Run the Numbers

Hosted by CJ Gustafson

Business Management

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329

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Oct 2026

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About the show

Run the Numbers is a business podcast about financial metrics and business models for CFOs, aspiring CFOs, finance leaders, and ambitious people operating tech startups. Hosted by CJ Gustafson, CFO and writer of Mostly Metrics, the show shares lessons, frameworks, and operator insights from the trenches as a tech exec. Think of it as a playbook for the things CJ wishes he knew earlier in his career, covering SaaS metrics, annual budgeting, forecasting, headcount, equity, dilution, fundraising, and the decisions that drive performance and growth.

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October 22, 202632 min

Oklo CFO on Leading Through Deepwater Horizon | Craig Bealmear

In this episode of Run the Numbers, recorded live at Brex Mode in Chicago, CJ sits down with Craig Bealmear, CFO of Oklo, who spent nearly 30 years at BP before moving into nuclear. They cover raising billions before meaningful revenue, why cash matters more than the P&L, and how he hires the finance team Oklo will need two years from now. Craig also looks back at leading through the Deepwater Horizon crisis. — SPONSORS: Brex is an intelligent finance platform that combines corporate cards, built-in expense management, and AI agents to eliminate manual finance work. By automating expense reviews and reconciliations, Brex gives CFOs more time for the high-impact work that drives growth. Join 35,000+ companies like Anthropic, Coinbase, and DoorDash at https://www.brex.com/metrics Abacum puts your actuals, forecasts, models, and business context in one place, so you can update the plan, run scenarios, and answer "why did this change?" without rebuilding the story from six spreadsheets and a Slack thread. Connect your source systems, keep models and assumptions aligned, and give leaders trusted answers while decisions are still being made. Go to abacum.ai/mostly-metrics. RightRev is a revenue recognition platform built for the AI economy, helping finance support usage-based pricing, credits, hybrid contracts, seats plus consumption, and whatever commercial model comes next. It gives product teams the freedom to keep innovating without outdated revenue systems slowing them down. Learn how RightRev can help at https://rightrev.com/cj Fidelity Private Shares gives founders the structure and simplicity to focus on what actually matters - building your company. If your startup needs a little extra support (and let’s be honest, who doesn’t need a little help now and then), then you’re in for a pleasant surprise with Fidelity. If you stay investor ready, you don’t have to get investor ready. Check out www.fidelityprivateshares.com Rillet is an AI-native ERP built for modern finance teams that want to replace NetSuite and close faster. With revenue recognition, close management, multi-entity support, and native Stripe and Salesforce integrations, Rillet helps scaling companies run their finance stack in one place. Hundreds of teams, including Windsurf and Mercor, use Rillet to make the zero-day close real. Book a demo at https://www.rillet.com/cj Cloud Capital helps you say goodbye to on-demand rates for cloud. Committing more cuts the rate you pay for cloud infrastructure by 20–60%. Commit wrong and you pay for capacity you'll never use. Cloud Capital underwrites that risk, so you capture the savings of deeper commitments without locking in architecture or putting engineers on it. Go to www.cloudcapital.co EY works with high-growth tech companies to navigate the messy realities of scaling—from regulatory requirements to IPO readiness. By helping teams get it right early and often, EY lets founders stay focused on building while reducing risk as they grow. Learn more at https://www.ey.com/techstartups — LINKS: Mostly Talent: https://mostlymetrics.typeform.com/to/cLTxtAsN Craig on Linkedin: linkedin.com/in/craig-bealmear-a375573 Oklo: https://oklo.com/ CJ: https://www.linkedin.com/in/cj-gustafson-13140948/ Mostly metrics: https://www.mostlymetrics.com — TIMESTAMPS: 0:00 Cold Open 2:38 What Oklo Does 3:38 From BP to Nuclear 6:03 The Power Behind the AI Stack 7:47 Unconstrained Demand 12:38 Risks 13:50 Running a Pre-Revenue Company 14:57 The Say-Do Ratio 17:41 Asking the Dumb Questions 18:13 Raising Capital Before the Projects 21:15 Cash Management Pillars 25:05 One-Way vs. Two-Way Decisions 26:11 Defining Capability 27:35 Hiring for Two Years Out 28:07 Forecasting the Team 8 Quarters Out 30:07 Deepwater Horizon 31:46 Leading Through a Crisis 32:19 Wrap Up #RunTheNumbersPodcast #Oklo #Nuclear #CFO #BrexMode

