In this episode, Akshay Sarma, CFO of axio, discusses his path from Deutsche Bank to helping build a consumer finance company in India. Akshay began his career across trading, structuring, fixed income, and asset backed financing. After several years inside a large financial institution, he became interested in whether he could take an idea from a whiteboard and turn it into a real business. That question led him into the startup ecosystem and eventually to Capital Float, now axio, where he has spent more than a decade navigating economic cycles, a major business pivot, and the challenges of running a lending business. From Deutsche Bank to a Startup Akshay describes the adjustment from working inside a large institution with established systems to joining a smaller company where processes and tools had to be built from the ground up. Without the support of a major brand, the team had to sell its ideas, establish credibility, design processes, and improve them as problems emerged. He explains that this environment forced him to become stronger at the basics and learn what it means to operate as the smaller player in the room. From Small Business Lending to Consumer Finance axio began as a lender to micro, small, and medium sized businesses in India. Its products included supply chain finance, unsecured business loans, and financing for merchants selling through ecommerce platforms. The company entered consumer lending in 2018 and operated both businesses until the disruption caused by COVID. In 2021, it decided to run down the small business loan book and focus on consumer finance. Akshay explains that the pivot required changes to the organization, processes, operating metrics, and business plan. CFO Lens on Short Tenure Lending Many of axio's consumer loans run for one, three, or six months, with an average duration of roughly two to three months. Because the loans pay down quickly, the company needs continued disbursements and repeat customer usage to maintain its assets under management. Akshay describes this as a treadmill model. The short duration also changes how credit performance should be evaluated. Losses may relate to loans originated throughout the year, while assets under management reflect only the smaller balance currently outstanding. Traditional portfolio ratios can therefore look misleading. Finance needs to identify the right measures and explain why short tenure lending should be evaluated differently from longer duration lending. Balancing Growth, Risk, and the P&L Repeat customers can create what Akshay calls lower risk AUM because the company has more information about their repayment behavior. This allows the business to balance established customers with newer customers, including people taking their first loan. The goal is to identify poor risks early while helping strong customers return, receive higher limits, and use the product again. Akshay emphasizes that finance must work closely with credit and product teams. Product decisions need to account for growth, risk, customer behavior, and unit economics. They also need to consider how accounting and tax rules affect the P&L. A product may look attractive from an operating perspective while producing a different reported financial outcome. Capital Allocation and Product Experiments Peter and Akshay discuss capital allocation across technology, people, and lending products. axio made an early decision to build its lending and loan origination systems internally. The company also invested in people before reaching its current scale. Akshay describes these as conscious choices that created near term P&L costs but gave the company greater flexibility. For new lending products, he favors staged experiments. The company can begin with a defined capital budget, wait through the repayment cycle, gather feedback, and then decide whether to increase the investment. The process may include feedback from credit, collections, customer support, and customers themselves. Guardrails and Stop Loss Decisions Akshay argues that teams should agree on success metrics, amber lights, red lines, and required actions before launching a product. This allows the company to act when performance changes rather than debating its response after money has already been disbursed. The appropriate decision also depends on the funding environment and the amount of capital available. A capital constrained company may need to stop losses more quickly, while a company with more equity may have additional time to adjust the product. Akshay notes that axio has both closed products early and continued iterating on products that initially struggled. Team members may disagree, but once a decision is made, they commit while continuing to monitor the agreed metrics. Keeping a Complex Business Simple Akshay offers two main lessons for CFOs entering complex, high growth businesses. The first is to stay close to the basics. Even a complicated business is made up of simpler components. Finance leaders should identify the core metrics that define success and continue watching them as the company grows. The second is to build a strong FP&A and scenario planning process. Akshay maintains multiple versions of the business plan to understand what happens when performance is above plan, below plan, or significantly worse than expected. These scenarios help finance understand where intervention may be needed and when an issue should be raised with operating leaders, founders, investors, or the board. Key Takeaways • Moving from a large institution to a startup requires learning to build processes and credibility from the ground up • A business model pivot may require changes to the organization, operating metrics, processes, and business plan • Short tenure lending needs different portfolio measures than longer duration lending • Repeat customers can provide a lower risk foundation for measured growth • Finance needs to connect growth, credit risk, unit economics, accounting, and the P&L • Early investments in technology and people can create flexibility as a company scales • New lending products should be tested through defined capital budgets and gradual increases • Success metrics, warning indicators, and stop loss actions should be agreed before launch • Core metrics and scenario planning can help CFOs manage a complex business Chapter Summary (01:34) Akshay Sarma shares his path from Hyderabad and Mumbai to Deutsche Bank, Cambridge, and the startup ecosystem (05:12) Akshay discusses the adjustment from a large financial institution to building processes inside a startup (08:05) Akshay explains how Capital Float moved from small business lending toward axio's consumer finance model (10:35) The discussion turns to the CFO implications of short tenure consumer lending (14:07) Akshay explains how repeat customers help balance portfolio growth and credit risk (16:04) Peter and Akshay discuss collaboration among finance, credit, and product, as well as the difference between unit economics and the P&L (19:35) Akshay outlines capital allocation decisions involving technology, people, and organizational scale (22:13) Akshay explains how axio uses defined budgets and gradual increases to test new lending products (23:54) The discussion turns to success metrics, warning indicators, red lines, and predetermined actions (27:04) Akshay discusses stop loss decisions, funding conditions, and when to close or continue adjusting a product (29:21) Akshay shares his advice for CFOs managing complex, high growth operating models (31:56) Akshay explains why FP&A and scenario planning are important tools for the CFO office (34:30) Akshay discusses the Mahabharata and Good to Great (35:42) Akshay reflects on destiny, mentorship, hard work, and the people who shaped his career Resources axio https://www.axio.co.in/ Stay Updated Please visit Brio360 for other episodes and resources on driving value creation https://brio360.com Follow Our Host Peter Ho https://linkedin.com/in/peterhocm Know a great guest for Value Drivers? Pitch founders, CEOs, CFOs, operators, or investors with standout capital allocation and scaling stories: media@brio360.com Please note that information provided in the podcast is for informational and educational purposes only and is not a recommendation to take any particular action, nor an offer or solicitation to buy or sell any securities or services presented. It is not investment advice. Brio360 does not provide legal or tax advice.
