Run the Numbers

By CJ Gustafson

Listen to a podcast, please open Podcast Republic app. Available on Google Play Store and Apple App Store.

Image by CJ Gustafson

Category: Management

Open in Apple Podcasts


Open RSS feed


Open Website


Rate for this podcast
    

Subscribers: 12
Reviews: 0
Episodes: 204

Description

Run the Numbers is a twice-weekly podcast about financial metrics and business models, designed for ambitious people operating tech startups. It's a collection of things host CJ Gustafson (CFO at Partstech and writer of Mostly Metrics) has learned and thought about in the trenches as a tech CFO. This show is meant to serve as a playbook of sorts for the stuff CJ wishes he knew earlier in his career, both from experience and from copying people smarter than himself. Topics frequently touch upon Startup SaaS Metrics, Annual Budgeting, Financial Forecasting, Headcount, Equity, Dilution, and Fundraising – and how all of these drive business performance and growth. www.mostlymetrics.com

Episode Date
Beat, Raise, Repeat: Former IBM CFO on Developing Watson, AI Automation & Financial Stewardship
Jul 21, 2025
The CEO's #1 Job: Capital Allocation
Jul 19, 2025
“AI Might Be Coming for Your Job, but There’s No Better Time To Be an Accountant”
Jul 17, 2025
Don’t Sign That Yet: Small M&A Mistakes That Can Cost You Big
Jul 14, 2025
The Shrinking Public Markets, and Rise of Private Liquidity Loops
Jul 12, 2025
“Anything new needs to have AI core to its offering”: Amy Butte on How Navan Is Redefining Finance Ops
Jul 10, 2025
Inside the “PayPal Mafia”: One of the Most Influential “Seed Funds” in Tech History with Jimmy Soni
Jul 07, 2025
IPO Alert: Breaking Down Figma's S1 Filing
Jul 05, 2025
The Modern CFO: Scott Engler on How To Master the Most Important Role in the Company
Jul 03, 2025
I sold a company, and then fired myself immediately
Jun 28, 2025
Inside the CFO Tech Stack (and the Failure Museum): Insights From Norwest’s Sean Jacobsohn
Jun 26, 2025
Big Systems Thinking for Building a Finance Org: Advice From a Zoom Hypergrowth Survivor
Jun 23, 2025
Preparing for Google Zero
Jun 21, 2025
a16z’s Alex Immerman on the Evolving Role of the CFO in the Age of AI
Jun 19, 2025
The CFO As the Culture Leader: KPIs, OKRs, and Embracing Failure To Achieve Success
Jun 16, 2025
Saying the quiet part out loud
Jun 14, 2025
Customer-First Finance: PagerDuty's Secret to “Small” Public Company Success
Jun 12, 2025
From $30M to Almost $1B: A Guide to Hypergrowth, IPO Prep, and Navigating the Public Market
Jun 09, 2025
Bet on Yourself, and Putting in "Time on the Board" (CJ gets interviewed)
Jun 07, 2025
Wasted Capital and Where to Find It: The CFO’s Guide to Spoilage, Levers & Leakages
Jun 05, 2025
Carta’s Head of Insights on Dilution, Equity, and the State of the Market Right Now
Jun 02, 2025
Mostly Mailbag - May Audience Questions
May 31, 2025
An Operationally-Focused CFO’s Guide to Scaling From SMB to Enterprise: Lessons From ServiceNow
May 26, 2025
Chime IPO: S1 Breakdown
May 24, 2025
“Run Toward a Tough Market” — Developing the Hard and Soft Skills To Be a Great Finance Leader
May 22, 2025
Former PayPal CFO on Risk and Return in Venture Capital, Private Equity, and Public Companies
