Run the Numbers

CJ Gustafson

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. cjgustafson.substack.com

  1. Fire bad customers save great ones | Cassie Young

    1D AGO

    Fire bad customers save great ones | Cassie Young

    Cassie Young brings hard earned lessons from a career spanning CRO roles, customer success leadership, turnarounds, and now investing as a General Partner at Primary Venture Partners. She talks about building and rebuilding go to market teams, why sometimes you should fire customers on purpose, and how churn is a lagging indicator that hides deeper retention issues. Cassie shares strong views on overrated metrics like NPS, the incentives that actually drive behavior inside a business, and the myth of finding one perfect KPI. She also brings signature Cassie isms like sunlight is the best disinfectant and the reminder that leaders often get stuck working in the business instead of on it offering practical insights for anyone trying to keep their SaaS metrics from going sideways. — SPONSORS: Aleph automates 90% of manual, error-prone busywork, so you can focus on the strategic work you were hired to do. Minimize busywork and maximize impact with the power of a web app, the flexibility of spreadsheets, and the magic of AI. Get a personalised demo at https://www.getaleph.com/run Fidelity Private Shares is the all-in-one equity management platform that keeps your cap table clean, your data room organized, and your equity story clear—so you never risk losing a fundraising round over messy records. Schedule a demo at https://www.fidelityprivateshares.com and mention Mostly Metrics to get 20% off. Sage Intacct is the cloud financial management platform that replaces spreadsheets, eliminates manual work, and keeps your books audit-ready—so you can scale without slowing down. It combines accounting, ERP, and real-time reporting for retail, financial services, logistics, tech, professional services, and more. Sage Intacct delivers fast ROI, with payback in under six months and up to 250% return. Rated #1 in customer satisfaction for eight straight years. Visit Sage Intacct and take control of your growth: https://bit.ly/3Kn4YHt Mercury is business banking built for builders, giving founders and finance pros a financial stack that actually works together. From sending wires to tracking balances and approving payments, Mercury makes it simple to scale without friction. Join the 200,000+ entrepreneurs who trust Mercury and apply online in minutes at https://www.mercury.com RightRev automates the revenue recognition process from end to end, gives you real-time insights, and ensures ASC 606 / IFRS 15 compliance—all while closing books faster. For RevRec that auditors actually trust, visit https://www.rightrev.com and schedule a demo. Tipalti automates the entire payables process—from onboarding suppliers to executing global payouts—helping finance teams save time, eliminate costly errors, and scale confidently across 200+ countries and 120 currencies. More than 5,000 businesses already trust Tipalti to manage payments with built-in security and tax compliance. Visit https://www.tipalti.com/runthenumbers to learn more. — LINKS: Cassie on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/cassyoung/ Primary Venture Partners: https://www.primary.vc/ CJ on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/cj-gustafson-13140948/ Mostly metrics: https://www.mostlymetrics.com — RELATED EPISODES: Getting fired 4 times made me a founder | Sam Jacobs of Pavilion https://youtu.be/8X-JVOF-1A0 — TIMESTAMPS: 00:00:00 Preview and Intro 00:02:30 Sponsors Aleph | Fidelity Private Shares | Sage Intacct 00:05:21 Returning From Pavilion & GTM Summit Takeaways 00:06:49 What Makes a Great Executive 00:11:07 The Importance of True P&L Fluency 00:12:17 First Team Leadership vs Functional Loyalty 00:13:33 Reading the Macro Environment and Market Forces 00:14:29 Sponsors Mercury | RightRev | Tipalti 00:18:26 Applying First Team Leadership in Practice 00:22:24 Churn as a Lagging Indicator 00:24:23 Finding Real Leading Indicators of Renewal 00:25:30 Customer Value as the Only Path to Enterprise Value 00:26:52 Product Adoption Perception and Retention 00:29:16 Price to Value Ratio as a Predictor of Guaranteed Churn 00:30:37 The Ultimate Question What Gets Your Customer Promoted 00:32:33 How NPS Is Actually Calculated 00:34:56 Sailthru’s Minus 26 NPS and What It Signaled 00:37:31 Rebuilding Customer Trust Through Transparency 00:40:24 Why Net and Gross Retention Must Be Paired 00:42:51 Aligning the Executive Team Through a Unified Bonus Plan 00:45:18 Firing Customers When Misaligned Segments Drain the Org 00:49:35 Carrot vs Stick How to Motivate a Modern GTM Org 00:52:31 Why MBO Plans Fail CSMs 01:03:51 Why Time to Value Matters More Than Ever #RunTheNumbersPodcast #CustomerSuccess #ChurnPrevention #GoToMarket #VentureCapital This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit cjgustafson.substack.com

