Being Planful: Recent Episodes
Planful Inc.
Being Planful is the show for FP&A leaders, and planning experts. We will bring you discussions with thought leaders, planning experts from across industries, and folks just like you to discuss how you too can break free of the low-value work and become the strategic advisor you aspire to be.
On this episode, Kristian Marquez, CFO of FinStrat Management, dives into his career journey and the impactful role that the CFA designation has played, explaining how it can open doors, propel career growth, and provide a comprehensive understanding of portfolio management, accounting, and financial analysis. He also shares valuable insights into risk management, the evolving landscape of AI in data analysis, and other useful takeaways for both seasoned professionals and budding entrepreneurs. Plus, stick around to discover how you can score a FREE 30-minute consultation with one of FinStrat Management's fractional CFOs!
Dive into the world of business operations with Aneal Vallurupalli, CFO at Airbase. Aneal shares his career shift from investment banking to an operator role driven by problem-solving. Aneal emphasizes the pivotal role of data in strategic decision-making, highlighting the need for focused prioritization in growing businesses. Gain insights into the evolving CFO landscape, the importance of change management in data utilization, and how companies can navigate the journey of leveraging data consistently for impactful growth.
Live from Planful Perform23, our user conference that took place earlier this year in Chicago, podcast host Rowan Tonkin and Ian Charles, CFO of Filevine, sat down to discuss the roles within the office of the CFO and how they align towards common goals as well as the company's value system. Tune in and hear tips and tricks for how finance teams can build a collaborative culture.
On this episode, Rowan and Jonathan Blythe, Group CFO of Collingwood Lighting, explore the challenges and rewards of accelerated operations, growth-focused strategies, and data integrity in this insightful discussion. Tune in and hear how private equity reshapes traditional business models for greater agility and success.
On this episode, Rowan and Ben Murray, Founder of The SaaS CFO, explore the complexities of the SaaS industry and shed light on the importance of setting key metrics and benchmarks to ensure sustainable business growth and success. Discover how finance teams function as a driving force within a SaaS company and explore cutting-edge tools and innovations reshaping the Finance landscape and revolutionizing how SaaS companies operate.
On this episode, Rowan Tonkin sits down with Chris Argent of GENCFO to discuss the importance of leveraging communities for finance and accounting professionals. Tune in to learn how to utilize communities as a source of wisdom, the importance of actively engaging, participating and giving value to members, how to strike a balance between community size and effectiveness to ensure meaningful interactions and manageable conversations, and more.
On this episode, Anders Liu-Lindberg of Business Partnering Institute takes a deep dive on ESG (environmental, social, and governance) and its impact on the Office of the CFO and the business. Tune in to hear Anders' thoughts on why the Office of the CFO should be proactive about ESG efforts and look for opportunities to create value, how it can play a role in shaping a profitable business that also leaves a positive impact on the world, why ESG should be a business-wide initiative, and more.
Jeremy Foster, CFO at Talroo, describes the finance function as the “nervous system” of the business. He has a track record of joining companies during times of growth and change, and is tasked with helping them scale in a healthy, sustainable way. How? By developing a unique set of KPIs that function for the business and its product lines, delivering timely information that's relevant and useful for decision-making, and staying in constant communication in order to respond to changing market conditions. Like a nervous system, sending the right signals from the finance team to the right stakeholders keeps the company healthy and focused on strategies for success. Tune in to the full episode to learn more.
Take a deep dive into all things company culture with Erik Nakamura, CFO at Orange Comet. In this episode, Erik shares his thoughts on a CFO’s role in defining culture, how focusing on diversity, equity and inclusion leads to innovation, and why treating your people how THEY want to be treated will drive success across your organization.
In this episode, Rowan sits down with Ian Schnoor, President and Founder at The Marquee Group & Executive Director at the Financial Modeling Institute. Ian has been teaching financial modeling for over two decades, and he shares all the ins-and-outs, best practices, and tips for how finance can start leveling up their financial modeling. Tune in to hear Ian’s insight on communicating and storytelling through financial models, common faults in modeling and how to overcome them, how to start building dynamic, scalable models, and much more.
Pssst! Don't tell Rowan, but Chris and Glenn went rogue and recorded an episode onsite at Planful Perform in Vegas without him! We're talking a lot about collaboration, AI/ML, and performance at our user conference. Tune in to hear Chris and Glenn's thoughts on these topics.
