben Hillman to unpack the real history of EBITDA. From John Malone and cable TV to private equity, SaaS, and today's AI boom, CJ explains how a metric invented out of desperation became the default language of valuation—and how adjusted EBITDA can both clarify and distort the truth about a business.—SPONSORS:Metronome is real-time billing built for modern software companies. Metronome turns raw usage events into accurate invoices, gives customers bills they actually understand, and keeps finance, product, and engineering perfectly in sync. That's why category-defining companies like OpenAI and Anthropic trust Metronome to power usage-based pricing and enterprise contracts at scale. Focus on your product — not your billing. Learn more and get started at https://www.metronome.comRightRev is an automated revenue recognition platform built for modern pricing models like usage-based pricing, bundles, and mid-cycle upgrades. RightRev lets companies scale monetization without slowing down close or compliance. For RevRec that keeps growth moving, visit https://www.rightrev.comRillet is an AI-native ERP built for modern finance teams that want to close faster without fighting legacy systems. Designed to support complex revenue recognition, multi-entity operations, and real-time reporting, Rillet helps teams achieve a true zero-day close—with some customers closing in hours, not days. If you're scaling on an ERP that wasn't built in the 90s, book a demo at https://www.rillet.com/cjTabs is an AI-native revenue platform that unifies billing, collections, and revenue recognition for companies running usage-based or complex contracts. By bringing together ERP, CRM, and real product usage data into a single system of record, Tabs eliminates manual reconciliations and speeds up close and cash collection. Companies like Cortex, Statsig, and Cursor trust Tabs to scale revenue efficiently. Learn more at https://www.tabs.com/runAbacum is a modern FP&A platform built by former CFOs to replace slow, consultant-heavy planning tools. With self-service integrations and AI-powered workflows for forecasting, variance analysis, and scenario modeling, Abacum helps finance teams scale without becoming software admins. Trusted by teams at Strava, Replit, and JG Wentworth—learn more at https://www.abacum.aiBrex is an intelligent finance platform that combines corporate cards, built-in expense management, and AI agents to eliminate manual finance work. By automating expense reviews and reconciliations, Brex gives CFOs more time for the high-impact work that drives growth. Join 35,000+ companies like Anthropic, Coinbase, and DoorDash at https://www.brex.com/metrics—LINKS: CJ on LinkedIn: 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:How Much Revenue Do You Need to IPO in 2025?https://youtu.be/7ajWVCNVDmI—TIMESTAMPS:00:00:00 Intro00:01:17 The Origins of EBITDA00:06:48 Sponsors — Metronome | RightRev | Rillet00:10:12 The Mechanics of EBITDA00:13:46 Impact on Other Industries00:15:38 The Many Faces of EBITDA00:19:09 Sponsors  — Tabs | Abacum | Brex00:22:30 EBITDA's AI Encore00:24:56 Wrap Up00:28:19 Credits#RunTheNumbersPodcast #CFOExplains #EBITDA #FinancePodcast #BusinessMetrics

Welcome back to Trailblazers by Park Rangers Capital!In this week's solo episode, host Erica Wenger breaks down 10 pieces of advice for ambitious twenty somethings! Drawing from her personal experiences in the business world, Erica covers topics like building a strong personal brand, making smart career choices, and other key strategies for growth and success. Whether you're just starting out or looking to level up, these insights will help you approach your professional journey with confidence and clarity.✨ This episode is presented by Brex.Brex: brex.com/trailblazerspodThis episode is supported by Rocketreach, Gusto, OpenPhone & Athena.RocketReach: rocketreach.co/trailblazersGusto: gusto.com/trailblazersQuo (formerly OpenPhone): Quo.com/trailblazersAthena: athenago.me/Erica-WengerFollow Us!@thetrailblazerspod: Instagram, YouTube, TikTokErica Wenger: @erica_wenger

AGENDA: 03:36 Brex Acquisition by Capital One for $5.15BN 10:54 Does Brex's Acquisition Help or Hurt Ramp? 16:28 TikTok Deal Completed: Who Won & Who Lost: Analysis 19:30 Anthropic Inference Costs Higher Than Expected 37:50 Open Evidence Raises at $12BN from Thrive and DST 53:56 Wealthront IPO Disaster: Is $1.5BN IPO Too Small? 01:07:27 Salesforce Wins $5BN Army Contract: The Last Laugh for SaaS  

Theory meets tarmac. Sushmitha "Sushi" Radhakrishnan runs finance and operations at Birddogs, the men's apparel brand born from a Shark Tank moment that's now selling through Dick's Sporting Goods. She breaks down what cash flow actually looks like when summer—not holidays—is your Super Bowl, tariffs hit mid-growth, and every trend cycle could make or break a season.Key takeaways:Seasonal brands need capital access during revenue troughs, not just peaksMulti-channel operations demand different buying cycles—wholesale plans months ahead while DTC converts in hoursSpeed separates winners in apparel—trends change faster than traditional finance approval loopsSmall teams need executive-level spend control with rapid scalability for growth momentsKey Quotes:Sushi Radhakrishnan [00:14:49]: "Because we are a seasonal business, having access to credit cards like a Brex where we have charge cards—in those situations when we're in our cash flow troughs, having that extra flexibility is really critical to us. There's a six month period where we have to have really good months because that's what funds the business in the lower months."Sushi Radhakrishnan [00:20:28]: "This is my first foray into apparel and selling it online and trends change so quickly. A winning product—it's definitely a very dynamic environment to operate in."Sushi Radhakrishnan [00:18:12]: "We move really fast. Getting that feedback loop shortened is really important when we're managing cash. That's been refreshing with Brex—the support we're getting from a credit card provider. I don't have that same level of one on one service with American Express."Sushi Radhakrishnan [00:23:22]: "People buy apparel based on emotion, not just because they see it come across their Instagram reel. It's really important that we continue to appeal to our buyers in a way that's more than just selling the value prop of our product."Associated Links:Learn more about BrexLearn more about MelioCheck out Future Commerce on YouTubeCheck out Future Commerce Plus for exclusive content and save on merch and printSubscribe to Insiders and The Senses to read more about what we are witnessing in the commerce worldListen to our other episodes of Future CommerceHave any questions or comments about the show? Let us know on futurecommerce.com, or reach out to us on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, or LinkedIn. We love hearing from our listeners! Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

In this episode of Run the Numbers, CJ sits down with Dan Griggs, CFO of Intercom, to break down how finance leaders should think about pricing, forecasting, and resource allocation in the AI era. Dan explains why “it's not zero” is his guiding forecasting principle, how Intercom landed on 99 cents per AI resolution for Fin, and what it means to build an AI product that could eventually cannibalize a successful SaaS core. A candid look at managing uncertainty while still making bold bets.—SPONSORS:Brex is an intelligent finance platform that combines corporate cards, built-in expense management, and AI agents to eliminate manual finance work. By automating expense reviews and reconciliations, Brex gives CFOs more time for the high-impact work that drives growth. Join 35,000+ companies like Anthropic, Coinbase, and DoorDash at https://www.brex.com/metricsMetronome is real-time billing built for modern software companies. Metronome turns raw usage events into accurate invoices, gives customers bills they actually understand, and keeps finance, product, and engineering perfectly in sync. That's why category-defining companies like OpenAI and Anthropic trust Metronome to power usage-based pricing and enterprise contracts at scale. Focus on your product — not your billing. Learn more and get started at https://www.metronome.comRightRev is an automated revenue recognition platform built for modern pricing models like usage-based pricing, bundles, and mid-cycle upgrades. RightRev lets companies scale monetization without slowing down close or compliance. For RevRec that keeps growth moving, visit https://www.rightrev.comRillet is an AI-native ERP built for modern finance teams that want to close faster without fighting legacy systems. Designed to support complex revenue recognition, multi-entity operations, and real-time reporting, Rillet helps teams achieve a true zero-day close—with some customers closing in hours, not days. If you're scaling on an ERP that wasn't built in the 90s, book a demo at https://www.rillet.com/cjTabs is an AI-native revenue platform that unifies billing, collections, and revenue recognition for companies running usage-based or complex contracts. By bringing together ERP, CRM, and real product usage data into a single system of record, Tabs eliminates manual reconciliations and speeds up close and cash collection. Companies like Cortex, Statsig, and Cursor trust Tabs to scale revenue efficiently. Learn more at https://www.tabs.com/runAbacum is a modern FP&A platform built by former CFOs to replace slow, consultant-heavy planning tools. With self-service integrations and AI-powered workflows for forecasting, variance analysis, and scenario modeling, Abacum helps finance teams scale without becoming software admins. Trusted by teams at Strava, Replit, and JG Wentworth—learn more at https://www.abacum.ai—LINKS:Dan on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/dan-griggs-0970181/Intercom: https://www.intercom.com/CJ on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/cj-gustafson-13140948/Mostly metrics: https://www.mostlymetrics.com—RELATED EPISODES:Inside Rocket Companies: M&A, Metrics, and Mortgage Moats | Brian Brownhttps://youtu.be/ttedn4AULt8—TIMESTAMPS:00:00:00 Cold Open00:01:03 Intro to Dan Griggs and Intercom's AI Pivot00:02:45 From Ice Cream to SaaS: Early Finance Lessons00:04:19 Learning the Business by Living the Operations00:06:26 Why Operational Reality Shapes Better Forecasts00:08:00 “It's Not Zero”: Forecasting the Unknowable00:10:09 Scenario Planning, Ambiguity, and Psychological Safety00:11:23 Sponsors — Brex | Metronome | RightRev00:14:43 Keeping a Mental Model of Key Business Metrics00:16:15 Using Mental Math to Sanity-Check Forecasts00:17:28 Core Ratios Every CFO Uses to Vet Decisions00:19:13 The Burn-the-Boats Moment for Intercom's AI Pivot00:20:53 Why AI Was an Existential, Not Incremental, Bet00:22:21 Which SaaS Categories AI Can Fully Replace Work00:23:04 Why Finance Hasn't Had Its AI Moment Yet00:23:39 Sponsors — Rillet | Tabs | Abacum00:27:05 Why Fin Needed Outcome-Based Pricing00:28:59 The Tradeoff Behind $0.99 Per Resolution00:30:46 Why Support Conversations Vary in Complexity00:32:01 What Drives the Unit Economics of AI Resolutions00:33:08 How Intercom Chooses Models as Costs Fall00:35:19 Replacing Generic LLMs With Domain-Specific Models00:36:08 Selling an AI Product That Could Cannibalize the Core00:38:50 Founder CEOs Versus Professional CEOs00:41:47 Hiring Mistakes and Acting on Instincts00:44:28 Intercom's Finance Software Stack00:45:49 The Craziest Expense Request#RunTheNumbersPodcast #Intercom #AICustomerSupport #OutcomeBasedPricing #CFOInsights This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit cjgustafson.substack.com