    1h 11m
  2. From Birding Apps to Billion-Dollar Bundles | Mostly Growth

    3D AGO

    From Birding Apps to Billion-Dollar Bundles | Mostly Growth

    Mostly Growth on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@MostlyGrowth Mostly Growth on Apple: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/mostly-growth/id1842238102 Mostly Growth on Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/3KDtaLaXx1obFp5PUhZ6V3 In this episode of Mostly Growth, CJ Gustafson and Kyle Poyar bounce between sharp SaaS insights and delightfully weird internet culture. They start with an unexpected dive into competitive bird-watching apps, then break down recent software mergers like Superhuman + Grammarly + Coda and what they signal about scaling, cross-sell strategy, and private equity mechanics. CJ and Kyle explore why PE portfolios are becoming powerful distribution channels for AI solutions, how niche data “signals” are outpacing generic ones in sales, and share hedge-fund-style tactics for uncovering proprietary business information. The conversation rounds out with “business blunders” — from Y-axis chart crimes to clickbait headlines — and a lively discussion on Spotify’s pricing power and how companies should (and absolutely should not) communicate price increases. — SPONSORS: Pulley is the cap table management platform built for CFOs and finance leaders who need reliable, audit-ready data and intuitive workflows, without the hidden fees or unreliable support. Switch in as little as 5 days and get 25% off your first year: https://pulley.com/mostlymetrics Metronome is real-time billing built for modern software companies. Metronome turns raw usage events into accurate invoices, gives customers bills they actually understand, and keeps finance, product, and engineering perfectly in sync. That’s why category-defining companies like OpenAI and Anthropic trust Metronome to power usage-based pricing and enterprise contracts at scale. Focus on your product — not your billing. Learn more and get started at https://www.metronome.com — LINKS: Mostly Metrics: https://www.mostlymetrics.com CJ on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/cj-gustafson-13140948/ Growth Unhinged: https://www.growthunhinged.com/ Kyle on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/kyle-poyar/ Slacker Stuff: https://www.slackerstuff.com/ Ben on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/slackerstuff/ — RELATED EPISODES: The Layer-Cake Playbook for Vertical SaaS Growth | with Roland Ligtenberg https://youtu.be/yPxWvhPISKo — TIMESTAMPS: 00:00:00 Preview and Intro 00:01:43 Sponsors – Pulley and Metronome 00:04:05 Birding, Big Year & AI Bird Apps 00:06:42 Software M&A Trends in SaaS 00:08:57 Superhuman–Grammarly–Coda Reverse Merger 00:10:34 How Larger Valuations Attract a New Investor Class 00:11:55 Streaming Wars & Platform Consolidation 00:13:20 Private Equity as a Distribution Channel for AI 00:14:48 How PE Firms Drive Multi-Company Expansion 00:15:56 AI for Efficiency: The PE CFO Playbook 00:17:44 When AI ROI Really Matters in PE 00:19:23 Signal-Based Selling: High-Intent Buyer Detection 00:21:15 Signal Fatigue & the Hunt for Better Data 00:22:50 Why Proprietary Signals Win 00:24:05 Creative (and Creepy) Data Tactics 00:26:09 Pinterest vs. Google: Aspirational vs. Actual Behavior 00:27:17 Blurring Work & Personal Signals in AI Tools 00:27:46 The Michael Jordan of Y-Axis Crimes 00:30:33 Notion Agents Billboard: “Let Them Cook” 00:32:31 Pricing in the Real World: Spotify 00:34:60 → 00:35:00 How to Communicate a Price Increase 00:35:40 Closing Credits #MostlyGrowthPodcast #PricingStrategy #AIGrowth #GoToMarket #PrivateEquity This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit cjgustafson.substack.com

    36 min
  3. $1B AI Finance: How CoreWeave’s CFO Built a Rocket Ship | Nitin Agrawal

