Meetup Recap
Over the past few weeks, we’ve heard from startup and scaleup finance leaders to get their response to the current crisis. But aside from CFOs themselves, there’s one other group that startup finance teams want to hear from: investors.
So we asked two experienced VCs for their outlook on this evolving economic landscape. Have funds closed their doors? Should growing companies invest more cash while others are dormant during this tricky time? And will the booming tech scene be the same as ever once our health systems are back to normal?
About our experts
Nicolas Debock, is a…
Meetup Recap
The current economic and healthcare crisis is probably still in its infancy. Over the coming months, companies around the world will find out the true impact of the coronavirus on themselves and their customers.
It’s not time to panic — it’s time to make a plan.
As part of our own response at CFO Connect, we’ve held a series of digital information sessions, where finance experts can explain their approaches and take questions from their peers. …
Meetup Recap
Great finance leaders may be more in-demand than ever before. With new startups launching everyday — especially in SaaS and financial technology — companies need CFOs to supply subject matter knowledge and build strong businesses.
And as we’ll see, that means more than just understanding cash flow and keeping clean books.
To explore the idea of the modern CFO, we asked Carta CFO Charly Kevers and Spendesk CEO Rodolphe Ardant what makes a successful finance leader in 2020.
In a live CFO Connect meetup — our first in San Francisco — they explained CFO success both from the…
Meetup Recap
Companies worldwide are experiencing something they almost certainly never expected. In just a few months (or weeks in some cases), physical premises have closed their doors, events and travel have been postponed or canceled, and businesses have either had to go fully remote or go into hibernation.
On top of that, we have uncertainty. No business leader can confidently say how long the new normal will last.
But this is no time for doom and gloom. The CFO’s job is to mitigate risk while encouraging growth, and this only becomes more important in unpredictable times.
Meetup Recap
When it comes to fundraising, businesses should always be on the lookout for new ways to get ahead. This includes knowing when to push the button on fundraising, how to seek interest from the right pool of investors, and what kind of funding to seek — including venture debt.
At our CFO Connect community event in Paris on Thursday 23 January, we sought advice from three individuals with a depth of experience when it comes to venture debt:
Romain Bichet, Chief Financial Officer at Aircall: Romain has been the CFO of Aircall for over three years, and brings…
Meetup Recap
Currency Risk Management 101: tips for managing foreign currency revenues, costs and operations.
Part of any growth business model likely includes operating in other countries and other currencies. This can expose a business to different risks, whether it’s transactional, translational or economic. With financial markets being quite unpredictable, finance leaders want to ensure that profitability and unit economics are protected from currency risks, as much as possible.
We discussed the issue of currency risk management at our January CFO Connect workshop in London, led by Alex MacAndrew, founder & COO of Bondford (a risk management advisory). …
Faces of Finance
Aaron Townsend is the Financial Controller for Habito, the innovative online mortgage broker and lender in the UK. Their mission is simple and compelling: take the hell out of finding a mortgage. Since 2016, Habito has grown from two to 180 employees and has launched a whole suite of services to transform and simplify the home-buying process.
We met up with Aaron in London to hear more about his unconventional start in the finance world, what it takes to survive in a startup, and how he’s helping to expand career access to a new generation of finance…
Meetup Recap
In the startup world, there’s nothing quite as thrilling as raising venture capital.
As exciting as the process can be, however, it is also an unpredictable time, and can be exhausting for CFOs and finance teams. The process is different for every company and every industry, and also depends on your business model, investment trends, and market timing.
With all these moving parts, it’s best to learn from experienced professionals who have been through the process before.
That’s why we convened our CFO Connect community in Barcelona on Tuesday November 26th to discuss best practices for navigating the…
CFO Spotlight
Julien Veyrac is the Global Controller for Saint Gobain’s Adfors group. Before moving back to his hometown of Paris in 2018, Julien spent 17 years of his finance career in the U.S., working for both French and American companies — from manufacturing & media giants, to boutique food & beverage brands. We caught up with him to hear his insights on how the finance function changes based on geography, industry, and size of your organization. And of course, some ways that modern finance leaders can future-proof their skills and their teams.
You’ve worked for some huge corporations like Saint-Gobain and Thomson Reuters, and you’ve also led finance teams at small companies in the food & beverage space. What are the main differences, and what was the adjustment like going from big to small?
There’s definitely an adjustment going from Fortune…
CFO Spotlight
Collaboration is essential in building great companies. That’s the philosophy on which Huckletree was built. Talented, creative companies work best when they support and learn from one another. And Huckletree constructs the physical spaces where tomorrow’s brightest businesses can thrive.
This philosophy also guides Financial Controller Urszula Lupienska. She believes finance teams should get out of their seats and collaborate all over the business.
We caught up with her to learn some of her keys to exceptional finance teams, and more about Huckletree’s exciting vision.
Huckletree builds workspaces for startups. What does a young company need to grow and shape a successful business?
The idea and the concept at the beginning are essential. You definitely need…
