The Growth-Minded CFO

Here's the version for Spotify and Apple Podcasts:
An S-1 is written for investors. But for CFOs at any stage, it can be one of the best playbooks available for learning what good looks like.
In this episode of The Growth-Minded CFO, Alex Louisy and Lauren Pearl sit down with CJ Gustafson, former tech CFO and the writer behind Mostly Metrics, to unpack what finance leaders can learn from companies going public, long before an IPO is on the table.
CJ shares how writing about new SaaS metrics grew into a newsletter with 75,000 subscribers and led to his first CFO role, and why he reads IPO filings as an operator, looking for the metrics and narrative that define what good looks like at scale.
Because according to CJ, the earlier stage CFOs he talks to have better stories, while the later stage CFOs are better storytellers.
The conversation also gets into why this is the most capital intensive IPO era on record, why so many companies are staying private longer, why selling a company is far harder than raising money, and why a CFO at scale should be able to tell the whole company's story.
They also discuss how AI is becoming the loudest new line item on the P&L, how CFOs should budget for token costs by department and role, and why every finance leader benefits from having a point of view.
If you are a CFO, finance leader, or founder who wants to think beyond your current stage, this episode is a great place to start.
Also watch this episode on YouTube: https://youtu.be/Qvxz3K4hR38
For the full episode summary and key takeaways, visit: https://www.growthmindedcfo.com/podcast/cj-gustafson
Read CJ's newsletter, Mostly Metrics: https://www.mostlymetrics.com/
Listen to CJ's podcast, Run the Numbers: https://www.mostlymetrics.com/run-the-numbers-podcast
Subscribe for more conversations with growth-minded finance leaders shaping the future of the CFO role.
The Growth-Minded CFO podcast challenges the status quo and explores how the best CFOs approach their work and lives. Hosts Lauren Pearl (Fractional CFO, 3-time Founder, and Startup Finance Instructor at NYU) and Alex Louisy (FinTech CEO and Y Combinator graduate) speak with inspiring finance and business leaders about what it takes to support high-performing organizations.
📮 Got a question or want to get in touch? Reach us at hello@growthmindedcfo.com
Interested in joining us on the show? Or know someone we should interview? Apply here: https://growthmindedcfo.com/contact

For three seasons, Alex Louisy has sat on one side of the mic, asking CFOs about the decisions that shaped their careers. In this episode, he switches seats.
Lauren Pearl interviews her own co-host about the company behind The Growth-Minded CFO, and why Upflow spent nearly a decade walking away from the category it set out to build.
In this episode, Alex shares the origin story that started with a failed financing thesis, and led him to a much bigger problem: getting paid is still slow, manual, and completely disconnected from everything else a company does well for its customers.
Because according to Alex, the moment a business sends an invoice is often the worst part of the customer relationship, even when every other touch point has been carefully designed.
The conversation also gets into why "AR Automation" was never the right name for what Upflow built, how a customer's offhand comment reframed the whole category into Financial Relationship Management, and why bringing B2C-grade payment experiences into B2B was never optional.
They also discuss what AI actually changes in collections, why trust matters more than automation, and what it will take for FRM to become as obvious a category as CRM or expense management.
If you are a CFO, finance leader, or founder trying to understand why getting paid deserves the same rigor as getting the sale, this episode is a great place to start.
Subscribe for more conversations with growth-minded finance leaders.
📮 Got a question or want to get in touch? Reach us at hello@growthmindedcfo.com
Interested in joining us on the show? Or know someone we should interview? Apply here: https://growthmindedcfo.com/contact

Most CFOs can see the final sales numbers. Far fewer have a clear view of what is happening inside the pipeline before those numbers land.
As CFO of Sigma Computing, Christina Liu works closely with sales to create greater visibility, accountability and confidence around commercial decisions. By bringing CRM data, customer conversations, product usage and other signals together, her team has moved away from repetitive quarter-end deal calls toward a real-time view of the pipeline.
In this episode, Christina joins Alex and Lauren to explain how curiosity helped her move from accounting into her first CFO role - and brought her closer to customers, contracts and the sales process.
She shares why transparency creates a common language between finance and sales, why finance should focus less on saying no and more on helping the business find a responsible yes, and how real-time data allows teams to act before a deal becomes a quarter-end emergency.
We also explore how AI can help finance teams understand fragmented and unstructured sales data. Christina explains where AI is useful for answering what happened, while understanding why it happened (and deciding what to do next) still requires human judgment.
Plus, she discusses balancing speed with structure in a high-growth company, hiring for curiosity and ownership, developing people alongside the business and the role mentors played in her own career.
Chapters:
03:05 Taking a risk on yourself
04:00 Letting curiosity lead your career
05:18 How contract reviews brought Christina closer to sales
06:48 Creating a common language between finance and sales
07:46 Replacing quarter-end deal calls with real-time data
09:00 Bringing fragmented sales data into one place
10:00 Using AI to understand customer sentiment and deal progression
11:10 Why finance should not default to “no”
12:50 What AI can - and cannot - answer
14:08 Why “now what?” remains a human decision
16:50 Balancing speed and structure during rapid growth
19:32 How AI is empowering finance leaders to build their own tools
22:12 Hiring for curiosity and ownership
23:02 Growing people alongside the company
24:54 The role model who made leadership feel possible
26:10 Why you should reach out to people you admire
27:08 Building a network as an introvert