    5D AGO

    $1B AI Finance: How CoreWeave’s CFO Built a Rocket Ship | Nitin Agrawal

    CoreWeave CFO Nitin Agrawal joins Run the Numbers to unpack the finance engine behind one of the fastest-growing AI infrastructure companies on the planet. CJ and Nitin dive into what it takes to build financial discipline in an environment where business models are being invented in real time, discussing the company’s 700% growth last year and massive first-quarter performance as a newly public company. They cover capex strategy, securitizing GPUs, managing billion-dollar revenue backlogs, and structuring incentives for hyperscale deals, all while keeping investors grounded and servers running at full tilt. If you want a front-row seat to finance in the AI arms race, this episode delivers. — SPONSORS: Tipalti automates the entire payables process—from onboarding suppliers to executing global payouts—helping finance teams save time, eliminate costly errors, and scale confidently across 200+ countries and 120 currencies. More than 5,000 businesses already trust Tipalti to manage payments with built-in security and tax compliance. Visit https://www.tipalti.com/runthenumbers to learn more. Aleph automates 90% of manual, error-prone busywork, so you can focus on the strategic work you were hired to do. Minimize busywork and maximize impact with the power of a web app, the flexibility of spreadsheets, and the magic of AI. Get a personalised demo at https://www.getaleph.com/run Fidelity Private Shares is the all-in-one equity management platform that keeps your cap table clean, your data room organized, and your equity story clear—so you never risk losing a fundraising round over messy records. Schedule a demo at https://www.fidelityprivateshares.com and mention Mostly Metrics to get 20% off. Sage Intacct is the cloud financial management platform that replaces spreadsheets, eliminates manual work, and keeps your books audit-ready—so you can scale without slowing down. It combines accounting, ERP, and real-time reporting for retail, financial services, logistics, tech, professional services, and more. Sage Intacct delivers fast ROI, with payback in under six months and up to 250% return. Rated #1 in customer satisfaction for eight straight years. Visit Sage Intacct and take control of your growth: https://bit.ly/3Kn4YHt Mercury is business banking built for builders, giving founders and finance pros a financial stack that actually works together. From sending wires to tracking balances and approving payments, Mercury makes it simple to scale without friction. Join the 200,000+ entrepreneurs who trust Mercury and apply online in minutes at https://www.mercury.com RightRev automates the revenue recognition process from end to end, gives you real-time insights, and ensures ASC 606 / IFRS 15 compliance—all while closing books faster. For RevRec that auditors actually trust, visit https://www.rightrev.com and schedule a demo. — LINKS: Nitin on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/nitin-agrawal-cloudcfo/ Company: https://www.coreweave.com/ CJ on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/cj-gustafson-13140948/ Mostly metrics: https://www.mostlymetrics.com — RELATED EPISODES: The Art and Science of a Day-One IPO Pop with OneStream Software CFO Bill Koefoed https://youtu.be/kYCn7XNkCBc From Facebook’s Hypergrowth to Daffy’s Disruption: A CFO’s Playbook for Saying Yes https://youtu.be/bRIZ6oNPGD0 — TIMESTAMPS: 00:00:00 Preview and Intro 00:02:54 Sponsors – Tipalti | Aleph | Fidelity Private Shares 00:06:12 Interview Begins: Scaling CoreWeave 00:06:52 CoreWeave’s Pivot From Crypto to AI 00:11:41 Why CoreWeave Is Uniquely Positioned to Lead AI Infrastructure 00:13:32 Hiring for Both Scrappiness and Scale 00:16:01 Post-IPO Whirlwind: Acquisitions, Debt Raises, and 10-Year Deals 00:16:43 Sponsors – Sage Intacct | Mercury | RightRev 00:20:13 Managing Investor Expectations With Radical Transparency 00:22:39 Doubling Active Power in Six Months 00:25:19 Risk-Balanced Capital Deployment: Power First, GPUs Second 00:27:12 Financing GPUs With Delayed-Draw Facilities 00:29:38 CoreWeave Rated Platinum for GPU Cluster Performance 00:32:25 Compute as the Bottleneck for AI Growth 00:33:47 Explaining Revenue Backlog Shape & Timing 00:35:06 The Strength of Reserved Instance Contracts 00:36:07 Giving Tight but Honest Guidance 00:40:26 How Mega-Deals Require C-Suite Participation 00:42:19 Tackling Revenue Concentration Through Diversification 00:44:05 Building an AI-Only Cloud, Not a General-Purpose Cloud 00:46:27 Capital Markets Muscle: Raising Billions at Speed 00:47:47 Accounting Complexity in a Business With No Precedent 00:49:33 Even the CFO Must Unlearn Old Cloud Assumptions 00:51:29 Scaling Public-Company Processes in 90-Day Cycles 00:54:42 The Couch Fire vs. House Fire Framework 00:57:17 Balancing Risk Mitigation With Opportunity Seeking 01:00:30 No Downtime for ERP Changes During Hypergrowth 01:02:33 Why the Team Stays Energized Despite the Chaos #RunTheNumbersPodcast #CFOInsights #Hypergrowth #AIInfrastructure #FinanceStrategy This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit cjgustafson.substack.com