When a fintech unicorn exits to a traditional bank, the headline says “successful exit.” This video looks deeper.We analyze the acquisition of Brex by Capital One and what it signals for fintech, startup founders, and venture investors.Topics covered:- Why this exit matters beyond valuation- What it reveals about fintech business models- Why balance sheets, regulation, and distribution still matter- How fintech exit paths are changing- What founders and VCs should learn from this dealLINKSPrashant Choubey - https://www.linkedin.com/in/choubeysahabSubscribe to VC10X newsletter - https://vc10x.beehiiv.comSubscribe on YouTube - https://youtube.com/@VC10X Subscribe on Apple Podcasts - https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/vc10x-investing-venture-capital-asset-management-private/id1632806986Subscribe on Spotify - https://open.spotify.com/show/7F7KEhXNhTx1bKTBFgzv3k?si=WgQ4ozMiQJ-6nowj6wBgqQVC10X website - https://vc10x.comFor sponsorship queries reach out to prashantchoubey3@gmail.comSUBSCRIBE FOR MOREVC10X breaks down the most important stories in finance, tech, and markets every week. Subscribe for actionable insights.#brex #fintech #venturecapital investing #exits

The old retail calendar is dead. Between TikTok virality, celebrity sightings, and ChatGPT-powered discovery, brands face a new reality: commerce runs on culture's clock. Nicole Thomas (Brex) and Anand Mehta (Melio) break down how this shift from predictable peaks to perpetual possibility demands radical financial agility.Key takeaways:Retail shifted from twice-yearly peaks to monthly cultural spikes brands can't predictCash conversion cycle reveals hidden supplier payment leverage beyond inventory optimizationCredit card float extends working capital without compounding traditional loan debtLiquidity separates trend leaders from trend chasers regardless of business sizeKey Quotes:Nicole Thomas [00:06:27]: "Seasonality is kind of taking shape in the way that it's less of like these ebbs and flows maybe twice a year to maybe once a month. If your product goes viral or if a celebrity endorses something, your consumers are now expecting to get those products when they want it."Anand Mehta [00:22:17]: "Costco managed to have a very low, if not negative cash conversion cycle because their store is the warehouse. They've already sold and converted their inventory to cash before they even have to pay it out."Nicole Thomas [00:37:06]: "Commerce is definitely making a big shift to flattening out, but not flattening out enough to where you can actually predict those peaks and valleys. We're definitely shifting from a calendar economy to more of a cultural economy."Anand Mehta [00:32:14]: "This use case of extending cash flow isn't just for businesses who are struggling. If you're a brand that is very liquid, having that cash buffer allows you to be a brand that's jumping in on a trend in the early stages of the trend, not chasing a trend."In-Show Mentions:Learn more about BrexLearn more about MelioCheck out Future Commerce on YouTubeCheck out Future Commerce+ for exclusive content and save on merch and printSubscribe to Insiders and The Senses to read more about what we are witnessing in the commerce worldListen to our other episodes of Future CommerceHave any questions or comments about the show? Let us know on futurecommerce.com, or reach out to us on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, or LinkedIn. We love hearing from our listeners! Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Esta semana hablamos de la caída en el consumo en ciudades fronterizas de EUA, Pinterest en México, la compra de Brex por Capital One, el aumento en matrículas en escuelas de derecho en EUA, y la adquisición de Pulppo por Tuhabi, entre otros temas.Prueba Whitepaper 30 días gratisCompra tu gorra o ilustraciones de Whitepaper aquí

Cash flow isn't just spreadsheets—it's survival. In an era of tariffs, currency swings, and supply chain whiplash, small businesses face a paradox: grow fast while everything shifts beneath you. Corinne Boonstra (Brex) and Aharon Naveen (Melio) unpack how payment independence becomes the ultimate competitive advantage.Key takeaways:Tariff volatility forces brands to message consumers directly about pricing pressuresSmall businesses gain agility advantage by switching suppliers faster than competitorsPayment independence decouples cash flow from vendor relationship power dynamicsTechnology stacks need finance-novice friendliness, not just CFO sophisticationKey Quotes:Corinne Boonstra [00:08:11]: "Brands are having to reach out to their consumer base to communicate with them why prices are increasing or using that as kind of a pivotal point of, say, buy these goods now while they're this price."Aharon Naveen [00:12:06]: "Switching vendors is complex. It comes with an operational overhead of different net terms, different currency conversions, different shipping time, different payment acceptance."Aharon Naveen [00:19:45]: "Giving the control back to small business, putting them in a position that they can overcome the relationship dynamic or the power dynamic of a new vendor—that is what technology brings to play."Corinne Boonstra [00:23:10]: "These tools need to be able to be leveraged by your CMO, your head of digital, your founder—whoever is ultimately making these decisions might not have an accounting background."Associated Links:Learn more about BrexLearn more about MelioCheck out Future Commerce on YouTubeCheck out Future Commerce+ for exclusive content and save on merch and printSubscribe to Insiders and The Senses to read more about what we are witnessing in the commerce worldListen to our other episodes of Future CommerceHave any questions or comments about the show? Let us know on futurecommerce.com, or reach out to us on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, or LinkedIn. We love hearing from our listeners! Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Shomik is the newest partner at Sierra Ventures! A longtime venture investor and an inception-focused fund backing technical founders at day zero. He supported companies like Cloudquery, Kiln AI, and Ask-Y, and played a role in many other early investments.Shomik was an investor at Top Tier Capital, where he focused on growth-stage companies including CircleCI, Anaplan, Remitly, Shape Security, and Snyk. His path into venture was anything but traditional, with early experience spanning tech M&A, venture debt, a failed startup, and fixed income sales and trading.Originally from New Jersey and a Pittsburgh alum, Shomik is an avid hiker, an aspiring guitarist—progress very much still in flight—and the proud dad of a one-and-a-half-year-old son who now takes up all of his spare time.✨ This episode is presented by Brex.Brex: brex.com/trailblazerspodThis episode is supported by RocketReach, Gusto, OpenPhone & Athena.RocketReach: rocketreach.co/trailblazersGusto: gusto.com/trailblazersQuo: Quo.com/trailblazersAthena: athenago.me/Erica-WengerFollow Us!Shomik Ghosh: @shomikghosh21@thetrailblazerspod: Instagram, YouTube, TikTokErica Wenger: @erica_wenger