May 19, 2025
Why Romanticizing PLG is Dangerous
May 17, 2025
Portfolio Operations: This Is What You Actually Have To Do To Make Sure a Company Is Successful
May 15, 2025
The One Use Case for Venture Debt That Most Founders Never Think About
May 12, 2025
How CFOs are ACTUALLY Using AI within their Companies
May 10, 2025
Investor Relations as a Strategic Weapon: A Masterclass
May 08, 2025
Riding the Wave of Innovation: Lessons From Surfline’s 40-Year Business Evolution
May 05, 2025
State of the Private Markets - April
May 03, 2025
Financial Storytelling Can Move Markets As Much as Results – Morgan Stanley Exec Explains
May 01, 2025
CFO, COO, or Hybrid? Choose Your Own C-Suite Adventure! (Also: How To Master Channel Sales)
Apr 28, 2025
Straight Talk on the Economy - What it Means for Tech
Apr 26, 2025
The $7 Million Wake-Up Call: Mastering Rebates for Profitability with Enable’s Nick Rose
Apr 24, 2025
The Billionaire Rolodex: Building a DaaS Business to Target the 0.001%
Apr 21, 2025
Is Product-Market Fit Getting Harder to Keep?
Apr 19, 2025
Not All Revenue Is Good Revenue: Rob Paterson of Employment Hero Explains
Apr 17, 2025
Inside the "Triangle of Doom”: How Great CFOs Navigate CEO and Board Dynamics
Apr 14, 2025
How I Lost $209,640 (and Found My Own PMF)
Apr 12, 2025
“I Lost Money – It Was Beautiful” – Brad Channer on Why You Should Fail at a Startup at Least Twice
Apr 10, 2025
Scaling Google Ads: Lessons from an $80B Journey with Sanjay Datta
Apr 07, 2025
Stubhub IPO: S1 Breakdown
Apr 05, 2025
The High-Stakes World of Consumer Marketplaces: John Connolly on Trends, Metrics, & Myths
Apr 03, 2025
Stripe rips, Plaid falls, and Wiz gets PAID... State of the Private Markets (March)
Mar 29, 2025
The Startup Shutdown Playbook: How to Succeed in Closing a Company
Mar 27, 2025
The Art of Stacking S-Curves: Olo’s Winning Vertical SaaS Strategy with CFO Peter Benevides
Mar 24, 2025
Klarna IPO: S1 Breakdown
Mar 22, 2025
Red Flags & Big Wins: Lucas Swisher on What Makes Coatue Say Yes (or No) to an Investment
Mar 20, 2025
21 Million Customers: The Two Keys to Long-Term Tech Success with GoDaddy CFO Mark McCaffrey
Mar 17, 2025
The Business of Mostly Metrics. Part I.
Mar 15, 2025
Taking Criticism Like a Pro: Airtable's Ambereen Toubassy on Investor Feedback and Curiosity
Mar 13, 2025
Uncovering Blind Spots and Other Lessons from High-Growth Companies with Five-Time CFO David Lapter
Mar 10, 2025
CoreWeave IPO: A Future Giant or Just WeWork with GPUs?
Mar 08, 2025
Eliminating Operational Inefficiencies with Hanan Aharoni of Operative
Mar 06, 2025
From Massive Corporate to Tiny Startup: Foodics CFO Abdullah Tahboub on Making the Leap
Mar 03, 2025
State of the Private Tech Markets (February)
Feb 28, 2025
The Era of “I Need a COO and a CFO” Is Over: Jim Cook on the Next Evolution of the CFO
Feb 27, 2025
Investors vs Operators: Aidoc’s Arvind Kadaba on the “Grass Is Greener” Trap and How to Escape It
Feb 24, 2025
Stripe, Klarna, & the Fintech Resurgence—What’s Driving Valuations?
Feb 22, 2025
Inside Grab: How a Super App Transformed Southeast Asia — with CFO Peter Oey
Feb 20, 2025
Scoring Big: The Playbook for Nonprofit Financial Success with USA Hockey CFO Kelly Mahncke