    1h 4m
  4. Driving revenue without selling | Greg Henry of 1Password

    DEC 1

    Driving revenue without selling | Greg Henry of 1Password

    In this episode of Run the Numbers, CJ sits down with Greg Henry, CFO of 1Password and one of the most commercially minded finance leaders in tech, to break down why he left the public-company grind at Couchbase for a PLG-driven security business and what he’s relearning in the private sphere. Greg explains how forecasting changes when the product does the selling, how to think about comp and pricing in a usage-led world, and the early tells that a model is quietly over- or under-performing. He shares why CFOs should meet far more customers than they do, how finance can drive revenue without stepping on sales, and what it actually takes for a company to plan with clarity instead of reacting. Greg also recounts the near-derailing of the Couchbase IPO, reflects on the “back nine” of his career, and offers grounded advice for aspiring first-time CFOs. — SPONSORS: RightRev automates the revenue recognition process from end to end, gives you real-time insights, and ensures ASC 606 / IFRS 15 compliance—all while closing books faster. For RevRec that auditors actually trust, visit https://www.rightrev.com and schedule a demo. Tipalti automates the entire payables process—from onboarding suppliers to executing global payouts—helping finance teams save time, eliminate costly errors, and scale confidently across 200+ countries and 120 currencies. More than 5,000 businesses already trust Tipalti to manage payments with built-in security and tax compliance. Visit https://www.tipalti.com/runthenumbers to learn more. Aleph automates 90% of manual, error-prone busywork, so you can focus on the strategic work you were hired to do. Minimize busywork and maximize impact with the power of a web app, the flexibility of spreadsheets, and the magic of AI. Get a personalised demo at https://www.getaleph.com/run Fidelity Private Shares is the all-in-one equity management platform that keeps your cap table clean, your data room organized, and your equity story clear—so you never risk losing a fundraising round over messy records. Schedule a demo at https://www.fidelityprivateshares.com and mention Mostly Metrics to get 20% off. Metronome is real-time billing built for modern software companies. Metronome turns raw usage events into accurate invoices, gives customers bills they actually understand, and keeps finance, product, and engineering perfectly in sync. That’s why category-defining companies like OpenAI and Anthropic trust Metronome to power usage-based pricing and enterprise contracts at scale. Focus on your product — not your billing. Learn more and get started at https://www.metronome.com Mercury is business banking built for builders, giving founders and finance pros a financial stack that actually works together. From sending wires to tracking balances and approving payments, Mercury makes it simple to scale without friction. Join the 200,000+ entrepreneurs who trust Mercury and apply online in minutes at https://www.mercury.com — LINKS: Greg on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/greghenry23/ 1Password: https://1password.com/ CJ on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/cj-gustafson-13140948/ Mostly metrics: https://www.mostlymetrics.com — RELATED EPISODES: Behind the Earnings Calls: Couchbase CFO Greg Henry on Consumption Models & Analyst Relations https://youtu.be/o_pDfz5a-Hw — TIMESTAMPS: 00:00:00 Preview and Intro 00:02:57 Sponsors – RightRev | Tipalti | Aleph 00:07:03 Back in the Private Sphere: Why Greg Joined 1Password 00:07:49 Greg’s Four-Part Framework for a Great Role 00:10:12 Thinking About the “Back Nine” & Legacy 00:13:16 Transitioning to PLG & SLG at 1Password 00:15:12 Blending PLG Efficiency with Enterprise Sales 00:17:12 Sponsors – Fidelity Private Shares | Metronome | Mercury 00:20:03 B2C vs. B2B ARPU Contrast 00:22:41 Forecasting in PLG vs. Sales-Led Models 00:24:18 Building Toward Chunky Enterprise Upside 00:25:39 Comp Plans: Complexity, Pitfalls & the Alexander Group 00:27:35 Keep Comp Plans Simple & Focused on ARR 00:29:10 Why Mid-Year Comp Plan Changes Are Dangerous 00:31:04 Governance & Guardrails for SPIFFs 00:33:19 Using the CFO Network to Drive Revenue 00:34:52 Why CFOs Must Meet Customers Directly 00:36:19 Wallet Share & Being a Buyer AND a Seller 00:38:08 Why He Avoids 3-Year+ Commitments 00:40:20 How Much Discount Is a “Year” Worth? 00:42:31 Greg’s Structured Annual Planning Framework 00:43:50 3–5% Upside/Downside Menu 00:44:57 Comp Plans Must Go Out Early 00:47:23 January Compensation & System Cutover Challenges 00:48:31 Why Roadmap Alignment Must Kick Off Planning 00:50:21 Sustain / Differentiate / Durable Growth / World-Class Teams Framework 00:52:29 Couchbase IPO Almost Going Sideways 00:54:59 How to Actually Become a CFO 01:00:11 Legacy Greg Wants to Leave at 1Password #RunTheNumbersPodcast #CFOInsights #SaaSLeadership #PLGvsSLG #FinanceStrategy This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit cjgustafson.substack.com

