Run the Numbers

CJ Gustafson
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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.

  1. 5 Ways CFOs Can Build a Better Sales Engine with Paul Stansik

    1 DAY AGO

    5 Ways CFOs Can Build a Better Sales Engine with Paul Stansik

    In this episode of Run the Numbers, CJ sits down with ParkerGale Operating Partner Paul Stansik to break down five ways CFOs can help build a better sales engine: making the budget mean something, improving forecasting, sharpening metrics, getting involved in key RevOps moments, and building real trust with sales. — SPONSORS: Aleph is a modern FP&A platform built for teams that want more than another planning tool. By connecting your ERP, CRM, and other systems into one trusted data layer with AI workflows, Aleph helps you move faster with real-time insights. Get a personalized demo at https://www.getaleph.com/run RightRev is an automated revenue recognition platform built for teams that have outgrown spreadsheets and billing tool workarounds. It handles high-volume subscriptions, usage-based contracts, and mid-cycle upgrades, so you can scale without scrambling at month-end. For RevRec that keeps your books clean, visit https://www.rightrev.com/CJ Rillet is an AI-native ERP built for modern finance teams that want to replace NetSuite and close faster. With revenue recognition, close management, multi-entity support, and native Stripe and Salesforce integrations, Rillet helps scaling companies run their finance stack in one place. Hundreds of teams, including Windsurf and Mercor, use Rillet to make the zero-day close real. Book a demo at https://www.rillet.com/cj EY works with high-growth tech companies to navigate the messy realities of scaling—from regulatory requirements to IPO readiness. By helping teams get it right early and often, EY lets founders stay focused on building while reducing risk as they grow. Learn more at https://www.ey.com/techstartups SpendHound is a SaaS spend management platform built for finance and procurement teams that want visibility and leverage in every deal. By tracking all your software, benchmarking pricing across thousands of vendors, and surfacing contracts and renewals, SpendHound helps you stop overpaying and negotiate with confidence. Trusted by teams at ZoomInfo and Hootsuite. Get started at https://www.spendhound.com/cj Brex is an intelligent finance platform that combines corporate cards, built-in expense management, and AI agents to eliminate manual finance work. By automating expense reviews and reconciliations, Brex gives CFOs more time for the high-impact work that drives growth. Join 35,000+ companies like Anthropic, Coinbase, and DoorDash at https://www.brex.com/metrics — LINKS:  Mostly Talent: https://mostlymetrics.typeform.com/to/cLTxtAsN Guest: https://www.linkedin.com/in/paulstansik/ Company: https://www.parkergale.com/ Hello Operator: https://hellooperator.substack.com/ CJ: https://www.linkedin.com/in/cj-gustafson-13140948/ Mostly metrics: https://www.mostlymetrics.com — RELATED EPISODES: Is a weekly martini ARR? | with Dave Kellogg https://youtu.be/Yb1lUQLJ6qw — TIMESTAMPS: All verified. Here are the timestamps: 0:00 Preview and intro 2:27 Parker Gale and Paul's role 3:52 Topic: how CFOs build a better sales engine 6:21 1: Make the budget mean something 8:11 Budget segmentation and cleaving the business 10:54 Sponsors — Aleph | RightRev | Rillet 14:08 2: Help emphasize forecasting 17:23 Forecasting as non-threatening co-construction 19:37 Sponsors — EY | SpendHound | Brex 23:06 3: Lend a hand with data and metrics 25:32 Walking sales through NDR levers 27:16 Metrics tied to exit readiness 28:00 4: Get involved in a few RevOps spots 29:04 Pricing, proposals, and quoting 31:22 Kill your SKUs 32:51 Selling with certainty: quote formatting 34:26 CFO letter for enterprise deals 37:37 5: Build a great relationship with sales 37:59 You can't fix a secret 39:23 EQ over IQ for finance leaders 40:41 Recap: all five tips 42:11 Credits #RunTheNumbersPodcast #CFO #SalesStrategy #FinanceLeadership #RevenueOperations