Feb 17, 2025
How much revenue do you need to IPO in 2025?
Feb 15, 2025
From CF-No to CF-Go: Serial CFO Michael Bayer’s Guide to Hypergrowth
Feb 13, 2025
How Upwork CFO Erica Gessert Drove 20 Points of EBITDA Growth in Just 3 Quarters
Feb 10, 2025
Profits vs. Growth: What X, Deel & Clay Are Teaching Us
Feb 08, 2025
A CFO’s Guide to Raising Take Rates and Increasing Gross Margins, with Kapil Agrawal
Feb 06, 2025
You Can Securitize Anything! — Art as an Asset Class with Nigel Glenday of Masterworks
Feb 03, 2025
State of the Private Markets: January 2025
Feb 02, 2025
“What’s in It for Me?” The Art of Storytelling in an IPO - with Monday.com CFO Eliran Glazer
Jan 27, 2025
The Analytics Escalator: Unlocking Value in Finance with Mambu CFO Jesper Sorensen
Jan 23, 2025
"Be Interesting" and Other Unconventional Finance Career Advice from CFO Jeff Cassidy
Jan 20, 2025
“Your budget is counter-productive” — Michiel Boere, CFO of Remote
Jan 16, 2025
A Masterclass with the Michael Jordan of B2C Subscription, Reid DeRamus
Jan 13, 2025
“Most Decisions Are Reversible” – A Masterclass in Decision Making with Zapier’s Ryan Roccon
Jan 09, 2025
The Best Ever Answer to Build Versus Buy, and Other Wisdom from Matt Hudson of Coda
Jan 06, 2025
So You’re Looking for a “Strategic” CFO? Bloomerang’s Steve Isom on What That Really Means
Jan 02, 2025
“Annual Planning Is So Last Year” – Ross Grainger, CFO of Paradox, on What He Does Instead
Dec 26, 2024
Mitigating Churn: A Masterclass in Customer Retention with Will Cureton, CFO of Nitrogen Wealth
Dec 23, 2024
The ROI of OKRs (and Advice on Building Analytics Teams) with Sisense CFO Alyssa Shadinger
Dec 19, 2024
16 P&Ls: The CFO’s Guide to M&A Operational Complexity with Dotmatics’ Rebeca Sanchez Sarmiento
Dec 16, 2024
Building a Billion-Dollar Pipeline: A Deep Dive into Rubrik’s Sales Strategy with Samarth Mital
Dec 12, 2024
Is Stock-Based Compensation Real? A Masterclass with Clio CFO Curt Sigfstead
Dec 09, 2024
Guiding Stakeholders Through Business Model Transitions with Varonis CFO & COO Guy Melamed
Dec 05, 2024
Less but Better: Miro’s Justin Coulombe on the Power of Strategic Divestment in SaaS
Dec 02, 2024
Private to Public to Private: Navigating Major Transitions with Dialogue Health CFO, Navaid Mansuri
Nov 28, 2024
Budgeting Your External Facing Time as a CFO: Tipalti’s Sarah Spoja
Nov 25, 2024
The Largest Software IPO Ever: How Snowflake Still Left Money on the Table
Nov 21, 2024
Risk, Reward, and Revolution: Financing The Clean Future of Flight with ZeroAvia's Georgy Egorov
Nov 18, 2024
The Art and Science of a Day-One IPO Pop with OneStream Software CFO Bill Koefoed
Nov 14, 2024
The New Backbone of Finance: Zero Hash's Adam Berg on Financial Services Infrastructure and Crypto
Nov 11, 2024
Unpacking the Future of Global Payments with TerraPay’s CFO Ganapathy Subramaniam
Nov 07, 2024
Secondaries, Continuation Vehicles, and Sidecar Funds: Private Equity with HarbourVest’s Scott Voss
Nov 04, 2024
Monetizing Community Engagement: The Business of Fitness with Strava CFO Lily Yang
Oct 28, 2024
Is ARR Dead? SaaS Metrics in the Age of AI with Kyle Poyar of Growth Unhinged
Oct 24, 2024