How do you transform a collection of individual tools into a cohesive, AI-powered symphony? Vineeta Puranik (CPTO @ SmartBear) dissects the strategy behind evolving a product vision from point solutions to a unified multi-product ecosystem. We explore the critical architectural distinction between "AI bolt-on" and "AI native" strategies, frameworks for seamless M&A integration, and how to design for varying levels of customer AI readiness. Vineeta also discusses the shift to test “does it match intent”, using “jobs to be done” to drive solving entire workflows not just tool capabilities, and designing user experiences for both human personas and AI agents. ABOUT VINEETA PURANIKVineeta Puranik serves as Chief Product and Technology Officer (CPTO) at SmartBear, where she leads the company's global technology and product strategy to empower developers and enterprises worldwide. A seasoned technology executive with over two decades of experience, she combines strategic vision with hands-on leadership to drive innovation, growth, and operational excellence.At SmartBear, Vineeta oversees development, cloud engineers, AI, and architecture, and has been instrumental in scaling centers of excellence in India and Poland, launching the Developer Academy, and advancing the company's hub-based product strategy – Swagger suite for API capabilities, Test Hub, and Insight Hub. Recognized for her collaborative, people first leadership and commitment to inclusion, she was named a 2024 Women Worth Watching in STEM by Profiles in Diversity Journal. This episode is brought to you by Retool!What happens when your team can't keep up with internal tool requests? Teams start building their own, Shadow IT spreads across the org, and six months later you're untangling the mess…Retool gives teams a better way: governed, secure, and no cleanup required.Retool is the leading enterprise AppGen platform, powering how the world's most innovative companies build the tools that run their business. Over 10,000 organizations including Amazon, Stripe, Adobe, Brex, and Orangetheory Fitness use the platform to safely harness AI and their enterprise data to create governed, production-ready apps.Learn more at Retool.com/elc SHOW NOTES:SmartBear's evolution from individual tools to a connected ecosystem (3:34)The cultural shift toward vendor consolidation and avoiding context switching (5:39)Why "Jobs-to-be-Done" must drive the workflow, not just the tool capabilities (9:35)The shift in testing: Moving from "does it crash?" to "does it match intent?" in an AI world (14:26)The architectural difference between "AI Bolt-On" and "AI Native" products (20:44)The levels of autonomy: A framework for moving from manual control to autonomous testing (24:10)Designing for different customer personas: Addressing security, policy, and AI readiness (30:01)Rapid Fire Questions (32:50) LINKS AND RESOURCES Books MentionedOwn the Room: Discover Your Signature Voice to Master Your Leadership Presence by Amy Jen Su and Muriel Maignan Wilkins.The Leader You Want to Be: Five Essential Principles for Bringing Out Your Best Self--Every Day by Amy Jen Su.SmartBear Tools & ProductsSmartBear[**Reflect**](https://reflect.run/?utm_medium=referral&utm_source=smartbear.com&utm_campaign=prodnav&_gl=1*4gpwr4*_gcl_au*MTAzOTk0MjM2LjE3Njk0NjU4NTA.) – Mentioned as their "AI Native" product for autonomous testing.Zephyr Scale – Mentioned regarding the Atlassian ecosystem integration.[**QMetry**](https://www.qmetry.com/?_gl=1*1d5sv56*_gcl_au*MTAzOTk0MjM2LjE3Njk0NjU4NTA.) – Recently acquired test management product.[**Swagger**](https://swagger.io/product/?_gl=1*gtu348*_gcl_au*MTAzOTk0MjM2LjE3Njk0NjU4NTA.) – Mentioned as the suite for API design and compliance. This episode wouldn't have been possible without the help of our incredible production team:Patrick Gallagher - Producer & Co-HostJerry Li - Co-HostNoah Olberding - Associate Producer, Audio & Video Editor https://www.linkedin.com/in/noah-olberding/Dan Overheim - Audio Engineer, Dan's also an avid 3D printer - https://www.bnd3d.com/Ellie Coggins Angus - Copywriter, Check out her other work at https://elliecoggins.com/about/ Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Are you accidentally breaking CPA rules across state lines? Guest Lindsay Patterson, CPA CIA breaks down the new mobility landscape after alternative licensure paths—and the surprising data firms must track to avoid fines, failed peer reviews, and redoing audits. Plus: Congress's Fiscal State of the Nation bill, Deloitte's PR storm, QuickBooks' AI reconciliation, and what's driving a rebound in accounting majors. Walk away knowing where to get licensed, what triggers penalties, and how to protect your firm.SponsorsTaxBandits - http://accountingpodcast.promo/taxbanditsEarmark - http://accountingpodcast.promo/earmarkOnPay - http://accountingpodcast.promo/onpayUNC - http://accountingpodcast.promo/uncChapters(00:00) - Introduction and CPA Email Incident (00:33) - AI in QuickBooks: A Game Changer? (06:00) - Live Stream Shoutouts and YouTube Promotion (06:54) - New Legislation: Fiscal State of the Nation Act (10:37) - CPA Mobility and Alternative Pathways (11:47) - Guest Segment: Lindsay Patterson on CPA Mobility (33:13) - Deloitte's Bad Week: Controversies and Criticisms (35:58) - CPA Firms in Trouble: The Zwick CPA Case (40:05) - Jerome Powell's Defiant Statement (44:29) - Why Accountants Leave Public Accounting (51:24) - Listener Emails and Final Thoughts (52:08) - The Future of Accounting Jobs (55:12) - Private Equity in CPA Firms  Meet Lindsay Patterson: LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/lindsaypatterson/Show NotesAICPA Urges Congressional Support for Fiscal State of the Nation Act https://www.aicpa-cima.com/news/article/aicpa-urges-congressional-support-for-fiscal-state-of-the-nation-actBarr Reintroduces Bipartisan Fiscal State of the Nation Act to Strengthen Oversight of Government Spending https://barr.house.gov/press-releases?id=EDF451C5-EEAE-44D7-85A8-2B714E9D7822For CPAs, one license — and 55 rulebooks https://www.accountingtoday.com/opinion/for-cpas-one-license-and-55-rulebooksDeloitte's Disturbing Pattern Allegedly Cost Americans Health Coverage, Delayed Benefits, and the US Government $74Bhttps://www.ibtimes.co.uk/deloittes-disturbing-pattern-allegedly-cost-americans-health-coverage-delayed-benefits-us-1773010Deloitte to ramp up India operations with 50,000 new hires https://www.internationalaccountingbulletin.com/news/deloitte-hiring-india/PCAOB Sanctions Audit Firm, an Owner of That Firm, and a Former Audit Manager for Multiple Violations of PCAOB Rules and Standardshttps://pcaobus.org/news-events/news-releases/news-release-detail/pcaob-sanctions-audit-firm--an-owner-of-that-firm--and-a-former-audit-manager-for-multiple-violations-of-pcaob-rules-and-standardsPCAOB bars Zwick CPA, owner and manager https://www.accountingtoday.com/news/pcaob-bars-zwick-cpa-owner-and-managerTurnover Experiences in Public Accounting and Alumni's Decisions to 'Give Back' https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=4266300U.S. Accounting Undergraduate Enrollment Rises for Third Straight Year https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/us-accounting-undergraduate-enrollment-rises-for-third-straight-year-302665511.htmlAccounting undergrad enrollment rises for third year https://www.accountingtoday.com/news/accounting-undergrad-enrollment-rises-for-third-yearCapital One to Acquire Brex https://investor.capitalone.com/news-releases/news-release-details/capital-one-acquire-brexCapital One is buying startup Brex for $5.15 billion in credit card firm's latest deal https://www.cnbc.com/2026/01/22/capital-one-is-buying-startup-brex-for-5point15-billion-in-credit-card-firms-latest-deal.htmlFlorida Republican candidate suggests 'sin tax' for OnlyFans creators https://thehill.com/homenews/nexstar_media_wire/5691927-florida-governor-candidate-sin-tax/Florida gubernatorial candidate proposes 50% "sin" tax on OnlyFans creators; top earner Sophie Rain pushes backhttps://www.cbsnews.com/miami/news/florida-onlyfans-tax-proposal-james-fishback-sophie-rain/Need CPE?Get CPE for listening to podcasts with Earmark: https://earmarkcpe.comSubscribe to the Earmark Podcast: https://podcast.earmarkcpe.comGet in TouchThanks for listening and the great reviews! We appreciate you! Follow and tweet @BlakeTOliver and @DavidLeary. Find us on Facebook and Instagram. If you like what you hear, please do us a favor and write a review on Apple Podcasts or Podchaser. Call us and leave a voicemail; maybe we'll play it on the show. DIAL (202) 695-1040.SponsorshipsAre you interested in sponsoring The Accounting Podcast? For details, read the prospectus.Need Accounting Conference Info? Check out our new website - accountingconferences.comLimited edition shirts, stickers, and other necessitiesTeePublic Store: h...

Send us a textBrex was once valued at $12.3B. Capital One just bought it for $5.15B.In today's episode of Market Outsiders, Jenny Rae and Namaan break down why Capital One was willing to buy Brex at a $7B discount – and what the deal actually tells us about fintech valuations, banking strategy, and the future of credit cards.We unpack:Why the 50% cash / 50% stock structure reveals who really had leverageWhat Capital One is actually buyingWhether this is a smart buy vs. build move or a risky integration betThe bigger question: Is this how banks future-proof growth in financial services – or an example of catching a falling knife?Episode Links:Capital One is buying startup Brex for $5.15 billion in credit card firm's latest deal (CNBC)Partner Links:Learn more about NordStellar's Threat Exposure Management Program; unlock 10% off with code SIMPLIFIED-10Chapters:The $7B Brex DiscountWhat Brex Actually DoesWhy the $12B Valuation BrokeWhat Capital One Is BuyingCash vs. Stock LeverageRevenue Synergies vs. RiskFit with Capital One's Card StrategyMarket Reaction ExplainedSmart Bet or Falling KnifeConnect With Management Consulted Schedule free 15min consultation with the MC Team. Watch the video version of the podcast on YouTube! Follow us on LinkedIn, Instagram, and TikTok for the latest updates and industry insights! Join an upcoming live event - case interviews demos, expert panels, and more. Email us (team@managementconsulted.com) with questions or feedback.