    43 min
  2. Figure CFO Macrina Kgil on Blockchain Lending, Stablecoins, and IPOs

    4 DAYS AGO

    Figure CFO Macrina Kgil on Blockchain Lending, Stablecoins, and IPOs

    In this episode of Run the Numbers, CJ sits down with Figure Technologies CFO Macrina Kgil to break down how Figure’s business model works, why traditional lending remains so bloated, and how speed in origination and funding flows through financial performance. They also cover stablecoins, blockchain as invisible infrastructure, AI in accounting, and scaling finance with fewer than 35 people. — SPONSORS: Brex is an intelligent finance platform that combines corporate cards, built-in expense management, and AI agents to eliminate manual finance work. By automating expense reviews and reconciliations, Brex gives CFOs more time for the high-impact work that drives growth. Join 35,000+ companies like Anthropic, Coinbase, and DoorDash at https://www.brex.com/metrics Aleph is a modern FP&A platform built for teams that want more than another planning tool. By connecting your ERP, CRM, and other systems into one trusted data layer with AI workflows, Aleph helps you move faster with real-time insights. Get a personalized demo at https://www.getaleph.com/run RightRev is an automated revenue recognition platform built for teams that have outgrown spreadsheets and billing tool workarounds. It handles high-volume subscriptions, usage-based contracts, and mid-cycle upgrades, so you can scale without scrambling at month-end. For RevRec that keeps your books clean, visit https://www.rightrev.com/CJ Rillet is an AI-native ERP built for modern finance teams that want to replace NetSuite and close faster. With revenue recognition, close management, multi-entity support, and native Stripe and Salesforce integrations, Rillet helps scaling companies run their finance stack in one place. Hundreds of teams, including Windsurf and Mercor, use Rillet to make the zero-day close real. Book a demo at https://www.rillet.com/cj EY works with high-growth tech companies to navigate the messy realities of scaling—from regulatory requirements to IPO readiness. By helping teams get it right early and often, EY lets founders stay focused on building while reducing risk as they grow. Learn more at https://www.ey.com/techstartups SpendHound is a SaaS spend management platform built for finance and procurement teams that want visibility and leverage in every deal. By tracking all your software, benchmarking pricing across thousands of vendors, and surfacing contracts and renewals, SpendHound helps you stop overpaying and negotiate with confidence. Trusted by teams at ZoomInfo and Hootsuite. Get started at https://www.spendhound.com/cj — LINKS:  Mostly Talent: https://mostlymetrics.typeform.com/to/cLTxtAsN Guest: https://www.linkedin.com/in/macrina/ Company: https://www.figure.com/ CJ: https://www.linkedin.com/in/cj-gustafson-13140948/ Mostly metrics: https://www.mostlymetrics.com — TIMESTAMPS: 0:00 Preview and intro 3:10 Working for a CEO who's a former CFO 5:00 What Figure does and how it makes money 6:57 Blockchain's first commercial use case 8:17 50%+ margins, path to 60% 9:23 Sponsors — Brex | Aleph | RightRev 12:56 HELOC origination: 45 days to 5 days 14:26 Where the lending system is bloated 15:56 Credit and liquidity as core risks 17:06 Blockchain makes the marketplace transparent 18:10 Risk as a fintech CFO 19:49 Sponsors — Rillet | EY | SpendHound 22:58 Crypto on the balance sheet 24:12 Blockchain becomes invisible like cloud 25:44 Stablecoins explained 27:47 YLDS: Figure's yield-bearing stablecoin 29:02 Crawl, walk, run stablecoin strategy 34:32 IPO process: what got easier 35:03 What got harder: testing the waters 37:12 Blockchain KPIs and investor conversations 38:21 Finance team: 130 people down to 35 40:00 SEC engagement: storytelling not financials 40:49 IPO advice: pick durable KPIs 42:05 First earnings after IPO: don't miss 43:13 AI automation goal: 60% by 2026 46:11 Director of Finance Transformation hire 47:40 30-60-90 for the transformation role 48:58 Long-Ass Lightning Round 52:20 Credits

    53 min
  3. Cerebras IPO: S1 Breakdown - The Giant Chip, the OpenAI Deal, and the $24B Backlog