    1h 2m
  5. Do vanity plates bring serious business? | Mostly Growth

    NOV 29

    Do vanity plates bring serious business? | Mostly Growth

    In this Thanksgiving-week Mostly Growth episode, CJ Gustafson and Kyle Poyar ditch the serious finance talk for a looser, drinks-in-hand conversation with Ben Hillman, bouncing between CJ’s nostalgic emo-punk concert adventure, the curse of vanity license plates, and the epidemic of “Y-axis crimes” in founder charts. They riff on Spotify Wrapped copycats, YouTube becoming living-room TV, kids’ YouTube empires, and the game theory behind The Traitors and the Monty Hall problem before shifting into real-world pricing: newsletter perk economics, the pitfalls of hourly consulting, and why value-based packaging always wins. The episode stays playful but still sneaks in sharp insights on growth, psychology, and how weird the business world can be when you actually pay attention. — SPONSORS: Pulley is the cap table management platform built for CFOs and finance leaders who need reliable, audit-ready data and intuitive workflows, without the hidden fees or unreliable support. Switch in as little as 5 days and get 25% off your first year: https://pulley.com/mostlymetrics Metronome is real-time billing built for modern software companies. Metronome turns raw usage events into accurate invoices, gives customers bills they actually understand, and keeps finance, product, and engineering perfectly in sync. That’s why category-defining companies like OpenAI and Anthropic trust Metronome to power usage-based pricing and enterprise contracts at scale. Focus on your product — not your billing. Learn more and get started at https://www.metronome.com — LINKS: Mostly Metrics: https://www.mostlymetrics.com CJ on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/cj-gustafson-13140948/ Growth Unhinged: https://www.growthunhinged.com/ Kyle on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/kyle-poyar/ Brian Balfour: brianbalfour.com Brian on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/bbalfour/ Slacker Stuff: https://www.slackerstuff.com/ Ben on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/slackerstuff/ https://x.com/parikpatelcfa/status/1992706757073023191?s=46 https://www.wired.com/story/null-license-plate-landed-one-hacker-ticket-hell/ https://x.com/im_roy_lee/status/1992692253257855261/photo/1 https://www.economist.com/finance-and-economics/2025/01/16/the-traitors-a-reality-tv-show-offers-a-useful-economics-lesson https://www.cdccard.com/ https://nyulangone.org/news/one-third-americans-are-trying-avoid-gluten-it-villain-we-think-it-is https://x.com/techsalesguy3/status/1991585201601016161?s=46 https://www.fletchpmm.com/ https://paintvine.co.nz/blogs/news/the-legend-of-picassos-napkin-sketch?srsltid=AfmBOooiyTYGfUdKJZLpblbQAcJzQLg011Os_xeyaCgSpEIXrtIuD6hH https://cityfeedandsupply.com/ https://www.linkedin.com/posts/cj-gustafson-13140948_started-from-the-email-now-were-here-activity-7397607230600126465-iVPv/ https://cooking.nytimes.com/recipes/1018731-buttermilk-brined-roast-chicken https://cooking.nytimes.com/recipes/1026610-porcini-ragu — RELATED EPISODES: Is a weekly martini ARR? | with Dave Kellogg https://youtu.be/Yb1lUQLJ6qw — TIMESTAMPS: 00:00:00 Special Message 00:00:35 Preview and Intro 00:01:41 Sponsors – Pulley & Metronome 00:04:01 Mostly Drinks Episode 00:05:14 Concert Stories & Pop-Punk Nostalgia 00:08:05 Concert Parenting & Full-Circle Moment 00:08:36 Business Blunders Begin 00:10:26 License Plate Fails & Accounting Humor 00:12:08 Y-Axis Crime Chart Review 00:14:21 Global Podcast “Success” & Listener Jokes 00:16:00 Spotify Wrapped: Retention vs. Acquisition 00:17:04 YouTube as the Future of Podcasts 00:17:56 Kids’ Shows, Blippi & Creator Economics 00:18:55 The Traitors Show Overview 00:20:30 Game Theory & Winning as a Traitor 00:22:46 Monty Hall Problem Setup 00:24:27 Game Show Logic & Gambler’s Fallacies 00:26:09 Pricing in the Real World 00:27:03 Community Discount Card Business Model 00:29:09 Newsletter Perks & Subscriber Value 00:30:34 Marketplace Discount Math 00:32:01 Negotiating Like a CFO 00:33:00 Gluten-Free Nights & Pricing Strategy 00:35:24 Outbound Pizza as a Go-to-Market Play 00:37:03 Outbound Pizza Tuesdays to Gluten-Free Tuesdays 00:37:37 Pricing Services: Value vs. Hourly 00:40:47 The Picasso Pricing Story 00:42:55 Harvard Business School Case Study & Kim K Photo 00:44:02 Thanksgiving Cooking: Roast Chicken & Porcini Ragu 00:44:56 Wrap & Credits #MostlyGrowthPodcast #SaaSOperators #BusinessStrategyPod #CreatorEconomyTalks #FinanceNerds This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit cjgustafson.substack.com

