Brian Weisberg

@OnlyCFO It’s almost like a visual if you let the air out of their ARR, GDR, and NDR metrics

How much money did Figma leave on the table? Maybe that shouldn’t be calculated as day 1 pop…

@OnlyCFO Just me, working on a new financial model.

@bmweis Yes. And even better first step

Build it out in Excel first And then decide what tool you need Has saved me a lot of money and wasted time on purchasing the wrong tool

@MichaelaLehr Couldn’t agree more. It is an exciting time to be a CFO! One concern I have is the knowledge lost by not doing some of this firsthand. I’m not saying it is all worth it. But there is real value doing some of that work. It is how many of us have acquired the intuition we have.

AI developments in the office of the CFO are truly exciting. In no particular order, and not an exhaustive list at all, let me explain specifically what I mean: Streamlined Decisioning: CFOs so often will have a gut sense of the impact of a specific decision on the numbers, but will lean on their FP&A team to run the appropriate analysis to be thorough. To do this, and to do it accurately, takes time. Sometimes an hour and sometimes a few days, depending on the availability and cleanliness of the necessary data (and the necessary analyst). While AI is not a perfect solution here, any productivity gains for a beleaguered analyst allow for quicker and better informed decisions. At an end state / perfect world, perhaps a CFO could even type in the correct prompt and have an analysis on the fly... one can dream... Fundraising / M&A Due Diligence: Those lists of due diligence questions become so much easier to answer when your FP&A team has a 'helpdesk.' Again, FTE augmentation, and because AI doesn't get square-eyed after staring at fields of data for hours on end, potential for further accuracy. Accounting: FTE augmentation, higher levels of precision, shortened time to close and maybe even (dream) a *less painful annual audit*. If you take this through the company life cycle and to its logical conclusion, think about how much smoother it would be to file for IPO if your numbers are truly in order, and not burdened by 'accounting debt' and the inevitable cleanup. Forecast Accuracy: When your limited FP&A resources are able to be more productive, they can turn from run, re-running, and re-re-running the operating model to actually *looking at it* and making sure it makes sense. And speaking to colleagues across teams (RevOps, Legal, Product, Marketing, Sales, CX... truly anyone) to make sure there isn't some real world obstacle - or tailwind - that isn't showing up in the numbers. Thoughtfulness at scale is the ultimate CFO pipe dream. *ALSO* I wonder if this helps companies with consumption-based pricing, and being able to hook into those usage data sets... what a morass of data... RevOps: This dovetails with forecast accuracy, but it's a little different. As a CFO, most of the metrics and data we look at regularly describes either where you are or where you were - this is important to understand and articulate, but the real meaty stuff is where you're going, specifically on the top line. Accuracy in your funnel metrics and ability to anticipate your sales is so damn critical it feels silly to even say it. If you're able to query against your CRM data (I know, I know, but we're dreaming) and really augment your RevOps team's ability to give snapshots into what the f is happening in pipeline, you're a damn hero. By the way, same goes for customer health and renewals... again, we're dreaming. *Problem*: This is the inevitable big old BUT. Data cleanliness. Hygiene. Training your LLM to understand the schema of your data (especially in your CRM). Having limited resources already, and then needing to pivot them to figuring out how to implement / train this LLM instead of doing the multitude of work that needs to be done (akin to the typical 'infrastructure' vs 'product roadmap' debate for engineering teams). But I see this as a good problem to have, and while a bit painful, solvable for teams in the medium-term. What an exciting and transformational moment to be a CFO.

@OnlyCFO And understand your preference stack. This is where clean funding terms with fewer stakeholders helps.

CEOs need to have honest conversations with their board. -Ask them how low valuation they would take -What would have to change to get them excited about the company again

Have talked to many companies whose board is pressuring them to consider an M&A exit. But based on their metrics, it’s just a quiet way for investors to ask for their money back. If someone gives you a real offer tho, there is a decent chance they take it. Even if it’s low

@jasonlk @OnlyCFO Too many underestimate the time it takes to sell a business. This is not something you can “just do” quickly, especially if the business isn’t performing. M&A transactions are more akin to enterprise sales. You need a developed funnel, time, and focus.

My general advice is: If you don’t already have someone who’s asked to purchase you, don’t waste any time here Too many VCs who haven’t lived it or are delusional tell you to go sell your company when things have slowed and cash is getting tight It never works unless there’s already been outreach by an acquirer. No time and M&A is very complicated. And everyone smells distress. Just figure out a wind-down solution or something similar

@niharnaig @pitdesi @StephNass @zeni Same for us with @numeric_io + @MosaicTechInfo. The two feel like giving your finance team super powers.

@pitdesi @StephNass @pitdesi totally agree. This is exactly what we are doing with @zeni . Our in-house controllers are an extension of our customers’ finance team and they leverage our tech/product for tasks which can be automated.