    14 MAY

    Cerebras IPO: S1 Breakdown - The Giant Chip, the OpenAI Deal, and the $24B Backlog

    Cerebras is going public with the largest commercial chip ever built, $510M in 2025 revenue, and a $24.6B backlog mostly tied to OpenAI. CJ breaks down the company’s wafer-scale AI bet, why inference changed the story, the strange customer-investor-lender relationships behind the IPO, and the big question: is Cerebras the next NVIDIA-style infrastructure winner, or a concentrated hardware company with a very expensive cloud pivot? — SPONSORS: SpendHound is a SaaS spend management platform built for finance and procurement teams that want visibility and leverage in every deal. By tracking all your software, benchmarking pricing across thousands of vendors, and surfacing contracts and renewals, SpendHound helps you stop overpaying and negotiate with confidence. Trusted by teams at ZoomInfo and Hootsuite. Get started at https://www.spendhound.com/cj Brex is an intelligent finance platform that combines corporate cards, built-in expense management, and AI agents to eliminate manual finance work. By automating expense reviews and reconciliations, Brex gives CFOs more time for the high-impact work that drives growth. Join 35,000+ companies like Anthropic, Coinbase, and DoorDash at https://www.brex.com/metrics Aleph is a modern FP&A platform built for teams that want more than another planning tool. By connecting your ERP, CRM, and other systems into one trusted data layer with AI workflows, Aleph helps you move faster with real-time insights. Get a personalized demo at https://www.getaleph.com/run RightRev is an automated revenue recognition platform built for teams that have outgrown spreadsheets and billing tool workarounds. It handles high-volume subscriptions, usage-based contracts, and mid-cycle upgrades, so you can scale without scrambling at month-end. For RevRec that keeps your books clean, visit https://www.rightrev.com/CJ Rillet is an AI-native ERP built for modern finance teams that want to replace NetSuite and close faster. With revenue recognition, close management, multi-entity support, and native Stripe and Salesforce integrations, Rillet helps scaling companies run their finance stack in one place. Hundreds of teams, including Windsurf and Mercor, use Rillet to make the zero-day close real. Book a demo at https://www.rillet.com/cj EY works with high-growth tech companies to navigate the messy realities of scaling—from regulatory requirements to IPO readiness. By helping teams get it right early and often, EY lets founders stay focused on building while reducing risk as they grow. Learn more at https://www.ey.com/techstartups — LINKS:  Mostly Talent: https://mostlymetrics.typeform.com/to/cLTxtAsN CJ: https://www.linkedin.com/in/cj-gustafson-13140948/ Mostly metrics: https://www.mostlymetrics.com — TIMESTAMPS: 0:00 Preview and intro 0:59 Cerebras: the dinner plate chip 3:56 Why chip size matters for AI 5:26 Old vs. new AI: inference is the bottleneck 7:30 Revenue: 20x in 3 years 7:49 Sponsors — SpendHound | Brex | Aleph 11:33 Gross margin 12:02 Net income: the one-time accounting trick 12:41 Operating cash flow whipsaw 13:24 RPO: $24.6B backlog 13:58 Customer concentration: the UAE entities 18:06 Sponsors — RightRev | Rillet | EY 21:05 Cloud revenue: the inverse SaaS story 22:23 Cloud gross margin collapse 23:53 G42 warrants for pennies 29:14 The OpenAI warrant: Funky Town 31:08 $40B market cap milestone 31:36 R&D and S&M breakdown 33:15 Balance sheet and cash burn 35:59 Red flag 1: accounting weaknesses 36:37 Red flag 2: one foundry, no supply deal 37:28 Red flag 3: UAE geopolitical risk 38:10 Red flag 4: cloud is unproven 39:02 Cap table: founders diluted 40:43 Voting control: Class A, B, and N 41:15 Valuation: 10–13x forward revenue 41:48 Peer comparison 43:47 CEO's prior issues 46:10 Credits Nothing said or created by this podcast is business or investment advice #RunTheNumbersPodcast #IPO #Semiconductors #AIStrategy #FinanceLeadership

