Podcasts about cfos

Join host Adam Larson for a lively conversation with entrepreneur, speaker, author, and president of VisionEdge Marketing, Laura Paterson. Drawing on decades of experience, Laura shares her practical wisdom on building stronger partnerships between marketing and finance in today's data-driven organizations. Discover why learning to speak each other's language and focusing on real business outcomes rather than budget line items leads to smarter decisions and meaningful growth. Laura breaks down common traps like “random acts” of marketing, reveals how aligning around purpose improves performance, and gives actionable advice for CFOs and finance leaders who want to genuinely connect with their marketing counterparts. With real-world stories and plenty of energy, Laura discusses the transformative power of customer-centric strategies and outcome-based budgeting, all while highlighting the importance of using data for insight, not just information. Perfect for anyone in marketing, finance, or leadership, this episode is packed with fresh ideas and relatable anecdotes that will inspire collaboration and drive success. If you're ready to move from transaction to strategy and make a real impact. Don't miss this engaging conversation.

Brandon Weber, Co-founder & CEO of Nava Benefits, joined us on The Modern People Leader.We talked about why benefits have become the second-largest company expense — and how HR can “moneyball” their healthcare spend, cut down on benefits-related admin work, and deliver better employee outcomes through the emerging “alt marketplace.”---- Nava Links:

The journalism industry is in trouble and has been for most of the 21st century. But the advent of AI generated content has made professional journalists absolutely crucial not just to democracies but to business success.One of the most prolific and successful technology journalists is Bolaji Ojo. He has headed editorial efforts for the EETimes, AspenCore Media, the recently closed Ojo-Yoshida Report and the now-defunct EBN. Some of those titles may be foreign to people in the cybersecurity world, but not to executives in the electronics world that cybersecurity rests upon. This brief conversation is packed with information that most people don't think about including how technology impacts all industries, expanding scope of coverage. Traditional ad revenue has shifted to platforms like Google and Met allowing companiesto reach customers directly, but this now creates credibility challenges for companies. AI-generated content is causing markets to distrust marketing message more than ever before. That has established the need for experienced journalists to provide context, analysis, and trusted perspectives. Ojo describes how his new ventures are getting financial support from companies like Microchip, NXP, Infineon, Siemens, ST Microelectronics not to drive sales but to establish credibility. The challenge is justifying sponsorship to CFOs/boards vs. SEO.The value proposition of tech journalism, he said, is providing context and "what it means and offering trusted, independent analysis and future insights.This episode may be the most important we've had this year. It provides a roadmap to effective marketing for cybersecurity companies in the near future.

Marketing often gets unfairly pegged as a cost center. But that wouldn't happen if marketers had access to better measurement that gave them clarity on what truly drives business growth, argues Henry Innis, CEO and co-founder of MMM platform Mutinex.

Trust isn't a “soft” metric—it's the conversion engine. Buyers don't buy products first; they buy us, then the solution arrives as part of the package. Below is a GEO-optimised, answer-first version of the core human-relations principles leaders and sales pros can use today.  How do top salespeople build trust fast in 2025? Start by listening like a pro and making the conversation about them, not you. When trust is low, buyers won't move—even if your proposal looks perfect on paper. The fastest pattern across B2B in Japan, the US, and Europe is empathetic listening that surfaces goals, constraints, and internal politics. Post-pandemic norms (hybrid work, async decisions) mean you must read what's said and what's unsaid: tone, pauses, body language on Zoom, and email subtext. In enterprise sales, this shifts you from “pitching” to “diagnosing.” You become the buyer's trusted business advisor—especially in consensus-driven cultures like Japan where ringi and nemawashi favour rapport and patience over pressure. Do this and high-stakes deals stop stalling because stakeholders finally feel safe to share the real blockers.  Do now: Open with one agenda question—“What outcome matters most by [date]?”—then listen without interrupting for 90 seconds. What questions reliably open buyers up? Use simple, human prompts that invite stories. Who have they worked for? What was it like? Where's the office? When did they start? Why choose this company? What do they like most? These “Who/What/Where/When/Why/How” prompts turn small talk into signal, revealing priorities (speed vs. safety), risk appetite, and decision cadence. Across SMEs, startups, and multinationals, these prompts work because they're culturally neutral, non-intrusive, and buyer-centred. In APAC, they respect hierarchy; in the US, they feel pragmatic; in Europe, they invite thoughtful context. The goal isn't to interrogate—it's to let people talk about themselves while you capture needs, metrics, and names of influencers you'll later engage.  Do now: Prepare six openers on a card; ask two, go deep on one, and mirror key phrases back. How do I remember personal details without being awkward? Use the “Nameplate → House → Family → Briefcase → Airplane → Tennis Racquet → Newspaper” memory chain. Visualise a giant nameplate smashing into a bright house; inside, a baby with a briefcase pulls out an old plane; its propellers are tennis racquets threaded with rolled newspapers. Each hook cues a safe, human topic: name, home, family, work, travel, hobbies, and industry news. This light mnemonic keeps first meetings natural across cultures. In Japan, it supports relationship-first norms (meishi exchange, hometown ties). In the US/EU, it avoids prying while still finding common ground (sports, routes, recent sector headlines). Use tact and sequence flexibly; skip topics if they feel private. The point is to remember them so follow-ups feel personal, not transactional.  Do now: Before calls, jot the seven cues; after calls, log one fact per cue in your CRM. What if I don't know the buyer's interests yet? Keep asking—then mirror their language and frame benefits in their terms. Early on, many buyers withhold interests until they decide you're trustworthy. That's normal. Persist with respectful questions, then translate features into “so-whats” they already value: uptime for CTOs, cycle-time for COOs, compliance for CFOs, psychological safety for HR. As of 2025, complex deals involve multi-threading (RevOps, Legal, IT, Security). Tailor each touch: startup CTOs want velocity and unit economics; enterprise VPs want risk mitigation and stakeholder alignment; Japanese heads of division may prioritise harmony and precedent. The win is relevance—your proposal reads like their strategy memo, not your brochure.  Do now: After each meeting, write one line: “They care most about ___ because ___.” Lead with that next time. How do I make someone feel important—without manipulation? Spot real wins and praise them sincerely and specifically. Most professionals get little recognition. When you catch people doing something right—clear brief, crisp data, fast feedback—name it. Never over-flatter; buyers detect tactics instantly. The goal is dignity, not drama. Practical example: “Your timeline reduced rework across Legal and IT—that saved us both weeks.” In Japan, sincere appreciation that acknowledges team effort (not just the individual) lands better; in the US, direct credit energises champions. Across sectors (SaaS, manufacturing, services), this fosters reciprocity and deepens trust far faster than discounts ever can.  Do now: In your next email, add one honest, specific thank-you sentence linked to a business outcome. What should leaders systemise so this sticks? Bake these principles into playbooks, onboarding, and CRM hygiene. Codify the seven memory cues, the open-question matrix, and a “buyer interest” field in CRM. Coach for silence (count to three before replying). Review call snippets for interrupt rate and question balance. Reward teams for discovery quality, not just revenue. Executives at firms from startups to conglomerates can run fortnightly “deal trust reviews”: is the sponsor heard, interests mapped, and recognition given? In Japan, align with nemawashi—map stakeholders and pre-wire decisions. In the US/EU, pressure-test value hypotheses with RevOps and Finance. Consistency beats charisma.  Do now: Add three fields to your CRM today—Interests, Stakeholders, Recognition Given—and make them required. Conclusion When you listen deeply, speak in the buyer's interests, and recognise people sincerely, you stop selling and start being chosen. Make this your firm's operating system and watch cycle times shorten and referrals grow.  FAQs Isn't this just “be nice” advice? No—these behaviours reduce friction, surface risks early, and accelerate consensus, which shortens sales cycles.  Do these tips work in Japan? Yes—especially the memory chain and sincere group-focused recognition, which fit relationship-first norms.  How do I measure progress? Track interrupt rate, number of stakeholder interests captured, and instances of specific recognition logged in CRM. Next Steps Add the seven-cue mnemonic and open-question set to your onboarding. Require “Interests” and “Recognition Given” fields in every opportunity. Coach teams to wait three beats before replying on calls. About the Author Dr. Greg Story, Ph.D. in Japanese Decision-Making, is President of Dale Carnegie Tokyo Training and Adjunct Professor at Griffith University. He is a two-time winner of the Dale Carnegie “One Carnegie Award” (2018, 2021) and recipient of the Griffith University Business School Outstanding Alumnus Award (2012). As a Dale Carnegie Master Trainer, Greg is certified to deliver globally across all leadership, communication, sales, and presentation programs, including Leadership Training for Results. He has written several books, including three best-sellers—Japan Business Mastery, Japan Sales Mastery, and Japan Presentations Mastery—along with Japan Leadership Mastery and How to Stop Wasting Money on Training. Japanese editions include ザ営業, プレゼンの達人, トレーニングでお金を無駄にするのはやめましょう, and 現代版「人を動かす」リーダー. Greg also publishes daily business insights on LinkedIn, Facebook, and Twitter, and hosts six weekly podcasts. On YouTube, he produces The Cutting Edge Japan Business Show, Japan Business Mastery, and Japan's Top Business Interviews, followed widely by executives seeking success strategies in Japan. 

You have about ten seconds to grab a prospect's attention on LinkedIn. If you're spending more time scrolling than positioning yourself as a thought leader, you're not using your profile to its full potential. Here's how to turn it into the perfect “first discovery call.”Profile Positioning· If you go back to episodes 1941 and 1088 with Brynne Tillman, you'll hear her explain why it's time to move past the resume mentality.· Your profile is prime real estate. Start with a compelling banner that clearly shows who you help and how. Use a professional, up-to-date photo, and try LinkedIn's name pronunciation feature to add a personal touch.Headline & About Section· Craft a headline that's punchy and credibility-building—skip the job title and highlight the value you deliver.· In your About section, speak directly to your ideal client's pain points. Use storytelling and short testimonials to build trust and connection.Target and Engage· Create micro-lists for targeted outreach—CFOs, CEOs, COOs—so you can personalize your messaging around real problems.· Before pitching a meeting, engage thoughtfully with your prospects' posts to build rapport and show genuine interest in their needs.Homework Challenge· Update your banner, headline, and profile photo. Rewrite your About section to focus on the problems you solve, and build a micro-list of prospects. · Also, don't forget about using my LinkedIn Sales Navigator trial to jump-start your outreach.“Your profile needs to be a lead-generating tool. It needs to attract prospects; they need to see it. And within five seconds, know what you have to offer.” - Donald Kelly.ResourcesIf you want to try LinkedIn Sales Navigator, start your 60-day trial here. My LinkedIn Prospecting Course will show you exactly how to start attracting more prospects right away. And don't forget to connect with me on LinkedIn!Sponsorship Offers1. This episode is brought to you in part by Hubspot.With HubSpot sales hubs, your data tools and teams join a single platform to close deals and turn prospects into pipelines. Try it for yourself at hubspot.com/sales.2. This episode is brought to you in part by LinkedIn.Are you tired of prospective clients not responding to your emails? Sign up for a free 60-day trial of LinkedIn Sales Navigator at linkedin.com/tse.3. This episode is brought to you in part by the TSE Sales Foundation.Improve your connection on LinkedIn and land three or five appointments with our LinkedIn prospecting course. Go to the salesevangelist.com/linkedin.CreditsAs one of our podcast listeners, we value your opinion and always want to improve the quality of our show. Complete our two-minute survey here:

Hosts: Lalo Solorzano & Andy Shiles Guest: Simran Dalvi – Duty Drawback Specialist, CITTA Customs Brokers Published: October 2025 Presented by: Global Training Center

In this special episode of Future Finance, hosts Paul Barnhurst and Glenn Hopper explore how AI agents and productivity tools like Excel's newest features are transforming the finance function. They contrast grassroots, employee-led innovation with large-scale, enterprise-driven AI projects, offering practical guidance and examples from their own experiments.Expect to Learn:The difference between top-down and bottom-up AI deployments in organizationsWhy “shadow AI” and “secret cyborgs” are redefining workplace productivityThe crucial role of change management in enterprise AI adoptionWhat Excel's new AI agent can (and can't) do for financial modelingGlenn Hopper and Paul Barnhurst deliver an insightful look into how AI is reshaping the finance profession, from enterprise-wide transformations to individual experimentation. Their discussion on agents, automation, and Excel's evolving capabilities highlights how innovation and adaptability are redefining what it means to be a modern finance leader in a technology-driven world.Join hosts Glenn and Paul as they unravel the complexities of AI in finance:Follow Glenn:LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/gbhopperiiiFollow Paul: LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/in/thefpandaguyFollow QFlow.AI:Website - https://bit.ly/4i1EkjgFuture Finance is sponsored by QFlow.ai, the strategic finance platform solving the toughest part of planning and analysis: B2B revenue. Align sales, marketing, and finance, speed up decision-making, and lock in accountability with QFlow.ai. Stay tuned for a deeper understanding of how AI is shaping the future of finance and what it means for businesses and individuals alike.In Today's Episode:[00:22] - Top-Down vs Bottom-Up AI Adoption & Excel Agents[01:26] - Building a Personal AI Agent[04:01] - Top-Down vs Bottom-Up AI Strategy Explained[06:41] - Change Management in AI Projects[08:42] - Bottom-Up AI: Enable Use, Ensure Safety[11:10] - Excel's 40th Anniversary[17:13] - Evaluating Excel's DCF Output[18:23] - Final Thoughts and Takeaways

What if the reason HR isn't influencing strategy… is because it's looking in the wrong direction? That's the powerful idea Jenny Dearborn - Chief People Strategy Officer at BTS and co-author of The Insight-Driven Leader - unpacks with host David Green in this episode of the Digital HR Leaders podcast. Drawing on her experience as a senior HR leader in some of the world's biggest companies, Jenny makes the case for a bold shift: from reactive, rear-view reporting to forward-looking, insight-driven action. Join them, as they explore: Why “data-driven” HR often falls short, and what insight-driven really means The risks of relying on outdated metrics that don't influence business decisions What CEOs should be demanding from HR leaders How top organisations are transforming HR into a strategic, insight-generating function What it looks like when HR operates like a product organisation How CHROs can build trusted partnerships with CFOs and CIOs If you're ready to unlock the true strategic potential of your HR function, this is a conversation you don't want to miss. This episode is sponsored by TechWolf. TechWolf helps enterprises get fast, accurate, and actionable skills data—without surveys. From identifying the skills your workforce has, to mapping what they need, TechWolf's AI integrates seamlessly with your existing systems to turn messy data into strategic advantage. Learn more at techwolf.com Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In this episode of the Payments Podcast, Paul McMeekin chats with Jeff Feuerstein of Bottomline about the major shifts in B2B payments - from tackling fraud and enhancing supplier partnerships to leveraging AI and integrated tech. Discover how networks are transforming the payment ecosystem and why CFOs must rethink their payment strategies.

Send us your thoughtsWe're rewinding to where it all began. In the very first episode of the CFO 4.0 Podcast, Hannah Munro sat down with digital transformation expert Phil Raynor (now Lead Delivery Manager at the UK Home Office) to unpack what makes or breaks a transformation programme — and how finance leaders can navigate change with confidence.In this CFO 4.0 Revisited edition, we revisit the timeless lessons that still shape transformation success today. From planning and communication to leadership and culture, this conversation remains as relevant as ever for modern CFOs leading digital change.