Pixar Movies and Wealth Management Tech: Finance and Storytelling with Altruist’s Marc Greenberg
Oct 21, 2024
Forecasting Revenue and Managing Volatility with Naeem Ishaq of Checkr, Inc.
Oct 17, 2024
A Masterclass in Annual Planning: Budgeting for Hypergrowth
Oct 14, 2024
Redefining Buy Now, Pay Later: A Customer-First Approach with Affirm’s COO & CFO Michael Linford
Oct 10, 2024
Decoding SaaS Growth: Maxio’s 2024 Benchmarking Report with VP of Strategy Jon Cochrane
Oct 07, 2024
A CFO’s First 100 Days – A Playbook by Seven-Time CFO Stephen Grist
Oct 03, 2024
Efficiency Metrics, Management, and Consolidation - Tony Boor’s CFO Playbook for Scaling Blackbaud
Sep 26, 2024
“You’re Spending Too Much Time on Planning!” — The Seven Maxims of Annual Planning With Mercury’s Daniel Kang
Sep 23, 2024
Haunting Agitation: Channeling Ambition for Ultra Success with Dr. Julie Gurner
Sep 19, 2024
Why Fundraising Has Slowed Down: Insights from Emergence Capital’s Benchmarking Report
Sep 16, 2024
Revolutionizing a $500 Billion TAM Industry With West Shore Home CFO Philip Brenckle
Sep 12, 2024
The Roadshow, the IPO Process, and Ringing That Bell, With CFO Amanda Whalen of Klaviyo
Sep 09, 2024
The Evolution of Software Pricing and Packaging with Pricing Expert Jason Kap
Sep 05, 2024
The Business of AI in Military Defence with Shield AI CFO Kingsley Afemikhe
Sep 02, 2024
NPV-Positive Decision Making: Thumbtack CFO Larry Roseman’s Winning Framework
Aug 26, 2024
The Art of a Fundraising Announcement with Eric Newcomer
Aug 22, 2024
Mastering OKRs: A CFO’s Guide with Bryan Morris of Demandbase
Aug 19, 2024
Finding “Personal Product-Market Fit”: Career Advice from CJ in Q&A With Intern Charlie
Aug 15, 2024
Behind the Earnings Calls: Couchbase CFO Greg Henry on Consumption Models & Analyst Relations
Aug 12, 2024
From Founder to CFO: Jessica Lanier on Leadership, Acquisitions, and Career Growth
Aug 08, 2024
Revenue Durability and Monetization Strategies in SaaS With CJ Gustafson
Aug 05, 2024
Inside Headspace’s B2B, B2C, and B2B2C Beast of a Business Model with CFO Nicolette Turner
Aug 01, 2024
Tales of Cash Conversion Cycle Greatness with CJ Gustafson
Jul 29, 2024
A CFO's Masterclass in Hiring Abroad With Simone Nardi of Globalization Partners
Jul 25, 2024
A CFO Playbook for Being Acquired - With Evan Fein of TextNow and The F Suite
Jul 22, 2024
SaaS’s Three Key Metrics: Insights from AvePoint's CFO Jim Caci
Jul 18, 2024
Inside a Robot-as-a-Service Company With Locus Robotics CFO Dustin Pederson
Jul 15, 2024
Underwriting Uncertainty: Huntress CFO Marcos Torres on Adaptability and Clarity of Vision
Jul 11, 2024
Arcadia's Paul Mulé on Building an M&A Playbook
Jul 08, 2024
Risk & Return: Applying an Investment Mindset to Finance With Ramp's Alex Song
Jul 04, 2024
Banker to Investor to Operator: Nick Chammas, CFO of Eight Sleep, on Why Your Job is Always to Sell
Jul 01, 2024
Automation, Storytelling, and the Future of Finance With Anna King, CFO of Mesh
Jun 27, 2024
“Do Nothing” and Other Financial Wisdom From 6sense CFO Rob Goldenberg
Jun 24, 2024
Extreme Ownership for CFOs with Adam Ante of Paycor
Jun 20, 2024
First Mover or Fast Follower? Thomas Ream of Workato on Timing Your Tech Strategy in the Age of AI
Jun 17, 2024