    47 min
  4. The Investor Behind Warby Parker, Harry’s, and the Psychology of Consumer Growth | David Bell

    11 MAY

    The Investor Behind Warby Parker, Harry’s, and the Psychology of Consumer Growth | David Bell

    David Bell, co-founder of Idea Farm Ventures and early investor behind Warby Parker, Harry’s, and Diapers.com, and CJ break down how consumer investing works. They cover why durable consumer companies require more than clean unit economics, how to apply SaaS-style thinking to businesses without contracts, and why the best opportunities often live in boring gray space. — SPONSORS: EY works with high-growth tech companies to navigate the messy realities of scaling—from regulatory requirements to IPO readiness. By helping teams get it right early and often, EY lets founders stay focused on building while reducing risk as they grow. Learn more at https://www.ey.com/techstartups SpendHound is a SaaS spend management platform built for finance and procurement teams that want visibility and leverage in every deal. By tracking all your software, benchmarking pricing across thousands of vendors, and surfacing contracts and renewals, SpendHound helps you stop overpaying and negotiate with confidence. Trusted by teams at ZoomInfo and Hootsuite. Get started at https://www.spendhound.com/cj Brex is an intelligent finance platform that combines corporate cards, built-in expense management, and AI agents to eliminate manual finance work. By automating expense reviews and reconciliations, Brex gives CFOs more time for the high-impact work that drives growth. Join 35,000+ companies like Anthropic, Coinbase, and DoorDash at https://www.brex.com/metrics Aleph is a modern FP&A platform built for teams that want more than another planning tool. By connecting your ERP, CRM, and other systems into one trusted data layer with AI workflows, Aleph helps you move faster with real-time insights. Get a personalized demo at https://www.getaleph.com/run RightRev is an automated revenue recognition platform built for teams that have outgrown spreadsheets and billing tool workarounds. It handles high-volume subscriptions, usage-based contracts, and mid-cycle upgrades, so you can scale without scrambling at month-end. For RevRec that keeps your books clean, visit https://www.rightrev.com/CJ Rillet is an AI-native ERP built for modern finance teams that want to replace NetSuite and close faster. With revenue recognition, close management, multi-entity support, and native Stripe and Salesforce integrations, Rillet helps scaling companies run their finance stack in one place. Hundreds of teams, including Windsurf and Mercor, use Rillet to make the zero-day close real. Book a demo at https://www.rillet.com/cj — Mostly Talent: https://mostlymetrics.typeform.com/to/cLTxtAsN Guest: https://www.linkedin.com/in/david-bell-086820/ Company: https://www.ideafarmventures.com/ CJ: https://www.linkedin.com/in/cj-gustafson-13140948/ Mostly metrics: https://www.mostlymetrics.com — TIMESTAMPS: 0:00 Preview and intro 3:16 Edge: economics and psychology 5:21 Best ideas in boring gray space 5:41 Functional, emotional, and symbolic value 7:08 Grüns gummies and divisibility 9:02 Sponsors — EY | SpendHound | Brex 12:31 Ideation: personal pain vs. market analysis 13:17 Diapers.com and the Starbucks origin story 16:00 Warby Parker: asking why 16:33 LTV to CAC in D2C 18:02 Retention math: 85 to 90% can double LTV 19:00 Milkman and recurring vs. reoccurring 20:42 Trust economics 22:38 Warby stores boost online sales 22:58 Sponsors — Aleph | RightRev | Rillet 26:12 Away store as advertising 27:46 Warby discovery: dots on a map 30:10 Home try-on word of mouth value 32:09 D2C unit economics mistakes 34:55 Innovating on distribution 35:50 Touchland in Sephora: right channel, right signal 37:00 Capital allocation: margin and low CAC first 39:18 Sequencing: people, brand, then inventory 40:58 Product vs. brand: the 8x10 thought experiment 42:23 Consumer monetization shifts 45:45 The gravity framework 50:32 Isolation principle: most underused lever 52:36 Working backwards from exit at day zero 57:23 What if your business isn't venture scale? 59:32 Book plug: Founders Gold 1:00:25 Credits