Welcome to RIMScast. Your host is Justin Smulison, Business Content Manager at RIMS, the Risk and Insurance Management Society.   In this episode, Justin interviews Katherine Henry of Bradley, Arant, Boult, Cummings, and Harold (Hal) Weston of Georgia State University, Greenberg School of Risk Science, who are here to discuss their new professional report, “A 2025 Cybersecurity Legal Safe Harbor Overview.” Katherine and Hal take the discussion beyond the pages and delve into best cybersecurity practices, cyber insurance, and Safe Harbor laws offered by some states and possibly to be offered soon by others. They discuss frameworks and standards, and what compliance means for your organization, partly based on your state law.   Listen for advice to help you be prepared against cybercrime.   Key Takeaways: [:01] About RIMS and RIMScast. [:16] About this episode of RIMScast. We will be joined by the authors of the legislative review, “A 2025 Cybersecurity Legal Safe Harbor Overview”, Katherine Henry and Harold Weston. Katherine and Harold are also prominent members of the RIMS Public Policy Committee. [:48] Katherine and Harold are also here to talk about Cybersecurity Awareness Month and safe practices. But first…  [:53] RIMS-CRMP Prep Workshops! The next RIMS-CRMP Prep Workshops will be held on October 29th and 30th and led by John Button. [1:05] The next RIMS-CRMP-FED Virtual Workshop will be held on November 11th and 12th and led by Joseph Mayo. Links to these courses can be found through the Certifications page of RIMS.org and through this episode's show notes. [1:23] RIMS Virtual Workshops! RIMS has launched a new course, “Intro to ERM for Senior Leaders.” It will be held again on November 4th and 5th and will be led by Elise Farnham. [1:37] On November 11th and 12th, Chris Hansen will lead “Fundamentals of Insurance”. It features everything you've always wanted to know about insurance but were afraid to ask. Fear not; ask Chris Hansen! RIMS members always enjoy deep discounts on the virtual workshops! [1:56] The full schedule of virtual workshops can be found on the RIMS.org/education and RIMS.org/education/online-learning pages. A link is also in this episode's notes. [2:08] Several RIMS Webinars are being hosted this Fall. On October 16th, Zurich returns to deliver “Jury Dynamics: How Juries Shape Today's Legal Landscape”. On October 30th, Swiss Re will present “Parametric Insurance: Providing Financial Certainty in Uncertain Times”. [2:28] On November 6th, HUB will present “Geopolitical Whiplash — Building Resilient Global Risk Programs in an Unstable World”. Register at RIMS.org/Webinars. [2:40] Before we get on with the show, I wanted to let you know that this episode was recorded in the first week of October. That means we are amid a Federal Government shutdown. RIMS has produced a special report on “Key Considerations Regarding U.S. Government Shutdown.” [2:58] This is an apolitical problem. It is available in the Risk Knowledge section of RIMS.org, and a link is in this episode's show notes. Visit RIMS.org/Advocacy for more updates. [3:12] Remember to save March 18th and 19th on your calendars for the RIMS Legislative Summit 2026, which will be held in Washington, D.C. I will continue to keep you informed about that critical event. [3:24] On with the show! It's National Cybersecurity Awareness Month here in the U.S. and in many places around the world. Cyber continues to be a top risk among organizations of all sizes in the public and private sectors. [3:40] That is why I'm delighted that Katherine Henry and Harold (Hal) Weston are here to discuss their new professional report, “A 2025 Cybersecurity Legal Safe Harbor Overview”. [3:52] This report provides a general overview of expected cybersecurity measures that organizations must take to satisfy legal Safe Harbor requirements. [4:01] It summarizes state Safe Harbor laws that have been developed to ensure organizations are proactive about cybersecurity and that digital, financial, and intellectual assets are legally protected when that inevitable cyber attack occurs. [4:15] We are here to extend the dialogue. Let's get started! [4:21] Interview! Katherine Henry and Hal Weston, welcome to RIMScast! [4:41] Katherine was one of he first guests on RIMScast. Katherine is Chair of the Policyholder Insurance Coverage Practice at Bradley, Arant, Boult, Cummings. Her office is based in Washington, D.C. She works with risk managers all day on insurance issues. [5:05] Katherine has been a member of the RIMS Public Policy Committee for several years. She serves as an advisor to the Committee. [5:12] Justin thanks Katherine for her contributions to RIMS. [5:25] Hal is with Georgia State University. He has been with RIMS for a couple of decades. Hal says he and Katherine have served together on the RIMS Public Policy Committee for maybe 10 years. [5:48] Hal is a professor at Georgia State University, a Clinical Associate in the Robinson College of Business, Greenberg School of Risk Science, where he teaches risk management and insurance. Before his current role, Hal was an insurance lawyer, both regulatory and coverage. [6:05] Hal has a lot of students. He is grading exams this week. He has standards for his class. In the real world, so does a business. [6:46] Katherine and Hal met through the RIMS Public Policy Committee. They started together on some subcommittees. Now they see each other at the annual meeting and on monthly calls. [7:05] Katherine and Hal just released a legislative review during RIMS's 75th anniversary, “A 2025 Cybersecurity Legal Safe Harbor Overview”. It is available on the Risk Knowledge page of RIMS.org. [7:20] We're going to get a little bit of dialogue that extends beyond the pages. [7:31] Katherine explains Safe Harbor: When parties are potentially liable to third parties for claims, certain states have instilled Safe Harbor Laws that say, If you comply with these requirements, we'll provide you some liability protection. [7:45] Katherine recommends that you read the paper to see what the laws are in your state. The purpose of the paper is to describe some of those Safe Harbor laws, as well as all the risks. [8:04] October 14th, the date this episode is released, is World Standards Day. Hal calls that good news. Justin says the report has a correlation with the standards in the risk field. [8:43] Justin states that many states tie Safe Harbor eligibility to frameworks like NIST, the ISO/IEC 27000, and CIS Controls. [9:27] Hal says, There are several standards, and it would be up to the Chief Information Security Officer to guide a company on which framework might be most appropriate for them. There are the NIST, UL, and ISO, and they overlap quite a bit. [9:56] These are recognized standards. In some states, if a company has met this standard of cybersecurity, a lawsuit against the company for breach of its standard of care for maintaining its information systems would probably be defensible for having met a recognized standard. [10:23] Katherine adds that as risk managers, we can't make the decision about which of these external standards is the best. Many organizations have a Cybersecurity Officer responsible for this. [10:44] For smaller organizations, there are other options, including outsourcing to a vendor. Their insurance companies may have recommendations. So you're not on your own in making this decision. [11:14] Katherine says firms should definitely aim for one recognized standard. Katherine recommends you try to adhere to the highest standard. If you are global, you need to be conscious of standards in other countries. [11:46] Hal says California tends to have the highest standards for privacy and data protection. If you're a financial services company, you're subject to New York State's Department of Financial Services Cyber Regulation. [12:02] If you're operating in Europe, GDPR is going to be the guiding standard for what you should do. Hal agrees with Katherine: Any company that spans multiple states should pick the highest standard and stick to that, rather than try to implement five or 52 standards. [12:23] When you're overseas, you may not be able to just pick the highest standard; there are challenges in going from one country or region of Europe back to the U.S. If one is higher, it will probably be easier. [12:38] There are major differences between the U.S., which has little Federal protection, vs. state protection. [13:10] Katherine says if you don't have the internal infrastructure, and you can't afford that infrastructure, the best thing is to pivot to an outside vendor. There are many available, with a broad price range. Your cyber insurer may also have some vendors they already work with. [13:40] Hal would add, Don't just think about Safe Harbors. That's just a legal defense. Think about how you reduce the risk by adopting standards or hiring outside firms that will provide that kind of risk protection and IT management. [13:59] If they're doing it right, they may tell you the standards they use, and they may have additional protocols, whether or not they fall within those standards, that would also be desirable. A mid-sized firm is probably outsourcing it to begin with. [14:21] They have to be thinking about it as risk, rather than just Safe Harbor. You have to navigate to the Safe Harbor. You don't just get there. [14:31] Quick Break! RISKWORLD 2026 will be in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, from May 3rd through the 6th. RIMS members can now lock in the 2025 rate for a full conference pass to RISKWORLD 2026 when you register by October 30th! [14:50] This also lets you enjoy earlier access to the RISKWORLD hotel block. Register by October 30th, and you will also be entered to win a $500 raffle! Do not miss out on this chance to plan and score some of these extra perks! [15:03] The members-only registration link is in this episode's show notes. If you are not yet a member, this is the time to join us! Visit RIMS.org/Membership and build your network with us here at RIMS! [15:16] The RIMS Legislative Summit 2026 is mentioned during today's episode. Be sure to mark your calendar for March 18th and 19th in Washington, D.C. Keep those dates open. [15:28] Join us in Washington, D.C., for two days of Congressional Meetings, networking, and advocating on behalf of the risk management community. Visit RIMS.org/Advocacy for more information and updates.  [15:41] Let's return to our interview with Katherine Henry and Hal Weston! [15:54] We're talking about their new paper, “A 2025 Cybersecurity Legal Safe Harbor Overview”. Katherine mentions that some businesses are regulated. They have to comply with external regulatory standards. [16:38] Other small brick-and-mortar businesses may not have any standards they have to comply with. They look for what to do to protect themselves from cyber risk, and how to tell others they are doing that. [16:54] If you can meet the standards of Safe Harbor laws, a lot of which are preventative, before a breach, you can inform your customers, “These are the protections we have for your data.” You can tell your board, “These are the steps we're taking in place.” [17:13] You can look down the requirements of the Safe Harbor law in your state or a comparable state, and see steps you can take in advance so you can say, “We are doing these things and that makes our system safer for you and protects your data.” [17:34] Hal says you don't want to have a breach, and if you do, it would be embarrassing to admit you were late applying a patch, implementing multi-factor authentication, or another security measure. By following standards of better cyber protection, you avoid those exposures. [18:07] Hal says every company has either been hacked and knows it, or has been hacked and doesn't know it. If you're attacked by a nation-state that is non-preventable, you're in good shape. [18:26] If you're attacked because you've left some ports open on your system, or other things that are usually caught in cybersecurity analyses or assessments, that's the embarrassing part. You don't want to be in that position. [18:43] Katherine says it's not just your own systems, but if you rely on vendors, you want to ensure that the vendors have the proper security systems in place so that your data, to the extent that it's transmitted to them, is not at risk. [19:07] Also, make sure that your vendors have cyber insurance and that you're an additional insured on that vendor's policy if there's any potential exposure. [19:22] Hal says If you're using a cloud provider, do you understand what the cloud provider is doing? In most cases, they will provide better security than what you could do on your own, but there have been news stories that even some of those have not been perfect. [20:22] Hal talks about the importance of encryption. It's in the state statutes and regulations. There have been news stories of companies that didn't encrypt their data on their servers or in the cloud, and didn't understand encryption, when a data breach was revealed. [20:52] Hal places multi-factor authentication up with encryption in importance. There was a case brought against a company that did not have MFA, even though it said on its application on the cyber policy that the company used it. [21:13] Hal says these are standard, basic things that no company should be missing. If you don't know that your data is encrypted, get help fast to figure that out. [21:51] Hal has also seen news stories of major companies where the Chief Technology Officer has been sued individually, either by the SEC or others, for not doing it right. [22:07] Katherine mentions there are insurance implications. If you mistakenly state you're providing some sort of protection on your insurance application that you're not providing, the insurer can rescind your coverage, so you have no coverage in place at all. [22:23] Katherine says, These are technical safeguards, but we know the human factor is one of the greatest risks in cybersecurity. Having training for everyone who has access to your computer system, virtually everyone in your organization, is very important. [22:49] Have a test with questions like, Is this a spam email or a real email? There are some vendors who can do all this for you. Statistics show that the human element is one of the most significant problems in cybersecurity protection. [23:05] Justin says it's October, Cybersecurity Awareness Month in the U.S. Last week's guest, Gwenn Cujdik, the Incident Response and Cyber Services Lead for North America at AXA XL, said the number one cyber risk is human error, like clicking the phishing link.  [23:45] Justin brings up that when he was recently on vacation, he got an email on his personal email account, “from his CEO,” asking him to handle something for them. Justin texted somebody else at RIMS, asking if they got the same email, and they hadn't. [24:14] Justin sent the suspect email to the IT director to handle. You have to be vigilant. Don't let your guard down for a second. [24:48] Katherine has received fake emails, as well. [24:51] Hal says it has happened to so many people. Messages about gift cards or the vendor having a new bank account. Call the vendor that you know and ask what this is. [25:12] Hall continues. It's important to train employees in cybersecurity, making sure that they are using a VPN when they are outside of the office, or even a VPN that's specific to your company. [25:32] Hal saw in the news recently that innocent-looking PDF files can harbor lots of malware. If you're not expecting a PDF file from somebody, don't click on that, even if you know them. Get verification. Start a new thread with the person who sent it and ask if it is a legitimate PDF. [26:08] Justin says of cybercriminals that they are smart and their tactics evolve faster than legislation. How can organizations anticipate the next generation of threats? [26:34] Katherine says, You need to have an infrastructure in your organization that does that, or you need to go to an outside vendor. You need some sort of protection, internally or externally. [27:11] Katherine says she works with CFOs all the time. If an organization isn't large enough to have a risk manager, it's a natural fit for the CFO, who handles finances, to handle insurance. When it comes to cybersecurity, a CFO needs help. [27:46] The CFO should check the cyber policy to see what support services are already there and see if there are any that are preventative, vs. after a breach. If there are not, Katherine suggests pivoting to an outside vendor. [28:07] Hal continues, This interview is for RIMS members who are risk managers and the global risk community. Risk managers don't claim to know all the risk control measures throughout a company. They rely upon the experts in the company and outside. [28:29] If the CFO is the risk manager, he or she has big gaps in expertise needed for risk management. It's the same for the General Counsel running risk management. Risk managers are known for having small staffs and working with everybody else to get the right answers. [28:55] If you're dealing with the CFO or General Counsel in those roles, they need to be even more mindful to work with the right experts for guidance. [29:09] One Final Break! As many of you know, the RIMS ERM Conference 2025 will be held on November 17th and 18th in Seattle, Washington. We recently had ERM Conference Keynote Speaker Dan Chuparkoff on the show. [29:26] He is back, just to deliver a quick message about what you can expect from his keynote on “AI and the Future of Risk.” Dan, welcome back to RIMScast! [29:37] Dan says, Greetings, RIMS members and the global risk community! I'm Dan Chuparkoff, AI expert and the CEO of Reinvention Labs. I'm delighted to be your opening keynote on November 17th at the RIMS ERM Conference 2025 in Seattle, Washington. [29:52] Artificial Intelligence is fueling the next era of work, productivity, and innovation. There are challenges in navigating anything new. This is especially true for risk management, as enterprises adapt to shifting global policies, economic swings, and a new generation of talent. [30:10] We'll have a realistic discussion about the challenges of preparing for the future of AI. To learn more about my keynote, “AI and the Future of Risk Management,”  and how AI will impact Enterprise Risk Management for you, listen to my episode of RIMScast at RIMS.org/Dan. [30:29] Be sure to register for the RIMS ERM Conference 2025, in Seattle, Washington, on November 17th and 18th, by visiting the Events page on RIMS.org. I look forward to seeing you all there. [30:40] Justin thanks Dan and looks forward to seeing him again on November 17th and hearing all about the future of AI and risk management! [30:48] Let's Conclude Our Interview about Navigating Cyber and IT Practices to Legal Safe Harbors with Katherine Henry and Hal Weston! [31:17] Katherine tells about how Safe Harbor compliance influences cyber insurance. If your organization applies for cyber insurance and you can't meet some minimum threshold that will be identified on the application, the insurer will not even offer you cyber insurance. [31:34] You need to have some cyber protections in place. That's just to procure insurance. Cyber insurance availability is growing. Your broker can bring you more insurers to quote if you can show robust safeguards. [32:05] After the breach, your insurer is supposed to step in to help you. Your insurer will be mindful of whether or not your policy application is correct and that you have all these protections in place. [32:21] The more protections you have, the quicker you might be able to shut down the breach, and the resulting damage from the breach, and that will lower the resulting cost of the claim and have less of an impact on future premiums. [32:36] If the cyber insurer just had to pay out the limits because something wasn't in place, that quote next year is not going to look so pretty. Your protections have a direct impact on both the availability and cost of coverage. [32:50] Justin mentions that the paper highlights Connecticut, Tennessee, Iowa, Ohio, Utah, and Oregon as the states with Safe Harbor laws. The Federal requirements are also listed. Katherine expects that more states will offer Safe Harbor laws as cybercrime lawsuits increase. [33:42] Hal says Oregon, Ohio, and Utah were the leaders in creating Safe Harbors. Some of the other states have followed. Safe Harbor is a statutory protection against liability claims brought by the public. [34:06] In other states, you can't point to a statute that gives protection, but you can say you complied with the highest standards in the nation, and you probably have a pretty defensible case against a claim for not having kept up with your duty to protect against a cyber attack. [34:55] Hal adds that every company is going to be sued, and the claim is that you failed to do something. If you have protected yourself with all the known best practices, as they evolve, what more is a company supposed to do? [35:18] The adversaries are nation-states; they are professional criminals, sometimes operating under the protection of nation-states, and they're using artificial intelligence to craft even more devious ways to get in. [36:19] Katherine speaks from a historical perspective. A decade ago, cyber insurance was available, but there was no appetite for it. There wasn't an understanding of the risk. [36:32] As breaches began to happen and to multiply, in large amounts of exposure, with companies looking at millions of dollars in claims, interest grew. Katherine would be surprised today if any responsible board didn't take cyber risk extremely seriously. [36:55] The board's decision now is what limits to purchase and from whom, and not, “Should we have cyber insurance at all?” Katherine doesn't think it's an issue anymore in any medium-sized company. [37:17] The risk manager should present to the board, “We benchmark. Our broker benchmarks. Companies of our size have had this type of claim, with this type of exposure, and they've purchased this amount of limits. We need to be at least in that place.” Boards will be receptive. [37:43] If they are not receptive, put on a PowerPoint with all the data that's out there about how bad the situation is. The average cost of a breach is well over $2 million. The statistics are quite alarming. A wise decision-maker will understand that you need to procure this coverage. [38:10] Katherine says, from the cybersecurity side, you procure the coverage, you protect the company, and take advantage of the Safe Harbors. All of those things come together with the preventative measures we've been talking about. [38:24] You can show your decision-makers and stakeholders that if you do all those things, comply with these Safe Harbor provisions, you're going to minimize your exposure, increase the availability of insurance, and keep your premiums down. It's a win-win package. [38:41] Justin says, It has been such a pleasure to meet you, Hal, and thank you for joining us. Katherine, it is an annual pleasure to see you. We're going to see you, most likely, at the RIM Legislative Summit, March 18th and 19th, 2026, in Washington, D.C. [39:01] Details to come, at RIMS.org/Advocacy. Katherine, you'll be there to answer questions. Katherine looks forward to the Summit. She has gone there for years. It's a great opportunity for risk managers to speak directly to decision-makers about things that are important to them. [39:42] Special thanks again to Katherine Henry and Hal Weston for joining us here today on RIMScast! Remember to download the new RIMS Legislative Review, “A 2025 Cybersecurity Legal Safe Harbor Overview”. [39:58] We are past the 30-day mark now, so the review is publicly available through the Risk Knowledge Page of RIMS.org. You can also visit RIMS.org/Advocacy for more information. In this episode's notes, I've got links to Katherine's prior RIMScast appearances. [40:18] Plug Time! You can sponsor a RIMScast episode for this, our weekly show, or a dedicated episode. Links to sponsored episodes are in the show notes. [40:47] RIMScast has a global audience of risk and insurance professionals, legal professionals, students, business leaders, C-Suite executives, and more. Let's collaborate and help you reach them! Contact pd@rims.org for more information. [41:05] Become a RIMS member and get access to the tools, thought leadership, and network you need to succeed. Visit RIMS.org/membership or email membershipdept@RIMS.org for more information. [41:22] Risk Knowledge is the RIMS searchable content library that provides relevant information for today's risk professionals. Materials include RIMS executive reports, survey findings, contributed articles, industry research, benchmarking data, and more. [41:39] For the best reporting on the profession of risk management, read Risk Management Magazine at RMMagazine.com. It is written and published by the best minds in risk management. [41:53] Justin Smulison is the Business Content Manager at RIMS. Please remember to subscribe to RIMScast on your favorite podcasting app. You can email us at Content@RIMS.org. [42:05] Practice good risk management, stay safe, and thank you again for your continuous support!   Links: RIMS Professional Report: “A 2025 Cybersecurity Legal Safe Harbor Overview” RISK PAC | RIMS Advocacy | RIMS Legislative Summit SAVE THE DATE — March 18‒19, 2026 RIMS ERM Conference 2025 — Nov. 17‒18 RISKWORLD 2026 — Members-only early registration through Oct 30! RIMS-Certified Risk Management Professional (RIMS-CRMP) The Strategic and Enterprise Risk Center RIMS Diversity Equity Inclusion Council RIMS Risk Management magazine | Contribute RIMS Now Cybersecurity Awareness Month World Standards Day — Oct 14, 2025 Upcoming RIMS Webinars: RIMS.org/Webinars “Jury Dynamics: How Juries Shape Today's Legal Landscape” | Oct. 16, 2025 | Sponsored by Zurich “Parametric Insurance: Providing Financial Certainty in Uncertain Times” | Oct. 30, 2025 | Sponsored by Swiss Re “Geopolitical Whiplash — Building Resilient Global Risk Programs in an Unstable World” | Nov. 6 | Sponsored by Hub   Upcoming RIMS-CRMP Prep Virtual Workshops: RIMS-CRMP Virtual Exam Prep — Oct. 29‒30, 2025 RIMS-CRMP-FED Exam Prep Virtual Workshop — November 11‒12 Full RIMS-CRMP Prep Course Schedule “Risk Appetite Management” | Oct 22‒23 | Instructor: Ken Baker “Intro to ERM for Senior Leaders” | Nov. 4‒5 | Instructor: Elise Farnham “Fundamentals of Insurance” | Nov. 11‒12 | Instructor: Chris Hansen “Leveraging Data and Analytics for Continuous Risk Management (Part I)” | Dec 4. See the full calendar of RIMS Virtual Workshops RIMS-CRMP Prep Workshops   Related RIMScast Episodes about Cyber and with Katherine Henry: “National Cybersecurity Awareness Month 2025 with Gwenn Cujdik” “AI Risks and Compliance with Chris Maguire” “Data Privacy and Protection with CISA Chief Privacy Officer James Burd” “Cyberrisk Trends in 2025 with Tod Eberle of Shadowserver” “Legal and Risk Trends with Kathrine Henry (2023)”   Sponsored RIMScast Episodes: “The New Reality of Risk Engineering: From Code Compliance to Resilience” | Sponsored by AXA XL (New!) “Change Management: AI's Role in Loss Control and Property Insurance” | Sponsored by Global Risk Consultants, a TÜV SÜD Company Demystifying Multinational Fronting Insurance Programs | Sponsored by Zurich “Understanding Third-Party Litigation Funding” | Sponsored by Zurich “What Risk Managers Can Learn From School Shootings” | Sponsored by Merrill Herzog “Simplifying the Challenges of OSHA Recordkeeping” | Sponsored by Medcor “Risk Management in a Changing World: A Deep Dive into AXA's 2024 Future Risks Report” | Sponsored by AXA XL “How Insurance Builds Resilience Against An Active Assailant Attack” | Sponsored by Merrill Herzog “Third-Party and Cyber Risk Management Tips” | Sponsored by Alliant “RMIS Innovation with Archer” | Sponsored by Archer “Navigating Commercial Property Risks with Captives” | Sponsored by Zurich “Breaking Down Silos: AXA XL's New Approach to Casualty Insurance” | Sponsored by AXA XL “Weathering Today's Property Claims Management Challenges” | Sponsored by AXA XL “Storm Prep 2024: The Growing Impact of Convective Storms and Hail” | Sponsored by Global Risk Consultants, a TÜV SÜD Company “Partnering Against Cyberrisk” | Sponsored by AXA XL “Harnessing the Power of Data and Analytics for Effective Risk Management” | Sponsored by Marsh “Accident Prevention — The Winning Formula For Construction and Insurance” | Sponsored by Otoos “Platinum Protection: Underwriting and Risk Engineering's Role in Protecting Commercial Properties” | Sponsored by AXA XL “Elevating RMIS — The Archer Way” | Sponsored by Archer   RIMS Publications, Content, and Links: RIMS Membership — Whether you are a new member or need to transition, be a part of the global risk management community! RIMS Virtual Workshops On-Demand Webinars RIMS-Certified Risk Management Professional (RIMS-CRMP) RISK PAC | RIMS Advocacy RIMS Strategic & Enterprise Risk Center RIMS-CRMP Stories — Featuring RIMS President Kristen Peed!   RIMS Events, Education, and Services: RIMS Risk Maturity Model®   Sponsor RIMScast: Contact sales@rims.org or pd@rims.org for more information.   Want to Learn More? Keep up with the podcast on RIMS.org, and listen on Spotify and Apple Podcasts.   Have a question or suggestion? Email: Content@rims.org.   Join the Conversation! Follow @RIMSorg on Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn.   About our guests: Katherine Henry, Partner and Chair of the Policyholder Coverage Practice, Bradley, Arant, Boult, and Cummings   Harold Weston, Clinical Associate Professor and WSIA Distinguished Chair in Risk Management and Insurance, Georgia State University College of Law Production and engineering provided by Podfly.  