On this episode, Rowan, Chris and Glenn talk all things Planful Perform, our user conference for finance and accounting taking place from May 23-25 in Las Vegas. The theme for this year’s event is “Better, Together.” Tune in to hear what it means to be better together, the value you’ll achieve by attending, which sessions Rowan, Chris and Glenn are most excited for, and much more. Like what you hear? It's not too late to save your seat for the most impactful user conference of the year at planful.com/perform.
What does it mean to be a “future ready finance” organization? Steve Player, Managing Director of Future Ready Finance, shares his thoughts on this episode of Being Planful. Tune in to hear how you can make the shift to becoming “future ready”, why doing so will bring value to your organization, how to gain agility and the ability to better course correct, and much more.
It's another FP&A Fridays, and this time around Rowan and Chris share valuable advice for finance, accounting and FP&A professionals who are considering or are in the process of making a career shift. Whether it's a role change, a new company, a different industry, or a transition into leadership, Rowan and Chris advise listeners to zero in on the "why" behind the desire for change, and to ensure that it aligns with their long term "whys", too.
Setting expectations is a crucial part of every job, but let’s talk about why it’s perhaps even more important in Finance. On this week’s episode of FP&A Fridays, Rowan, Chris and Glenn share their thoughts on setting expectations when starting a new role, leveling expectations with your partners in the business, overcoming misaligned expectations, and more.
On this episode of Being Planful, Rowan speaks with Michael Zambetti, Manager, Finance & Data Analytics at National DCP, LLC, about finding value in your whitespace. Tune in to hear how Michael wound up with a finance and data analytics title, his thoughts on getting in tune with your data, how to leverage automation to gain time for real value add, what it's like in a data analytics environment and how to acquire a data analytics skillset, and much more.
"Every day is a school day". On this episode of FP&A Fridays, Rowan and Glenn share tips and tricks for staying up-to-date with all of the latest finance and accounting trends. Tune in to hear their insights on where you can look to pull inspiration and find new learnings, how to engage with your community to help you remain current, and the importance of always staying curious.
On this episode of "FP&A Fridays", Rowan, Chris and Glenn take a deep dive into measuring the Office of the CFO. Find out the how they measure the value of finance and accounting, the importance of accuracy in your planning and forecasting, how to seek and apply feedback from your partners in the business, and tips for alleviating friction with other teams.
LIVE from Planful Perform 2021, our virtual event for finance and accounting! Rowan, Chris and Glenn answer questions from our virtual attendees in a free-form Q&A format. Tune in to on the Being Planful podcast to hear their thoughts on how business partners can improve the FP&A function in their work, how to create growth opportunities in FP&A within a small company, and their personal stories of failures and learnings.
Finance and accounting are better together. On this round of “FP&A Fridays”, Rowan, Chris and Glenn talk about connecting the office of the CFO through these two houses. Tune in to find out how doing this adds value and creates harmony in the business, what a high performance accounting team looks like, how to get finance and accounting speaking the same language, and much more.
There’s no denying that the pandemic opened the door to a new level of empathy in business. Tune into this conversation with Zoe Cooke, Finance Director at Journey Further (formerly Commercial Finance Director at MiQ), and hear how she and her team made mental well-being a priority, learn her tips for handling burnout, and advice for maintaining mental health as a manager. Zoe also shares how FP&A can improve soft skills, and some insight into the worlds of advertising and e-commerce.
Interested in taking a deep dive into the ins-and-outs of blockchain? Curious how crypto gets its value? Prepare to have all of your questions answered by Daniel Eyre, Head of BITRIA (formerly CEO of Blockchange). Tune in to find out the benefits of investing in cryptocurrency, the impact that holding a lot of bitcoin has on organizations, why Finance and Accounting should be thinking about the future of blockchain, and a whole lot more.
Part 2 of how to manage high performers in FP&A. This time, Rowan, Chris and Glenn share how to manage “go-getters”, delegating vs abdicating, setting “goalposts” so that high performers can score, and how to cope when a high performer on your team moves on.