In this episode of Run the Numbers, CJ sits down with Maria Izurieta, CFO of Huntress, to unpack what it really means to lead finance as a connective tissue across the organization. Drawing on experience across VC-backed, PE-owned, and public companies, Maria shares how she balances impact versus perfection, builds trust through small wins, and helps teams move from transactional finance to insight-driven decision making. They dig into data transparency, centralized BI, partnering with sales and marketing on revenue, and why the best CFOs unblock friction instead of becoming the “no” department — all while bringing a deeply people-first lens to scale.—SPONSORS:Abacum is a modern FP&A platform built by former CFOs to replace slow, consultant-heavy planning tools. With self-service integrations and AI-powered workflows for forecasting, variance analysis, and scenario modeling, Abacum helps finance teams scale without becoming software admins. Trusted by teams at Strava, Replit, and JG Wentworth—learn more at https://www.abacum.aiBrex is an intelligent finance platform that combines corporate cards, built-in expense management, and AI agents to eliminate manual finance work. By automating expense reviews and reconciliations, Brex gives CFOs more time for the high-impact work that drives growth. Join 35,000+ companies like Anthropic, Coinbase, and DoorDash at https://www.brex.com/metricsMetronome is real-time billing built for modern software companies. Metronome turns raw usage events into accurate invoices, gives customers bills they actually understand, and keeps finance, product, and engineering perfectly in sync. That's why category-defining companies like OpenAI and Anthropic trust Metronome to power usage-based pricing and enterprise contracts at scale. Focus on your product — not your billing. Learn more and get started at https://www.metronome.comRightRev is an automated revenue recognition platform built for modern pricing models like usage-based pricing, bundles, and mid-cycle upgrades. RightRev lets companies scale monetization without slowing down close or compliance. For RevRec that keeps growth moving, visit https://www.rightrev.comRillet is an AI-native ERP built for modern finance teams that want to close faster without fighting legacy systems. Designed to support complex revenue recognition, multi-entity operations, and real-time reporting, Rillet helps teams achieve a true zero-day close—with some customers closing in hours, not days. If you're scaling on an ERP that wasn't built in the 90s, book a demo at https://www.rillet.com/cjTabs is an AI-native revenue platform that unifies billing, collections, and revenue recognition for companies running usage-based or complex contracts. By bringing together ERP, CRM, and real product usage data into a single system of record, Tabs eliminates manual reconciliations and speeds up close and cash collection. Companies like Cortex, Statsig, and Cursor trust Tabs to scale revenue efficiently. Learn more at https://www.tabs.com/run—LINKS:Maria on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/maria-izurieta-909a3b/Company: https://www.huntress.com/CJ on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/cj-gustafson-13140948/Mostly metrics: https://www.mostlymetrics.com—RELATED EPISODES:How the Best CFOs Lead Without Being the CEO | Ken Stillwellhttps://youtu.be/O4cx9NBqQso—TIMESTAMPS:00:00:00 Preview and Intro00:01:01 Maria's Background00:03:09 People-First Team Building00:05:16 People, Process, Systems at Scale00:07:13 Removing Friction Outside Finance00:09:15 Data Transparency & Decision-Making00:11:06 Sponsors — Abacum | Brex | Metronome00:14:22 Forward-Deployed Data00:16:21 Centralized Data vs. Silos00:19:23 Finance as Data Steward00:21:08 Cost-to-Price Feedback Loop00:22:35 Curiosity Builds Credibility00:23:43 Sponsors — RightRev | Rillet | Tabs00:27:12 Trust First, Then Impact00:30:27 Celebrating Small Wins00:31:21 From Transactions to Insights00:33:00 CFO at the Revenue Table00:34:32 Educating the Org on Metrics00:36:21 Customer-Level Margin Reality00:37:13 Using Facts to Change Decisions00:38:27 Ownership Mindset in Growth Companies00:39:10 VC vs. PE vs. Public CFO Tradeoffs00:41:02 Operating Inside Constraints00:42:18 Finding Your Stage Fit00:44:17 Building a Personal Advisor Network00:46:43 Visibility and Women in Leadership00:47:44 Work–Life Integration, Not Balance00:48:45 Lightning Round: Biggest Mistake00:50:10 Advice to Younger Self00:51:36 Finance Tech Stack00:52:01 Craziest Expense Story00:52:44 Credits#RunTheNumbersPodcast #CFOLeadership #ScalingCompanies #DataDrivenDecisions #ExecutiveLeadership This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit cjgustafson.substack.com

成為這個頻道的會員並獲得福利：https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCJIPFjZSCWR15_jxBaK2fQQ/join前幾天看到新聞，我的前東家、曾經是矽谷最耀眼的 FinTech 獨角獸 Brex，正式被 Capital One 以 51.5 億美金收購。這個消息對我來說心情特別複雜，不只是因為這代表著一個時代的結束，更因為我曾身在其中，見證過它的瘋狂與轉折。你很難想像，這家公司的起點，是兩位來自巴西的 20 歲少年。他們 16 歲就靠賣掉支付公司財富自由，為了進入矽谷核心圈申請上 Stanford，最後卻因為「身價千萬卻辦不到一張美國信用卡」的荒謬痛點，決定輟學創辦 Brex，發誓要顛覆傳統銀行。九年過去了，這場金融革命的結局不是上市敲鐘，而是估值腰斬，賣給了它原本最想取代的對手。這集影片不只是商業新聞的分析，我整理了 Brex 創辦人的傳奇發跡史、它與競爭對手 Ramp 之間的「哲學之戰」：當「鼓勵花錢」遇上「幫你省錢」，為何在升息循環下命運截然不同？更重要的是，我想用「前員工」的內部視角，公開我當時的 Offer 與最終的 RSU 回報，直接算給你看：在獨角獸公司打工，還要經歷併購的層層資金分配後，到底是財富自由的捷徑，還是一場華麗的賭注？這是一個關於天才、野心、時運，以及矽谷打工人真實回報的故事。本集精彩亮點： 

Send us a textInvest in pre-IPO stocks with AG Dillon & Co. Contact aaron.dillon@agdillon.com to learn more. Financial advisors only. www.agdillon.com00:00 - Intro00:07 - ClickHouse $400M Series D $15B Valuation Langfuse M&A01:29 - Runpod $120M Run Rate 500K Developers 31 Regions02:59 - Humans& $480M Seed $4.48B Valuation 3 Months Old04:03 - Baseten $300M Raise $5B Valuation Nvidia $150M04:49 - Noveon Magnetics $215M Raise 2,000+ Tons Per Year Target06:17 - Zipline $600M+ New Funding $7.6B Valuation 2M+ Deliveries07:34 - Hatch Yelp Acquisition $300M Deal 12x ARR08:26 - Brex Capital One Acquisition $5.15B Deal $13B Deposits09:30 - DayOne Data Centers IPO Target Up to $20B10:14 - World Labs Funding Talks at $5B Potential $500M Balance Sheet Add11:08 - TikTok US New Entity 50% New Investors 200M US Users12:42 - Inferact $150M Seed $800M Valuation vLLM Commercialization13:16 - RadixArk $400M Valuation SGLang Commercial Push14:07 - Blue Origin TeraWave 6 Tbps 5,408 Satellites Q4 2027 Deployment15:15 - OpenAI Shopify Checkouts Jan 26 Launch 4% ChatGPT Fee16:24 - OpenAI API Revenue +$1B ARR in One Month $20B+ Total ARR16:51 - OpenAI Ads Testing Coming Weeks Go Plan Included17:31 - OpenAI ServiceNow 3-Year Enterprise Integration

Ok, ok, maybe the whole TikTok thing is a done deal at long last? Amazon is planning another major round of layoffs. Are Epic Games and Google doing an end-run around the judge? Capital One acquires Brex. And, of course, The Weekend Longreads Suggestions. Trump's TikTok deal is a gift to China (FT) Exclusive: Amazon plans thousands more corporate job cuts next week, sources say (Reuters) Epic and Google have a secret $800 million Unreal Engine and services deal (The Verge) Apple Expands Hardware Chief's Role (Bloomberg) Capital One Strikes $5.15 Billion Deal for Fintech Brex (WSJ) Weekend Longreads Suggestion: Russia, Ukraine and the race for Chinese drone components (FT) Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Capital One's (COF) earnings miss and acquisition of fintech firm Brex have shares under pressure to end the trading week. Diane King Hall helps investors break down the latest quarterly report. On a positive note, TD Cowen upgraded Fortinet (FTNT) as it sees AI tailwinds for the company. Spotify (SPOT) got an upgrade and price target hike from Goldman Sachs following a months-long sell-off. ======== Schwab Network ========Empowering every investor and trader, every market day.Subscribe to the Market Minute newsletter - https://schwabnetwork.com/subscribeDownload the iOS app - https://apps.apple.com/us/app/schwab-network/id1460719185Download the Amazon Fire Tv App - https://www.amazon.com/TD-Ameritrade-Network/dp/B07KRD76C7Watch on Sling - https://watch.sling.com/1/asset/191928615bd8d47686f94682aefaa007/watchWatch on Vizio - https://www.vizio.com/en/watchfreeplus-exploreWatch on DistroTV - https://www.distro.tv/live/schwab-network/Follow us on X – https://twitter.com/schwabnetworkFollow us on Facebook – https://www.facebook.com/schwabnetworkFollow us on LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/company/schwab-network/About Schwab Network - https://schwabnetwork.com/about

