The Growth-Minded CFO

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/

AI is no longer just an experiment. For many companies, it is quickly becoming an expectation.
But rolling it out across a business is a very different challenge from giving a few people access to a few tools.
So what does AI adoption actually look like when it is done at scale?
In this episode of The Growth-Minded CFO, Alex Louisy and Lauren Pearl sit down with Ryan Roccon, CFO at Zapier, to unpack how one of the world’s leading automation companies is approaching AI across the organisation.
Ryan shares why Zapier has taken a broad-access approach to AI tools, how they balance speed with control, and why CFOs need to avoid getting stuck in a purely cost-focused mindset.
Because according to Ryan, the risk of getting left behind is far greater than the risk of a few expensive experiments.
The conversation also gets into how Zapier measures AI usage, why telemetry matters, how to build guardrails without killing momentum, and why finance can be one of the best places to prove what AI can really do inside a company.
They also discuss Ryan’s own journey from controller to CFO, the importance of curiosity in finance leadership, and why the modern CFO has to play a much more active role in shaping company culture.
If you are a CFO, finance leader, founder, or operator thinking about how to move from AI experimentation to real adoption, this episode is a great place to start.
Check out this episode on YouTube.
Connect with Ryan Roccon: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ryanroccon/
Learn more about Zapier: https://zapier.com/
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 organisations.
For the full episode summary and key takeaways, visit: https://growthmindedcfo.com/podcast/ryan-roccon
Got a question or want to get in touch? Reach us at hello@growthmindedcfo.com

In this episode, hosts Lauren and Alex sit down with Chris Ortega, the CEO and founder of Fresh FP&A.
Chris shares his inspiring career journey, from his early passion for finance to roles at Ernst & Young and leadership positions in fast growing software and pharmaceutical companies.
He discusses the foundation and philosophy behind Fresh FP&A, highlighting its focus on being Financial Partners and Advisors - and why all internal finance teams should position themselves the same way!
The conversation delves into the necessity of thinking like a business person for success in finance leadership, and why a collaborative approach that builds strong business partnerships with other departments is key.
Chris also emphasizes the role of emotional intelligence, authenticity, and learning from failure as key components of effective leadership.
This episode is rich with personal anecdotes and professional insights, illustrating how CFOs can inspire and empower their organizations beyond traditional financial metrics.
We hope you enjoy the episode!00:00 Welcome and Guest Introduction00:22 Chris Ortega's Background and Career Journey02:12 The Role of CFOs and CEOs06:56 Transitioning to CEO and Fresh FP&A14:43 Building Collaborative Finance Teams18:41 The Consultative Approach in Finance19:38 The Power of Empathy in Finance20:55 The Concept of First Team22:11 Balancing IQ and EQ25:39 Embracing Failure as a CFO30:24 Inspiring Leadership and Authenticity33:45 Conclusion and Final Thoughts
Connect with Chris on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/freshcfo/
Connect with Alex on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/alexlouisy/
Connect with Lauren on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/laurenepearl/
Want to get in touch? Reach out to our producer at joseph.sweeney@upflow.io
Want to recommend a guest? Apply via our form: https://insights.upflow.io/apply-to-be-a-guest-on-the-growth-minded-cfo-podcast