Take a deep dive with Rowan, Chris and Glenn on another FP&A Friday to uncover how to identify and nurture an "FP&A Superstar", as well as how to manage and motivate all levels of a team. Find out how becoming a leader that connects people to the mission of the business will help high performers shine brighter, and help you know when it's time to let those who aren't behind the purpose of the company move on.
How can FP&A make a big splash with special projects? What benefits and risks are associated, and how do we account for them? Tune in to this episode of FP&A Friday to hear Rowan, Chris and Glenn discuss their own experiences with special projects for FP&A and share tips on how to use them to access super powers for the business.
Marty Ostermiller, Chief Financial Officer at Dental Intelligence Inc., is the definition of a modern CFO. On this episode, Marty let’s us in on what a modern CFO does in their first 30, 60, and 90 days, how his RevOps experience helps him create efficiencies and get more strategic with his data, skill sets required in traditional finance vs modern finance, and much more.
Take a deep dive into structuring FP&A teams with Rowan, Chris and Glenn on this episode of FP&A Friday. How do you scale your FP&A team? What competencies should you be hiring for? And how do you build an FP&A team from scratch? Tune in for these answers and much more.
This round of "FP&A Friday", Rowan, Chris and Glenn take a deep dive into all things strategic planning. How do you guide strategic conversations? If you had extra money, how would you spend it? How can FP&A strategically plan for the next stage of the business? Tune in for these answers and much more.
On this round of “FP&A Friday”, Rowan, Chris and Glenn share how you can start building your FP&A persona. Tune in to hear their conversation on developing high performance habits, the different FP&A personas, how you can change your persona, and environment takers vs environment shapers.
Like what you hear? Join the conversation LIVE from Clubhouse, Fridays at 10am PT | 1pm PT.
How can FP&A be a better strategic partner to the business? Tune in to hear Glenn Snyder, Head of FP&A at Global Growth Holdings, share how to find the balance between FP&A and strategy, how Finance can be proactive in their partnerships within the business, and maintaining empathy.
On this episode, Rowan, Chris and Glenn talk about hiring in FP&A. Tune in to learn how to set up a new hire for success, balancing the change that new hires will inevitably bring to the team, tips for identifying top talent, and much more.
On this episode of Being Planful, Rowan is joined by Paul Barnhurst, Director of Finance Sales Operations and Analytics, DigiCert, Inc., (formerly FP&A Director at Solera Inc.), for a conversation about finance and sales commissions. Tune in to hear Paul's experience with finance transformation, commission modeling, and partnering with sales and to create and course correct commissions plans.
This round of "FP&A Fridays", Rowan, Chris and Glenn dive into how FP&A can start creating and shaping a high performance culture within their organizations. Tune in to hear them discuss specific techniques to influence high growth culture, how high growth culture is tied to forecasting and scenario analysis, environment shapers vs. environment takers, and more.
Let's talk about HOW Finance can make a huge impact to the business. Join Rowan, Chris and special guest Glenn Snyder, Head of FP&A at Global Growth Holdings, on another "FP&A Friday" as they talk different structures and strategies for implementing processes, going from a tactical to strategic mindset, leveraging technology to free up time, and more.
On this episode, Rowan is joined by Co-Founder and Fractional CFO of TLTurner Group and host of the "Business Talk Library" podcast, Terrell Turner. Join Terrell on a journey through his finance career, from Fortune 500 companies to start-ups, and all the tips and tricks he learned along the way. How are finance teams in Fortune 500 and start-ups structured differently? How can finance pros leverage their skills to influence business leaders? Tune in to find out these answers and more.
How can leaders, businesses and Finance teams drive back office transformation? Rowan and Chris share their thoughts and experiences in another "FP&A Friday" - LIVE from Clubhouse, with special guest Glenn Snyder, Head of FP&A at Global Growth Holdings. Make sure you join the fun in real time - Fridays in Clubhouse at 10am PT | 1pm ET
This week on "FP&A Fridays", Chris and Rowan discussed using FP&A as a growth lever. Tune in to hear their thoughts on building organizational growth through technology, personal growth for finance professionals, and how to use Finance as a partner and strategic advisor to plan better and grow the business. Join the fun in real time on "FP&A Fridays" - LIVE from Clubhouse, Fridays at 10am PT | 1pm ET
On this episode of Being Planful, Peter Mahoney, Founder and CEO of Plannuh, and podcast host Rowan Tonkin take a deep dive into the relationship between Marketing and Finance. What causes friction between these departments? How do we alleviate it? Tune in to hear their thoughts on how to get Finance and Marketing aligned, speaking the same language, and on track to becoming the strategic advisors to one-another that they were always meant to be.
