Pricing the future: How CFOs should read the SpaceX, Anthropic and OpenAI IPOs
Three landmark IPOs are coming. Read them through capital structure, governance, and partner dependency — not the hype.
Insights
Things I've been thinking about.
Short takes when there's a sharp point. Longer pieces when there's a real model worth showing.
The 600-year curve: Why your "AI anxiety" is actually history repeating itself.
I want you to look at the graph for a second. Really look at it. Look hard.
Where there is will, there is wAI
There’s a massive, hidden advantage to the fact that Finance has been the "under-invested child" of the fintech world for the last decade.
Every CFO is greedy. Just what they're greedy for, is the real question
I've been thinking about this a lot lately, and I've come to believe there are really only two types of financial leadership — and the difference between them isn't talent or in…
Leadership lessons I wish I knew earlier
A 10-part series
Over the last 25 years in finance - more recently as CFO - one thing has become clear to me:
- Part 1Leadership is the sum of your trade-offs
- Part 2The most expensive decision? “let’s wait.”
- Part 3Culture is incentives, not posters
- Part 4Cross-functional trust is a superpower
- Part 5When KPIs become the strategy, the strategy dies
- Part 6Great leaders explain constraints, not just “No.”
- Part 7Crisis reveals people clearly
- Part 8The biases sitting in every boardroom
- Part 9Resilience is optionality, not toughness
- Part 10Scaling is about stopping, not adding
Output vs. outcome
In a recent post, I wrote personal reflections on the distinction between correlation and causation. This post is a few more personal thoughts on another related topic - outputs…
Having a view vs having a way
Example: A CFO saying, “I believe our company should diversify into crypto trading.” That’s a view.
The 10 commandments of FP&A storytelling - part 2
Two months ago, I posted an article, on what I thought were the 10 commandments of FP&A story telling. It was born out of the some of my past frustrations of working with FP&A p…
The 10 commandments of FP&A storytelling
In November 2023, I had posted an article about a storytelling cheat sheet for CFOs. This artcile is a continuation of that post, but targetted towards juniour FP&A professional…
What keeps a Fintech CFO up at night (hint: it's not just burn rate)
Being a CFO in fintech sounds cool—until it’s 2:47am and you're wide awake, wondering if your fraud controls holds, your Series C runway will stretch, or your compliance stack i…
Winning in chaos
Ill thought tariffs, and unthought taxes are squeezing margins. Populist political agendas are resulting in unwanted (and shall I say unnecessary) challenges to the fragile busi…
Should CFOs build strategic flexibility as opposed to strategic plans?
Strategic planning and strategic preparation, while closely related, offer distinct approaches to achieving organizational success. For a CFO, understanding the nuances between…
Reflecting on a year of insights: Final thoughts for 2024
As we approach the close of 2024, I find myself revisiting the series of articles I’ve shared here on LinkedIn over the past twelve months. When I began posting about a year ago…
Output, outcome, and systems approach: Friday focus from a CFO
I often find myself reflecting on how companies, teams, and even individuals measure success. In my opinion there are three distinct approaches : output focus, outcome focus, an…
How CFOs should think about M&A : balancing risk and opportunity
Mergers and acquisitions (M&A) are often seen as a fast track to growth, innovation, and market expansion. With what is possibly the beginning of interest rate cuts on both side…
Trust: Bridging the gap
Trust is the foundation of any meaningful relationship, whether personal or professional. In the workplace, it is the glue that binds teams together, fosters collaboration, and…
The symphony of success: Ideas, execution & consistency
In November 23, I had posted a personal viewpoint on strategy, culture, and execution, in the context of a company. I took the stance that execution is the key differentiator. I…
If you don’t sacrifice for what you want, what you want becomes the sacrifice
This piece is a bit off-the-track as far as my usual writing goes - its neither finance, nor AI, nor anything that that needs any specialist knowledge. Yet, it is relevant to ev…
Enhancing financial data storytelling: A CFO's cheat sheet
In November 2023, I had written a post explaining why storytelling is a CFO’s secret superpower. Having seen firsthand how compelling narratives can transform dry numbers into i…
Using LLMs: A cheat sheet for CFOs
The role of a Chief Financial Officer (CFO) is evolving and leveraging technology has become even more important to create value. After all, how good can a CFO be if they can't…
Oh captain! My captain!