    45 min
  6. Chirag Shah on Scaling From $30M to $1B and Prepping Companies for IPOs | Mostly Classics

    NOV 27

    Chirag Shah on Scaling From $30M to $1B and Prepping Companies for IPOs | Mostly Classics

    How do you know when a company is ready to go public? And what do you do to prepare for this? Chirag Shah, CFO of Motive and former CFO of Kong and Cornerstone OnDemand, joins CJ to share insights from his experience of scaling businesses from $30 million to nearly $1 billion and tripling ARR. He talks about taking companies public and how he helped take one private again in a $5.2 billion deal. In this episode, he explains what signals indicate that a company is ready to accelerate its growth, the art and science of building sales capacity, and how to balance efficiency and growth in hypergrowth mode. He also covers how to achieve a great valuation without a strong performance, the biggest headache on the road to IPO, and whether you should IPO in the first place or remain private. — SPONSORS: Mercury is business banking built for builders, giving founders and finance pros a financial stack that actually works together. From sending wires to tracking balances and approving payments, Mercury makes it simple to scale without friction. Join the 200,000+ entrepreneurs who trust Mercury and apply online in minutes at https://www.mercury.com RightRev automates the revenue recognition process from end to end, gives you real-time insights, and ensures ASC 606 / IFRS 15 compliance—all while closing books faster. For RevRec that auditors actually trust, visit https://www.rightrev.com and schedule a demo. Tipalti automates the entire payables process—from onboarding suppliers to executing global payouts—helping finance teams save time, eliminate costly errors, and scale confidently across 200+ countries and 120 currencies. More than 5,000 businesses already trust Tipalti to manage payments with built-in security and tax compliance. Visit https://www.tipalti.com/runthenumbers to learn more. Aleph automates 90% of manual, error-prone busywork, so you can focus on the strategic work you were hired to do. Minimize busywork and maximize impact with the power of a web app, the flexibility of spreadsheets, and the magic of AI. Get a personalised demo at https://www.getaleph.com/run Fidelity Private Shares is the all-in-one equity management platform that keeps your cap table clean, your data room organized, and your equity story clear—so you never risk losing a fundraising round over messy records. Schedule a demo at https://www.fidelityprivateshares.com and mention Mostly Metrics to get 20% off. Metronome is real-time billing built for modern software companies. Metronome turns raw usage events into accurate invoices, gives customers bills they actually understand, and keeps finance, product, and engineering perfectly in sync. That’s why category-defining companies like OpenAI and Anthropic trust Metronome to power usage-based pricing and enterprise contracts at scale. Focus on your product — not your billing. Learn more and get started at https://www.metronome.com — Chirag Shah on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/chirag-shah-787b1b20/ Motive: https://gomotive.com/ CJ on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/cj-gustafson-13140948/ Mostly metrics: https://www.mostlymetrics.com — RELATED EPISODES: From $30M to Almost $1B: A Guide to Hypergrowth, IPO Prep, and Navigating the Public Markethttps://youtu.be/_pJfdN5p-ik — TIMESTAMPS: 00:00:00 Preview and Intro 00:02:57 Sponsors – Mercury | RightRev | Tipalti 00:06:49 Motiv CFO Intro & Company Background 00:07:01 Product Market Fit as a CFO 00:09:26 Lessons From Taking Companies Public 00:11:04 Preparing for Life as a Public Company 00:11:26 Moving From Finance Into a GM Role 00:12:50 Learning the Business Beyond Finance 00:14:23 Empathy for Sales & Carrying a Quota 00:15:51 Sponsors – Aleph | Fidelity Private Shares | Metronome 00:19:03 Asking Better Questions After Operating Experience 00:21:23 Knowing When to Accelerate Growth 00:23:16 High-ROI Capacity Signals 00:24:51 Scaling Requires Supporting Functions 00:26:19 The Art + Science of Adding Reps 00:27:53 Sales Team Buy-In Before Scaling 00:29:15 Reading Product-Market Fit Through Sales 00:30:08 Where Scaling Breaks First (Enablement) 00:31:36 Importance of SE / SC Ratios 00:33:13 Timing Supporting Hires 00:34:32 Maintaining Momentum While Scaling 00:36:33 Longest Pole in IPO Prep: Predictability 00:38:47 Building Confidence Through Consistency 00:40:45 Large Deals Swing Small Companies 00:42:41 Growth Still Drives Quarterly Volatility 00:44:43 Investor Education as a Core IPO Task 00:46:00 Harder to Make Big Changes Publicly 00:47:39 Managing Morale in Volatile Markets 00:48:33 Taking Cornerstone Private 00:52:32 Advice: Know Why You Want to Go Public 00:56:18 Efficiency Without Sacrificing Growth 01:00:58 Operating Roles Prepared Him for CFO 01:06:23 Finance Software Stack Overview #RunTheNumbersPodcast #Hypergrowth #IPOreadiness #CFOInsights #MostlyClassics This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit cjgustafson.substack.com