“Keep the Take Rate Low” - Turo’s Chuck Fisher on Scaling a Successful Peer-to-peer Marketplace
Jun 13, 2024
The Boston Celtics’ Other Playbook: Business Insights from President Rich Gotham
Jun 10, 2024
M&A in Tech, Deal Desks, and Resource Allocation: Insights From 8x8 CFO Kevin Kraus
Jun 06, 2024
Managing a Hypergrowth Company With Bill Zerella, Former CFO of Fitbit
Jun 03, 2024
Making the Complex Simple: Untying the Business Model of The Knot Worldwide With CFO Andy Ivanovich
May 27, 2024
Ditch Your Budget: Unconventional Frameworks for Driving Results, With Guido Torrini of OneTrust
May 23, 2024
A Crash Course in Sales Compensation With CJ Gustafson
May 20, 2024
Selling Trust: Airbase CFO Aneal Vallurupalli on Risk Management
May 16, 2024
Venture Debt as a Strategic Lever for Growth With Ruslan Sergeyev of Hercules Capital
May 13, 2024
The Mindshare Advantage: Marketplace Success With Boris Wertz of Version One Ventures
May 09, 2024
Marketing as a Form of Capital Allocation With Carta's Head of Growth Angela Winegar
May 06, 2024
Unpacking Spirit Airlines' Complex Financial Model with CFO Scott Haralson
May 02, 2024
“Take a Risk”: Silicon Valley Veteran Molly Graham on How to Scale Yourself & Your Startup
Apr 25, 2024
Navigating Business Transformations With Lanny Baker CFO of Eventbrite
Apr 22, 2024
“Steal Your Boss's Job”: Calendly CFO John McCauley on Leadership, Ownership & Growth
Apr 18, 2024
Gaining Strategic Advantage in Vertical SaaS With Guidewire's CFO, Jeff Cooper
Apr 15, 2024
A Masterclass on D2C and E-commerce Marketing with Taylor Holiday Common Thread Collective CEO
Apr 11, 2024
Legendary CFO Jim Kelliher (PTC, LogMeIn, Drift): Why PE Needs a Course Correction
Apr 08, 2024
Exposing Corporate Misconduct with Edwin Dorsey, Writer Behind The Bear Cave
Apr 04, 2024
Decoding Pricing Strategy with Blue Rocket’s Founder & CEO Jason Kap
Apr 01, 2024
A Crash-course in Global Payments with Brex COO Camilla Matias Morais
Mar 28, 2024
What to Know About Layoffs in 2024 with HR Heretics Kelli Dragovich and Nolan Church
Mar 25, 2024
How AI Changes Your P&L with Fred Havemeyer of Macquarie
Mar 21, 2024
Deep Dive on Usage Based Models with Gladly's CFO Todd Rakow
Mar 18, 2024
ZoomInfo’s CFO Cameron Hyzer on Resource Allocation Bets as a Public Company
Mar 14, 2024
The Ultimate People Manager's Playbook with Dave Kline
Mar 11, 2024
The Tables are Turned: CJ's First FP&A Hire Alex Peterson Interviews CJ
Mar 07, 2024
Rippling CFO Adam Swiecicki on Building a Compound Startup and Channeling Ambition
Mar 04, 2024
Secrets to Scaling a Marketplace Business with Jack Greco, VC and co-founder of ACV Auctions
Feb 29, 2024
Stack Overflow's CFO Matt Gallatin on "Burning the Ships”
Feb 26, 2024
The Seven Frameworks CFOs Need to Know: Jim Cook Round 2
Feb 22, 2024
G2 CFO Chad Gold on Building a Durable Career as a Venture Backed Exec
Feb 19, 2024
Understanding the AI Roadmap for Finance, Strategy, and Ops with Dr. Andre Retterath of Data-driven VC
Feb 16, 2024
ClickUp CFO Dan Zhang on Frameworks to Level Up Your Decision Making and Communication
Feb 12, 2024
Climbing the FP&A Ladder to CFO: IPOs and M&A with Philip Watson, CFO of Paddle
Feb 08, 2024