In a society that reveres stories of heroism and dramatic success, the image of a decisive, action-oriented leader dominates our collective imagination. This leader, lets call h…
Shadows and light: the dance of self-doubt and self-confidence
Self-confidence and self-doubt play pivotal roles in business and personal growth. While the former is often viewed as a hallmark of success and leadership, the latter is typica…
Mastering the matrix: How curiosity and grit shape winning teams
In a world where change is the only constant, the art of building great teams requires more than just matching skills to roles. It demands a deeper understanding of the innate q…
Crowdsourcing financial decisions: When more cooks may not spoil the broth
Today, I'm writing about a topic that marries the ancient wisdom of collective decision-making with the cutting-edge challenges faced by modern CFOs. Inspired by the recent re-r…
How to plan for the best and prep for the rest: The CFO’s survival guide to (almost) anything
In the heart of Vietnam War history lies a powerful lesson on resilience and faith, known today as the Stockdale Paradox. This concept was named after Admiral James Stockdale, w…
The importance of treasurers in finance
This week , I am departing from writing about something topical, but rather expressing a \strong\ point of view on why Treasurers should be considered as top candidates for CFO…
Cashing in on cheers: A CFO’s guide to making sports sponsorships pay off
The allocation of funds towards brand investments, especially in sports sponsorship, stands out as a significant decision, especially for small companies. For CFOs, the challeng…
The bottomline of customer happiness: 3 CX stories and a CFO
In today's fiercely competitive business landscape, customer experience can significantly influence a company's reputation and, ultimately, its financial health. While often ove…
Freud, finance & folly: A CFO's perspective
Generally, finance is a world of numbers, graphs, and cold, hard data. Nevertheless, behind the world of spreadsheets and financial models, there is a very human sea of emotions…
Leadership in an era of GenAI
In continuation of my recent post on the Future of GPT, I have been thinking about the role of leadership in the swiftly evolving landscape of General Artificial Intelligence (G…
Future of GPT
Generative Pretrained Transformers (GPT) are a breakthrough, in the field of intelligence. They have completely revolutionized our understanding of what machines can do with the…
Evolving financial analytics: Navigating beyond traditional statements in the digital age
In this age of information, the significance and usefulness of traditional financial statements, for assessing a company’s wellbeing have become a topic of intense debate. As a…
Time ticks on: Why we can’t embezzle hours from Father Time
As we stand on the brink of another year-end, I find myself musing humorously over a question that's more philosophical than financial: Why do we move forwards in time and not b…
The power of precision: Focus for success
As a CFO, my perspective on business strategy has always been grounded in the principle of focus. In a competitive marketplace, companies often face the temptation to diversify…
"Once upon a balance sheet": 10 reasons why storytelling is a CFO's secret superpower
In the world of finance, numbers reign supreme. But what happens when the CFO decides to take a page out of a storyteller's book? Magic. Here are ten compelling reasons why the…
Checkmate in the boardroom ballet: How execution pirouettes past strategy and culture
In the grand symphony of corporate management, the perennial debate between strategy and culture often takes center stage. As CFOs, while we may be inclined to lean towards stra…
High-wire acts in high finance: The CFO’s circus of growth vs. cash flow
As CFOs, we are often likened to navigators steering through the treacherous waters of corporate finance, where the twin beacons of growth and cash flow guide our journey. The p…
From bean counting to bots
CFOs can harness the capabilities of large language models (LLMs) like ChatGPT and Robotic Process Automation (RPA) to create value in several distinct ways. In essence, the com…
10 commandments for the experienced CFO
It’s more than a year since I posted on LinkedIn about the 10 commandments for the newbie CFO. It got over 4,000 impressions (number of times the post was displayed on a screen)…
The 10 commandments for a newbie CFO
1. Thou shalt help the Board in setting (& execution of) of corporate strategy.