HSBC's Frank Lee talks with TITV Host Akash Pasricha about Intel's disappointing revenue guidance and capacity constraints despite the AI boom. We also talk with BitGo CEO Mike Belshe about their public debut and the shift toward retail-driven IPOs, and The Information's Laura Mandaro about Capital One's $5.15 billion acquisition of Brex. We then get into the reality behind the TikTok deal and OpenAI's ad testing with editors Martin Peers and Meredith Mazzilli. Finally, we go inside the political transformation of OpenAI President Greg Brockman with reporters Stephanie Palazzolo and Jemima McEvoy.Articles discussed on this episode: https://www.theinformation.com/articles/intel-now-pricier-tsmc-makes-sensehttps://www.theinformation.com/newsletters/the-briefing/brexit-fintechhttps://www.theinformation.com/newsletters/dealmaker/exit-brex-investors-rising-zombie-fundshttps://www.theinformation.com/briefings/tiktok-completes-sale-data-security-arm-joint-ventureSubscribe: YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@theinformation The Information: https://www.theinformation.com/subscribe_hSign up for the AI Agenda newsletter: https://www.theinformation.com/features/ai-agendaTITV airs weekdays on YouTube, X and LinkedIn at 10AM PT / 1PM ET. Or check us out wherever you get your podcasts.Follow us:X: https://x.com/theinformationIG: https://www.instagram.com/theinformation/TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@titv.theinformationLinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/theinformation/

In this episode of Run the Numbers, CJ sits down with Ken Stillwell, CFO and COO of Pegasystems, to explore the realities of leading from the second seat. Ken shares hard-earned lessons from guiding Pega through the shift from term licenses to ARR and ACV, including how to rework sales compensation without losing trust or momentum. They discuss the limits of KPI obsession, the importance of directional clarity over false precision, and why private equity often drives sharper execution than public markets—and how to apply that discipline while still playing the long game.—SPONSORS:Tabs is an AI-native revenue platform that unifies billing, collections, and revenue recognition for companies running usage-based or complex contracts. By bringing together ERP, CRM, and real product usage data into a single system of record, Tabs eliminates manual reconciliations and speeds up close and cash collection. Companies like Cortex, Statsig, and Cursor trust Tabs to scale revenue efficiently. Learn more at https://www.tabs.com/runAbacum is a modern FP&A platform built by former CFOs to replace slow, consultant-heavy planning tools. With self-service integrations and AI-powered workflows for forecasting, variance analysis, and scenario modeling, Abacum helps finance teams scale without becoming software admins. Trusted by teams at Strava, Replit, and JG Wentworth—learn more at https://www.abacum.aiBrex is an intelligent finance platform that combines corporate cards, built-in expense management, and AI agents to eliminate manual finance work. By automating expense reviews and reconciliations, Brex gives CFOs more time for the high-impact work that drives growth. Join 35,000+ companies like Anthropic, Coinbase, and DoorDash at https://www.brex.com/metricsMetronome is real-time billing built for modern software companies. Metronome turns raw usage events into accurate invoices, gives customers bills they actually understand, and keeps finance, product, and engineering perfectly in sync. That's why category-defining companies like OpenAI and Anthropic trust Metronome to power usage-based pricing and enterprise contracts at scale. Focus on your product — not your billing. Learn more and get started at https://www.metronome.comRightRev is an automated revenue recognition platform built for modern pricing models like usage-based pricing, bundles, and mid-cycle upgrades. RightRev lets companies scale monetization without slowing down close or compliance. For RevRec that keeps growth moving, visit https://www.rightrev.comRillet is an AI-native ERP built for modern finance teams that want to close faster without fighting legacy systems. Designed to support complex revenue recognition, multi-entity operations, and real-time reporting, Rillet helps teams achieve a true zero-day close—with some customers closing in hours, not days. If you're scaling on an ERP that wasn't built in the 90s, book a demo at https://www.rillet.com/cj—LINKS:Ken on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ken-stillwell-83a499a/Pegasystems: https://www.pega.com/CJ on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/cj-gustafson-13140948/Mostly metrics: https://www.mostlymetrics.com—RELATED EPISODES:How Finance Becomes a GTM Partner, Not a Bottleneck | Chris Brubakerhttps://youtu.be/T2YjdoiJtFA—TIMESTAMPS:00:00:00 Preview and Intro00:02:57 Sponsors — Tabs | Abacum | Brex00:07:26 The Strategic Value of Being Number Two00:08:46 Earnings Calls, Messaging, and Real-Time Judgment00:10:41 Using Feedback to Sharpen Executive Communication00:11:38 CFOs as Storytellers & Message Repetition00:12:31 Managing Up: Reading the Room00:13:59 Learning the Hard Way: Misreading Dynamics00:15:18 Confidence, Aggression, and Early CFO Mistakes00:15:58 Sponsors — Metronome | RightRev | Rillet00:19:45 When to Email vs Pick Up the Phone00:22:48 Tailoring Communication to Different Functions00:23:23 Audience-Specific Messaging: “Why Me?”00:25:24 Values vs Behaviors in Leadership00:28:13 Why Big Changes Need Anchoring00:31:14 Moving Pega to the Cloud00:32:43 Rewiring Sales Comp for ARR & ACV00:34:56 Sales Credibility Breakdowns with Customers00:36:20 Economics vs Trust in Sales Teams00:37:48 Balancing Field Feedback with Company Goals00:39:17 De-Emphasizing New Logos to Fix the Sales Model00:41:12 The Danger of Over-Obsessing on KPIs00:42:51 Public vs Private: Incentives and Operating Discipline00:45:57 Why Companies Go Private: Motivation Over Patience00:47:29 The Shrinking Public Markets00:47:57 Private vs Public CFO Mindsets00:49:39 Meeting Investors Where They Are00:50:16 A Risky Decision That Paid Off: Going All-In on the Cloud00:51:29 Long-Ass Lightning Round00:53:24 Ken's Finance Tech Stack & Craziest Expense00:54:39 Credits#RunTheNumbersPodcast #CFOLeadership #ExecutiveCommunication #SalesStrategy #PublicVsPrivate This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit cjgustafson.substack.com

Tyson Singer (Head of Tech & Platforms @ Spotify) joins us to unpack how Spotify is transforming its product development lifecycle across creation, experimentation and maintenance to shift from "localized speed" to "systematic speed." We explore why the industry's current obsession with the "Build It" phase of development is shortsighted, and how Spotify is aggressively deploying AI in the "Think It" (prototyping/strategy) and "Maintain It" (fleet management) phases. Tyson also details the internal tools driving this shift, including AiKA and Honk, and shares why the future of engineering relies on moving from I-shaped specialists to T-shaped generalists. ABOUT TYSON SINGERTyson Singer is the SVP of Technology & Platforms at Spotify, where he leads technology infrastructure, developer experience, cybersecurity, and finance IT. Tyson is the executive behind Spotify's internal developer portal, Backstage, and Spotify's experimentation system, Confidence, which are now both commercially available. He has a background as an engineer, architect, and product lead, and he holds a Master's in Computer Science from Stanford University. Tyson is also an avid outdoor adventurer. This episode is brought to you by Retool!What happens when your team can't keep up with internal tool requests? Teams start building their own, Shadow IT spreads across the org, and six months later you're untangling the mess…Retool gives teams a better way: governed, secure, and no cleanup required.Retool is the leading enterprise AppGen platform, powering how the world's most innovative companies build the tools that run their business. Over 10,000 organizations including Amazon, Stripe, Adobe, Brex, and Orangetheory Fitness use the platform to safely harness AI and their enterprise data to create governed, production-ready apps.Learn more at Retool.com/elc SHOW NOTES:Tyson's 9-year journey @ Spotify: From the "crucible" of hyper-growth to leading Tech & Platforms (3:46)The pivot from "localized speed" to "systematic speed" (7:27)Core principles of Spotify's Platform org: Partnering with customers & "Taking the pain away" (10:37)The "Think it, Build it, Ship it, Tweak it" lifecycle framework & why the industry obsession with "Build It" (coding agents) is missing the bigger picture (14:57)How Spotify is investing in the "Think It" phase: AI prototyping with deep business context (16:49)AiKA (AI Knowledge Assistant): Context engineering for humans and bots (18:47)"Honk": Spotify's internal framework for large-scale automated code changes (22:17)Addressing the decline of code quality and the bottleneck of human PR reviews (25:50)Probabilistic vs. Deterministic code reviews: A new approach to quality checks (29:43)Identifying bottlenecks to company value outside of R&D (Legal, Licensing, etc.) (32:12)Why systems change is fundamentally about people and identity shifts (35:57)Rapid fire questions (38:49) This episode wouldn't have been possible without the help of our incredible production team:Patrick Gallagher - Producer & Co-HostJerry Li - Co-HostNoah Olberding - Associate Producer, Audio & Video Editor https://www.linkedin.com/in/noah-olberding/Dan Overheim - Audio Engineer, Dan's also an avid 3D printer - https://www.bnd3d.com/Ellie Coggins Angus - Copywriter, Check out her other work at https://elliecoggins.com/about/ Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