Check out Mostly Growth and get episodes early. Available on all platforms.* YouTube* Spotify* AppleConference season is back, and CJ and Kyle are swapping stories from the stage—how to nail a keynote, whether conferences are worth the money, and why your walkout song matters more than you think. From there, they dig into a new a16z report revealing where AI startups are actually spending their dollars, and CJ shares results from his summer survey showing that CFOs talk a big game about measuring AI ROI—but nobody knows how to do it. The crew also unpacks how SaaS companies like Slack are bundling AI into their products and hiking prices, before spiraling into a late-night “potentially reliable” rabbit hole featuring a Soviet pole vaulter, beat-and-raise forecasting, and J. Edgar Hoover. They close with lessons on pricing in the real world (yes, Amsterdam's architecture is involved) and one experiment CJ tried this week.Timestamps:00:00 Preview and Intro02:03 Walkout Songs & Kicking Off Conference Season04:12 Sponsored Segment — Metronome05:16 How To Give a Great Keynote and Not Bore the Room11:16 Are Conferences Worth the Money16:02 What AI Companies Are Actually Paying For — The a16z Report21:56 Summer Survey Results: The Elusive ROI of AI23:56 Why No One Knows How To Measure ROI on AI29:38 SaaS Companies Forcing AI — Bundling, Pricing, and Pushback35:32 A Potentially Reliable Thing I Read at 2 AM36:02 Soviet Pole Vaulter, Beat-and-Raise Forecasting & Hoover's Borders41:02 Pricing in the Real World — Lessons from Amsterdam's Skinny Houses44:37 Something I Tried This Week — FixyerEpisodes Referenced: ⁠Are You Bad at LinkedIn… or Is the Algorithm Lying?⁠⁠Why Founders Are Posting Sad Dinners⁠Links:⁠⁠⁠https://www.getmobly.com/⁠⁠https://a16z.com/the-ai-application-spending-report-where-startup-dollars-really-go/⁠⁠https://www.growthunhinged.com/p/how-to-nail-your-next-big-talk⁠⁠https://www.leahtharin.com/p/113-vincent-pierri-how-to-deal-with⁠⁠https://www.freepik.com/⁠⁠https://cluely.com/⁠⁠https://www.mostlymetrics.com/p/it-was-the-summer-of-25⁠⁠https://www.crescendo.ai/⁠⁠https://www.linkedin.com/posts/justintropic_slack-just-raised-prices-125-by-forcing-activity-7379132597009870848-XI6N/⁠⁠https://www.mostlymetrics.com/p/what-a-soviet-era-pole-vaulter-can-teach-us-about-beating-and-raising⁠⁠https://www.nytimes.com/1972/05/03/archives/j-edgar-hoover-made-the-fbi-formidable-with-politics-publicity-and.html⁠⁠https://www.reddit.com/r/todayilearned/comments/73vh2j/til_that_the_dutch_government_once_enforced_a_tax/⁠⁠https://www.clearspaceliving.com/blog/why-dutch-stairs-are-so-steep/⁠⁠https://mjwrightnz.wordpress.com/2012/10/28/amsterdams-taxing-narrow-houses/⁠⁠https://www.fyxer.com/Today's podcast is brought to you by MetronomeYou just launched your new AI product. The new pricing page looks great. But behind it? Last-minute glue code, messy spreadsheets, and running ad-hoc queries to figure out what to bill. Customers get invoices they can't understand. Engineers are chasing billing bugs. Finance can't close the books.With Metronome, you hand it all off to the real-time billing infrastructure that just works—reliable, flexible, and built to grow with you. We turn raw usage events into accurate invoices, give customers bills they actually understand, and keep every team in sync in real time.Whether you're launching usage-based pricing, managing enterprise contracts, or rolling out new AI services, Metronome does the heavy lifting so you can focus on your product, not your billing.That's why some of the fastest-growing companies in the world, like OpenAI and Anthropic, run their billing on Metronome.Visit metronome.com to learn more. 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

In this episode of Planning Aces, host Jack Sweeney and resident thought leader Brett Knowles explore how finance leaders are approaching AI's early returns—balancing efficiency, experimentation, and human judgment. CFO Craig Foster of Pax8 discusses how AI enablement is driving measurable productivity gains. CFO David Obstler of Datadog reflects on finding ROI amid rapid innovation and market demand. And CFO Ben Gammell of Brex shares why forecasting still requires human intuition despite data-driven progress. Together, their insights reveal a spectrum of FP&A strategies defining the modern CFO's mindset toward AI adoption and business transformation.Brett Knowles' Key TakeawaysBrett Knowles observes that finance leaders are positioning themselves along a broad continuum—from bold experimentation to cautious skepticism—when it comes to AI in planning. He notes a shift in tone: CFOs are now openly discussing productivity gains and cost efficiency rather than avoiding them. Knowles cautions against overreliance on ROI metrics, emphasizing instead disciplined cost management, pragmatic experimentation, and the evolving role of finance in navigating technology-driven transformation.

Global volatility, trade wars, and currency fluctuations are rewriting the playbook for today's finance leaders. In this episode of CPM Customer Success, host Andy Smetana explores how CFOs, Controllers, and FP&A Directors can turn uncertainty into opportunity, with clarity, speed, and confidence. Discover how OneStream Software helps finance teams: Consolidate, plan, and forecast in real time Run scenario modeling to evaluate tariff and cost impacts Use rolling forecasts to stay agile amid rapid market shifts Automate consolidation and reporting to free up time for analysis Featuring real-world examples from two global companies, this episode shows how leading organizations are thriving through economic disruption with a unified CPM platform that empowers better decisions, faster. Brought to you by Nova Advisory — a Diamond OneStream implementation partner helping finance teams simplify complexity and elevate performance. https://www.novaadvisory.com/finance-transformation    

  Flowers are a stage — design is the performance. Affordable mistakes beat catastrophic caution. Build leaders from the bench you already have. A shop window can be a growth engine. Hands-on founders create hands-on cultures.   Danish-born floral designer Nicolai Bergmann built his brand in Tokyo by treating the shopfront as a “stage,” inspiring customers with ready-made designs. After moving to Japan in the late '90s, a high-visibility boutique and department-store partnership launched the “Nicolai Bergmann” name, later expanded with a Minami-Aoyama flagship featuring a café, gallery, and atelier. He popularized the signature fresh flower box, grew the team to ~250 by developing leaders from the floor and adding specialists, and runs on a philosophy of bold but “affordable” experiments—learning fast without risking the whole platform. What makes leadership in Japan unique? Japan's leadership landscape values craftsmanship, visible commitment, and community. A founder who works the market at dawn and serves customers on the shop floor embodies credibility. Beyond hierarchy, leaders earn trust through nemawashi—quiet alignment-building before decisions—and by signalling stability through continuity of people and place. Shopfronts, department-store counters and hotel lobbies are not just sales channels; they are social proof engines where consistency, aesthetics and service fuse into leadership currency. Why do global executives struggle? Executives arriving with playbooks optimised for speed and centralisation can stall amid Japan's consensus rhythms. Ringi-sho processes and stakeholder mapping feel slow until leaders learn to use the process to clarify value and de-risk execution. Underinvesting in the “stage”—the customer-visible experience—and overinvesting in back-office abstraction also hurts; in Japan, persuasion is tactile. People want to see, touch and feel the idea before they sign off. Is Japan truly risk-averse? It's more accurate to say Japan practices uncertainty avoidance. Bergmann's career shows that bold moves are welcome when the downside is capped: trial pop-ups before full leases, host-funded fit-outs, and prototypes that can be iterated. The mantra is “affordable mistakes”—push hard, but don't blow up the platform. Decision intelligence here means structuring experiments so they teach fast without triggering existential losses. What leadership style actually works? Hands-on, craft-credible and steadily developmental. Leaders who model standards on the floor, grow managers from within, and supplement with targeted specialists (e.g., seasoned CFOs) see durable results. Clear stages—flagship, gallery, high-traffic counters—act as internal academies where juniors learn by doing. Consistency of presence from the top creates momentum that SOPs alone cannot. How can technology help? Digital twins of store layouts and merchandising flows help prototype seasonal displays before fit-out; simple decision dashboards clarify which experiments are “affordable.” Lightweight collaboration tools support nemawashi across shops, while CRM nudges seasonal outreach. None of this replaces the stage; it amplifies it—turning tacit craft into shareable playbooks without diluting design. Does language proficiency matter? Yes, but craft fluency and cultural curiosity travel far. Bergmann advanced by showing value on the counter and at installs while improving Japanese over time. A leader who demonstrates respect, learns the tempo, and leverages bilingual lieutenants can navigate ringi, win consensus, and keep teams inspired—even before perfect fluency lands. What's the ultimate leadership lesson? Treat every customer-facing surface as a stage; build leaders from the people who already care; and structure your boldness so you never risk the platform. Hands-on credibility + consensus craftsmanship = compounding trust.

In this episode of Planning Aces, host Jack Sweeney and resident thought leader Brett Knowles explore how finance leaders are approaching AI's early returns—balancing efficiency, experimentation, and human judgment. CFO Craig Foster of Pax8 discusses how AI enablement is driving measurable productivity gains. CFO David Obstler of Datadog reflects on finding ROI amid rapid innovation and market demand. And CFO Ben Gammell of Brex shares why forecasting still requires human intuition despite data-driven progress. Together, their insights reveal a spectrum of FP&A strategies defining the modern CFO's mindset toward AI adoption and business transformation. Brett Knowles' Key Takeaways Brett Knowles observes that finance leaders are positioning themselves along a broad continuum—from bold experimentation to cautious skepticism—when it comes to AI in planning. He notes a shift in tone: CFOs are now openly discussing productivity gains and cost efficiency rather than avoiding them. Knowles cautions against overreliance on ROI metrics, emphasizing instead disciplined cost management, pragmatic experimentation, and the evolving role of finance in navigating technology-driven transformation.

This week, I sat down with Minou Clark, CEO of RealSelf, to talk about leadership, culture, and why creativity is the secret weapon in business. Minou's journey is anything but traditional. From theater major to running digital growth at BuzzFeed, PopSugar, People, Yahoo, and Paris Hilton's 11:11 Media, before stepping into the CEO role at RealSelf.We cover entrepreneurship, digital strategy, and what it really means to lead with empathy. Minou shares how her theater background shaped her leadership style and built her emotional intelligence, and why she treats interns, CFOs, and board members exactly the same, holding radical transparency as her rule. She talks about rebranding RealSelf to modernize the experience while keeping its loyal community at the center, and why companies that resist change get left behind. We also dig into the gap between corporate excitement about AI and consumer distrust, and Minou's long-term vision for RealSelf beyond aesthetics to include wellness, nutrition, and mental health.If you're building a brand, leading a team, or just want to understand how empathy and bold change fuel real growth, this episode is packed with insights you can use. Listen now for lessons on leadership, digital growth, and why being authentic is the best strategy.