October 20, 202618 min

Token Series Part 2 | Finance's ChatGPT moment: MCP, Harness, and Headless Explained (simply)

In Part 2 of our Token Series with Tabs, CJ and Ali Hussain ask how much AI is too much in finance. They cover why finance may be the most AI-forward function after product and engineering, how MCP became its “ChatGPT moment,” and why headless agents need a leash. They also get into where to start with governance and why deterministic layers still matter. — SPONSORS: Tabs is an AI-native revenue platform that unifies billing, collections, and revenue recognition for companies running usage-based or complex contracts. By bringing together ERP, CRM, and real product usage data into a single system of record, Tabs eliminates manual reconciliations and speeds up close and cash collection. Companies like Cortex, Statsig, and Cursor trust Tabs to scale revenue efficiently. Learn more at ⁠https://www.tabs.com⁠ — LINKS: Mostly Talent: ⁠⁠ https://mostlymetrics.typeform.com/to/cLTxtAsN⁠⁠ Guest: ⁠⁠⁠⁠ linkedin.com/in/ali-hussain786⁠ Company: ⁠⁠ www.tabs.com⁠ CJ: ⁠⁠ https://www.linkedin.com/in/cj-gustafson-13140948/⁠⁠ Mostly metrics: ⁠⁠ https://www.mostlymetrics.com⁠⁠ — TIMESTAMPS: 0:00 Cold Open 1:05 Why CFOs Ask About Org Design 2:25 Finance Is the Most AI-Forward Team 3:43 MCP: Finance’s ChatGPT Moment 5:08 Laying Tracks for Agents 5:53 Vendors, Employees, Customers 6:51 MCP, Harnesses, and Headless Agents 8:34 The New Finance Operating System 11:50 Governing AI in Finance 12:12 Where to Start: Billing and Collections 13:51 Will Deterministic Layers Survive? 14:51 Build vs. Buy 16:28 Why Revenue Work Is So Hard 18:11 Next Up: Who Foots the Bill? #RunTheNumbersPodcast #Tabs #CFO #AI #AITokens

October 19, 202649 min

Brex's CFO on the Weekend SVB Collapsed | Erica Dorfman

Episode Description: In this episode of Run the Numbers, CJ sits down with Erica Dorfman, CFO of Brex, to trace her path from capital markets at SoFi to product to the CFO seat. They cover why Brex moved away from lending, what happened behind the scenes during the SVB collapse, and how Erica keeps reinventing her role and her team as the company scales. — SPONSORS: Cloud Capital helps you say goodbye to on-demand rates for cloud. Committing more cuts the rate you pay for cloud infrastructure by 20–60%. Commit wrong and you pay for capacity you'll never use. Cloud Capital underwrites that risk, so you capture the savings of deeper commitments without locking in architecture or putting engineers on it. Go to www.cloudcapital.co Brex is an intelligent finance platform that combines corporate cards, built-in expense management, and AI agents to eliminate manual finance work. By automating expense reviews and reconciliations, Brex gives CFOs more time for the high-impact work that drives growth. Join 35,000+ companies like Anthropic, Coinbase, and DoorDash at https://www.brex.com/metrics Abacum puts your actuals, forecasts, models, and business context in one place, so you can update the plan, run scenarios, and answer "why did this change?" without rebuilding the story from six spreadsheets and a Slack thread. Connect your source systems, keep models and assumptions aligned, and give leaders trusted answers while decisions are still being made. Go to abacum.ai/mostly-metrics. RightRev is a revenue recognition platform built for the AI economy, helping finance support usage-based pricing, credits, hybrid contracts, seats plus consumption, and whatever commercial model comes next. It gives product teams the freedom to keep innovating without outdated revenue systems slowing them down. Learn how RightRev can help at https://rightrev.com/cj Fidelity Private Shares gives founders the structure and simplicity to focus on what actually matters - building your company. If your startup needs a little extra support (and let’s be honest, who doesn’t need a little help now and then), then you’re in for a pleasant surprise with Fidelity. If you stay investor ready, you don’t have to get investor ready. Check out www.fidelityprivateshares.com Rillet is an AI-native ERP built for modern finance teams that want to replace NetSuite and close faster. With revenue recognition, close management, multi-entity support, and native Stripe and Salesforce integrations, Rillet helps scaling companies run their finance stack in one place. Hundreds of teams, including Windsurf and Mercor, use Rillet to make the zero-day close real. Book a demo at https://www.rillet.com/cj EY works with high-growth tech companies to navigate the messy realities of scaling—from regulatory requirements to IPO readiness. By helping teams get it right early and often, EY lets founders stay focused on building while reducing risk as they grow. Learn more at https://www.ey.com/techstartups — LINKS: Mostly Talent: https://mostlymetrics.typeform.com/to/cLTxtAsN Erica on Linkedin: linkedin.com/in/erica-dorfman-4034b717 Brex: www.brex.com CJ: https://www.linkedin.com/in/cj-gustafson-13140948/ Mostly metrics: https://www.mostlymetrics.com — TIMESTAMPS: 0:00 Cold Open 2:24 Swimming and the CFO Mindset 6:03 The Columbia Finance Mafia 7:48 The Physics of a Business 11:16 VP of Cash at Brex 12:40 How Banking Partnerships Work 17:58 Why Brex Moved Away From Lending 19:23 Great Adjacency vs. Distraction 21:31 AI Auditing Every Transaction 23:00 Operating Through Chaos at SoFi 25:45 The SVB Weekend 29:00 Crisis Meets Opportunity 37:31 Asking “Stupid” Questions 39:44 Rebuilding the Team 43:33 Killing Meetings 46:05 Erica’s Biggest Mistake 47:08 Advice to Her Younger Self 47:36 Brex’s Finance Tech Stack 48:37 Craziest Expense Ever #RunTheNumbersPodcast #Brex #CFO #Building #FinanceLeadership