This week we chat with Haseeb Qureshi!Haseeb is the Managing Partner at Dragonfly, a multibillion-dollar leading crypto VC firm, and is a longtime technology-focused crypto investor.He was previously a General Partner at Metastable Capital (now acquired by Dragonfly). Earlier in his career, Haseeb founded a stablecoin startup, worked as a blockchain engineer at Earn.com (acquired by Coinbase), and served as an anti-fraud engineer at Airbnb. Before entering tech, he was among the top heads-up no-limit Hold'em poker players in the world, becoming a sponsored professional and self-made millionaire by age 19. He later authored a best-selling poker book, donated the bulk of his poker earnings—about half a million dollars—to charity, and pursued an earn-to-give path that led him into software engineering and eventually blockchain.Haseeb has taught a Web3 Entrepreneurship course at UC Berkeley and is widely followed for his technical expertise in crypto. Today, he continues to write, invest, and contribute to the ecosystem while committing a third of his pre-tax income to charitable causes.✨ This episode is presented by Brex.Brex: brex.com/trailblazerspodThis episode is supported by RocketReach, Gusto, OpenPhone & Athena.RocketReach: rocketreach.co/trailblazersGusto: gusto.com/trailblazersQuo: Quo.com/trailblazersAthena: athenago.me/Erica-WengerFollow Us!Haseeb Qureshi: @hosseeb@thetrailblazerspod: Instagram, YouTube, TikTokErica Wenger: @erica_wenger

In this episode of Run the Numbers, CJ sits down with Chris Brubaker, SVP of Finance at Postscript, who's helped build the finance function from the ground up. Chris shares how he partners with sales through deal desks, sets pricing guardrails, and makes sure finance helps close deals instead of slowing them down. They dig into his hands-on approach to automation using AI with limited engineering resources, how Postscript's metrics evolved as the company scaled, when to trust internal data over benchmarks, and where teams get tripped up. Plus, a private jet accounting story—because of course.—SPONSORS:Rillet is an AI-native ERP built for modern finance teams that want to close faster without fighting legacy systems. Designed to support complex revenue recognition, multi-entity operations, and real-time reporting, Rillet helps teams achieve a true zero-day close—with some customers closing in hours, not days. If you're scaling on an ERP that wasn't built in the 90s, book a demo at https://www.rillet.com/cjTabs is an AI-native revenue platform that unifies billing, collections, and revenue recognition for companies running usage-based or complex contracts. By bringing together ERP, CRM, and real product usage data into a single system of record, Tabs eliminates manual reconciliations and speeds up close and cash collection. Companies like Cortex, Statsig, and Cursor trust Tabs to scale revenue efficiently. Learn more at https://www.tabs.com/runAbacum is a modern FP&A platform built by former CFOs to replace slow, consultant-heavy planning tools. With self-service integrations and AI-powered workflows for forecasting, variance analysis, and scenario modeling, Abacum helps finance teams scale without becoming software admins. Trusted by teams at Strava, Replit, and JG Wentworth—learn more at https://www.abacum.aiBrex is an intelligent finance platform that combines corporate cards, built-in expense management, and AI agents to eliminate manual finance work. By automating expense reviews and reconciliations, Brex gives CFOs more time for the high-impact work that drives growth. Join 35,000+ companies like Anthropic, Coinbase, and DoorDash at https://www.brex.com/metricsMetronome is real-time billing built for modern software companies. Metronome turns raw usage events into accurate invoices, gives customers bills they actually understand, and keeps finance, product, and engineering perfectly in sync. That's why category-defining companies like OpenAI and Anthropic trust Metronome to power usage-based pricing and enterprise contracts at scale. Focus on your product — not your billing. Learn more and get started at https://www.metronome.comRightRev is an automated revenue recognition platform built for modern pricing models like usage-based pricing, bundles, and mid-cycle upgrades. RightRev lets companies scale monetization without slowing down close or compliance. For RevRec that keeps growth moving, visit https://www.rightrev.com—LINKS:Chris on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/wchrisbrubaker/Postscript: https://postscript.io/CJ on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/cj-gustafson-13140948/Mostly metrics: https://www.mostlymetrics.com—RELATED EPISODES:So You're Looking for a “Strategic” CFO? Bloomerang's Steve Isom on What That Really Meanshttps://youtu.be/cgHOtvG1CesThe IPO Playbook: Expert Advice from Lee Kirkpatrick, Twilio's Former CFOhttps://youtu.be/PTKAUD7PSWUThe CFO Case for Probabilistic Forecasting With AI | Bruno Annicqhttps://youtu.be/Dl8nDZPJMpE—TIMESTAMPS:00:00:00 Preview and Intro00:02:22 Sponsors — Rillet | Tabs | Abacum00:06:55 Interview Begins00:07:36 First Finance Hire and Early Scale at Postscript00:09:02 Usage-Based Margins, COGS, and the Twilio Parallel00:10:31 Partnering With Sales and Building Deal Desk00:13:16 Pricing Guardrails, Payback, and Deal Economics00:15:35 How Deal Desk Evolves Over Time00:16:01 Sponsors — Brex | Metronome | RightRev00:19:44 Making Finance a Deal-Closing Partner00:20:44 Automating Deal Desk With a Slack Bot00:23:48 How Technical Finance Leaders Need to Be00:25:17 Automating Without Engineering Help00:27:12 Why Human Touch Still Matters in SaaS00:27:53 Postscript's Finance Tech Stack00:28:30 ERP Migration and Month-End Efficiency00:29:42 The Reality of Continuous Close00:30:34 First Real AI Wins in Accounting00:31:18 Experimenting With AI Forecasting00:33:32 Metrics That Matter: Usage as a Leading Indicator00:35:49 How Metrics Evolve as the Company Scales00:37:41 Understanding the Product in a Usage-Based Model00:39:27 Micro-Seasonality and Forecasting Volatility00:42:21 How to Use Benchmarks Without Misusing Them00:43:50 Long-Ass Lightning Round: A Costly Modeling Mistake00:45:45 Advice to a Younger Finance Leader00:47:05 The Private Jet Accounting Story00:49:11 Credits#RunTheNumbersPodcast #FinanceLeadership #DealDesk #UsageBasedSaaS #AIinFinance This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit cjgustafson.substack.com

From building internal AI labs to becoming CTO of Brex, James Reggio has helped lead one of the most disciplined AI transformations inside a real financial institution where compliance, auditability, and customer trust actually matter.We sat down with Reggio to unpack Brex's three-pillar AI strategy (corporate, operational, and product AI) [https://www.brex.com/journal/brex-ai-native-operations], how SOP-driven agents beat overengineered RL in ops, why Brex lets employees “build their own AI stack” instead of picking winners [https://www.conductorone.com/customers/brex/], and how a small, founder-heavy AI team is shipping production agents to 40,000+ companies. Reggio also goes deep on Brex's multi-agent “network” architecture, evals for multi-turn systems, agentic coding's second-order effects on codebase understanding, and why the future of finance software looks less like dashboards and more like executive assistants coordinating specialist agents behind the scenes.We discuss:* Brex's three-pillar AI strategy: corporate AI for 10x employee workflows, operational AI for cost and compliance leverage, and product AI that lets customers justify Brex as part of their AI strategy to the board* Why SOP-driven agents beat overengineered RL in finance ops, and how breaking work into auditable, repeatable steps unlocked faster automation in KYC, underwriting, fraud, and disputes* Building an internal AI platform early: LLM gateways, prompt/version management, evals, cost observability, and why platform work quietly became the force multiplier behind everything else* Multi-agent “networks” vs single-agent tools: why Brex's EA-style assistant coordinates specialist agents (policy, travel, reimbursements) through multi-turn conversations instead of one-shot tool calls* The audit agent pattern: separating detection, judgment, and follow-up into different agents to reduce false negatives without overwhelming finance teams* Centralized AI teams without resentment: how Brex avoided “AI envy” by tying work to business impact and letting anyone transfer in if they cared deeply enough* Letting employees build their own AI stack: ChatGPT vs Claude vs Gemini, Cursor vs Windsurf, and why Brex refuses to pick winners in fast-moving tool races* Measuring adoption without vanity metrics: why “% of code written by AI” is the wrong KPI and what second-order effects (slop, drift, code ownership) actually matter* Evals in the real world: regression tests from ops QA, LLM-as-judge for multi-turn agents, and why integration-style evals break faster than you expect* Teaching AI fluency at scale: the user → advocate → builder → native framework, ops-led training, spot bonuses, and avoiding fear-based adoption* Re-interviewing the entire engineering org: using agentic coding interviews internally to force hands-on skill upgrades without formal performance scoring* Headcount in the age of agents: why Brex grew the business without growing engineering, and why AI amplifies bad architecture as fast as good decisions* The future of finance software: why dashboards fade, assistants take over, and agent-to-agent collaboration becomes the real UI—James Reggio* X: https://x.com/jamesreggio* LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jamesreggio/Where to find Latent Space* X: https://x.com/latentspacepodFull Video EpisodeTimestamps00:00:00 Introduction00:01:24 From Mobile Engineer to CTO: The Founder's Path00:03:00 Quitters Welcome: Building a Founder-Friendly Culture00:05:13 The AI Team Structure: 10-Person Startup Within Brex00:11:55 Building the Brex Agent Platform: Multi-Agent Networks00:13:45 Tech Stack Decisions: TypeScript, Mastra, and MCP00:24:32 Operational AI: Automating Underwriting, KYC, and Fraud00:16:40 The Brex Assistant: Executive Assistant for Every Employee00:40:26 Evaluation Strategy: From Simple SOPs to Multi-Turn Evals00:37:11 Agentic Coding Adoption: Cursor, Windsurf, and the Engineering Interview00:58:51 AI Fluency Levels: From User to Native01:09:14 The Audit Agent Network: Finance Team Agents in Action01:03:33 The Future of Engineering Headcount and AI Leverage Get full access to Latent.Space at www.latent.space/subscribe