With an erratic and fast business environment, finance teams are facing high pressure to process reports. The main challenge lies in how mid-market firms achieve digital transformation, not by abandoning familiar tools but by making them more effective. In this episode of the Don't Panic It's Just Data podcast, host Kevin Petrie, Vice President, Research and Head of Data Management Practice, BARC, speaks with Maeghan Carriere, Divisional Vice President, Software Sales NA, insightsoftware; and Nate Cook, Director of Product Marketing, insightsoftware. They discuss the importance of automation, the role of CFOs as strategic leaders, and, most importantly, how mid-market companies can leverage tools like Spreadsheet Server for digital transformation. The conversation also spotlights the need for finance professionals to upskill in AI and data analysis to remain competitive.All speakers agree that the key is in equipping finance professionals with direct, real-time access to their data in the environment they know and trust – Excel.CFOs as Strategic LeadersCook believes that the role of the Chief Financial Officer (CFO) and their team has changed massively. "We really expect them to look back only as it helps them find a path forward.”This new role requires finance teams to become effective data teams but how can they do that? A recent Gartner study found that 75 per cent of CFOs "said they own or co-own enterprise data and analytics at their organisations." Unfortunately, these teams "sometimes struggle to have access to the data that they need." The time wasted on tedious data entry and report generation is time lost for important analysis and strategic thinking."The short answer is Spreadsheet Server," Cook told Petrie, explaining that better decisions rely on better data, and Spreadsheet Server provides the latter.Also Watch: Struggling with ERP Data? How to Get Real-Time Reporting in ExcelExcel with AI Upskills Finance TeamsAutomating reporting doesn't just save time; it allows finance professionals to develop skills in areas like Excel, data analysis, and AI. Carriere points out that AI is an important tool that every professional needs to learn to use effectively."Once you understand how data flows and connects in real time, you're better positioned to use AI tools because you can quickly tell if the results make sense," she explains.The key message for IT decision-makers is clear, as per insightsoftware's divisional VP, "Stop fighting Excel and make it more powerful instead." By embracing the tool that finance teams prefer, organisations can achieve quicker results, faster adoption, and ultimately free their financial experts from manual tasks. Cook also notes, Spreadsheet Server is "one way to help remove a lot of that toil and refocus the time that your folks are spending on the more strategic parts of analysis and decision-making that can help drive your organisation forward."TakeawaysFinance teams are facing scaling pressures and resource constraints.The need for speed in decision-making is critical for finance leaders.Automation can save finance teams significant time and

Today, Shannon dives into the crucial differences between a bookkeeper and a fractional CFO, revealing why scaling businesses should consider the latter. Shannon explains how fractional CFO services provide deeper insights, strategic decision-making, and future-focused projections that surpass what a bookkeeper or an in-house accountant can offer. With compelling arguments and real-world examples, Shannon highlights the value and cost-effectiveness of hiring a fractional CFO to drive business growth.   What you'll hear in this episode: [0:45] The Value of a Fractional CFO [01:20] Comparing Bookkeepers and CFOs [05:15] The Role of a Controller [07:00] Why Fractional CFOs Are Cost-Effective   If you like this episode, check out: Ways to Maximize Customer Value I Hired My Husband - Here's Why Your Finance Hire - Dos and Don'ts   Learn more about our CFO firm and services: https://www.keepwhatyouearn.com/   Connect with Shannon: https://www.linkedin.com/in/shannonweinstein Watch full episodes: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCMlIuZsrllp1Uc_MlhriLvQ Follow along on IG: https://www.instagram.com/shannonkweinstein/   The information contained in this podcast is intended for educational purposes only and is not individual tax advice. We love enthusiastic action, but please consult a qualified professional before implementing anything you learn.Fractional CFO vs. Bookkeeper - What Do I Need?

At SuiteWorld 2025, the NetSuite Podcast welcomed Tim Naddy, vice president of finance at the Savannah Bananas, and Nick Araco, founder of CFO Alliance, for a dynamic conversation on finance leadership, innovation, and growth. Together, they shared how bold financial strategies can fuel creativity while keeping the business sustainable. Tim discusses what makes the Savannah Bananas more than a baseball team—how they scaled from selling just a few tickets to selling out major league stadiums nationwide, while also running merchandise, media, and live entertainment operations. He explains how NetSuite provides the foundation to manage multiple revenue streams and operational complexity while maintaining focus on fans and growth. Nick reflects on building CFO Alliance into a trusted network for finance leaders and shares how CFOs are navigating today's toughest challenges—from scaling globally to embracing AI. Both guests emphasize the importance of CFOs as storytellers who must balance data-driven insights with clear communication to drive organizational impact.

In this special episode of Future Finance, your hosts, Glenn Hopper and Paul Barnhurst, explore how artificial intelligence is making waves in the finance world. They explore two distinct approaches to AI adoption: top-down initiatives, driven by company leadership, and bottom-up strategies, where employees are introducing AI tools on their own. Glenn and Paul also discuss the latest AI tools in Microsoft Excel, including AI agents, and how they're transforming financial modeling and decision-making. Tune in for a mix of practical advice, real-world experiences, and a bit of humor along the way.In this episode, you will discover:How top-down and bottom-up AI adoption strategies differ in business.Why employee-driven AI innovation is on the rise and how to manage it.The role of AI-powered tools like Excel Labs in transforming financial work.How AI agents can help upskill finance professionals and streamline tasks.Glenn and Paul explore the evolving role of AI in finance, from top-down strategies to employee-driven innovation. They highlight the potential of AI tools like Excel Labs and AI agents to transform financial processes. Tune in for insights on how embracing AI can help professionals stay ahead in a rapidly changing field.Join hosts Glenn and Paul as they unravel the complexities of AI in finance:Follow Glenn:LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/gbhopperiiiFollow Paul:LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/in/thefpandaguyFollow QFlow.AI:Website - https://bit.ly/4i1EkjgFuture Finance is sponsored by QFlow.ai, the strategic finance platform solving the toughest part of planning and analysis: B2B revenue. Align sales, marketing, and finance, speed up decision-making, and lock in accountability with QFlow.ai. Stay tuned for a deeper understanding of how AI is shaping the future of finance and what it means for businesses and individuals alike.In Today's Episode:[05:17] - Glenn's New Book for Wiley[08:21] - The AI Budget Mandate[12:11] - Managing Bottom-Up AI Adoption[15:39] - The Carol Office Question[26:00] - Why Use Hard-Coded XLOOKUP?[29:56] - Building and Customizing an AI Agent[36:36] - Career Transitions and AI in FP&A[39:50] - Final Thoughts and Wrapping Up

Not sure what your numbers are telling you? Get a free review: coltivar.com/financial-review Learn more about Ready Electric: readyelec.com What separates a good CFO from a great one?Steve sits down with Tim Anderson, CFO of Ready Electric, to talk about what it really takes to lead the financial side of a business. They unpack how the CFO role has evolved from number-crunching to strategic partnership, how owners can tell if their CFO is truly adding value, and what skills future CFOs should develop to reach the top.From AI's impact on finance to finding balance between work, family, and leadership, this conversation reveals what great financial leadership looks like in the real world._______________________________________Disclaimer:The views expressed here are those of the individual Coltivar Group, LLC (“Coltivar”) personnel quoted and are not the views of Coltivar or its affiliates. Certain information contained in here has been obtained from third-party sources. While taken from sources believed to be reliable, Coltivar has not independently verified such information and makes no representations about the enduring accuracy of the information or its appropriateness for a given situation.This content is provided for informational purposes only, and should not be relied upon as legal, business, investment, or tax advice. You should consult your own advisers as to those matters. References to any securities or digital assets are for illustrative purposes only, and do not constitute an investment recommendation or offer to provide investment advisory services. The Company is not registered or licensed by any governing body in any jurisdiction to give investing advice or provide investment recommendations. The Company is not affiliated with, nor does it receive compensation from, any specific security. Please see https://www.coltivar.com/privacy-policy-and-terms-of-use for additional important information. LinkedIn | YouTube coltivar.com

We've entered what I call The Friction Era—a period where every organization, from the fastest-growing startup to the most entrenched enterprise, is advancing so rapidly that the internal systems meant to support growth are straining under their own ambition. Mergers, acquisitions, product expansions, tech integrations, AI disruption, competitive parity—all of it is hitting at once. And yet, none of it signals failure. Quite the opposite. It signals acceleration.But acceleration brings turbulence. And when the temperature inside an organization rises—not because things are breaking, but because the stakes are higher—you learn quickly who your real operators are. The CHRO, the CFO, and the CTO become the three anchors in the storm. They are the triad balancing the organization's emotional intelligence, financial discipline, and technological infrastructure. And if they're not in sync, the company drifts into chaos, no matter how strong the product or how brilliant the strategy.In this episode, we go behind the scenes into how these three executives navigate what most companies never talk about publicly—the fragile, high-stakes process of scaling without losing the core of what made the business great.We'll unpack:How CHROs are redefining their role from HR operator to cultural engineer—embedding trust, energy, and clarity into the revenue architecture itself, not just engagement programs.How CFOs are reframing financial discipline not as constraint, but as a creative tool to shape psychological safety, focus, and long-term decision-making velocity.How CTOs are engineering unification—breaking down redundant systems, harmonizing data, and turning technology stacks into living frameworks that guide behavior, not just performance.We'll also dive into what happens when growth gets ahead of structure: when a company's narrative outpaces its people systems, when speed starts to erode judgment, and when competing incentives fracture collaboration between sales, product, and finance. Because at that point, it's not just about “alignment”—it's about survival through sophistication.The most forward-thinking executives know that emotional discipline is operational discipline. They know that culture without commercial intent is theater—and that commercial intent without culture is chaos. So this conversation is about what it takes to build the internal architecture of a billion-dollar organization before you actually reach a billion.This is a raw, unfiltered look at the modern enterprise from the inside out. A masterclass in executive endurance, systemic awareness, and the courage to build stability inside complexity.Core Question: When your organization is in motion—growing, merging, integrating, evolving—how do you maintain the psychological precision, financial rigor, and operational unity to keep the whole thing from tearing apart at the seams?

When every board discussion centers on deficits, deferred maintenance, or another “strategic realignment,” higher education leaders start asking what it would take to fix the system instead of just managing decline. In this episode of the Changing Higher Ed® podcast, Dr. Drumm McNaughton speaks with Beth Martin, President of Notre Dame de Namur University (NDNU), who led her institution through a complete financial and operational turnaround—eliminating institutional debt through strategic real estate use, risk planning, and sound financial governance. Martin's experience offers a rare look at what it takes to execute a true higher education turnaround. She shares how NDNU's leadership aligned governance, mission, and financial strategy to not only survive but rebuild a sustainable model focused on graduate and online growth. This conversation is especially relevant for presidents, trustees, CFOs, and institutional leaders facing financial strain, considering asset monetization, or preparing for large-scale organizational change. Topics Covered: How NDNU executed a debt-free turnaround through real estate strategy and risk planning Applying business planning and systems theory to higher education transformation Managing institutional debt while investing in academic and technological infrastructure Governance structures that enable speed, trust, and accountability during turnaround Aligning presidents, boards, and sponsoring orders in complex financial transactions Leading cultural and organizational change while maintaining mission and morale Real-World Examples Discussed: NDNU's 46-acre land transaction that retired institutional debt and funded new programs Sequencing real estate sales to support strategy instead of short-term survival Governance reform guided by a skills matrix and board-chair alignment Realigning academic programs around graduate and online learning Faculty and staff engagement during institutional transition Three Key Takeaways for Leadership: Treat land monetization as strategy, not salvage. Link every major financial decision to a defined business plan and measurable outcomes. Integrate business and risk planning into every turnaround. Build contingencies for timing, regulation, and accreditation challenges. Strengthen governance alignment. A unified president and board chair, supported by a skills-based board, determine turnaround success. Read the transcript: https://changinghighered.com/debt-free-higher-education-turnaround-strategy-real-estate/ #HigherEdLeadership #HigherEdTurnaround   #HigherEducationPodcast

Send us your thoughtsHost Hannah Munro sits down with Kevin Appleby, host of the Grow CFO Show, to share hard-won lessons from finance transformation projects. From failed demos to faster closes, they explore how CFOs can avoid common pitfalls and deliver real value.In this episode, you'll learn:How to approach system selection with scenarios and use cases, not just feature lists.Why keeping solutions simple and phased prevents failure points.The importance of engaging naysayers and building super users for adoption.Why benefits come from people and process changes, not just technology.Practical lessons for faster month-end closes and smarter procurement processes.How CFOs can communicate with boards, influence decisions, and choose the right timing for go-live.Links mentioned: Kevin's Linkedin Learn more about GrowCFO Join the Grow CFO community Discover more with Anchor Customer Story  Explore other CFO 4.0 Podcast episodes here. Subscribe to our Podcast!

Welcome back to the EUCVC Summit Talks, where we bring you candid conversations with Europe's leading founders, corporate leaders, and investors shaping the future of venture collaboration.In this episode, Andreas Munk Holm sits down with Hampus Jakobsson, General Partner at Pale Blue Dot, one of Europe's leading climate-focused funds. With shifting U.S. politics, renewed uncertainty around climate policy, and growing skepticism of “green hype,” Hampus shares why he defines climate investing as simply “not dumb investing.”From Donald Trump's return to the White House to Europe's resilience, China's role, and the gritty reality of scaling “boring but effective” solutions, this conversation is a masterclass in how investors, corporates, and founders can navigate climate risks — and seize opportunities.

Finance leaders know the struggle of managing endless spreadsheets, juggling data from every corner of the business, and trying to plan for a world that changes by the hour. In this episode, I talk with Julio Martínez, Co-Founder and CEO of Abacum, about how his team is helping finance professionals move from reactive reporting to confident, real-time decision making. Abacum was recently named the fastest growing tech company in Spain by Deloitte after increasing revenue by 6,733 percent in just four years. Julio shares the story behind that growth and explains how finance teams are transforming from back-office operators into true strategic partners. He describes how Abacum's platform helps CFOs and FP&A teams create accurate forecasts, automate manual work, and build scenario models that answer “what if” questions in minutes instead of days. We also talk about the role of AI in finance and why current large language models are not yet reliable enough for quantitative use cases. Julio discusses the need for precision, the importance of a human in the loop, and how new hybrid approaches are shaping the future of financial planning. From Barcelona to New York, his journey reflects the global rise of data-driven finance and the growing strength of Spain's startup ecosystem. Julio also leaves listeners with a thoughtful recommendation, Meditations by Marcus Aurelius, a book that continues to inspire him to stay grounded amid rapid change. If you want to understand how technology is redefining financial planning and how strong foundations can fuel extraordinary growth, this conversation with Julio offers a rare look inside the engine of one of Europe's fastest-rising tech companies.

Today on Money Talk With Tiff, Tiffany sits down with Melissa Broughton to tackle one of the most dreaded topics for entrepreneurs: bookkeeping! Melissa breaks down exactly what a bookkeeper does, why every business owner needs one (no matter what stage you're at), and how skipping this crucial step could be leaving thousands of your hard-earned dollars on the table. From decoding the roles of bookkeepers, CPAs, and fractional CFOs to real-life cautionary tales, this episode is packed with actionable insights for business owners and freelancers alike! Plus, Melissa's offering a fantastic freebie exclusively for Money Talk With Tiff listeners.Check out the full episode show notes: https://moneytalkwitht.com/podcast-show-notes/business-needs-a-bookkeeper/What You'll LearnWhat a Bookkeeper Really Does: Melissa clarifies the mystery around bookkeeping, explaining it's all about organizing your financial transactions and keeping your business tax-ready.Why Bookkeeping Is Crucial: Beyond tax time, regular bookkeeping helps you spot trends, manage budgets, and make smarter business decisions in real time.Bookkeeper vs. CPA vs. Fractional CFO: Discover the differences between each financial role (Melissa's medical analogies make it easy!), and why a bookkeeper should be your foundational hire.The Real Cost of Neglecting Your Books: Hear how business owners are missing out on an average of $7,500 in deductions by NOT having up-to-date books (and how it could be way more).Getting Started (Even if You're Small): Do you really need a bookkeeper if you're just starting out? Melissa shares who can DIY and when it's time to bring in a pro.Episode GemsTiffany's Take: “You won't get that data just going to a tax professional once a year! You need real-time insights to truly run your business.”Melissa's Pro Tip: “The expense of hiring a bookkeeper is 100% tax deductible—and makes sure taxes don't haunt you later!”Melissa's Free Gift: Download a complimentary electronic copy of The Four Hour Bookkeeper—perfect for DIYers who want to get their books in order.Links & ResourcesGrab Your FREE Copy: The Four-Hour Bookkeeper – Claim your copy here! (Go to the contact form to request your free book)Connect with Melissa: busybeeadvisors.com – Schedule your free consultation for bookkeeping or taxes.Connect with TiffWebsite & All Episodes: moneytalkwitht.comSocial: @MoneyTalkWithT on all platformsDon't let bookkeeping be the monster in your business closet! Tune in, grab your free book, and step into your CEO power with clear financials.