Haven’t yet seen one of these cyborg businesses (humans w/ tech) work at scale to venture returns Many never get past the fake it part of fake it til you make it. Scalefactor & Atrium didn’t Compass & Redfin not great venture returns Newfront, Pilot, Botkeeper: jury is out

@jasonlk @the_hoch But they should!

@the_hoch Not everyone cares about their investors I certainly did to an extreme as a founder

Had a seed investment acquired for $1B+ this month and ... lost money AMA

@alex Now you know why I’ve been a little MIA as of late (or even the past year-ish).

@bmweis !!!!!!!

@danprimack Agreed. One thing I’ve learned at my resent DevSecOps startup is that if the government wants what you are selling, they’ll help you figure it how to buy it.

One big reason that VCs didn't used to fund defense tech was that they didn't want to invest in things that were reliant on govt procurement. Yes, there were philosophical issues too, but this was era when VCs avoided startups that even brushed up against gov/regulation (minus biotech). That time is long passed, in part because Uber, Lyft, SpaceX and Airbnb kicked down the doors.

@OnlyCFO You and me both! But since you can’t ask them (for obvious reasons), I’m happy to be your stand in. 🎤

@bmweis Excited for this!! Allows me to ask all the questions I am wondering about and hear from people smarter than me :)

Very excited to be teaming up with @OnlyCFO on this series. Yours truly is hosting fireside chat conversations with fellow CFOs, service providers, bloggers, and others active in the operating finance community about a range of topics. First up: Annual Planning.

OnlyCFO webinars is kicking off in December with one of my favorite topics: Annual Planning for 2025. There is a lot more stuff that might mess up your plan in 2025, so come join the discussion @bmweis will be moderating! forms.gle/sMrpyaJyyMsBAc…

@Rick_Zullo Strong endorse this practice of intentionally creating space for abstract, unstructured conversations. While biased as someone who thrives in the abstract, this habit tends to unlock really great hidden gems while simultaneously creating strong bonds among colleagues.

Earlier this year, I instituted a new practice in our Partner Meetings I bring a prepared topic for discussion and we spend the 1st 30-45 minutes of our week together debating it and determining how it applies to our firm The topic can NOT be about deals or anything tactical. It is ALWAYS existential, macro or personal. These have ranged from the geopolitical events, to firm strategy to personal topics like dealing with impostor syndrome. The goal is to break down boundaries, forcing folks to openly discuss topics where there are no right answers. I try to be very vulnerable in these sessions and to ask lots of questions (two lessons unearthed via sessions with my peer group). It’s so easy to get lost in the hamster wheel and rush through partner meetings, but I think bringing this to our partner meetings has been a great way to get everyone’s creative and critical thinking juices flowing to kick off the week. Happy to answer any questions on this practice and would love thoughts on other best practices folks use for facilitating more open, honest and constructive partner meetings. 🙏

@alex @charliermarsh That’s awesome. However, charitable donations don’t always translate into better software. Run that through us at Tidelift and we’ll move the needle on improving the software supply chain. I’m sure @partridgehouse has some thoughts to share.

@charliermarsh @bmweis

Sentry giving $750,000 to open source (up 50% from last year too) is pretty amazing blog.sentry.io/we-just-gave-7…

@OnlyCFO I’ve seen and had to clean up after the opposite. A seasoned, former CFO who has no business putting their hands on the ledger. And don’t get me started on their attempt to manage the FinOps tech stack. Equally messy.

@alex And better than one of their rivals I just tested with the same query. Which gave slightly different names.

still want bigger out links, but hey

searchGPT is cool

@carrynointerest So many lessons in business can be equated to free throws. At the end of the day, you just need to put in the reps.

A reminder for those in PE: If you want deal flow in PE, you need to HOUND the sell side. There is way too much money out there. Money doesn't make you special. 1b in dry powder doesn't make you special. You are a dime a dozen. It is almost hilarious how most sell side banks make their buyer list. Some combination of pitchbook, a wonky CRM with broken fields / contact data, and the first names that come to mind from a few VPs / MDs. You MUST be routinely checking in with hundreds of sell side bankers to find the best deals. An absolute grind. Not glamorous. Totally essential. Shoot the free throw. over, and over, and over, and over again.

Unemployment rate 4.1% Inflation rate 2.4% 10 year treasury rate 4.3% Real GDP growth 2.8% If there is such a thing as a sweet spot for the economy we're basically in it right now

@HipCityReg As a serial tech CFO, I get really annoyed when I see someone do this with a FinOps idea that makes no practical sense and solves a pain that doesn't exist. Stop wasting time, money, and attention. Screams privilege.

This tweet is so dumb for so many reasons But the primary one is that the root cause is legitimately reversed The problem is the growth of funds that then had to go out and INVENT new founders because they had to put the money somewhere And I do mean invent. Going to universities stoking the “you can be a founder too” flames of mid-curve MBAs… I’m annoyed by founders as much as the next guy But if a VC is going around saying “we made entrepreneurship too safe” while they collect their management fees year over year… chilling on podcasts to pass the time… give me a break