    1hr 1min
  5. Inside Mostly Media: The Team Behind Run the Numbers

    7 MAY

    Inside Mostly Media: The Team Behind Run the Numbers

    CJ turns the mic on the people behind Mostly Media for a special behind-the-scenes episode of Run the Numbers. Michelle, Callie, Sarah, Matthew, Ben, and Steve share what it’s like building the company, scaling media, talent, sales, production, and operations, and dealing with CJ’s scooter lore, calendar quirks, and chaos along the way. — SPONSORS: Rillet is an AI-native ERP built for modern finance teams that want to replace NetSuite and close faster. With revenue recognition, close management, multi-entity support, and native Stripe and Salesforce integrations, Rillet helps scaling companies run their finance stack in one place. Hundreds of teams, including Windsurf and Mercor, use Rillet to make the zero-day close real. Book a demo at https://www.rillet.com/cj EY works with high-growth tech companies to navigate the messy realities of scaling—from regulatory requirements to IPO readiness. By helping teams get it right early and often, EY lets founders stay focused on building while reducing risk as they grow. Learn more at https://www.ey.com/techstartups SpendHound is a SaaS spend management platform built for finance and procurement teams that want visibility and leverage in every deal. By tracking all your software, benchmarking pricing across thousands of vendors, and surfacing contracts and renewals, SpendHound helps you stop overpaying and negotiate with confidence. Trusted by teams at ZoomInfo and Hootsuite. Get started at https://www.spendhound.com/cj Brex is an intelligent finance platform that combines corporate cards, built-in expense management, and AI agents to eliminate manual finance work. By automating expense reviews and reconciliations, Brex gives CFOs more time for the high-impact work that drives growth. Join 35,000+ companies like Anthropic, Coinbase, and DoorDash at https://www.brex.com/metrics Aleph is a modern FP&A platform built for teams that want more than another planning tool. By connecting your ERP, CRM, and other systems into one trusted data layer with AI workflows, Aleph helps you move faster with real-time insights. Get a personalized demo at https://www.getaleph.com/run RightRev is an automated revenue recognition platform built for teams that have outgrown spreadsheets and billing tool workarounds. It handles high-volume subscriptions, usage-based contracts, and mid-cycle upgrades, so you can scale without scrambling at month-end. For RevRec that keeps your books clean, visit https://www.rightrev.com/CJ — LINKS:  Mostly Talent: https://mostlymetrics.typeform.com/to/cLTxtAsN CJ: https://www.linkedin.com/in/cj-gustafson-13140948/ Mostly metrics: https://www.mostlymetrics.com — TIMESTAMPS: 0:00 Preview and intro 2:44 Show intro: meet the Mostly Media team 3:37 Michelle Finn: accounting and ops 4:28 Parts Tech days: CJ's first CFO role 7:21 How the newsletter convinced Michelle to join 9:02 Sponsors — Rillet | EY | SpendHound 12:11 Callie Spillane: talent director 13:17 Callie's background: HubSpot, Sneak, Superhuman 13:40 Why Callie was hard to hire 15:37 Snyk hypergrowth: 150 to 1,500 people 16:59 Zero to one vs. one to ten 18:20 9 of 20 roles filled: how it's going 23:24 Sponsors — Brex | Aleph | RightRev 26:58 Sarah Bousquet: media op 27:45 Stay at home mom to ops lead 33:48 CJ's schedule: American Psycho 34:43 Matthew Mozzocchi: sales and partnerships 35:41 Going full time with a newborn 36:20 Product market fit signal 38:07 Fewer, bigger bets on creators 41:00 Podcast is the air game, newsletter is the ground game 43:56 Ben Hillman and Steve Cerasoli: production 47:46 Media in service of a product vs. the product itself 48:37 Run the Numbers vs. Mostly Growth 51:25 Where are we in three years? 52:40 Credits #RunTheNumbersPodcast #CreatorEconomy #MediaBusiness #Entrepreneurship #ContentBusiness