October 15, 202637 min

Former Netflix CFO Breaks Down Return on Compute | Jim Cook

In this episode of Run the Numbers, CJ welcomes back Jim Cook, a multi-time CFO (Intuit, Netflix, Mozilla) turned coach, author, and newsletter writer. They dig into “return on compute,” the metric Jim believes every finance leader needs in their vocabulary, and why surprise AI bills echo the early days of the cloud. They cover how to budget for tokens, the “frontier convergence” idea for ramping compute spend by role, and why revenue per compute may join revenue per headcount on the CFO scorecard. — SPONSORS: Rillet is an AI-native ERP built for modern finance teams that want to replace NetSuite and close faster. With revenue recognition, close management, multi-entity support, and native Stripe and Salesforce integrations, Rillet helps scaling companies run their finance stack in one place. Hundreds of teams, including Windsurf and Mercor, use Rillet to make the zero-day close real. Book a demo at https://www.rillet.com/cj Cloud Capital helps you say goodbye to on-demand rates for cloud. Committing more cuts the rate you pay for cloud infrastructure by 20–60%. Commit wrong and you pay for capacity you'll never use. Cloud Capital underwrites that risk, so you capture the savings of deeper commitments without locking in architecture or putting engineers on it. Go to www.cloudcapital.co Brex is an intelligent finance platform that combines corporate cards, built-in expense management, and AI agents to eliminate manual finance work. By automating expense reviews and reconciliations, Brex gives CFOs more time for the high-impact work that drives growth. Join 35,000+ companies like Anthropic, Coinbase, and DoorDash at https://www.brex.com/metrics Abacum puts your actuals, forecasts, models, and business context in one place, so you can update the plan, run scenarios, and answer "why did this change?" without rebuilding the story from six spreadsheets and a Slack thread. Connect your source systems, keep models and assumptions aligned, and give leaders trusted answers while decisions are still being made. Go to abacum.ai/mostly-metrics. RightRev is a revenue recognition platform built for the AI economy, helping finance support usage-based pricing, credits, hybrid contracts, seats plus consumption, and whatever commercial model comes next. It gives product teams the freedom to keep innovating without outdated revenue systems slowing them down. Learn how RightRev can help at https://rightrev.com/cj EY works with high-growth tech companies to navigate the messy realities of scaling—from regulatory requirements to IPO readiness. By helping teams get it right early and often, EY lets founders stay focused on building while reducing risk as they grow. Learn more at https://www.ey.com/techstartups Fidelity Private Shares gives founders the structure and simplicity to focus on what actually matters - building your company. If your startup needs a little extra support (and let’s be honest, who doesn’t need a little help now and then), then you’re in for a pleasant surprise with Fidelity. If you stay investor ready, you don’t have to get investor ready. Check out www.fidelityprivateshares.com — LINKS: Mostly Talent: https://mostlymetrics.typeform.com/to/cLTxtAsN Jim on Linkedin: linkedin.com/in/cookflix Benchboard: https://www.benchboard.com/ CJ: https://www.linkedin.com/in/cj-gustafson-13140948/ Mostly metrics: https://www.mostlymetrics.com — TIMESTAMPS: 0:00 Welcome Back, Jim Cook 2:56 Return on Compute 5:51 The $500K Surprise Bill 8:25 Do Execs Know Their Token Usage? 10:05 Tagging Compute Like Cloud Costs 12:03 Budgeting for Tokens 13:19 Revenue per Compute 14:45 The Modern CFO Framework 15:50 What Strategy Really Means 17:44 Communication and Influence 22:27 Lead With a Thesis 24:05 Speaking Up in the Boardroom 26:04 Better Questions with EY 28:11 Where to Find Jim #RunTheNumbersPodcast #ReturnOnCompute #CFO #AI #FinanceLeadership