In this episode of One Vision, Theo hosts Priya Gore, General Manager and Head of Cloud and AI Platform Solutions for US Financial Services at Microsoft, where they explore the expanded role of CFOs and impact of AI. Gore dispels common myths about AI, emphasizing its democratization and responsible usage. She highlights the importance of organizational readiness and the future of AI-driven work environments. The conversation underscores how AI can transform businesses, enhance customer experiences, and drive innovation, urging leaders to embrace AI thoughtfully and strategically.00:00 Introduction and Guest Welcome02:07 Impact of AI on CFOs and Finance Teams04:27 Addressing Myths and Pitfalls of AI05:54 AI in Regulated Industries08:19 AI-First Leadership and Organizational Change10:14 Future of Work and AI Agents14:06 Democratizing AI and Final Thoughts#AI #FinancialServices #CFO #FutureOfWork #Innovation #MSFTAmbassador

Would you like access to our advanced agency training for FREE? https://www.agencymastery360.com/training Are you still thinking of AI as just “ChatGPT with a better prompt”? Or maybe you've played around with Zapier automations and thought, yeah, that's good enough. Today's featured guest knows that the agencies pulling ahead right now are building full-on AI agent networks that replace routine tasks, streamline data pipelines, and give their teams superpowers. She's re-engineering her agency around AI and will talk about where she finds top-tier talent and why you don't need to code to lead your agency into the future. Jennifer Bagley is the CEO and founder of CI Web Group, a fully virtual digital marketing agency registered in 22 U.S. states with clients across the United States and Canada. A former corporate operator turned entrepreneur, Jennifer started in real estate and mortgage brokerage before leaning into the marketing work she built to support those businesses. Today she runs a modern, tech-forward agency that's rebuilt its stack around AI, centralized data, and agentic networks, all while carrying the scars and lessons of scaling, pivoting, and re-founding a business from the ground up. In this episode, we'll discuss: Feeling trapped by the business. Hiring, firing, and the people reset AI, reskilling, and the end of “middle” roles What does this talent cost? Subscribe Apple | Spotify | iHeart Radio Sponsors and Resources E2M Solutions: Today's episode of the Smart Agency Masterclass is sponsored by E2M Solutions, a web design, and development agency that has provided white-label services for the past 10 years to agencies all over the world. Check out e2msolutions.com/smartagency and get 10% off for the first three months of service. From Corporate Ladder to Accidental Agency Founder Jennifer came from an operations background, a self-proclaimed black belt in Six Sigma and certified project manager. Having built that corporate background, she had made a promise to herself (“by 30 I'll be an entrepreneur”), and started to build the side hustle that became the main event. She started in real estate and mortgage brokering where she had to learn marketing the hard way; not because she wanted to be a marketer, but because the survival of her businesses depended on it. Initially, Jennifer didn't set out to build a scalable agency; she built a team to support her broker network. When the market collapsed in 2008, the same team that did marketing for agents suddenly had a market outside real estate. That “we'll just help this painter or HVAC company” phase is where the web group was born: small, service-focused, and useful to people in her network. That accidental turn became a business by solving real, pressing problems for paying clients, then leaned into that. Trading Time for Freedom: The Hard Pivot For the first five years, Jennifer describes the business as a “lifestyle” operation, profitable maybe, but trapping her time. She was trading billable hours for income and was reaching her limit when she hired a coach that forced a reckoning: if entrepreneurship isn't buying you time, money, and freedom, what's the point? So she made the brutal choice of cutting consulting contracts and burning the bridge to the “safety” of hourly work, and effectively gave herself a mulligan. This is the classic founder pivot: you have to choose between growth that keeps you doing the work and growth that scales the business without you. Jennifer's reset wasn't pretty, for a while she lost everything and she and her son lived in an office for a while, but it bought her the permission to build something salable, not just sustainable. Agency owners who feel trapped in delivery need to remember that sometimes you have to give up short-term revenue to create long-term value. Feeling Trapped by the Agency and Becoming a CEO Those first five years, Jennifer continued to run a business that started as a supply chain consulting and eventually turned into a sales supply chain consulting. This change meant the business was now a good lead generator for the agency but it also meant Jennifer was essentially selling her image and her time. Until she ran out of time. Once she felt trapped by the business, Jennifer actually hired a business coach that helped her change the model from “selling Jennifer with marketing on the side” to an actual sustainable business. She had to go back to the basics and remember she, like every entrepreneur, started the business with the idea of having more time, money, and freedom. It took losing everything, but Jennifer knew she didn't want a lifestyle business, she wanted a sellable business. The antidote was delegation plus systems. If you want growth and a future exit, you need to own those CEO responsibilities and be comfortable with letting go of the day-to-day. Hiring, Firing, and Resetting the Team Jennifer's talent strategy has evolved with each stage of growth. Her early hires were the classic “friends, family, fools” bootstrap crew; later she invested in developers, content teams, project managers, and over time, more strategic hires like CFOs, chief of staff, BI teams, and AI engineers. Each five-year arc brought a new set of needs and a new level of sophistication in hiring. Now, she divides her time between promoting her agency's work in podcasts and content and thinking of ways to navigate her business in these volatile and exciting times. Her most recent addition to the team was a technology and transformation team that is revisiting all of the agency's processes, investments, and infrastructure. As a result, she has downsized her team from over 300 W2 employees and refocus the team. The takeaway for agency owners: be honest about whether your people are builders or maintainers, and hire accordingly. The workforce you need for growth is not the same as the workforce you need for stable operations. Building AI Agent Networks with Centralized Data Jennifer's agency shifted from WordPress to Webflow and built agentic networks: hundreds of AI agents that crawl competitors, do strategy homework, and automate tasks that humans used to do. More importantly, they rebuilt infrastructure into a hub-and-spoke model with a centralized min.io data layer and ETL pipelines feeding analytics and BI. Two big lessons here. One: invest in your tech stack deliberately so you're not a Frankenstein of five different platforms that don't talk to each other. Two: design your data architecture so your people (and your AI agents) have a single source of truth. That's how you get from fire-fighting in six dashboards to proactive, predictive signals that tell you when a client engagement needs attention. AI, Reskilling, and Shrinking Middle Roles Jennifer draws a hard line: the agency now tends to hire either very seasoned client-facing leaders or AI engineers; the middle is shrinking. With agentic networks giving junior staff “superpowers,” the agency can afford fewer mid-level “lever pullers.” At this level there's no room for slow execution or elementary work. That's a cultural and ethical challenge, both for hiring and for workforce development. For agency owners, this raises practical HR questions: do you reskill your people, or replace them? Jennifer suggests building agent-driven systems that augment humans, and being brutally honest about who can grow into that future. It's also a call to action for how we prepare the next generation: schools won't teach this; companies will need to. Playing with AI Platforms: Why Leaders Need to Just Know Enough to Be Dangerous Jennifer started like a lot of agency owners dipping into AI, playing around on tools like n8n, Make.com, Relevance, and Longchain. Her dev team laughed, calling her an “elementary school kid on a tricycle,” but here's the point: she didn't need to master the tech. She needed to know enough to point her team in the right direction. Instead of obsessing over code, she framed the problem differently: “Here's what I don't want a human doing anymore. Can you make that happen?” That mindset shift is key for agency owners. You don't need to be a full-stack AI engineer to lead an agency into the future; you just need to clearly define outcomes and invest in people who can deliver them. Find Real AI Talent in Unlikely Places This is where most agencies get stuck. You're not going to find your next AI architect on Upwork. Jennifer leaned on her network, starting with her cousin Chris, a hardcore developer who initially thought AI platforms were “rookie business.” Once Chris realized the power of agentic networks to scale his expertise, he became the backbone of CI Web Group's transformation. Now, she hunts talent in unconventional places: hackathons, LinkedIn, and especially YouTube. Forget the flashy “10x growth hack” videos — she looks for nerds with four views, geeking out about orchestrators and ETL pipelines. Those are the builders who care about solving real problems, not just building hype. Her tip: if you find one, reach out immediately. They don't want sales, they just want to build. Designing AI Agents Like an Agency Org Chart Jennifer compares AI agents to a company org chart. You don't hire one person to do everything, that's a recipe for burnout. Same thing with AI. Each agent should tightly focus on a single task, with checks, auditors, and orchestrators overseeing the system. The payoff was massive efficiency gains. Instead of six different platforms that don't talk, her agency built a centralized hub with min.io, ClickHouse, and AI layers on top. That's how you go from patchwork automation to true predictive intelligence. The Real Cost of AI Talent If you're wondering how much this all costs, the answer is… a lot. On the high end, seasoned AI engineers can run you a quarter million in salary. On the low end, Jennifer tests new hires on project-based sprints, maybe $6K for a 10-hour challenge. The point isn't to cut costs; it's to prove quickly who can deliver and who can't. Her recruiting process is brutal but effective: give candidates a project, a tight deadline, and see how they perform. If they stall, they're out. If they screen-share fast and solve problems live, they're in. No fluff, no endless interviews. Do You Want to Transform Your Agency from a Liability to an Asset? Looking to dig deeper into your agency's potential? Check out our Agency Blueprint. Designed for agency owners like you, our Agency Blueprint helps you uncover growth opportunities, tackle obstacles, and craft a customized blueprint for your agency's success.

When you've spent years crafting your vision for the successful nonprofit you've founded, how do you prevent future boards and leaders from screwing it all up? Predictably, Stacy and Andy have a few thoughts. Also this week, we talk about whether or not fractional CFOs are a smart idea, and how they might be best used. Thanks for joining us this week, and don't forget to (please) send your questions (thank you) to questions@NonprofitEverything.com. A Q&A podcast without any Qs wouldn't make much sense, would it?

When to Move Beyond QuickBooks -CFO Insights for Growing Businesses EP321 of Profit With A Plan Podcast Released September 30, 2025   Guest: Laresa McIntyre - Founder and Fractional CFO | Rockbridge CFO Host: Marcia Riner- Business Growth Strategist | Infinite Profit®  

We all know that knowing your numbers in business isn't just nice to have—it's essential. If you don't know your numbers, you can't optimize your business, pay yourself consistently, or make the kind of impact you want in your community.That's why I love bringing on experts who live and breathe accounting—bookkeepers, CFOs, and financial coaches—to remind us just how powerful it is to stay on top of this piece of our business.Today, I'm thrilled to introduce you to my guest, Megan Schwan. Megan is a mom, a business owner, and someone whose personal journey has fueled her entrepreneurial drive—something I deeply relate to as a single mama myself. Often, it's those challenging seasons of life that sharpen our grit and give us the tenacity to keep showing up, believing, and building.Megan is the CEO and founder of Sidekick Accounting Services, a national virtual accounting firm on a mission to change the statistic that 8 out of 10 small businesses fail. With over 20 years in the accounting industry and more than a decade educating thousands of business owners on accounting and taxes, Megan and her team are passionate about helping entrepreneurs build sustainable, successful businesses.Your GO-TO LINK for all things Brick and Mortar Visibility-: Level UP : Your Business, Your Life, Google Business Profile Workshop, Visibility Workshop, Hire Melissa, Newsletter, & Referral Partners.Love today's podcast?

In this episode of One Vision, Theo hosts Priya Gore, General Manager and Head of Cloud and AI Platform Solutions for US Financial Services at Microsoft, where they explore the expanded role of CFOs and impact of AI. Gore dispels common myths about AI, emphasizing its democratization and responsible usage. She highlights the importance of organizational readiness and the future of AI-driven work environments. The conversation underscores how AI can transform businesses, enhance customer experiences, and drive innovation, urging leaders to embrace AI thoughtfully and strategically.00:00 Introduction and Guest Welcome02:07 Impact of AI on CFOs and Finance Teams04:27 Addressing Myths and Pitfalls of AI05:54 AI in Regulated Industries08:19 AI-First Leadership and Organizational Change10:14 Future of Work and AI Agents14:06 Democratizing AI and Final Thoughts#AI #FinancialServices #CFO #FutureOfWork #Innovation #MSFTAmbassador

In this episode, we challenge the disconnect between how organizations judge CHROs on metrics like attrition, engagement, and onboarding success—yet deny them the power to actually fix the root problems. Too often, CHROs are treated as strategists without the authority to hold underperforming leaders accountable, even when the data clearly points to managerial failure as the source of turnover and disengagement.I break down why companies must give CHROs the same weight in leadership decisions as CFOs or COOs—complete with the autonomy to influence, develop, or even remove leaders who fail to create healthy, high-performing teams. Without that authority, measuring CHROs on retention is an unfair and hollow exercise.If your organization truly wants better culture, stronger retention, and a competitive edge, this episode makes one thing clear: respect the CHRO's voice, or stop blaming them when people leave.

Summary: For decades, leaders have debated whether the contact center should be a cost center, a profit center, or something in between. In this episode, Amas and Bob cut through the noise and tackle the question head-on: Is the contact center truly a profit center—or are we just telling the story wrong? Amas argues that the CFO decides the labels, not us, and that contact centers suffer from being terrible storytellers compared to marketing. Bob reinforces that stories, not spreadsheets, are what move executives to invest in customer experience. Together, they break down how leaders can turn raw data into persuasive narratives that actually secure budget, influence the C-suite, and prove value. What You'll Learn in This Episode: Why the “profit center” debate hasn't gone away—and probably won't. The crucial difference between value creation and revenue generation. How marketing gets credit (and budget) despite spending every dollar they touch. Why endless Excel spreadsheets put executives to sleep—and what to do instead. The art of translating metrics into stories that CFOs and CEOs actually care about. Practical steps for contact center leaders to elevate their influence in the boardroom. Key Quotes: “The CFO decides what's a cost center and what's a revenue center. We are just bad at telling our story.” – Amas “People don't remember your statistics. They remember your stories.” – Bob “Marketing spends money all day, but they've convinced the world they're indispensable. We should learn from that.” – Amas Episode Highlights: (01:00) Revisiting the old debate: profit center vs. cost center. (02:30) Why marketing gets treated differently—and why service leaders should care. (04:30) The deadly sin of sending executives binders of metrics. (06:00) How to tell stories executives will remember—and fund. (09:00) Using customer stories to anchor your data. (11:30) Why your relationship with marketing and the CFO matters most. (12:45) Teaser: Amas & Bob will be recording LIVE at the ICMI Contact Center Expo in Orlando, Oct 27–30. Resources & Links: Amas's blog post: “Contact Centers Are Not Revenue Centers” [link] Learn more about the ICMI Contact Center Expo

On this livestream, we dive into MetaDAO's futarchy-based fundraising platform, and its distinct approach to tokenholder rights and governance. We also discuss founder profiles, investor alignment, venture-style returns, and challenges of adoption. Additional segments cover DAT insider trading risks, Plasma's launch strategy, Solana market dynamics, and evolving AMM models. Thanks for tuning in! As always, remember this podcast is for informational purposes only, and any views expressed by anyone on the show are solely their opinions, not financial advice. -- Bitcoin DeFi is heating up on Aptos, the BTCFi growth chain with nearly $400M in BTC assets supported by a secure, fast, and affordable MVM environment. Aptos users can acquire, hold, and earn attractive BTCFi yields via Echo aBTC and OKX xBTC, without typical bridge risks and high fees.  Explore BTC yield opportunities on Aptos via OKX Earn and Aptos-native platforms https://web3.okx.com/earn/activity/xbtc-aptos  -- Is your treasury losing value to inflation? Learn how to make digital assets like ETH and SOL productive with uncorrelated, protocol-driven staking rewards.  A new report from Liquid Collective and EigenCloud outlines a practical guide for CFOs to integrate institutional-grade staking and restaking.  Read The Productive Treasury Report: https://liquidcollective.io/corporate-treasury-staking/  -- Crypto's premiere institutional conference returns to London in October 2025. Use code 0x100 for £100 off at checkout: https://blockworks.co/event/digital-asset-summit-2025-london -- Blockworks is hiring a Research Data Analyst. If you live in SQL and love making sense of onchain chaos, apply today: https://jobs.ashbyhq.com/Blockworks?utm_source=EQPb2dAAxr -- Follow Kollan: https://x.com/metanallok Follow Carlos: https://x.com/0xcarlosg Follow Shaunda: https://x.com/shaundadevens Follow Dan: https://x.com/smyyguy Follow Ryan: https://x.com/_ryanrconnor Follow Boccaccio: https://x.com/salveboccaccio Follow Blockworks Research: https://x.com/blockworksres Subscribe on YouTube: https://bit.ly/3foDS38 Subscribe on Apple: https://apple.co/3SNhUEt Subscribe on Spotify: https://spoti.fi/3NlP1hA Get top market insights and the latest in crypto news. Subscribe to Blockworks Daily Newsletter: https://blockworks.co/newsletter/ Join the 0xResearch Telegram group: https://t.me/+UFFz4z3qyrhhMDYx -- Timestamps: (0:00) Introduction (5:23) Ads (Aptos & EigenCloud) (6:19) Updates From MetaDAO (45:42) Ads (Aptos & EigenCloud) (46:57) DAT Insider Trading News (51:34) Plasma's Launch (1:01:14) Market Outlook -- Check out Blockworks Research today! Research, data, governance, tokenomics, and models – now, all in one place Blockworks Research: https://www.blockworksresearch.com/ Free Daily Newsletter: https://blockworks.co/newsletter -- Disclaimer: Nothing said on 0xResearch is a recommendation to buy or sell securities or tokens. This podcast is for informational purposes only, and any views expressed by anyone on the show are solely our opinions, not financial advice. Boccaccio, Danny, and our guests may hold positions in the companies, funds, or projects discussed.