From building internal AI labs to becoming CTO of Brex, James Reggio has helped lead one of the most disciplined AI transformations inside a real financial institution where compliance, auditability, and customer trust actually matter. We sat down with Reggio to unpack Brex's three-pillar AI strategy (corporate, operational, and product AI) [https://www.brex.com/journal/brex-ai-native-operations], how SOP-driven agents beat overengineered RL in ops, why Brex lets employees “build their own AI stack” instead of picking winners [https://www.conductorone.com/customers/brex/], and how a small, founder-heavy AI team is shipping production agents to 40,000+ companies. Reggio also goes deep on Brex's multi-agent “network” architecture, evals for multi-turn systems, agentic coding's second-order effects on codebase understanding, and why the future of finance software looks less like dashboards and more like executive assistants coordinating specialist agents behind the scenes. We discuss: Brex's three-pillar AI strategy: corporate AI for 10x employee workflows, operational AI for cost and compliance leverage, and product AI that lets customers justify Brex as part of their AI strategy to the board Why SOP-driven agents beat overengineered RL in finance ops, and how breaking work into auditable, repeatable steps unlocked faster automation in KYC, underwriting, fraud, and disputes Building an internal AI platform early: LLM gateways, prompt/version management, evals, cost observability, and why platform work quietly became the force multiplier behind everything else Multi-agent “networks” vs single-agent tools: why Brex's EA-style assistant coordinates specialist agents (policy, travel, reimbursements) through multi-turn conversations instead of one-shot tool calls The audit agent pattern: separating detection, judgment, and follow-up into different agents to reduce false negatives without overwhelming finance teams Centralized AI teams without resentment: how Brex avoided “AI envy” by tying work to business impact and letting anyone transfer in if they cared deeply enough Letting employees build their own AI stack: ChatGPT vs Claude vs Gemini, Cursor vs Windsurf, and why Brex refuses to pick winners in fast-moving tool races Measuring adoption without vanity metrics: why “% of code written by AI” is the wrong KPI and what second-order effects (slop, drift, code ownership) actually matter Evals in the real world: regression tests from ops QA, LLM-as-judge for multi-turn agents, and why integration-style evals break faster than you expect Teaching AI fluency at scale: the user → advocate → builder → native framework, ops-led training, spot bonuses, and avoiding fear-based adoption Re-interviewing the entire engineering org: using agentic coding interviews internally to force hands-on skill upgrades without formal performance scoring Headcount in the age of agents: why Brex grew the business without growing engineering, and why AI amplifies bad architecture as fast as good decisions The future of finance software: why dashboards fade, assistants take over, and agent-to-agent collaboration becomes the real UI — James Reggio X: https://x.com/jamesreggio LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jamesreggio/ Where to find Latent Space X: https://x.com/latentspacepod Substack: https://www.latent.space/ Chapters 00:00:00 Introduction 00:01:24 From Mobile Engineer to CTO: The Founder's Path 00:03:00 Quitters Welcome: Building a Founder-Friendly Culture 00:05:13 The AI Team Structure: 10-Person Startup Within Brex 00:11:55 Building the Brex Agent Platform: Multi-Agent Networks 00:13:45 Tech Stack Decisions: TypeScript, Mastra, and MCP 00:24:32 Operational AI: Automating Underwriting, KYC, and Fraud 00:16:40 The Brex Assistant: Executive Assistant for Every Employee 00:40:26 Evaluation Strategy: From Simple SOPs to Multi-Turn Evals 00:37:11 Agentic Coding Adoption: Cursor, Windsurf, and the Engineering Interview 00:58:51 AI Fluency Levels: From User to Native 01:09:14 The Audit Agent Network: Finance Team Agents in Action 01:03:33 The Future of Engineering Headcount and AI Leverage

In this episode of Run the Numbers, CJ sits down with Bruno Annicq, CFO of Wellhub (formerly Gympass), to unpack a practical finance playbook built around cash discipline, sustainable growth, and simplicity. Bruno explains how he rebuilt forecasting using an AI-driven, probabilistic ensemble model, moving teams beyond single-scenario planning. They also dig into his EMPOWER planning framework, usable OKRs, and why tighter alignment between finance, HR, and wellbeing is becoming a durable lever for long-term performance.—SPONSORS:RightRev is an automated revenue recognition platform built for modern pricing models like usage-based pricing, bundles, and mid-cycle upgrades. RightRev lets companies scale monetization without slowing down close or compliance. For RevRec that keeps growth moving, visit https://www.rightrev.comRillet is an AI-native ERP built for modern finance teams that want to close faster without fighting legacy systems. Designed to support complex revenue recognition, multi-entity operations, and real-time reporting, Rillet helps teams achieve a true zero-day close—with some customers closing in hours, not days. If you're scaling on an ERP that wasn't built in the 90s, book a demo at https://www.rillet.com/cjTabs is an AI-native revenue platform that unifies billing, collections, and revenue recognition for companies running usage-based or complex contracts. By bringing together ERP, CRM, and real product usage data into a single system of record, Tabs eliminates manual reconciliations and speeds up close and cash collection. Companies like Cortex, Statsig, and Cursor trust Tabs to scale revenue efficiently. Learn more at https://www.tabs.com/runAbacum is a modern FP&A platform built by former CFOs to replace slow, consultant-heavy planning tools. With self-service integrations and AI-powered workflows for forecasting, variance analysis, and scenario modeling, Abacum helps finance teams scale without becoming software admins. Trusted by teams at Strava, Replit, and JG Wentworth—learn more at https://www.abacum.aiBrex is an intelligent finance platform that combines corporate cards, built-in expense management, and AI agents to eliminate manual finance work. By automating expense reviews and reconciliations, Brex gives CFOs more time for the high-impact work that drives growth. Join 35,000+ companies like Anthropic, Coinbase, and DoorDash at https://www.brex.com/metricsMetronome is real-time billing built for modern software companies. Metronome turns raw usage events into accurate invoices, gives customers bills they actually understand, and keeps finance, product, and engineering perfectly in sync. That's why category-defining companies like OpenAI and Anthropic trust Metronome to power usage-based pricing and enterprise contracts at scale. Focus on your product — not your billing. Learn more and get started at https://www.metronome.com—LINKS:Bruno on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/bannicq/Wellhub: https://wellhub.com/CJ on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/cj-gustafson-13140948/Mostly metrics: https://www.mostlymetrics.com—RELATED EPISODES:“Run Toward a Tough Market” — Developing the Hard and Soft Skills To Be a Great Finance Leaderhttps://youtu.be/iNHbkcG7YEo—TIMESTAMPS:00:00:00 Preview and Intro00:02:19 Sponsors — RightRev, Rillet, Tabs00:06:43 Accidental CFO Origin Story00:07:34 Consulting to Operations Pivot00:08:12 Why Finance Clicked for Bruno00:09:28 McKinsey Prioritization in Real World00:10:02 Eisenhower Matrix and Prioritization00:11:08 Investing in Non-Urgent Work00:13:30 Lessons From AOL Reinvention00:16:10 Sponsors — Abacum, Brex, Metronome00:20:01 Career Growth Through Hard Problems00:20:52 Broadening Skills Through Change00:23:12 Five Core Finance Principles00:24:02 Cash Is King00:25:14 Driving Sustainable Growth00:26:01 No Surprises and Forecasting00:26:07 Finance as Business Enabler00:27:22 Less Is More Philosophy00:28:47 Hardest Principle: Less Is More00:29:46 Deterministic vs Probabilistic Forecasting00:31:11 Marketplace Volatility and Forecast Error00:32:10 Ensemble Models Explained00:33:37 Forecast Accuracy Gains00:34:53 Building Models In-House00:36:46 Why Explainability Matters00:37:48 Empower Framework Introduction00:47:47 Urgency, Compounding, Long-Term Thinking00:48:10 Advice to Younger Self00:50:06 Finance Stack and Expense Stories00:52:51 Credits#RunTheNumbersPodcast #CFO #FinanceLeadership #Forecasting #AIinFinance This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit cjgustafson.substack.com