October 12, 202648 min

Inside the Food52 Bankruptcy | Heidi Robinson

In this episode of Run the Numbers, CJ sits down with Heidi Robinson, former CFO and COO of Food52, for one of the wildest CFO stories the show has featured. Heidi joined expecting to lead a modest turnaround and within weeks realized the company was in far deeper trouble than anyone understood. She walks through being the newest executive in the room and having to deliver that news and the Monday evening a lender swept the company's cash without warning. — SPONSORS: Fidelity Private Shares gives founders the structure and simplicity to focus on what actually matters - building your company. If your startup needs a little extra support (and let’s be honest, who doesn’t need a little help now and then), then you’re in for a pleasant surprise with Fidelity. If you stay investor ready, you don’t have to get investor ready. Check out www.fidelityprivateshares.com Rillet is an AI-native ERP built for modern finance teams that want to replace NetSuite and close faster. With revenue recognition, close management, multi-entity support, and native Stripe and Salesforce integrations, Rillet helps scaling companies run their finance stack in one place. Hundreds of teams, including Windsurf and Mercor, use Rillet to make the zero-day close real. Book a demo at https://www.rillet.com/cj Cloud Capital helps you say goodbye to on-demand rates for cloud. Committing more cuts the rate you pay for cloud infrastructure by 20–60%. Commit wrong and you pay for capacity you'll never use. Cloud Capital underwrites that risk, so you capture the savings of deeper commitments without locking in architecture or putting engineers on it. Go to www.cloudcapital.co Brex is an intelligent finance platform that combines corporate cards, built-in expense management, and AI agents to eliminate manual finance work. By automating expense reviews and reconciliations, Brex gives CFOs more time for the high-impact work that drives growth. Join 35,000+ companies like Anthropic, Coinbase, and DoorDash at https://www.brex.com/metrics Abacum puts your actuals, forecasts, models, and business context in one place, so you can update the plan, run scenarios, and answer "why did this change?" without rebuilding the story from six spreadsheets and a Slack thread. Connect your source systems, keep models and assumptions aligned, and give leaders trusted answers while decisions are still being made. Go to abacum.ai/mostly-metrics. RightRev is a revenue recognition platform built for the AI economy, helping finance support usage-based pricing, credits, hybrid contracts, seats plus consumption, and whatever commercial model comes next. It gives product teams the freedom to keep innovating without outdated revenue systems slowing them down. Learn how RightRev can help at https://rightrev.com/cj EY works with high-growth tech companies to navigate the messy realities of scaling—from regulatory requirements to IPO readiness. By helping teams get it right early and often, EY lets founders stay focused on building while reducing risk as they grow. Learn more at https://www.ey.com/techstartups — LINKS: Mostly Talent: https://mostlymetrics.typeform.com/to/cLTxtAsN Guest: linkedin.com/in/heidilrobinson CJ: https://www.linkedin.com/in/cj-gustafson-13140948/ Mostly metrics: https://www.mostlymetrics.com — TIMESTAMPS: 0:00 Cold Open 2:29 Joining Food52 3:45 Food52's Three Brands 6:14 Building a Cash Flow Model 7:25 Delivering the Worst News 8:09 A Path Without Bankruptcy? 9:05 The Cash Sweep 13:44 The Scramble 18:30 Selling at 60% Off 19:45 Working Through the Holidays 20:10 Filing Chapter 11 21:48 Chapter 7 vs. 11 23:05 The Headline Objective 23:33 The Stalking Horse Bidder 26:17 Meet the Cast29:41 Testifying Under Oath 30:50 The Independent Board Member 35:27 The Live Auction 39:06 Bidding Like Poker 40:50 The Payout Waterfall 44:24 Better Questions with EY 44:41 Rethinking Risk 46:00 CFO/COO Convergence #RunTheNumbersPodcast #CFOs #Food52 #Bankruptcy #FinancePodcast