Dr. Jeremy Weisz is the Co-founder of Rise25 Media, a company that helps B2B business owners connect with their ideal prospects, referral partners, and strategic partners through a done-for-you podcast service. Dr. Weisz has been involved in podcasting for 11 years and was a senior producer for early business podcasts. He helped put all of their systems in place and helped them add volume, features, and edify various business leaders. Dr. Weisz has also been running his podcast, Inspired Insider, since 2011. He has featured top entrepreneurs, founders, and CEOs of companies such as P90X, Atari, Einstein Bagels, Mattel, the Orlando Magic, and many more through video interviews on Inspired Insider. He also continues to run his chiropractic and massage facility in downtown Chicago and is the founder of a nutritional supplement business. In this episode… Marketing success today demands more than catchy ads — it requires the right mindset and smart money strategies. Entrepreneurs and leaders are discovering that growth comes from mastering emotions, creating irresistible offers, and building teams that scale. What lessons can you learn from top experts in marketing, mindset, and finance who have faced these challenges firsthand? David Gonzalez reflects on humanity's evolution from conquest and competition to purpose-driven values that matter in business and life. Bob Burg shares why controlling your emotions gives you true power and the ability to turn negative situations into wins for everyone. Dan Kuschell explains how to craft an irresistible offer by focusing on a buying system that makes clients eager to say yes. Ian Garlic reveals the key differences between filmmaking and effective video marketing and how understanding your audience leads to real impact. Nick Araco explores the evolving role of CFOs, highlighting why finance leaders must communicate decisions clearly and connect purpose with numbers. Justin Krane closes with advice on hiring employees with a clear growth path and compensation strategy to keep top talent engaged. In this episode of the Inspired Insider Podcast, Dr. Jeremy Weisz brings together these standout conversations to share powerful insights on marketing, mindset, and money strategies. Their stories and advice provide a blueprint for entrepreneurs and business leaders looking to grow their impact and build lasting success.

In the early days of a startup, forecasting isn't about nailing the numbers, it's about setting the course. In this episode, the world's most interesting CFO describes the art of “Cowboy forecasting” and how this back-of-the-envelope model can be far more valuable than a complex simulation. Kevin Drost started his career as a musician and talent scout for Sony before becoming the chief strategy officer of the music gear marketplace Reverb. Now, as the CFO of New Era ADR, he explains how the company is disrupting the notoriously expensive legal industry by replacing the billable hour with flat fees, and making dispute resolution faster and more predictable for businesses. The conversation also covers why simplicity often beats complexity in financial modeling, how a hands-on understanding of the product and customer builds real financial confidence, and how finance teams can empower every employee to understand and drive the business.—LINKS:Kevin Drost on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/kevindrostNew Era ADR: https://www.neweraadr.comCJ on X (@cjgustafson222): https://x.com/cjgustafson222Mostly metrics: https://www.mostlymetrics.comRELATED EPISODES:Secrets to Scaling a Marketplace Business with Jack Greco, VC and Co-founder of ACV Auctions — —TIMESTAMPS:(00:00) Preview and Intro(02:40) Sponsor – Aleph | RightRev | Navan(07:18) Kevin's Music Background & A&R at Sony(12:09) Record Labels Versus Venture Capital(17:01) Sponsor – Rillet | Pulley | Brex(20:53) Finding Motivation After Success(21:34) Building Reverb & the Etsy Acquisition(25:33) Stacking Skillsets & Interests(27:11) Cowboy Forecasting at Reverb(32:01) The Importance of Simplicity in Forecasting in the Early Stages(35:46) The Art and Science of Making Estimated Guesses(41:42) Building Firsthand Customer & Product Knowledge(45:36) Teaching Finance Across the Company(50:44) New Era ADR & Legal Industry Disruption(57:35) Legal Strategy Versus Financial Strategy(1:01:30) How New Era Gets Parties To Use the Platform(1:05:27) Other White Hot Use Cases for New Era ADR(1:09:25) The Long Ass Lightning Round: Kevin's Biggest Mistake(1:12:41) Advice to a Younger Self(1:14:01) Finance Software Stack(1:15:21) Life as an A&R Rep—SPONSORS:Aleph automates 90% of manual, error-prone busywork, so you can focus on the strategic work you were hired to do. Minimize busywork and maximize impact with the power of a web app, the flexibility of spreadsheets, and the magic of AI. Get a personalized demo at https://www.getaleph.com/runRightRev automates the revenue recognition process from end to end, gives you real-time insights, and ensures ASC 606 / IFRS 15 compliance—all while closing books faster. For RevRec that auditors actually trust, visit https://www.rightrev.com and schedule a demo.Navan is the all-in-one travel and expense solution that can give you access to exclusive, proprietary Nasdaq-validated data that reveals what's happening with corporate travel investments. See the Navan Business Travel Index at https://navan.com/bti.Rillet is the AI-native ERP modern finance teams are switching to because it's faster, simpler, and 100% built for how teams operate today. See how fast your team can move. Book a demo at https://www.rillet.com/metrics.Pulley is the cap table management platform built for CFOs and finance leaders who need reliable, audit-ready data and intuitive workflows, without the hidden fees or unreliable support. Switch in as little as 5 days and get 25% off your first year: https://pulley.com/mostlymetrics.Brex offers the world's smartest corporate card on a full-stack global platform that is everything CFOs need to manage their finances on an elite level. Plus, they offer modern banking and treasury as well as intuitive expenses and accounting automation, bill pay, and travel. Find out more at https://www.brex.com/metrics#CowboyForecasting #FinanceLeader #StartupFinance #LegalTech #StartupForecasting 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

In today's private equity landscape, the CFO role has become one of the most difficult and misunderstood jobs in the business world. Everybody thinks it's about reporting numbers, tracking financials, and cutting costs.  But in reality, being a PE-backed CFO means living at the intersection of cash obsession, strategy, and leadership, while managing more stakeholders than anyone else in the C-suite. Too many CFOs still act like historians, closing the books weeks late and delivering rearview-mirror data. Meanwhile, companies are flying blind, making decisions without visibility into the most critical factor: cash flow. With leverage levels higher than ever and private equity funds demanding fast exits, that blind spot isn't just dangerous, it's fatal. That's why the best private equity CFOs don't just manage numbers.  They manage people, processes, and partners. They accelerate closes, implement real-time reporting, and educate leadership teams on how every decision hits the cash cycle.  One of the best at articulating this reality is my guest, Bob Gold. Bob has been CFO at public companies, private firms, and multiple private equity-backed businesses.  What are the biggest financial challenges in private equity, and why are they so common? How can CEOs set their CFOs up for success?  In this episode, Bob and I break down what it really takes to succeed as a CFO in private equity, from managing cash and banking relationships to designing the right KPIs and building a team you can trust.   You'll also learn: Why the first 90 days of a CFO's tenure should be focused on cash and team assessment How extending customer terms or delaying closes can quietly destroy a business Why private equity's reluctance to invest in technology creates hidden risks The difference between “knowledge” and “intellect” and why holding onto knowledge can sink a finance team How great CFOs educate divisional leaders on the financial impact of their decisions Why operating on “two clocks” is the real PE playbook What it takes to build a true CEO–CFO partnership that drives both strategy and execution Guest Bio Bob Gold is a CFO, operating partner, transformation expert, treasury and turnarounds specialist. He is a leader and finance executive with a track record of matching execution with strategy to drive improved results in global organizations. Bob led three private equity portfolio companies through successful exits. His industry expertise includes Industrial B2B, Defense Government Contracting, Defense Electronics, and Consumer Products. Bob is a key “influencer” using fact-based data and superior communication skills to drive business and financial strategy. He's recognized for building highly responsive finance teams and leading process improvements supporting rapid growth and organizational change in complex international companies. As a CFO, Bob has transformed complacent finance organizations into business partners that are a sought-after resource and advisor to internal business partners. Connect with Bob on LinkedIn.    About Your Host Craig Picken is an Executive Recruiter, writer, speaker, and ICF Trained Executive Coach. He is focused on recruiting senior-level leadership, sales, and operations executives in the aviation and aerospace industry. His clients include premier OEMs, aircraft operators, leasing/financial organizations, and Maintenance/Repair/Overhaul (MRO) providers and since 2008, he has personally concluded more than 400 executive-level searches in a variety of disciplines. Craig is the ONLY industry executive recruiter who has professionally flown airplanes, sold airplanes, and successfully run a P&L in the aviation industry. His professional career started with a passion for airplanes. After eight years' experience as a decorated Naval Flight Officer – with more than 100 combat missions, 2,000 hours of flight time, and 325 aircraft carrier landings – Craig sought challenges in business aviation, where he spent more than 7 years in sales with both Gulfstream Aircraft and Bombardier Business Aircraft. Craig is also a sought-after industry speaker who has presented at Corporate Jet Investor, International Aviation Women's Association, and SOCAL Aviation Association.    Check out this episode on our website, Apple Podcasts, or Spotify, and don't forget to leave a review if you like what you heard. Your review feeds the algorithm so our show reaches more people. Thank you! 

In the boardroom, the biggest enemy is often fear. CFOs and HR leaders get paralyzed by the fear of change, letting their teams suffer under broken health plans because doing nothing feels safer than taking decisive action.But on the battlefield, indecision gets people killed. My guest on this episode of Broker's Voice, Rich Hess, is a Marine Corps combat veteran who brings that battlefield mindset to the boardroom. In this episode of The Broker's Voice, he shares his game plan for employee benefits, forged on the front lines of Desert Storm. We get into why "combat preparedness" is the key to educating employees and how a Marine's approach gives you the framework to lead clients through fear to a real solution.Chapters:(00:00:00) From The Battlefield to The Boardroom: A Marine's Approach to Benefits (00:01:30) Forged on the Front Lines(00:10:17) Battlefield Lesson #1: Crisis is an Opportunity (00:14:42) The Mission: Defining Who You're Fighting For (00:21:07) Boardroom Strategy: Designing Plans Based on Culture (00:24:39) Battlefield Lesson #2: The Tourniquet Test & Preparedness▶▶ Sign Up For Your Free Discovery Callhttps://calendly.com/aneary/strategy-sessionCONNECT WITH ANDY NEARY

Sarah Keohane Williamson, CEO of FCLT Global and coauthor of The CEO's Guide to the Investment Galaxy, offers a disciplined primer for executives operating at the intersection of corporate strategy and capital markets. Drawing from her background in investment banking, government, consulting, and asset management, she explains why “investors are not a single audience,” how their incentives shape corporate outcomes, and what leaders must do differently to secure durable capital and strategic flexibility.   Williamson pushes back on conventional wisdom about investor relations, replacing it with practical routines and priorities. She emphasizes a consulting-rooted discipline, “Start with the answer”, as a communications principle, and translates it into a concrete playbook for CEOs who cannot afford ambiguity when describing long-term bets. She underscores that “quarterly calls are important, but they're often dominated by the sell side,” and CEOs should deliberately allocate their limited time toward building trust with long-term owners and anchor shareholders.   Key takeaways include: Map the owners. “Who actually owns your company? Who makes the decisions about those shares?” Owner types—retail, index funds, active managers, hedge funds—differ in incentives and time horizons, and executives should treat that map as a strategic input. Build an investor strategy like a customer strategy. Decide which kinds of capital the company needs, why, and how to attract and retain those investors. Use a long-term roadmap. Make risky investments intelligible by explaining milestones that link short-term actions to enduring value, and “don't be afraid to update the roadmap when the assumptions change.” Translate investor signals into operational choices. Avoid reflexive short-term fixes, like cutting R&D to meet a quarter, without measuring the long-term cost. Treat disclosure and dialogue as governance tools. Clarity about ownership, voting, and incentives reduces misalignment and reputational risk. Reframe consultancy input for execution. “The hard part is not the analysis, the hard part is making it happen inside the organization.” This episode equips CEOs, CFOs, and board members with a practical framework for raising capital, defending strategic bets, and managing shareholder composition. It reframes investor engagement from a compliance exercise into a core discipline of strategy and governance.  

What if your business could actually work for your life instead of consuming it? This question lies at the heart of Tana Kramer's approach to financial strategy for women entrepreneurs.Tana, founder of TK Solutions and a self-described "profitable strategist," joins the To Be Bolder podcast to share her journey from answering phones at her father's glass shop at age eight to becoming a fractional CFO for women-led businesses generating $1-5 million in revenue. Her path wasn't linear – after graduating with a management degree, she quickly realized corporate life wasn't for her and found her calling supporting entrepreneurs through various ventures before launching her own business.The conversation reveals profound insights about the relationship between profitability and lifestyle design. Tana emphasizes that most entrepreneurs fail to regularly examine their financial statements, often relying on flawed memory rather than actual data. "Looking at your numbers is definitely going to be the biggest thing," she explains, noting how entrepreneurs sometimes mentally spend the same dollar multiple times. This disconnect between perception and reality leads to misalignment that manifests physically – grinding teeth, tension in the shoulders, persistent irritability – signaling something in your business model isn't working for you.Perhaps most valuably, Tana addresses the emotional and psychological dimensions of entrepreneurship. She shares how she discovered her own inherited scarcity mindset through conversations with her mother, and offers a powerful strategy for those struggling with similar limitations: "Get yourself into rooms where people are sure it's possible and you can borrow some of their confidence while you prove it to yourself." This environment shift gradually transforms your relationship with money and profitability.Whether you're just starting your entrepreneurial journey or looking to scale your existing business more intentionally, Tana's guidance offers a refreshing perspective on creating financial systems that support your vision rather than dictate it. Tune in to be inspired and learn two important insights about managing your money.Support the show When you subscribe to the podcast, you are supporting our work's mission, allowing us to continue highlighting successful women in a variety of careers to inspire others helping pay our wonderful editor, Chris, and helping me in paying our hosting expenses.

We're back to discuss the top stories of the week. We deep dive into Pump Fun & the future of media, why there is so much uncertainty despite massive positive tailwinds for crypto, Plasma's success story, is Base launching a token & more. Enjoy! -- Follow Rob: https://x.com/HadickM Follow Santi: https://x.com/santiagoroel Follow Jason: https://x.com/JasonYanowitz Follow Empire: https://twitter.com/theempirepod -- Join the Empire Telegram: https://t.me/+CaCYvTOB4Eg1OWJh Start your day with crypto news, analysis and data from David Canellis. Subscribe to the Empire newsletter: https://blockworks.co/newsletter/empire?utm_source=podcasts -- Crypto-native institutions and developers demand institutional-grade infrastructure with regulatory clarity and full asset control. Blockdaemon's Earn Stack is a non-custodial platform combining high-performance staking rewards and seamless DeFi integration with no intermediate smart contract or vaults. Programmatically access leading Ethereum & Solana staking rewards, plus DeFi opportunities across lending protocols, DEXs, and AMMs. Book a Demo! -- Welcome to Get Real — Web3's first-ever campaign rewarding you for creating real-world value. Connect your devices to real-world apps on peaq and earn rewards for: Measuring noise pollution Providing compute Mapping the word And more Total prize pool: 5% of $PEAQ's initial supply. Get Real is relaunching soon — follow peaq on X and get ready. -- Mantle is pioneering ""Blockchain for Banking"" as a revolutionary new category that sits at the intersection of TradFi and web3. Key elements for Mantle as the ""Blockchain for Banking"": - Transactions posted to the blockchain - Compatibility with TradFi rails - Integrated DeFi features Mantle Network, the access layer — transforms Mantle Network into a purpose-built vertical platform — the blockchain for banking — that enables financial services on-chain. Mantle leads the establishment of Blockchain for Banking as the next frontier. Follow Mantle on X (@Mantle_Official) for the latest updates on Mantle as the 'Blockchain for Banking'. -- Is your treasury losing value to inflation? Learn how to make digital assets like ETH and SOL productive with uncorrelated, protocol-driven staking rewards. A new report from Liquid Collective and EigenCloud outlines a practical guide for CFOs to integrate institutional-grade staking and restaking. Read The Productive Treasury Report: https://liquidcollective.io/corporate-treasury-staking/ -- Timestamps: (00:00) Introduction (01:15) Pump Fun, Livestreaming & The Future Of Media (14:48) Stablecoins (16:06) Ads (Blockdaemon, Peaq) (17:34) We're Still In A Bull Market, It's Still Not The One You Wanted (26:01) Why Has Plasma Been So Successful? (36:19) How To Develop A Successful Ecosystem (45:52) Ads (Blockdaemon, Peaq) (47:20) More DATs & ETFs Are Coming (57:40) CFTC Updates (01:00:30) Ad (Mantle, Eigen Layer) (01:02:04) Is Base Launching A Token? (01:14:54) Content Of The Week — Disclaimer: Nothing said on Empire is a recommendation to buy or sell securities or tokens. This podcast is for informational purposes only, and any views expressed by anyone on the show are solely our opinions, not financial advice. Santiago, Jason, and our guests may hold positions in the companies, funds, or projects discussed.