    53 min
  6. Diamonds, De Beers, and the Death of Artificial Scarcity | A CFO Explains Diamonds

    4 MAY

    Diamonds, De Beers, and the Death of Artificial Scarcity | A CFO Explains Diamonds

    In this episode of Run the Numbers, CJ Gustafson breaks down the diamond industry as a business model: how De Beers controlled supply, engineered demand, and built one of the most powerful pricing machines in history. From the Central Selling Organization to “A Diamond Is Forever” to the rise of lab-grown diamonds, this episode unpacks monopolies, scarcity, pricing power, and what happens when technology forces transparency. — SPONSORS: RightRev is an automated revenue recognition platform built for teams that have outgrown spreadsheets and billing tool workarounds. It handles high-volume subscriptions, usage-based contracts, and mid-cycle upgrades, so you can scale without scrambling at month-end. For RevRec that keeps your books clean, visit https://www.rightrev.com/CJ Rillet is an AI-native ERP built for modern finance teams that want to replace NetSuite and close faster. With revenue recognition, close management, multi-entity support, and native Stripe and Salesforce integrations, Rillet helps scaling companies run their finance stack in one place. Hundreds of teams, including Windsurf and Mercor, use Rillet to make the zero-day close real. Book a demo at https://www.rillet.com/cj EY works with high-growth tech companies to navigate the messy realities of scaling—from regulatory requirements to IPO readiness. By helping teams get it right early and often, EY lets founders stay focused on building while reducing risk as they grow. Learn more at https://www.ey.com/techstartups SpendHound is a SaaS spend management platform built for finance and procurement teams that want visibility and leverage in every deal. By tracking all your software, benchmarking pricing across thousands of vendors, and surfacing contracts and renewals, SpendHound helps you stop overpaying and negotiate with confidence. Trusted by teams at ZoomInfo and Hootsuite. Get started at https://www.spendhound.com/cj Brex is an intelligent finance platform that combines corporate cards, built-in expense management, and AI agents to eliminate manual finance work. By automating expense reviews and reconciliations, Brex gives CFOs more time for the high-impact work that drives growth. Join 35,000+ companies like Anthropic, Coinbase, and DoorDash at https://www.brex.com/metrics Aleph is a modern FP&A platform built for teams that want more than another planning tool. By connecting your ERP, CRM, and other systems into one trusted data layer with AI workflows, Aleph helps you move faster with real-time insights. Get a personalized demo at https://www.getaleph.com/run — LINKS:  Mostly Talent: https://mostlymetrics.typeform.com/to/cLTxtAsN CJ: https://www.linkedin.com/in/cj-gustafson-13140948/ Mostly metrics: https://www.mostlymetrics.com — RELATED EPISODES: Why Uber Drivers Can’t Escape the 30% Cut https://youtu.be/LpbH9GpBrSY — TIMESTAMPS: All verified. Here are the timestamps: 0:00 Blood Diamond 1:55 Show intro 2:15 Diamond history: ancient India and riverbed origins 3:56 Brazil supply shock and the mining era 4:39 De Beers: Cecil Rhodes and the PE rollup 6:47 Sponsors — RightRev | Rillet | EY 9:49 The Central Selling Organization (CSO) 10:39 The site system: invite-only, take-it-or-leave-it auctions 12:22 Diamonds are more abundant than gold 13:01 NW Ayer, Bernays, and engineering demand 14:17 "A Diamond is Forever" campaign 15:13 Lab grown diamonds: 20% of US purchases 16:32 De Beers collapses: $3.1B operating loss 17:18 Sponsors — SpendHound | Brex | Aleph 21:07 Lesson 1: Rollups are powered by capital 21:39 Lesson 2: Distribution beats mining 22:11 Lesson 3: Artificial scarcity unravels 22:55 Lesson 4: Price opacity is a temporary moat 23:39 Lesson 5: Demand engineering 24:30 Lesson 6: The real product was risk smoothing 26:30 Credits #RunTheNumbersPodcast #BusinessStrategy #FinanceHistory #Pricing #Monopoly