This week, we chat with Nicolas Cary! Nic is the Co-Founder and Vice Chairman at Blockchain.com! He is responsible for bringing new adopters into the crypto ecosystem. A fascination with tech, money and politics led Nic to become deeply passionate about helping people reinvent their relationship with money.After an international upbringing, Nic worked as a teacher in India before becoming a founding team member at SaaS company PipelineCRM.com, where he focused on product development and management.A trilingual communicator, Nic is the Founding Commissioner of the Blockchain Commission for Sustainable Development and co-author of The Future is Decentralised. Deeply passionate about entrepreneurship, Nic is also co-founder and chairman of SkysTheLimit.org, the leading non-profit digital business accelerator. Regularly cited in the global press as one of the earliest crypto industry experts, Nic was named the European Digital Leader of the year in 2015 and honored with a Professional Achievement Award in 2017 by his alma mater, the University of Puget Sound.A proven leader, investor, public speaker, and brand ambassador, Nic focuses on designing performant cultures that persevere in adverse markets.✨ This episode is presented by Brex.Brex: brex.com/trailblazerspodThis episode is supported by RocketReach, Gusto, OpenPhone & Athena.RocketReach: rocketreach.co/trailblazersGusto: gusto.com/trailblazersQuo: Quo.com/trailblazersAthena: athenago.me/Erica-WengerFollow Us!Nicolas Cary: @niccarySky's The Limit: https://www.skysthelimit.org/@thetrailblazerspod: Instagram, YouTube, TikTokErica Wenger: @erica_wenger

Jason Lemkin is the founder of SaaStr, the world's largest community for software founders, and a veteran SaaS investor who has deployed over $200 million into B2B startups. After his last salesperson quit, Jason made a radical decision: replace his entire go-to-market team with AI agents. What started as an experiment has transformed into a new operating model, where 20 AI agents managed by just 1.2 humans now do the work previously handled by a team of 10 SDRs and AEs. In this conversation, Jason shares his hands-on experience implementing AI to run his sales org, including what works, what doesn't, and how the GTM landscape is quickly being transformed.We discuss:1. How AI is fundamentally changing the sales function2. Why most SDRs and BDRs will be “extinct” within a year3. What Jason is observing across his portfolio about AI adoption in GTM4. How to become “hyper-employable” in the age of AI5. The specific AI tools and tactics he's using that have been working best6. Practical frameworks for integrating AI into your sales motion without losing what works7. Jason's 2026 predictions on where SaaS and GTM are heading next—Brought to you by:DX—The developer intelligence platform designed by leading researchersVercel—Your collaborative AI assistant to design, iterate, and scale full-stack applications for the webDatadog—Now home to Eppo, the leading experimentation and feature flagging platform—Transcript: https://www.lennysnewsletter.com/p/we-replaced-our-sales-team-with-20-ai-agents—My biggest takeaways (for paid newsletter subscribers): https://www.lennysnewsletter.com/i/182902716/my-biggest-takeaways-from-this-conversation—Where to find Jason Lemkin:• X: https://x.com/jasonlk• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jasonmlemkin• Website: https://www.saastr.com• Substack: https://substack.com/@cloud—Where to find Lenny:• Newsletter: https://www.lennysnewsletter.com• X: https://twitter.com/lennysan• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/lennyrachitsky/—In this episode, we cover:(00:00) Introduction to Jason Lemkin(04:36) What SaaStr does(07:13) AI's impact on sales teams(10:11) How SaaStr's AI agents work and their performance(14:18) How go-to-market is changing in the AI era(19:19) The future of SDRs, BDRs, and AEs in sales(22:03) Why leadership roles are safe(23:43) How to be in the 20% who thrive in the AI sales future(28:40) Why you shouldn't build your own AI tools(30:10) Specific AI agents and their applications(36:40) Challenges and learnings in AI deployment(42:11) Making AI-generated emails good (not just acceptable)(47:31) When humans still beat AI in sales(52:39) An overview of SaaStr's org(53:50) The role of human oversight in AI operations(58:37) Advice for salespeople and founders in the AI era(01:05:40) Forward-deployed engineers(01:08:08) What's changing and what's staying the same in sales(01:16:21) Why AI is creating more work, not less(01:19:32) Why Jason says these are magical times(01:25:25) The "incognito mode test" for finding AI opportunities(01:27:19) The impact of AI on jobs(01:30:18) Lightning round and final thoughts—Referenced:• Building a world-class sales org | Jason Lemkin (SaaStr): https://www.lennysnewsletter.com/p/building-a-world-class-sales-org• SaaStr Annual: https://www.saastrannual.com• Delphi: https://www.delphi.ai/saastr/talk• Amelia Lerutte on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/amelialerutte/• Vercel: https://vercel.com• What world-class GTM looks like in 2026 | Jeanne DeWitt Grosser (Vercel, Stripe, Google): https://www.lennysnewsletter.com/p/what-the-best-gtm-teams-do-differently• Everyone's an engineer now: Inside v0's mission to create a hundred million builders | Guillermo Rauch (founder and CEO of Vercel, creators of v0 and Next.js): https://www.lennysnewsletter.com/p/everyones-an-engineer-now-guillermo-rauch• Replit: https://replit.com• Behind the product: Replit | Amjad Masad (co-founder and CEO): https://www.lennysnewsletter.com/p/behind-the-product-replit-amjad-masad• ElevenLabs: https://elevenlabs.io• The exact AI playbook (using MCPs, custom GPTs, Granola) that saved ElevenLabs $100k+ and helps them ship daily | Luke Harries (Head of Growth): https://www.lennysnewsletter.com/p/the-ai-marketing-stack• Bolt: https://bolt.new• Lovable: https://lovable.dev• Harvey: https://www.harvey.ai• Samsara: https://www.samsara.com/products/platform/ai-samsara-intelligence• UiPath: https://www.uipath.com• Denise Dresser on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/denisedresser• Agentforce: https://www.salesforce.com/form/agentforce• SaaStr's AI Agent Playbook: https://saastr.ai/agents• Brian Halligan on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/brianhalligan• Brian Halligan's AI: https://www.delphi.ai/minds/bhalligan• Sierra: https://sierra.ai• Fin: https://fin.ai• Deccan: https://www.deccan.ai• Artisan: https://www.artisan.co• Qualified: https://www.qualified.com• Claude: https://claude.ai• HubSpot: https://www.hubspot.com• Gamma: https://gamma.app• Sam Blond on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/sam-blond-791026b• Brex: https://www.brex.com• Outreach: https://www.outreach.io• Gong: https://www.gong.io• Salesloft: https://www.salesloft.com• Mixmax: https://www.mixmax.com• “Sell the alpha, not the feature”: The enterprise sales playbook for $1M to $10M ARR | Jen Abel: https://www.lennysnewsletter.com/p/the-enterprise-sales-playbook-1m-to-10m-arr• Clay: https://www.clay.com• Owner: https://www.owner.com• Momentum: https://www.momentum.io• Attention: https://www.attention.com• Granola: https://www.granola.ai• Behind the founder: Marc Benioff: https://www.lennysnewsletter.com/p/behind-the-founder-marc-benioff• Palantir: https://www.palantir.com• Databricks: https://www.databricks.com• Garry Tan on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/garrytan• Rippling: https://www.rippling.com• Cursor: https://cursor.com• The rise of Cursor: The $300M ARR AI tool that engineers can't stop using | Michael Truell (co-founder and CEO): https://www.lennysnewsletter.com/p/the-rise-of-cursor-michael-truell• The new AI growth playbook for 2026: How Lovable hit $200M ARR in one year | Elena Verna (Head of Growth): https://www.lennysnewsletter.com/p/the-new-ai-growth-playbook-for-2026-elena-verna• Pluribus on AppleTV+: https://tv.apple.com/us/show/pluribus/umc.cmc.37axgovs2yozlyh3c2cmwzlza• Sora: https://openai.com/sora• Reve: https://app.reve.com• Everything That Breaks on the Way to $1B ARR, with Mailchimp Co-Founder Ben Chestnut: https://www.saastr.com/everything-that-breaks-on-the-way-to-1b-arr-with-mailchimp-co-founder-ben-chestnut/• The Revenue Playbook: Rippling's Top 3 Growth Tactics at Scale, with Rippling CRO Matt Plank: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h3eYtzBpjRw• 10 contrarian leadership truths every leader needs to hear | Matt MacInnis (Rippling): https://www.lennysnewsletter.com/p/10-contrarian-leadership-truths—Production and marketing by https://penname.co/. For inquiries about sponsoring the podcast, email podcast@lennyrachitsky.com.—Lenny may be an investor in the companies discussed. To hear more, visit www.lennysnewsletter.com