    1h 9m
  7. From SMB to Enterprise: The CFO Scaling Playbook With Andrew Casey | Mostly Classics

    NOV 24

    From SMB to Enterprise: The CFO Scaling Playbook With Andrew Casey | Mostly Classics

    Serving SMB mid-market customers is one thing, but when you go upstream to enterprise sales, everything changes: go-to-market strategy, the sales process, how you structure deals, even how you define customer value. Today’s guest, Andrew Casey, has helped scale four SaaS companies: ServiceNow, WalkMe, Lacework, and his current company, Amplitude. At ServiceNow, he worked closely with Snowflake’s Mike Scarpelli and Coatue’s David Schneider, and he was instrumental in establishing the company’s deal desk to support its sales motion. As an operationally focused CFO, he shares a wealth of knowledge on the importance of staying close to the customer, structuring deals that work for both sides, establishing transparency in usage-based pricing, aligning incentives and strategy in sales, the pros and cons of multi-year deals, the problem with auto-renewals and what to do instead, and how to adapt your go-to-market strategy when moving from SMB mid-market to enterprise. — SPONSORS: Metronome is real-time billing built for modern software companies. Metronome turns raw usage events into accurate invoices, gives customers bills they actually understand, and keeps finance, product, and engineering perfectly in sync. That’s why category-defining companies like OpenAI and Anthropic trust Metronome to power usage-based pricing and enterprise contracts at scale. Focus on your product — not your billing. Learn more and get started at https://www.metronome.com Mercury is business banking built for builders, giving founders and finance pros a financial stack that actually works together. From sending wires to tracking balances and approving payments, Mercury makes it simple to scale without friction. Join the 200,000+ entrepreneurs who trust Mercury and apply online in minutes at https://www.mercury.com RightRev automates the revenue recognition process from end to end, gives you real-time insights, and ensures ASC 606 / IFRS 15 compliance—all while closing books faster. For RevRec that auditors actually trust, visit https://www.rightrev.com and schedule a demo. Tipalti automates the entire payables process—from onboarding suppliers to executing global payouts—helping finance teams save time, eliminate costly errors, and scale confidently across 200+ countries and 120 currencies. More than 5,000 businesses already trust Tipalti to manage payments with built-in security and tax compliance. Visit https://www.tipalti.com/runthenumbers to learn more. Aleph automates 90% of manual, error-prone busywork, so you can focus on the strategic work you were hired to do. Minimize busywork and maximize impact with the power of a web app, the flexibility of spreadsheets, and the magic of AI. Get a personalised demo at https://www.getaleph.com/run Fidelity Private Shares is the all-in-one equity management platform that keeps your cap table clean, your data room organized, and your equity story clear—so you never risk losing a fundraising round over messy records. Schedule a demo at https://www.fidelityprivateshares.com and mention Mostly Metrics to get 20% off. — Andrew Casey on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/andrew-casey-6b14875/ Amplitude: https://amplitude.com CJ on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/cj-gustafson-13140948/ Mostly metrics: https://www.mostlymetrics.com — RELATED EPISODES: An Operationally-Focused CFO’s Guide to Scaling From SMB to Enterprise: Lessons From ServiceNow https://youtu.be/iUpMAQ14YpM — TIMESTAMPS: 00:00:00 Preview and Intro 00:03:27 Sponsors – Metronome, Mercury, RightRev 00:07:08 Andrew joins the podcast 00:08:10 Becoming an operational CFO 00:09:25 Early customer-empathy beginnings at Sun 00:11:34 How customer-empathy shaped Andrew’s career 00:14:08 Navigating HP’s troubled EDS contracts 00:16:05 Sponsors – Tipalti, Aleph, Fidelity Private Shares 00:19:37 Returning from ads – running toward hard markets 00:20:13 Scaling ServiceNow’s sales operations 00:23:27 Breaking into the trusted circle after the Q1 miss 00:25:26 Building and scaling the ServiceNow deal desk 00:28:11 Principles of transparent, value-aligned pricing 00:30:17 Rethinking metering models and usage alignment 00:33:01 Diagnosing budget constraints vs. cash timing 00:36:14 Incentives, comp plans, and high-trust selling 00:39:21 Training enterprise reps for long-term value 00:40:17 Multi-year deals and when they actually work 00:43:05 Overselling, discount levers, and ZIRP contract bloat 00:45:58 How enterprise scale transforms go-to-market 00:51:03 Pipeline coverage and maturity modeling 00:54:02 Not all pipeline dollars are created equal 00:57:05 Career-risk mindset in enterprise selling 01:00:02 Defining enterprise and moving upmarket 01:01:00 A business-first approach to the CFO role 01:03:10 Getting hired at ServiceNow 01:06:37 Building GTM finance, deal desk, and a 400-person org 01:08:00 Lightning round – biggest mistakes and IR lesson 01:11:10 Advice to his younger self and leading through change 01:13:34 Defining customers, ARR accuracy, and hierarchy pitfalls 01:15:12 The wildest expense attempt ever submitted #RunTheNumbersPodcast #SaaSFinance #EnterpriseSelling #GTMStrategy #CFOInsights This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit cjgustafson.substack.com