October 8, 20261 hr 6 min

Robinhood's CFO on Refounding & the Art of Capital Allocation | Shiv Verma

In this episode of Run the Numbers, CJ sits down with Shiv Verma, CFO of Robinhood, to unpack the company's 2022 "refounding". They dig into why Shiv personally signs off on every headcount and marketing dollar at a $100B+ company, and how Robinhood's capital allocation philosophy — no loss leaders, minimal variable costs, and a hard $100 million ARR bar for new products — shapes everything from prediction markets to private-market investing. — SPONSORS: RightRev is a revenue recognition platform built for the AI economy, helping finance support usage-based pricing, credits, hybrid contracts, seats plus consumption, and whatever commercial model comes next. It gives product teams the freedom to keep innovating without outdated revenue systems slowing them down. Learn how RightRev can help at https://rightrev.com/cj Fidelity Private Shares gives founders the structure and simplicity to focus on what actually matters - building your company. If your startup needs a little extra support (and let’s be honest, who doesn’t need a little help now and then), then you’re in for a pleasant surprise with Fidelity. If you stay investor ready, you don’t have to get investor ready. Check out www.fidelityprivateshares.com Rillet is an AI-native ERP built for modern finance teams that want to replace NetSuite and close faster. With revenue recognition, close management, multi-entity support, and native Stripe and Salesforce integrations, Rillet helps scaling companies run their finance stack in one place. Hundreds of teams, including Windsurf and Mercor, use Rillet to make the zero-day close real. Book a demo at https://www.rillet.com/cj Cloud Capital helps you say goodbye to on-demand rates for cloud. Committing more cuts the rate you pay for cloud infrastructure by 20–60%. Commit wrong and you pay for capacity you'll never use. Cloud Capital underwrites that risk, so you capture the savings of deeper commitments without locking in architecture or putting engineers on it. Go to www.cloudcapital.co Brex is an intelligent finance platform that combines corporate cards, built-in expense management, and AI agents to eliminate manual finance work. By automating expense reviews and reconciliations, Brex gives CFOs more time for the high-impact work that drives growth. Join 35,000+ companies like Anthropic, Coinbase, and DoorDash at https://www.brex.com/metrics Abacum puts your actuals, forecasts, models, and business context in one place, so you can update the plan, run scenarios, and answer "why did this change?" without rebuilding the story from six spreadsheets and a Slack thread. Connect your source systems, keep models and assumptions aligned, and give leaders trusted answers while decisions are still being made. Go to abacum.ai/mostly-metrics. EY works with high-growth tech companies to navigate the messy realities of scaling—from regulatory requirements to IPO readiness. By helping teams get it right early and often, EY lets founders stay focused on building while reducing risk as they grow. Learn more at https://www.ey.com/techstartups — LINKS: Mostly Talent: https://mostlymetrics.typeform.com/to/cLTxtAsN Guest: linkedin.com/in/shiv-verma-6408249 Company: www.robinhood.com CJ: https://www.linkedin.com/in/cj-gustafson-13140948/ Mostly metrics: https://www.mostlymetrics.com — TIMESTAMPS: 0:00 Intro 2:21 The 2022 Refounding 8:46 Using NPS 17:53 Moving to a GM Model 19:58 Finance Partners 17:49 Killing Committees for DRIs 20:04 Headcount Requests 27:02 RPM Teams and Efficiency 32:27 The Art of Capital Allocation 33:34 Core, Scaling, and New Seeds 37:07 Funding a New Idea 38:17 Killing OKRs 44:59 No Loss Leaders 48:36 Building Prediction Markets Fast 51:26 Why Shiv Hates Variable Costs 53:37 Market Share Over Revenue 55:59 Forecasting a Volatile Business 59:53 Shiv's Biggest Mistake 1:02:03 Lessons from the Oakland A's 1:04:04 Advice to His Younger Self 1:04:48 Finance Tech Stack 1:05:30 Craziest Expense