Title: Inside the Secret Network That Billionaires Use to Pay Zero In Taxes with Alex Sonkin Summary: In this episode of Raise the Bar Radio, Seth Bradley welcomes Alex, founder of the Due Diligence Project, to discuss the massive blind spot in tax strategy among CPAs and how his peer-reviewed CPA community solves that. Alex shares how traditional CPA firms, despite servicing ultra-high net worth clients, are often unaware of the vast number of advanced tax mitigation strategies available. His platform introduces vetted tax strategies reviewed by hundreds of independent CPA firms, much like an Amazon or Netflix model for financial services. Rather than relying on static, siloed in-house teams with mediocre solutions, Alex's vision is to empower CPAs and family offices through a Virtual Family Office model. This allows affluent individuals (not just billionaires) to access world-class, peer-reviewed tax and financial planning strategies while maintaining their trusted CPA relationship. The conversation emphasizes humility, proactive due diligence, and massive action as critical principles for success in tax planning and entrepreneurship alike. Links to Watch and Subscribe: https://youtu.be/v8RSrMRslHU Bullet Point Highlights: Most CPAs, even in top firms, are not deeply versed in advanced tax mitigation due to limited time and exposure. The Due Diligence Project functions as an independent, peer-reviewed network, allowing CPAs to tap into the collective knowledge of hundreds of top professionals. Traditional large CPA firms and Wall Street structures are siloed and don't provide open-source best-in-class strategies. The future CPA firm is a Virtual Family Office — proactive, advisory-driven, and built with world-class independent specialists instead of static in-house teams. The Virtual Family Office model brings elite wealth management strategies to affluent individuals (e.g., $10M-$50M net worth), not just billionaires. Humility, curiosity, and willingness to collaborate are essential for CPAs and advisors to truly serve clients at the highest level. Success requires massive action and consistent pursuit of better solutions — complacency kills innovation and wealth creation. Transcript: (Seth Bradley) (00:02.094) What's up, Builders? This is Raise the Bar Radio, where we talk about building wealth, raising capital, and all in all, raising the bar in your business and your life. This is the No BS podcast for capital raisers, investors, and entrepreneurs who are serious about scaling their business and living life on their own terms. I'm Seth Bradley, securities attorney, real estate investor, and entrepreneur, bringing you world-class strategies from the best in the game.   If you're ready to raise more capital, close bigger deals, build a better you, and create true financial freedom, you're in the right place. Let's go. Alex, what's going on, brother? Welcome to the show.   Seth, thank you so much for having me. It's a pleasure.   man. Fellow San Diegan. So, appreciate that and appreciate that you you love the weather like I do.   best weather in the world, All of San Diego County, even if it gets like 10 degrees hotter, it's as good or as better anything else on the planet.   (Seth Bradley) (01:05.698) Yep, yep. Sometimes you gotta go outside of San Diego for a little bit to appreciate it because you forget that every single day is fantastic.   We're not going to get into the June gloom and the May gray because people outside of San Diego, don't want to hear that. uh, know, we get to complain between each other. everyone outside of San Diego, were like, we don't want to know about any of your problems.   Right, Exactly, exactly. All right, man. Well, let's just jump right in, Tell everybody a little bit about your background, about your story, and take it back as far as you like.   Sure, graduated University of Michigan Business School undergrad and became an options trader in Chicago as a member of the Chicago Board of Trade, the Mercantile Exchange, Chicago Board of Options Exchange was a market maker down there for many years and came up with a couple ideas and moved to California. What we do now is we have the largest independent peer review community of CPA firms in the country. We support   hundreds of CPA firms who basically introduced their favorite resources, favorite tax attorneys, favorite strategies. And then as a community and independently, everyone independently vets out every strategy, every resource. And we rank and rate all of the strategies, all of the resources. Very similar to what you'd experience in Amazon or Netflix or the streaming services when you watch a movie or you buy a product on Amazon.   (Alex Sonkin) (02:35.534) you're going to go look for the 4.9 out of five stars and do a quick price comparison. So what we did is we've created essentially an independent peer-of-view ranking and rating system for sophisticated tax strategies and then cost mitigation strategies because the tax code is just way too big. No one knows how many pages there are in the tax code. It's constantly changing. we basically, we didn't even know we were doing this at the time because all we were doing was   putting together advanced tax planning institutes, filling them up with CPA firms, bringing speakers, specialists on to present their ideas. But the magic was happening in the hallway conversations between these tax attorneys and the CPAs in these Q &A sessions. And what we realized was that traditional CPA firms really have no clue how many pages are in the tax code, have no idea how many strategies there are that are available to them that have been fully vetted.   And they don't have the time and the resources to fully vet those strategies out. So we just realized we were onto something and we kept building and building and building. And we just had an event. Our last couple summits, diligence project summits had close to 700 CPA firms on one, close to 847 was our largest summit.   The more eyeballs, the more tax-focused CPAs are looking at the strategies and vetting out the strategies, the more refined the due diligence is and the more new resources they're able to introduce to our network. So we're able to go deeper, wider, and more refined in our due diligence when it comes to tax planning.   Yeah, that's awesome. So you you analyze and put a score on the actual strategy itself as well as the firm.   (Alex Sonkin) (04:25.76) Yeah, everything, right? Because you and I both know there's so many moving parts in our business. And when a CPA firm is dealing with their most, their highest net worth clients, billionaires, centi-millionaires, multi-millionaires, and they have, they're selling an appreciated asset, whether it's real estate or their company or shares in another company they've invested in, they want that sale to be tax efficient. Then they might want that money to be invested in other   parts of their portfolio. want that transition to be efficient. They want all the estate planning to be efficient asset to all these different moving parts. But the area where most CPAs and attorneys are the weakest is in the income tax mitigation part. There's a lot of decent estate planning out there, asset protection, other planning. It's really the income tax mitigation part where very few people are excellent at this.   Financial advisors, attorneys have very little experience with tax court, with audit. They should really not be involved in income tax planning. The CPA firms are the ones who are signing the tax returns. They have the experience with audit. They have the experience with tax court. But they're spread so thin just trying to produce tax returns and financial statements and meet all of the deadlines that they have to meet throughout the year. There's actually very little time for them to do proactive tax planning.   and to complete due diligence and even start the due diligence on a tax strategy. Where do we start? Who do we call? How do we find out if the client's going to go to jail? If there's issues with this? They really need to get their confidence level up at a very high level before they call their clients that you really need to look at the strategy and do this. So that's where we really live is we really there to support the tax focused CPA or the family office that's supporting that.   that ultra high net worth family that's led by a tax focused advisor, hopefully a CPA with at least 10,000, 50,000 hours of experience in auditing tax court, where they could look at the notes, look at, part of, join the due diligence project community, look at the notes, look at the strategies, meet the specialists, communicate with other CPAs in our network to really understand the risk reward of.   (Alex Sonkin) (06:48.088) the strategy when it as how it compares to other possible strategies or combination of strategies to bring to their client.   Yeah, yeah. I mean, I love the overall idea of kind of this Amazon marketplace for CPAs and tax firms and tax strategies. It's like, you know, I know when I'm looking for a new accountant or a new CPA with a different group, with a different real estate group or something, you know, I might have done some good business with one CPA and then some that I did not. And I don't have a consistent person to go to at this point. And it also depends on what we're talking about, right? This, the, the speciality of it. it's a   if we're talking W-2 tax mitigation or we're talking about real estate investment or we're talking about some sort of high cash flow entrepreneurial venture, it really depends. One CPA can't necessarily do all that. Maybe a large CPA firm that has all that stuff in house for sure. But when we're talking about your one CPA that you know that's been filing your tax return for the last 20 years, they're not very specialized in these sorts of things.   Here's what's interesting, Seth. You made some interesting points here. Here's what's interesting. Traditionally, people say, I need a CPA. My current CPA firm is not doing the job. That's kind of par for the course. They don't know what's wrong. They know something's wrong because they know that a lot of billionaires aren't paying any taxes. They're paying this 30, 40 % of their income in taxes. They feel something's wrong. So, I need a new CPA firm. So, what do they do? Hey, can you find me a great CPA firm that's local to me? Why is that important?   Why do you need someone that literally that is that's local to you right away? The business owner is already messing up. That is not the most important thing. Okay, then they'll want someone Okay, forget distance. I'm okay with just meeting them virtually. They need to be a specialist in real estate. That's fine Okay, you've got a real estate portfolio there, especially in real estate, but really That's that's a that's another that's a good question, but it's not the best question. It's not gonna get you to the promised land   (Alex Sonkin) (08:52.366) How fluent is that CPA firm in tax strategies? Are they plugged into a network like ours where they have hundreds and hundreds of independent CPA firms, former partners of KPMG, Deloitte, PWC, Ernst & Young, all proactively vetting strategies and introducing, unless you're part of a due diligence network like ours, you might be part of a very, very large CPA firm.   that also is part of other groups, other associations and none of them know, you know, three, four, five different strategies that would be perfect for mitigating taxes in a specific situation. So going to a large firm that has lots of in-house resources, are those resources the best? Do they have access to the best tax attorneys in the country? If those attorneys are in-house working for a CPA firm,   Or let's just say they're working for Jeff Bezos and Jeff Bezos' family office. Seth, do you think the best tax attorney in the country wants to be W-2 working for a CPA firm or working for a family   Right, right.   No, no. So right away, you've already discounted. You are not going to work with the best tax attorneys in the country. You're going to work with a static, the best attorney that's willing to be W-2, working for a CPA firm, working for a family office. If you look at the top 1000 tax attorneys in the country, you might now be working with number 945. Is that what you want to be like? No, no, no, we're fine. Our tax   (Alex Sonkin) (10:29.484) Our tax planning is done by my CPA and they've got this tax attorney that's the 945th best tax attorney in the country in their space. It's like saying, I'm building this orchestra and my trumpet player, instead of getting the very best trumpet player in the world, I have the 945th best trumpet player playing trumpet. You want to put that on your website? You want to market that? think your client's going to be like, this is going to be awesome. I'm going to have the 945th best.   You   (Alex Sonkin) (10:59.138) Resource in that space giving me planning ideas. Whereas I'm a business owner I've had to get to this point to have a tax problem here to overcome all these challenges and now you're gonna bring me a tax planning solution. That's like D minus That's what's going that's puts par for the course. This is what's going on. What we know is 18 % of Fortune 500 companies are zeroing out their tax returns Okay, just listen to this 18 %   of most profitable companies in the world have a team of attorneys and CPAs that zero out their tax return. That means 82 % have no idea what they're doing on a relative basis. those 82%, we're talking about 82 % of the most profitable 500 companies in the world. What we're saying is their tax planning from our vantage point, it's not that it's not good.   It's like average to below average, whereas their revenue and income is off the charts. That's like a big problem. It's like saying, you know what? We have a basketball team where our point guard, our forwards, and our two guard are really good, but our center is like garbage. You know, we've got like a high school level center, and then we have all-stars at all the other positions. That's not gonna work.   Yeah, yeah. mean, why is that? I mean, it's like, you know, they should have access to the best resources. They should be getting advised by the, you know, the top experts in the industry. But, you know, they're just not. Are they not putting the effort? Do they not have access? Do they not know, like, what's the...   Because the difference is when you look at Amazon and you look at Netflix and all the other streaming services that are providing an independent peer-review because back before Amazon and Netflix we had Blockbuster video and we had Barnes and Noble right and we did do diligence very differently going to all the different Blockbuster videos going into Blockbusters and Noble trying to find a book to buy right it's very different experience now we live in this very different world now with   (Alex Sonkin) (13:09.196) independent peer review and all these things. However, the financial services world was created by who? It was created by people like Bernie Madoff. It was created by Wall Street, right? So everything in the financial services world is really created by Wall Street, people like Bernie Madoff. And so Goldman Sachs doesn't want you to know what Morgan Stanley is doing. Morgan Stanley doesn't want you to know what JP Morgan's doing. And so really the financial services realm is   is kind of built in silos. No, come into the Goldman Sachs silo. Come into Ernst & Young. You don't need to worry about what our competitors are doing, what these other CPA firms are doing. We're Ernst & Young, we're Goldman Sachs, we're JP Morgan. You can have the products and services that we have in our back room. So essentially, when you look at JP Morgan, Ernst & Young, Pricewaterhouse, all these huge shops, they're just stores with back rooms. And it's like shopping at a store.   It's like going to Toys R Us. What do we have in Toys R Us? Well, what do we have in our back room? Whereas when you walk into Amazon, what do you have? When you walk into Netflix, you have the full scale universe, open source. So what we've done is we've basically taken the financial services industry and we've created this open source peer-reviewed model. And we started with sophisticated tax planning because that's where most people are really, really bad at it.   And then we've added cost mitigation and other resources. You know, we're not trying to compete with asset management and money managers and all those other, know, certainly we vet those people out. But, you know, there's millions of people that manage money and our financial advisors. And certainly we do our vetting and due diligence on those people. Where we really differentiate ourselves is the income tax planning resources and solutions. Because what we found is the top biggest   most profitable, most famous CPA firms and law firms, that's their blind spot. That's where they're really, really bad because they don't know how many are in the tax code. They don't have the time and the resources and they don't know who to call to actually start and complete a successful due diligence process for sophisticated tax structure.   (Seth Bradley) (15:29.708) Yeah, yeah. So when you say independent peer review, what exactly does that look like? mean, walk me kind of through that and how that works.   I'll show you like this is what you and any let's say if you're a real estate investor right and you're about to sell let's just say a 10 million dollar asset that has nine million dollars of gain in it you're gonna do the same thing that we've done if you're smart what are you gonna do you're gonna go out there and be like what are all the tax strategies that are possible to help me mitigate this huge tax liquidity event right then you're gonna get a bunch of ideas and then what are you gonna do   You're going to show those ideas to your most trusted financial people who are probably your CPA, your lawyer, your advisors, all these other people that you think are financial gurus and really most of them are not even qualified to comment on the tax structure except your tax-focused CPA who has at least 10,000 hours of experience in audit and tax courts. So really you should only bring this to your CPA. But now you brought it to your attorneys and your advisors.   So they're all going to comment on it because they're financial experts even though they have almost zero experience in auditing the tax court. So what do these people do with this idea? Some of them will like, oh, I don't know, just pay your tax. So you're going to get all sorts of answers. Now, you're the business owner. You have no idea how to quantify these answers. So you're really the tax expert trying to manage all this information and trying to be like, what do I do? And what are you going to do?   you're gonna basically go with what your CPA kind of tells you that they're comfortable with. Now your CPA doesn't know all the strategies, so they might know 10 % of the possible strategies. So you're gonna go with the most comfortable strategy that your CPA is comfortable with, that they've completed their due diligence on, which may be strategy number 443 out of the possible thousand strategies that are out there. And now you have the 443rd best idea.   (Alex Sonkin) (17:35.522) that you're implementing and your ROI on that is going to look just like that. Meanwhile, it's taking you all this effort to create $10 million of asset and it's going to take you just like this to completely give away the tax on that because your CPA is not plugged into an independent peer review environment where they can work with other CPAs who have experience with other resources, be able to ask your questions, get your questions answered, maybe ask another round of questions.   But really at that point, you really need to be dealing with the thought leaders in that space, not some local attorney or other CP that also has no clue what's going on. It has no idea how many pages there are.   Got it. So when somebody comes to, you know, they have that issue, right? And they're trying to find the right CPA that can help them with that specific situation and find that number one best tax strategy. You know, what do they do? Do they come to your website to try to find someone in the network? Because anybody in your network can tap into everybody else in your network and find that optimum strategy.   There's really two ways of doing it. They either find a CPA in our network, which is one of the easiest things to do, or they have their trusted CPA plug into our network and complete their due diligence. That's probably the best way because they are this way. This gives them another warm and fuzzy. Hey, I've had this relationship with my CPA for 20, 30 years. I really like them. I understand the challenges that they're under just because they haven't plugged into the network doesn't mean they're a bad CPA or bad person.   It's like having a, you know, I just bought a gold plated cell phone. It's the greatest cell phone iPhones ever produced. But if I don't plug it into Verizon, if I plug it into Bob's telephone network that only works in four locations in America, I'm gonna have this $5,000 cell phone that's basically just a brick that I could just use as a paper holder. But if I have a normal cell phone, I plug it into Verizon and I can make a phone call from anywhere.   (Alex Sonkin) (19:43.298) That's a much better experience. it's not the quality of it. It's partially the quality of the CPA, but it's more so the quality of the network. and certainly these, the CPAs that really are attracted to us are the ones who have these huge hearts that want to do the very, very best for their clients. And they know that they need to pick up every rock and flip over because they know their clients don't want tax returns and financial statements.   They need those. They don't want any of that. What they really want is proactive tax planning ideas. And what the CPAs don't have time for is that. So they have to create time. And we show CPAs how to create that time. We eliminate all, 95 % of the time. It takes them to complete the due diligence because we just show them the notes. We get them 90, 95 % there. Then they take the notes. They take the resources.   They jump into the tax code and then they complete the last 5-10 % of the due diligence process on their own because they're going to have to actually do a little bit of work to get this done. But we've reduced their time and increased their confidence level in completing this project by a factor of 10x, which is a huge value to them because they don't have the time and they don't have the resource to get this work done, but they want to get it   (Seth Bradley) (21:07.616) the interruption, but we don't do ads. Instead, know that if you're raising capital for real estate, my law firm, RaiseLaw, is here to give you the expert legal guidance you need to raise capital compliantly and structure and close your deal. And if you're looking for a done-for-you fund-to-fund solution, Tribest is the industry's only all-in-one setup and fund administration solution. Visit Raise.Law and Tribest.com to learn more.   Right. Yeah. And I can imagine it takes a certain degree of humility, right, from those CPAs to say, I don't know everything. I'm not just going to make up something. I'm not going to make it up. But I'm not going to do kind of half-assed research for a few minutes and tell you I know everything about the subject. Right? Like, I can admit that I don't know everything. I'm not an expert in every single tax strategy.   You nailed it. mean look we do a whole program about the ten pillars of extraordinary due diligence Curiosity is one of them independence is independence versus group think and you nailed one of those pillars. It's it's it's it's humility and You know being curious being humble when you're the tax expert as you know CPA that's been around for 30 years you like I've seen everything right? That's kind of how you feel   But if you have that idea, I've already seen everything. I already know everything. How many people, by the way, how many pages are there in the tax code? I have no idea. Well, that is that's not congruent. What's congruent is I've been in the industry 30, 35 years. Do I know the tax code? I don't know the tax code. It's constantly changing. I'm humble, but I'm working hard. Yeah, there are sections of tax codes that I know, but it would be awesome to be part of independent peer community of hundreds and hundreds of other tax geeks like me.   where we're chewing, know, we're eating this elephant one bite at a time and working together as a community. That's hard working humility. And if you think about it, those are the kind of people that are winning in every, in your profession, in my profession. Think about a basketball player. It's like the best basketball players, they are working to improve their game every day, every month, every year. As soon as you think, oh, I'm the best. Nobody does that. Kobe, Michael.   (Alex Sonkin) (23:25.034) Everyone was constantly improving their game every offseason even though they were achieving they were the grace of the world So when you see a CPA going, I already know everything. I'm not humble run for the hills You're in big trouble   Right, right. So I mean, I can see where this is. This could actually just change everything, right? I mean, it can change. Like if you get enough CPAs on this network and it's kind of the authority, the accepted way that things are done, it could really just change, you know, set the bar, right? So like, you know, where do you see the CPA firm or the future going? What does it look   Yeah, you know, we started out as the virtual family office hub. We're still the virtual family office hub. What we do is the due diligence project. So we've had a vision, you know, more than 15 years ago where the CPA firm of future, the CPA firm of today is no longer just a CPA firm, right? They're not just an accounting firm looking backwards. What does a CPA firm mean now? They're a proactive looking firm. So they're really   providing advisory services. They're bringing ideas to the table. That is not what accountants traditionally do. So right away, the CPA firm of the future in our world is a virtual family office led not by a money manager or an attorney or a financial advisor. It's led by a tax advisor who really has a tremendous amount of experience with audits, with tax court, with income tax planning.   that's plugged into this community. really let's build Wall Street underneath an elite tax advisor and let's give them vetted best in class peer reviewed resources for estate planning, money management, all the different resources underneath them. And let's make sure all these resources are trained to be part of a team that's led by the captain, which is the head of their family office. But in this case, it's a virtual family office because in our opinion,   (Alex Sonkin) (25:30.732) Like we said, the best people in the world don't necessarily want to be W-2 static living next to the family office or living next to the CPA firm that they support. These resources could be anywhere and everywhere. And it's like Lego pieces. Let's build out a custom build, a virtual family office with your favorite advisors, with your favorite CPA, plug them into due diligence project, and then maybe replace some of the resources with best in class peer reviewed.   I'm going to keep my estate planning attorney. I'm going to keep my CPA, but then let's build out the rest of my virtual family office with resources, specialists, specialized attorneys that my two estate planning attorney and my CPA need to help me do what I need to do and get from point A to point B.   Yeah, yeah, I love that. Let's let's unwind that a little bit. What what exactly is a family office? We have a lot of listeners that are, you know, high net worth individuals, wealthy, probably a high paying job of some sort. And, we still don't know what a family office is. Like, what is a family office? We hear about it all the time. People talk about it. You know, what is it? Is it just, you know, the Trumps and the Bidens that have them or what?   Well, look, when we first started doing this, we had to educate everyone. What is a family office? And there's still people that don't know what a family office is, and that's okay. So traditionally, what a family office is, is when a family or a business owner sells their business, and now they have a big pile of money instead of running their business where they don't need CFOs and C-level executives and marketing people. Now they have a big pile of money. Maybe they're building a real estate portfolio, private equity, various investments.   They, instead of having to make 17 phone calls, hey, I'm gonna call my CPA, I'm gonna call my attorney, I'm gonna call my advisors, they make one phone call to the head of their family office and their family office is gonna house their entire financial team. So their CPAs, their attorneys, their advisors are all part of a family office and there's usually a CEO of that family office.   (Alex Sonkin) (27:36.814) So that structure traditionally can cost anywhere from $250,000 a year up to $2,000, $3,000, $4,000,000 a year if you're dealing with very high net worth billionaires. our idea was to rebuild that structure and make it a virtual family office instead of a single family office or a multi-family office with everyone working W2 in a static place, was let's create a virtual family office environment where we can have a world-class tax attorney support   multiple virtual family offices led by CPAs around the country. And based on what their clients want and need, they may not need a full $250,000 or a million dollar yearly cost. Maybe they can have a family office with $50,000 worth of yearly expenses and they just need, you know, two, three advisors, six meetings a year, get their hands around what you're doing.   And they don't need check writing. They don't need a lot of these other services that maybe a ultra high net worth family needs where they just want to make one phone call instead of 17 phone calls and say, take care of this for me. In the virtual family office model, it's the same one phone call, except now the team underneath that person that's getting the call are vetted best in class peer reviewed resources who might be all around the world who will all get together on a virtual meeting.   to support the client when the client has, hey, I have a liquidity event or I have a tax event or I want to update my plan. Hey, let's bring the team together and let's look at all the moving parts and let's rebuild your plan. But now we're going to take advice and ideas from the smartest people in the world. We're all working together as part of a team.   Got it. Yeah. the virtual family office, makes it seem like that it offers wealth management, the best wealth management, more, it makes it more accessible to more people, right? Like not just billionaires, but maybe lower than that, right? Like maybe we've got $10 million or something like that and we can still get the best of the best.   (Alex Sonkin) (29:42.068) Exactly. And so our idea was, you know, you have these people who are worth $50 million and they can't afford a family office, but they want to, you know, the $50 million, they want to live life too. They want to be able to go play tennis. They want to give time to their synagogue, their churches. They want to do something else besides actually running their own, you know, basically overseeing their $50 million portfolio, which is a full-time job. the problem is they're not qualified to be doing that work.   Yet can they identify investments that they like? Sure. Can they identify the best planning around those investments? They're not schooled in that. So they really should not be involved in their family office. should identify a tax-focused CPA, have them build out a virtual family office for them. And then now they have the benefit of making one phone call instead of 17, which saves them lot of time. And they can now trust the fact that they have best-in-class peer-reviewed resources to give them the very, very best ideas.   So now what happens? Their confidence level goes up. So their time and planning goes down, confidence level goes up, the quality of the solutions goes up, and they're all of a sudden out, they can create a lot more wealth by doing world-class planning because we're seeing a lot of wealth just go away to state and federal governments and unnecessary taxes simply because the team does not know and has not completed their due diligence on all the possibilities.   That's we want.   Yeah, that's incredible, Alex. You know, I want to have you back on the show to maybe get into some of the more of nitty gritty stuff, right? Like what are some of these tax strategies that we might not know about or we might not hear about every single day because we tend to hear about the same ones over and over. And you've probably seen some pretty exotic ones, some very specific ones that people have never even heard of. But, you know, we're running out of time today. But, man, I would love to have a whole episode just kind of based on that.   (Seth Bradley) (31:40.91) But before we jump into the freedom four, you have one last gold nugget for our listeners.   Yeah, you know, just work hard, write your goals down, read your goals and update your goals. You know, there's a magic formula of being able to just writing down your goals, looking at your goals and just updating your goals. Be grateful. I know you get a probably get a lot of people just with gratitude and hard work and all that stuff. writing down your goals is something that very few people do. And of the people that write their goals down, a very high percentage of those people actually achieve those goals. So   simple way of getting successful and I do it and I recommend that little idea to every one of my friends and family.   Yeah, absolutely. you know, I think people sometimes they get caught up in, you know, the the mental stuff, they don't want to jump into that. But goal setting is more of a tangible thing. And all those things you hear about, like whether that's a vision board or affirmations or visualizations or setting goals, like it's all kind of the same, right? It's just even if it's like,   I want to update my tax planning. I want to have a better tax planning team. know, write that down. And every day you look down at all your goals and make them balanced. You know, some of it is they'd give back to the community, have strong relationships with my family members or have no relationships with certain families. I don't know, you know, what the goals are. But balanced goals where you're constantly reviewing those goals and then you're updating those goals. And every day you do something to take a step.   (Alex Sonkin) (33:15.278) towards achieving those goals. Those are little things. It's not a huge deal, but when you do that over time, there's a compound effect to it that is incredible that people just can't appreciate. It's been said, we think we can do a lot more than we do in a year, but we don't realize how much we can do in a five or 10 year period. It's incredible.   much we can do in a five or ten year period if we're just consistent every day for that period of   Absolutely, you get some momentum going over time. All right, let's jump into the Freedom 4. What's the best thing you do to keep your mind and body healthy?   I do strength training six days a week and I actually prefer using a rubber band training. This X3 bar program that's out there. There's a bunch of different competitors now, but it's like a 20, 30 minute training.   Nice, nice. With all your success, what is one limiting belief that you've crushed along the way and how did you get past it?   (Alex Sonkin) (34:18.968) Great question. You know, I think everyone experiences fears, fear of failure in different areas. And I think you have to attack your fear of failure. Whatever you're scared of, whatever's on your radar that's popping up as a fear, you have to literally identify it and attack it and just prove to yourself that you're really not scared of it.   Love that. What's one actual step our listeners can do right now to start creating more freedom?   They can take action. Action is the key. The real problem is people just sit around, they get in front of themselves. They're too much thinking, too much analysis. What I've seen is people who have achieved incredible, let's just say business success, those people weren't smart enough to know.   that how hard that business was actually going to be to build. They were actually not, if they were smarter, they would have never done the business because they were like, the odds of me actually achieving this business and creating it are so small. I'm just better off not doing it. They weren't that smart. So they just went ahead and jumped into it. And so what I found is just taking massive, massive action. Even if it's a failure, that massive action creates a pattern because it's going to   Success is going to require massive action. And when you have a pattern and know this is going to take massive action and it's okay if it doesn't work out, I'm going to go for it anyway. I'm just going to assume it does work out. So being positive, massive action. If it fails, boom, you learn something and you go do something else and you just keep taking massive action.   (Seth Bradley) (36:10.402) Perfect. Last but not least, how's passive income or entrepreneurship made your life better?   You know, I've been very blessed. 20 years ago, I came up with an idea based on a diet that cured cancer for my aunt, my mother-in-law. And I suggested to my wife and my mother-in-law that they start selling my mother-in-law's cookies that were based on a diet that cured cancer for my mother-in-law. And so now today, we have a company called Go Macro, MacroMars, that my wife and my mother-in-law built based on an entrepreneurial idea that   you know, that I had over 20 years ago. And as soon as we had a little bit of success in the beginning, I knew this was bigger and better than we had even thought of. And I just continually supported my wife and really just in every way I could to watch this opportunity grow. So to me, that's been my my passive, even though, you know, I'm married to this business owner, you know, supporting her and watching this idea grow and flourish into a really   Successful health food company called comacro where we sell these macro bars. They're super delicious   Yeah, that's awesome. Yeah, it's passive for you, maybe not quite as passive for her. I have the same issue with the gyms. You know, they make really good money and it's passive for me, but my wife is running those things, so no.   (Alex Sonkin) (37:31.174) Exactly, well you know she's had to be there to support you so yeah so for her it's passive and it's a great story for her and it's a great successful story for you as well. know how hard it is to build.   Yeah, awesome Alex. The list has been incredible, man. We're gonna let you find out more about you.   DoDiligenceProject.com or info at DoDiligenceProject.com. You can introduce your CPA to us or you can reach out to us if you hate your CPA and want us to recommend a great CPA for you that's already plugged into our...   Easy enough, man, easy enough. All right, brother, thanks for coming on the show.   Seth, it's been my pleasure. Thanks so much for having me.   (Seth Bradley) (38:09.986) Absolutely.   (Seth Bradley) (38:13.944) Thanks for tuning in to Raise the Bar Radio. If you enjoyed today's episode, make sure to subscribe, leave a review, and share it with someone who needs to hear it. Keep pushing, keep building, and keep raising the bar. Until next time, enjoy the journey.   Links from the Show and Guest Info and Links: Seth Bradley's Links: https://x.com/sethbradleyesq https://www.youtube.com/@sethbradleyesq www.facebook.com/sethbradleyesq https://www.threads.com/@sethbradleyesq https://www.instagram.com/sethbradleyesq/ https://www.linkedin.com/in/sethbradleyesq/ https://passiveincomeattorney.com/seth-bradley/ https://www.biggerpockets.com/users/sethbradleyesq https://medium.com/@sethbradleyesq https://www.tiktok.com/@sethbradleyesq?lang=en   Alex Sonkin's Links: https://www.linkedin.com/in/alexsonkin/ https://encoursa.com/presenters/alex-sonkin https://www.facebook.com/asonkin/