Subscribe to The Growth-Minded CFO for more candid conversations with the finance leaders shaping the next generation of high-growth companies.
The Growth-Minded CFO podcast challenges the status quo and explores how the best CFOs approach their work and lives. Hosts Lauren Pearl - Fractional CFO, three-time founder and Startup Finance Instructor at NYU - and Alex Louisy - FinTech CEO and Y Combinator graduate - speak with inspiring finance and business leaders about what it takes to support high-performing organizations.
For the full episode summary and key takeaways, visit: https://growthmindedcfo.com/podcast/christina-liu
📬 Got a question or want to get in touch? Reach us at hello@growthmindedcfo.com
Interested in joining us on the show? Or know someone we should interview? Apply here: https://growthmindedcfo.com/contact

Martino Cadoni has had a front-row seat to some extraordinary moments throughout his career so far.
At GE Capital, he was selected to help transform a business with more than $100 billion in assets, working across M&A, strategic sales and IPOs. At Klarna, he was involved in fundraising, IPO readiness and major transactions. Today, he is CFO of DeepL.
So, what has that journey taught him about building companies that actually last?
In this episode, Martino joins Alex and Lauren to unpack why starting a company is becoming easier, while sustaining success is getting harder. He shares what GE taught him about leadership, what Klarna taught him about disruption and scaling, and how those lessons influence the way he thinks about growth at DeepL.
We explore how companies make the shift from hypergrowth to discipline without losing their builder DNA, the questions that reveal whether a business is truly ready to IPO, and how CFOs should think differently about public markets, private equity and strategic buyers.
Martino also explains why predictability is essential in any major transaction, why CFOs need to help craft the company story from day one, and why the CFO of the future needs to think more like a CEO.
Plus, we discuss lifelong learning, Martino's experiences at Oxford, London Business School and MIT, and his simple approach to networking: give before you take.
Chapters:
04:47 Why staying successful is harder than starting
08:46 The people great companies hire
12:26 Bringing discipline into a scale-up
15:08 Working backwards from success at Klarna
18:04 Inside GE Capital's $100B+ transformation
21:46 IPO, acquisition or staying private?
25:33 Is your company really ready to IPO?
27:01 Simplifying Klarna's equity story
30:32 The importance of financial predictability
32:28 Why CFOs need to become storytellers
38:18 Investing in lifelong learning
40:02 Why we underuse our networks
44:44 Learning AI to become a better business partner

Subscribe to The Growth-Minded CFO for more candid conversations with the finance leaders shaping the next generation of high-growth companies.
The Growth-Minded CFO podcast challenges the status quo and explores how the best CFOs approach their work and lives. Hosts Lauren Pearl (Fractional CFO, 3-time Founder, and Startup Finance Instructor at NYU) and Alex Louisy (FinTech CEO and Y Combinator graduate) speak with inspiring finance and business leaders about what it takes to support high-performing organizations.
For the full episode summary and key takeaways, visit: https://growthmindedcfo.com/podcast/martino-cadoni
📬 Got a question or want to get in touch? Reach us at hello@growthmindedcfo.com
Interested in joining us on the show? Or know someone who we should interview? Apply here: https://growthmindedcfo.com/contact

What does it take to be a truly great CFO today?
It’s not just about balancing the books—it’s about driving strategy, managing risks, and telling the financial story in a way that inspires confidence.
In this re-released episode, first published in March 2025, Carla Cooper, CFO of Contentful, shares her journey from Wall Street equity analyst to CFO, discussing her role in scaling Contentful, navigating IPOs and acquisitions, and offering valuable tips on transitioning into a CFO position.
She emphasizes the importance of networking, continual learning, and telling a compelling financial story.
Carla also provides practical advice for finance professionals contemplating job changes and reflects on the evolving responsibilities of a CFO.
Connect with Carla on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/carla-newmeyer-cooper-843a591/
Connect with Alex on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/alexlouisy/
Connect with Lauren on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/laurenepearl/
The Growth-Minded CFO podcast aims to challenge the status-quo and explore how the best CFOs approach their work and lives. Hosts Lauren Pearl (Fractional CFO, 3-time Founder and Startup Finance Instructor at NYU) and Alex Louisy (FinTech CEO and Y Combinator graduate) speak with inspiring finance and business leaders who’ll share what great CFOs are doing to support high-performing organizations.
Find all our episodes, in both video and audio format with written summaries, on our news website: https://growthmindedcfo.com/