October 6, 202614 min

Token Series Part 1 | How AI Created a New Budget

This is Part 1 of our new Token Series with Tabs. CJ calls up Ali Hussain to dig into one of the fastest-growing, least-understood line items on the P&L: AI inference and token spend. They debate whether AI costs ultimately belong to the CTO or the CFO, why the shift from "experimentation budgets" to real operating costs is forcing companies to rethink ownership, what's actually different about AI spend compared to the early cloud transition, and how tools like OpenRouter (acquired by Stripe) and Ramp's new offering are approaching the problem from opposite ends of engineering vs. finance. — Tabs is an AI-native revenue platform that unifies billing, collections, and revenue recognition for companies running usage-based or complex contracts. By bringing together ERP, CRM, and real product usage data into a single system of record, Tabs eliminates manual reconciliations and speeds up close and cash collection. Companies like Cortex, Statsig, and Cursor trust Tabs to scale revenue efficiently. Learn more at https://www.tabs.com — LINKS: Mostly Talent: ⁠ https://mostlymetrics.typeform.com/to/cLTxtAsN ⁠ Guest: ⁠ linkedin.com/in/ali-hussain786 Company: ⁠ www.tabs.com CJ: ⁠ https://www.linkedin.com/in/cj-gustafson-13140948/ ⁠ Mostly metrics: ⁠ https://www.mostlymetrics.com ⁠ — TIMESTAMPS: 0:00 Cold Open 1:11 From Experimentation Budgets to Real AI Costs 2:43 Who Owns AI Spend Inside a Company? 4:12 Lessons from the Cloud Transition 5:55 Why AI Costs Are Different from Cloud 7:51 AI as "Electricity Through the House" 8:42 Paying for 5 to 10 LLM Providers 9:58 OpenRouter vs. Ramp: Two Approaches 11:47 What the Finance Stack for AI Spend Should Look Like 13:34 Passing AI Costs on to Customers

October 5, 202653 min

Why Owning Your Data Is the New Moat | Primary Venture's Emily Man

In this episode of Run the Numbers, CJ sits down with Emily Man of Primary Ventures to map out where value actually accrues in the AI economy. They break down the 5 layers of the AI stack and why Emily believes the next era of AI adoption will be driven by diffusion through apps rather than smarter models alone. — SPONSORS: Abacum puts your actuals, forecasts, models, and business context in one place, so you can update the plan, run scenarios, and answer "why did this change?" without rebuilding the story from six spreadsheets and a Slack thread. Connect your source systems, keep models and assumptions aligned, and give leaders trusted answers while decisions are still being made. Go to abacum.ai/mostly-metrics. RightRev is a revenue recognition platform built for the AI economy, helping finance support usage-based pricing, credits, hybrid contracts, seats plus consumption, and whatever commercial model comes next. It gives product teams the freedom to keep innovating without outdated revenue systems slowing them down. Learn how RightRev can help at https://rightrev.com/cj Fidelity Private Shares gives founders the structure and simplicity to focus on what actually matters - building your company. If your startup needs a little extra support (and let’s be honest, who doesn’t need a little help now and then), then you’re in for a pleasant surprise with Fidelity. If you stay investor ready, you don’t have to get investor ready. Check out www.fidelityprivateshares.com Rillet is an AI-native ERP built for modern finance teams that want to replace NetSuite and close faster. With revenue recognition, close management, multi-entity support, and native Stripe and Salesforce integrations, Rillet helps scaling companies run their finance stack in one place. Hundreds of teams, including Windsurf and Mercor, use Rillet to make the zero-day close real. Book a demo at https://www.rillet.com/cj Cloud Capital helps you say goodbye to on-demand rates for cloud. Committing more cuts the rate you pay for cloud infrastructure by 20–60%. Commit wrong and you pay for capacity you'll never use. Cloud Capital underwrites that risk, so you capture the savings of deeper commitments without locking in architecture or putting engineers on it. Go to www.cloudcapital.co Brex is an intelligent finance platform that combines corporate cards, built-in expense management, and AI agents to eliminate manual finance work. By automating expense reviews and reconciliations, Brex gives CFOs more time for the high-impact work that drives growth. Join 35,000+ companies like Anthropic, Coinbase, and DoorDash at https://www.brex.com/metrics EY works with high-growth tech companies to navigate the messy realities of scaling—from regulatory requirements to IPO readiness. By helping teams get it right early and often, EY lets founders stay focused on building while reducing risk as they grow. Learn more at https://www.ey.com/techstartups — LINKS: Mostly Talent: https://mostlymetrics.typeform.com/to/cLTxtAsN Guest: linkedin.com/in/emily-man-02a1a486 Company: https://www.primary.vc/ CJ: https://www.linkedin.com/in/cj-gustafson-13140948/ Mostly metrics: https://www.mostlymetrics.com — TIMESTAMPS: 0:00 Cold Opens 1:12 Meet Emily Man, Primary Ventures 2:01 What's Exciting in Venture Right Now 3:09 The 5 Layers of the AI Stack 4:08 Where Funding Has Focused So Far 5:54 Diffusion Through Apps 9:30 "Enough" Intelligence 17:11 Payroll vs. Compute Ratio 23:01 Alex Karp and "Owning Your Weights" 24:05 On-Prem vs. Cloud, Again? 30:53 Models vs. Loops 32:34 Software Goes Headless 34:14 Pre-2022 SaaS Companies 36:29 The Roadkill Bucket 41:42 The Vibe-Coding Backlash 44:55 Objectivity vs. Subjectivity 48:03 When AI Agents Talk to Each Other 49:43 Creating Alpha Without Being AI-Native 51:01 Better Questions, Brought to You by EY 51:16 The Future CFO Tech Stack #RunTheNumbersPodcast #AIforCFOs #FinanceLeadership #Zuora #GoingPrivate