In this episode of the Millionaire Mindcast, Matty A. welcomes Ellen Wood, founder and CEO of VCFO, who pioneered the fractional CFO model and has supported more than 6,000 companies through growth and exit planning.Ellen shares her journey in building VCFO, the inspiration behind trademarking “virtual CFO,” and why more businesses are turning to fractional financial leadership. From the power of the V360 Assessment to the critical role of accountability and culture, Ellen outlines the strategies that differentiate businesses that scale successfully from those that stall.She also dives into common exit planning mistakes, the importance of preparation years in advance, and her perspective on the future of fractional CFO services as AI and private equity reshape the office of the CFO.What You'll Learn in This Episode:The origins of VCFO and the rise of fractional CFO servicesHow the V360 Assessment identifies risks and opportunitiesWhy accountability and culture are key drivers of valueThe biggest mistakes business owners make before an exitStrategies to scale successfully and retain top talentHow AI and private equity are transforming finance functionsEllen's personal lessons and advice to entrepreneursTimestamps: 01:00 – Ellen Wood's background and founding VCFO 03:30 – Building the fractional CFO model 07:00 – Expanding into HR and operational support 11:45 – Using V360 to prepare for growth and exit 17:30 – Culture and accountability as hidden value drivers 21:30 – Exit preparation: what most founders get wrong 25:45 – Scaling vs. stalling businesses 29:00 – The future of fractional CFO services 32:00 – Advice to her younger entrepreneurial selfConnect with Ellen Wood: LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ellenewood/Episode Sponsored By:Discover Financial Millionaire Mindcast Shop: Buy the Rich Life Planner and Get the Wealth-Building Bundle for FREE! Visit: https://shop.millionairemindcast.com/CRE MASTERMIND: Visit myfirst50k.com and submit your application to join!FREE CRE Crash Course: Text “FREE” to 844-447-1555FREE Financial X-Ray: Text  "XRAY" to 844-447-1555

In this must-watch episode of Holistic Investments, host Constantin Kogan sits down with crypto veteran David J. Namdar, CEO of BNB Network Company! With over 10 years in the game, David shares his wild journey: from pitching Bitcoin to Millennium hedge fund in 2013 (and getting rejected for lacking shorts!), co-founding Galaxy Digital with Mike Novogratz during the 2017 bull run, launching the 2nd Bitcoin ETF attempt (right after the Winklevoss twins), and now leading the charge in digital asset treasuries as CEO of BNB Network Company (NASDAQ: BNC).Why BNB? David breaks down why BNB is the "digital equity infrastructure" powering Binance's 290M users and 40% of global crypto trading volume – outpacing Coinbase's market share 8x! Backed by CZ's Easy Labs (largest investor) and Tangem Capital, CA Industries holds the biggest BNB treasury on the planet. Learn how this MicroStrategy-inspired strategy (but for BNB) could 10x your exposure without direct access to Binance in the US. David predicts BNB surpassing XRP by end of 2025 – and why tokenized stocks, 24/7 markets, and AI agents will supercharge BNB Chain over Ethereum.Key Highlights:

In today's episode of the Second in Command podcast, Cameron discusses one of the most critical hires a business can make, a role that directly impacts leadership alignment, financial clarity, and long-term success: the Chief Financial Officer or CFO.The conversation highlights how small red flags during the hiring process, such as scheduling mishaps or lack of accountability, can be early indicators of deeper issues that shouldn't be ignored. You'll learn why asking tough, direct questions in interviews can uncover whether a candidate truly embodies the ownership and resilience needed for high-stakes leadership.Discover the relationship between this leadership role and the CEO, emphasizing the importance of trust, transparency, and mutual respect. Since not every CEO has the technical expertise to fully evaluate the position, Cameron shows how leaning on outside advisors or experienced professionals can provide the necessary insight to set clear expectations and define success from the outset. This ensures that both sides are aligned on responsibilities and performance measures.This episode offers practical guidance for any company seeking to strengthen its executive team and navigate the complexities of making the right leadership decision. Before you hire your next CFO, hear Cameron's insider strategies for defining the role and setting clear expectations.If you've enjoyed this episode of the Second in Command podcast, be sure to leave a review and subscribe today!Enjoy!In This Episode You'll Learn:The nuances of hiring a CFO, including addressing red flags and setting clear expectations. The importance of outside experts like fractional CFOs or accounting firms in defining roles and setting new CFOs up for success. The role of outside experts in guiding a new CFO and ensuring they meet the company's needs.The value of having a fractional CFO participate in the interview process to assess the candidate's skills. And much more...Resources:Connect with Cameron: Website | LinkedInGet Cameron's latest book – "Second in Command: Unleash the Power of Your COO"Get Cameron's online course – Invest In Your LeadersConnect with Cameron on DephiDisclaimer:The views, information, or opinions expressed during this podcast are solely those of the individuals involved and do not necessarily represent those of The Second in Command podcast or its affiliates. The content provided is for informational and entertainment purposes only and is not intended to be a substitute for professional advice. We make no representations as to the accuracy, completeness, suitability, or validity of any information on this podcast and will not be liable for any errors, omissions, or delays in this information or any losses, injuries, or damages arising from its display or use. Listeners should consult with a professional for specific advice tailored to their situation. By accessing this podcast, you acknowledge that any reliance on the content is at your own risk.