Three words: Conflict creates change. Tune in to to hear Rowan and Chris lead a vulnerable discussion on how to use storytelling and failure to create impactful changes and drive growth across your business.
FP&A = Financial, Partnership and Advisor. Incase you missed it, tune into the first of many conversations to come with Rowan Tonkin and Chris Ortega live from Clubhouse. This round, Rowan and Chris covered:
- What did Finance take from 2020 into 2021
- Why cash is king
- Leading and empowering your Finance team
- What is a Financial IQ?
- Finance as storytellers.
Join the fun in real time, every Friday at 10am PT on Clubhouse.
On this episode, David Smith, Founder & Principal at InFlow Analysis, and host Rowan Tonkin talk Workforce Planning for 2021. Tune in to hear their discussion on enhancing collaboration through technology, how Finance and HR can come together this year, maintaining the empathy in leadership we discovered in 2020, and predictions for remote work.
In this episode Rowan talks to Bryan Lapidus, FP&A Practice Director, AFP (Association Finance Professionals) about learnings from 2020 and predictions for 2021, along with a discussion about the upcoming AFP conference and what FP&A leaders can expect from the event.
Next generation FP&A leaders are emerging everyday, and they’re ready to transform their organizations from finance out.
Chris Ortega, CEO of Fresh FP&A (Director of Finance, Americas for Emarsys at the time this episode was recorded) is one of those leaders.
Rowan and Chris talk through how to lead transformation through finance, the key principles of FP&A 2.0, and how emerging finance leaders can leverage technology to move to finance led partnership and advisory.
How do the Boston Red Sox do their planning? The Planful Virtual Tour happened recently, and we wanted to give many of you the opportunity to hear from Red Sox CFO Tim Zue.
Join Tim as he walks through how his team has expanded the use of Planful across the Red Sox organization for reporting, monthly forecasting, financial close, and more.
He’ll also touch on his approach to technology transformation in the office of finance, and how his team is regrouping to deal with a curtailed baseball season due to COVID-19.
What are the key differences in FP&A at companies of different sizes? In this episode, Carl Seidman, FP&A Advisor at Seidman Financial, offers his insight into how small to midsize organizations can leverage modern FP&A solutions for growth.
Carl and host Rowan Tonkin discuss the variations in continuous planning mindsets amongst companies of different sizes, making shifts in company culture that support the growth of the business, and upskilling vs empowering your finance team.
Kevin Zell, Senior Strategic Finance Manager at Carta, shares how the Carta team was able to shift from a manual, spreadsheet based approach to using the Planful platform to help manage the company's growth.
On this episode, we're joined by planning and decision-making expert Howard Dresner, Chief Research Officer at Dresner Advisory Services. Howard and Rowan discuss emerging trends in planning over recent months and the impact of COVID-19 on planning and performance management in all corners of the business.
On this episode, Jeff Ignacio, Sales Operations Lead, West, Amazon Web Services (formerly Head of Revenue and Growth Operations at Upkeep), takes us on a journey through his exciting career path. Tune in to find out about how his career as financial analyst lead him to Sales & Revenue Operations, and all the tips and tricks he learned along the way.
What do we benefit from focusing on empathy and understanding in the world of FP&A? Hear from Stacy Brown, Principal at UHY Consulting, as she and host Rowan Tonkin discuss empathizing with pain points to find the right technology and best practices for finance professionals and their organizations, using FP&A technology to create efficiencies and give people back their time, and identifying priorities in FP&A technology as a team, not as an individual.
How do you transition from being a master of M&A to a master of FP&A?
Planful’s very own VP of Finance, Keith Kim, has the answers.
From Salesforce, to LinkedIn, to Zendesk, to his new home at Planful; you won’t want to miss the tips, tricks, and best practices that Keith has accumulated throughout his diverse career in finance.
Being Planful is the show for FP&A leaders, and planning experts. Through this show we will bring you discussions with thought leaders, planning experts from across industries, and folks just like you to discuss how you too can break free of the low-value work and become the strategic advisor you aspire to be.