October 1, 202647 min

Zuora’s COFO On Going Private and Pricing AI | Todd McElhatton

In this episode of Run the Numbers, CJ sits down with Todd McElhatton, CFO of Zuora, for a deep cut on pricing, packaging, and value in the age of AI. They dig into how companies are figuring out whether to charge for AI at all, why token-based budgets are starting to sit alongside headcount budgets, and why AI may be increasing — not decreasing — the value of deep expertise. — SPONSORS: Brex is an intelligent finance platform that combines corporate cards, built-in expense management, and AI agents to eliminate manual finance work. By automating expense reviews and reconciliations, Brex gives CFOs more time for the high-impact work that drives growth. Join 35,000+ companies like Anthropic, Coinbase, and DoorDash at https://www.brex.com/metrics Abacum puts your actuals, forecasts, models, and business context in one place, so you can update the plan, run scenarios, and answer "why did this change?" without rebuilding the story from six spreadsheets and a Slack thread. Connect your source systems, keep models and assumptions aligned, and give leaders trusted answers while decisions are still being made. Go to abacum.ai/mostly-metrics. RightRev is a revenue recognition platform built for the AI economy, helping finance support usage-based pricing, credits, hybrid contracts, seats plus consumption, and whatever commercial model comes next. It gives product teams the freedom to keep innovating without outdated revenue systems slowing them down. Learn how RightRev can help at https://rightrev.com/cj Fidelity Private Shares gives founders the structure and simplicity to focus on what actually matters - building your company. If your startup needs a little extra support (and let’s be honest, who doesn’t need a little help now and then), then you’re in for a pleasant surprise with Fidelity. If you stay investor ready, you don’t have to get investor ready. Check out www.fidelityprivateshares.com Rillet is an AI-native ERP built for modern finance teams that want to replace NetSuite and close faster. With revenue recognition, close management, multi-entity support, and native Stripe and Salesforce integrations, Rillet helps scaling companies run their finance stack in one place. Hundreds of teams, including Windsurf and Mercor, use Rillet to make the zero-day close real. Book a demo at https://www.rillet.com/cj Cloud Capital helps you say goodbye to on-demand rates for cloud. Committing more cuts the rate you pay for cloud infrastructure by 20–60%. Commit wrong and you pay for capacity you'll never use. Cloud Capital underwrites that risk, so you capture the savings of deeper commitments without locking in architecture or putting engineers on it. Go to www.cloudcapital.co EY works with high-growth tech companies to navigate the messy realities of scaling—from regulatory requirements to IPO readiness. By helping teams get it right early and often, EY lets founders stay focused on building while reducing risk as they grow. Learn more at https://www.ey.com/techstartups — LINKS: Mostly Talent: https://mostlymetrics.typeform.com/to/cLTxtAsN Guest: linkedin.com/in/todd-mcelhatton-2140761 Company: www.zuora.com CJ: https://www.linkedin.com/in/cj-gustafson-13140948/ Mostly metrics: https://www.mostlymetrics.com — TIMESTAMPS: 0:00 Intro 1:15 Meet Todd 2:24 Debating Price 7:33 Is Software "Going Headless"? 9:18 Is AI Increasing the Value of Experts 9:58 Hiring Specialists vs. Generalists 16:49 Rethinking the Budget Envelope 26:56 Time to Value 31:20 Forward-Deployed Engineers 35:20 Parallels Between On-Prem-to-Cloud 36:10 Rethinking Strategy 37:07 Avoiding the Sunk Cost Trap 38:58 The Art of Pivoting 40:12 VMware 41:31 Experimenting With AI 42:33 What Private Boards Bring 43:13 Short-Term Pain 43:45 One-Way Doors vs. Two-Way Doors 44:57Long-Ass Lightning Round 45:04 Biggest Career Mistake 45:36 Advice45:56 Finance Tech Stack 46:43 The Craziest Thing Expense #RunTheNumbersPodcast #AIforCFOs #FinanceLeadership #Zuora #GoingPrivate