    1h 16m
  8. Running the Product-Market Fit Treadmill with Brian Balfour | Mostly Growth

    NOV 22

    Running the Product-Market Fit Treadmill with Brian Balfour | Mostly Growth

    Brian Balfour, Founder & CEO of Reforge and former VP of Growth at HubSpot, joins Mostly Growth to explore why product-market fit is a moving target. He introduces the concept of the Product-Market Fit Treadmill, a state where rising customer expectations and competitive pressure make it harder than ever to stay ahead. Brian breaks down how AI has accelerated PMF collapse, explains the hidden costs of product adoption, and shares how Reforge shipped five AI-native products with a team of just 20 people. Packed with frameworks, strategic insight, and startup realism, this episode is essential listening for product leaders, operators, and founders navigating the next wave of GTM. — SPONSORS: Pulley is the cap table management platform built for CFOs and finance leaders who need reliable, audit-ready data and intuitive workflows, without the hidden fees or unreliable support. Switch in as little as 5 days and get 25% off your first year: https://pulley.com/mostlymetrics Metronome is real-time billing built for modern software companies. Metronome turns raw usage events into accurate invoices, gives customers bills they actually understand, and keeps finance, product, and engineering perfectly in sync. That’s why category-defining companies like OpenAI and Anthropic trust Metronome to power usage-based pricing and enterprise contracts at scale. Focus on your product — not your billing. Learn more and get started at https://www.metronome.com — LINKS: Mostly Metrics: https://www.mostlymetrics.com CJ on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/cj-gustafson-13140948/ Growth Unhinged: https://www.growthunhinged.com/ Kyle on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/kyle-poyar/ Brian Balfour: brianbalfour.com Brian on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/bbalfour/ Slacker Stuff: https://www.slackerstuff.com/ Ben on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/slackerstuff/ https://brianbalfour.com/four-fits-growth-framework https://x.com/amasad/status/1981201454032703662?s=46 https://getlatka.com/companies/firefliesai https://x.com/rowancheung/status/1988218743952916537? https://gamma.app/insights/how-we-built-a-usd100m-business-differently — RELATED EPISODES: When the marketing math doesn’t math | with Emily Kramer https://youtu.be/sSuoV_YSrlw Why Founders Are Posting Sad Dinners https://youtu.be/Zl6NSIHF2Gk — TIMESTAMPS: 00:00:00 Preview and Intro 00:01:51 Sponsors – Pulley, Metronome 00:04:11 Introducing Brian Balfour & Reforge background 00:07:22 Evergreen frameworks & Four Fits resurgence 00:11:01 PMF treadmill and rising expectations 00:14:26 AI shocks and PMF collapse (Chegg) 00:16:43 CRM expectations & AI-native workflows 00:20:44 R&D as ongoing cost to serve 00:22:26 Customers buying based on future product velocity 00:24:32 Communicating rapid releases & driving adoption 00:25:17 Reforge’s expanding AI product suite 00:27:52 Product delivery vs. product adoption bottlenecks 00:29:32 Platform distribution shifts introduction 00:30:51 Evaluating emerging platforms 00:32:04 The open → close platform cycle 00:33:31 Moats, escape velocity & platform dominance 00:36:32 Choosing major vs. emerging platforms 00:40:22 ChatGPT dominance in AI discovery 00:42:16 Hiring, resumes & filtering AI-generated applications 00:43:30 AI note-taking market & “Flintstoning” 00:47:03 Trying Gamma & AI-generated presentation tools 00:50:08 AI onboarding innovations (WhatsApp agent) #MostlyGrowthPodcast #ProductMarketFit #BrianBalfour #StartupStrategy #Reforge This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit cjgustafson.substack.com

    53 min
5
out of 5
56 Ratings

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. cjgustafson.substack.com

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