    27 min
  7. The North Face Former CFO: How Finance Builds Iconic Brands

    27 APR

    The North Face Former CFO: How Finance Builds Iconic Brands

    In this episode of Run the Numbers, CJ Gustafson sits down with Angela Chen, former CFO of The North Face and Mars Veterinary Health, to unpack how finance leaders build and scale iconic consumer brands. Angela shares how to measure brand equity, why the CFO should act as an architect of growth, and how capital, talent, and strategy connect inside a scaling business. They also get into humanistic leadership, consumer-margin tradeoffs, and what a 39-cent Taco Bell taco can teach finance teams about growth. — SPONSORS: Aleph is a modern FP&A platform built for teams that want more than another planning tool. By connecting your ERP, CRM, and other systems into one trusted data layer with AI workflows, Aleph helps you move faster with real-time insights. Get a personalized demo at https://www.getaleph.com/run RightRev is an automated revenue recognition platform built for teams that have outgrown spreadsheets and billing tool workarounds. It handles high-volume subscriptions, usage-based contracts, and mid-cycle upgrades, so you can scale without scrambling at month-end. For RevRec that keeps your books clean, visit https://www.rightrev.com/CJ Rillet is an AI-native ERP built for modern finance teams that want to close faster without fighting legacy systems. Designed to support complex revenue recognition, multi-entity operations, and real-time reporting, Rillet helps teams achieve a true zero-day close—with some customers closing in hours, not days. If you’re scaling on an ERP that wasn’t built in the 90s, book a demo at https://www.rillet.com/cj EY works with high-growth tech companies to navigate the messy realities of scaling—from regulatory requirements to IPO readiness. By helping teams get it right early and often, EY lets founders stay focused on building while reducing risk as they grow. Learn more at https://www.ey.com/techstartups SpendHound is a SaaS spend management platform built for finance and procurement teams that want visibility and leverage in every deal. By tracking all your software, benchmarking pricing across thousands of vendors, and surfacing contracts and renewals, SpendHound helps you stop overpaying and negotiate with confidence. Trusted by teams at ZoomInfo and Hootsuite. Get started at https://www.spendhound.com/cj Brex is an intelligent finance platform that combines corporate cards, built-in expense management, and AI agents to eliminate manual finance work. By automating expense reviews and reconciliations, Brex gives CFOs more time for the high-impact work that drives growth. Join 35,000+ companies like Anthropic, Coinbase, and DoorDash at https://www.brex.com/metrics — LINKS:  Mostly Talent: https://mostlymetrics.typeform.com/to/cLTxtAsN Guest: https://www.linkedin.com/in/angelachensf/ Company: https://sku.is/ CJ: https://www.linkedin.com/in/cj-gustafson-13140948/ Mostly metrics: https://www.mostlymetrics.com — RELATED EPISODES: Minted’s CFO: Half the Year Happens in One Month https://youtu.be/hD4-exunKMo — TIMESTAMPS: 0:00 Preview and intro 2:45 Measuring brand equity 5:09 CFO as architect of growth 7:11 Connecting money, ideas, and talent 7:52 North Face vs. Mars: where to invest 10:52 Sponsors — Aleph | RightRev | Rillet 14:14 Scaling North Face 5x without diluting the brand 16:31 From technical brand to lifestyle brand 19:30 Quality of revenue 21:49 Seasonality and Q4 concentration 24:01 Sponsors — EY | SpendHound | Brex 27:14 Retailers shouldn't own factories 31:30 Supply chain and 18-month product cycles 33:23 Humanistic leadership in finance 34:32 Purpose and profit are mutually reinforcing 36:15 Purpose vs. profit in public companies 38:05 Playing to Win framework 39:47 Operational cadence and the gas gauge 43:02 Killing bad projects: the battery jacket story 44:16 Taco Bell and 39-cent margins 47:10 Lightning round 47:36 Screwed up: hiring on credentials 48:27 Advice to younger self: network is the work 50:07 Craziest expense story: snowcat ski trip 50:50 Credits