September 28, 202649 min

LiveRamp’s CFO Rebuilt Pricing From Scratch | Lauren Dillard

CJ sits down with Lauren Dillard, CFO of LiveRamp, whose path to the CFO seat ran through investor relations, communications, and even a year as interim CMO. They dig into why storytelling and influence matter as much as technical finance chops, how LiveRamp tore down and rebuilt its entire commercial model — collapsing 25+ usage metrics into 5 and inventing the "token" along the way. — SPONSORS: Brex is an intelligent finance platform that combines corporate cards, built-in expense management, and AI agents to eliminate manual finance work. By automating expense reviews and reconciliations, Brex gives CFOs more time for the high-impact work that drives growth. Join 35,000+ companies like Anthropic, Coinbase, and DoorDash at https://www.brex.com/metrics Anrok is the sales tax platform that watches your exposure everywhere, automates compliance, and flags risk before it turns into a surprise back-tax letter from a state you've never set foot in. Companies like Anthropic, Notion, and Vanta already trust Anrok to stay ahead of rules that move faster than any spreadsheet can. Talk to a sales tax expert for a personalized exposure estimate at https://www.anrok.com/rtn RightRev is a revenue recognition platform built for the AI economy, helping finance support usage-based pricing, credits, hybrid contracts, seats plus consumption, and whatever commercial model comes next. It gives product teams the freedom to keep innovating without outdated revenue systems slowing them down. Learn how RightRev can help at https://rightrev.com/cj Pulley is an equity management platform that lets you issue options, model dilution, and complete 409As without your cap table turning into a spreadsheet disaster. Founders raising, hiring, and scaling use Pulley to keep equity clean and stay focused on building. Learn more or request a demo at https://pulley.com/mostlymetrics Rillet is an AI-native ERP built for modern finance teams that want to replace NetSuite and close faster. With revenue recognition, close management, multi-entity support, and native Stripe and Salesforce integrations, Rillet helps scaling companies run their finance stack in one place. Hundreds of teams, including Windsurf and Mercor, use Rillet to make the zero-day close real. Book a demo at https://www.rillet.com/cj Maximor is an autonomous finance platform that runs order-to-cash, procure-to-pay, the close, cash management, and reporting on self-learning agents instead of a dozen disconnected tools. One PE-backed customer posts 98% of transactions directly to its ERP, with the remaining 2% routed to a human for review. You pay for outcomes, not seats. See it at https://www.maximor.ai/ EY works with high-growth tech companies to navigate the messy realities of scaling—from regulatory requirements to IPO readiness. By helping teams get it right early and often, EY lets founders stay focused on building while reducing risk as they grow. Learn more at https://www.ey.com/techstartups — LINKS: Mostly Talent: https://mostlymetrics.typeform.com/to/cLTxtAsN Guest: https://www.linkedin.com/in/lauren-russi-dillard-25502424/ Company: https://www.liveramp.com CJ: https://www.linkedin.com/in/cj-gustafson-13140948/ Mostly metrics: https://www.mostlymetrics.com — TIMESTAMPS: 0:00 Cold Open 1:18 Intro 1:29 Meet Lauren Dillard 4:48 Lauren's Path to CFO 5:06 The "Wrong" Career Move 7:48 Why Storytelling Matters 9:41 Turning the Answer Into Action 10:33 People Plus AI 14:50 Pricing Is a Strategy Exercise 16:43 Rebuilding a Commercial Model 22:29 Simplifying Quote-to-Cash 23:29 Where the "Token" Came From 28:48 Selling a New Pricing Model 29:27 Balancing New Logos 30:17 Upmarket or Downmarket? 34:17 Where Finance and HR Disagree 36:07 The Biggest Mistake 38:23 Will It Make the Boat Go Faster? 42:27 Lessons from the NBA 44:25 Lauren's Biggest Misstep 46:27 Finance Tech Stack 47:42 Craziest Expense #RunTheNumbersPodcast #AIforCFOs #FinanceLeadership #MasterworksArt #ContextEngineering