E36: The IPO Playbook: Expert Advice from Lee Kirkpatrick, Twilio’s Former CFO
Feb 05, 2024
E35: The Ultimate Guide to Vertical SaaS with Top Investor Dave Yuan of Tidemark
Feb 01, 2024
E34: BlackRock Managing Director Tony Kim on the Secrets of Durable Companies
Jan 29, 2024
E33: The Ultimate Guide to Start-up Marketing, with CEO of Thrive Digital, Jonathan Becker
Jan 25, 2024
E32: Everything You Need to Know About Competitive Moats with Lightspeed Partner Sebastian Duesterhoeft (Round 2)
Jan 22, 2024
E31: Hubspot's SVP RevOps Sid Kumar Goes DEEP on Revenue Operations
Jan 18, 2024
E30: The Business of Basketball: Rich Gotham, President of the Boston Celtics
Jan 15, 2024
E29: Building Sales Capacity: Bonfire VC’s Brett Queener on the Ratios Salesforce Used
Jan 12, 2024
E28: The Economics of Consumer Fintech Businesses with Matthew Newcomb, CFO of Chime
Jan 08, 2024
E27: Mailbag: CFOs Relationship with Money, Biggest Fears, AI Predictions
Jan 04, 2024
E26: Breaking Down Annual Planning
Jan 03, 2024
E25: A Deep Dive on Marketplaces and Network Effects with James Currier of NFX
Jan 03, 2024
E24: Kyla Scanlon Decodes Economic Policy Impacting Startups
Jan 03, 2024
E23: Everything You Need to Know About Sales Rep Comp and Commissions Planning with Ryan Walsh, CEO of RepVue
Jan 03, 2024
E22: A SaaS Metrics DEEP Dive with Alex Clayton of Meritech Capital
Jan 03, 2024
E21: Building the Storytelling Muscle for CFOs with Andy Raskin
Jan 03, 2024
E20: Headcount Planning in Hypergrowth: Gusto’s Head of Corporate Finance Rohit Divate
Jan 03, 2024
E19: Firing Execs: a Guide, with HR Heretics’ Kelli Dragovich and Nolan Church
Jan 03, 2024
E18: How a Public Company CFO Prepares for Earnings Calls
Jan 03, 2024
E17: Theory Ventures’ Tomasz Tunguz on What It Takes to Be a Great CFO
Jan 03, 2024
E16: How High-Performing Marketing and Finance Teams Work Together
Jan 03, 2024
E15: CFO of FloQast on Why Finance Teams are Data Curators
Jan 03, 2024
E14: Everything You Need to Know About Pricing Products
Jan 03, 2024
E13: A Startup CEO's Guide to Board Meetings, with Dave Kellogg
Jan 03, 2024
E12: The Ultimate Guide to FP&A Tools, with Paul Barnhurst
Jan 03, 2024
E11: UiPath Chief Strategy Officer on the Sacrifices of "Speed At All Costs"
Jan 03, 2024
E10: A CFO's Guide to Understanding Sales Teams, featuring Snyk's Ethan Schechter
Jan 03, 2024
E9: Why You Should Say Yes More as a CFO, with Envoy CFO Sinohe Terrero
Jan 03, 2024
Bonus: CFO AMA with Kurtis Hanni — Career Advice, A CFO's Biggest Lies, Pricing Strategy, and More
Jan 03, 2024
E8: The Ultimate Guide to TAM (Total Addressable Market) with Lightspeed Partner Sebastian Duesterhoeft
Jan 03, 2024
E7: What CFOs Should Know About Acquisitions, from Shippo / eero CFO Olivier Adler
Jan 03, 2024
E6: Carta CFO Charly Kevers on the Importance of Truth Telling
Jan 03, 2024
E5: CFO Jenny Decker Unveils Top Frameworks Used at Front
Jan 03, 2024
E4: The Unexpected Qualities of Great CFOs with Public.com’s Sruthi Lanka
Jan 03, 2024
E3: Netflix Co-Founder Jim Cook Shares the Secrets to Being a Great CFO
Jan 03, 2024
E2: Webflow's VP Finance Ivan Makarov on Understanding Startup Equity
Jan 03, 2024
E1: Brex COO/CFO Michael Tannenbaum on Taking Risks
Jan 03, 2024