    51 min
  8. How Great Deals Are Found, Evaluated, and Won | PSG’s Chris Nesbitt

    23 APR

    How Great Deals Are Found, Evaluated, and Won | PSG’s Chris Nesbitt

    In this episode of Run the Numbers, CJ sits down with PSG Managing Director Chris Nesbitt to unpack how great deals are actually found, how investment decisions are really made, and why narrative often matters more than most investors admit. They also dig into forecasting, boardroom authenticity, simple vs. complex models, and the roles of market, product, and leadership in driving outcomes. — SPONSORS: Brex is an intelligent finance platform that combines corporate cards, built-in expense management, and AI agents to eliminate manual finance work. By automating expense reviews and reconciliations, Brex gives CFOs more time for the high-impact work that drives growth. Join 35,000+ companies like Anthropic, Coinbase, and DoorDash at https://www.brex.com/metrics Aleph is a modern FP&A platform built for teams that want more than another planning tool. By connecting your ERP, CRM, and other systems into one trusted data layer with AI workflows, Aleph helps you move faster with real-time insights. Get a personalized demo at https://www.getaleph.com/run RightRev is an automated revenue recognition platform built for teams that have outgrown spreadsheets and billing tool workarounds. It handles high-volume subscriptions, usage-based contracts, and mid-cycle upgrades, so you can scale without scrambling at month-end. For RevRec that keeps your books clean, visit https://www.rightrev.com/CJ Rillet is an AI-native ERP built for modern finance teams that want to close faster without fighting legacy systems. Designed to support complex revenue recognition, multi-entity operations, and real-time reporting, Rillet helps teams achieve a true zero-day close—with some customers closing in hours, not days. If you’re scaling on an ERP that wasn’t built in the 90s, book a demo at https://www.rillet.com/cj EY works with high-growth tech companies to navigate the messy realities of scaling—from regulatory requirements to IPO readiness. By helping teams get it right early and often, EY lets founders stay focused on building while reducing risk as they grow. Learn more at https://www.ey.com/techstartupsSpendHound is a SaaS spend management platform built for finance and procurement teams that want visibility and leverage in every deal. By tracking all your software, benchmarking pricing across thousands of vendors, and surfacing contracts and renewals, SpendHound helps you stop overpaying and negotiate with confidence. Trusted by teams at ZoomInfo and Hootsuite. Get started at https://www.spendhound.com/cj — LINKS:  Mostly Talent: https://mostlymetrics.typeform.com/to/cLTxtAsN Guest: https://www.linkedin.com/in/christophersnesbitt/ Company: https://psgequity.com/ CJ: https://www.linkedin.com/in/cj-gustafson-13140948/ Mostly metrics: https://www.mostlymetrics.com — TIMESTAMPS: 0:00 Preview and intro 2:44 PSG origin story 4:01 Growth to 30B AUM 5:07 Strategy: small software at scale 5:50 Vertical SaaS treasure hunting 8:10 Ministry Brands: software meets payments 9:28 Sponsors — Brex | Aleph | RightRev 12:46 Early M&A work and rollup strategy 15:52 Sourcing is more competitive now 18:28 Smoke signals and relationship sourcing 21:22 Does brand get you in the room? 22:15 Authenticity as a sourcing edge 22:52 Sponsors — Rillet | EY | SpendHound 26:09 Brand name of investor or deal partner? 27:44 Investors are narrative driven animals 29:18 Market, product, then execution 31:26 Danger of falling in love with the narrative 33:40 Operator AI pivot story: GRC company 34:51 Keep it simple: one tab, five key inputs 39:21 Forecasting confidence beyond 12-18 months 41:51 What makes a useful board meeting 45:01 Build vs. buy: the payments decision 47:45 ARR vs. EBITDA multiples 50:30 Lightning round 50:34 Board materials: send 3 days in advance 51:03 LTV to CAC and cap software debates 51:32 First deal at PSG 52:35 What young investors get wrong 54:04 Credits

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About

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.

Information

  • Creator
    CJ Gustafson
  • Years Active
    2024 - 2026
  • Episodes
    289
  • Rating
    Explicit
  • Copyright
    © CJ Gustafson
  • Show Website
    Run the Numbers

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