Leaders of Modern Finance Ep. 20 – A Holistic Approach to Finance, Hosted by Ben Murray ft. Will Johnson

On this episode of the Leaders of Modern Finance podcast, host Ben Murray, Founder of The SaaS CFO, welcomes Will Johnson, Chief Financial Officer at Iterable.

Venture Capital Roots

Will’s first foray into the financial world was not as an accountant or financial analyst. This path was historically commonplace for those seeking the CFO role. Will, however, began first approaching financial models through the role of corporate development officer. This immediately sets him apart from many of his CFO peers. Rather than enter the role with a mind towards financial management, Will engaged with his organization’s finances as they tangentially interacted with other functions. Coupled with this time in corporate development, Will also spent nearly a decade as a venture investor. This, too, taught him an approach to financial modeling that is unique among many of his colleagues. 

Historically, the CFO role has been about analyzing past financial reports. Will’s background, however, placed a much greater emphasis on future modeling. As an investor, he was not only interested in a company’s past financial stability but in its ability to grow with the assistance of a capital investment. To be worth investing in, an organization had to prove that it would not simply maintain past success but could show potential to expand in the future beyond what had been historically achieved.

This future-centric concern was an asset to Will’s time in corporate development as well. Yet again, this arena is focused largely on future growth, but in a more hands-on manner. As an investor, Will wanted to see businesses prove their ability to grow. As a corporate development officer, he was directly involved in creating a strategic plan to achieve that growth. He worked with his company’s full management team to create future goals and to flesh out a roadmap towards achieving those goals. This action plan was constantly in flux. They continually reevaluated the company’s financial assets and models to account for how changing conditions would affect the ability to reach the targeted growth.

This flexibility and growth-focused mindset would come to dictate how Will approached his role as CFO at Iterable. He stepped into this position with a much more holistic approach than had historically been expected of people in a similar position.

The Dynamic CFO

Iterable is a customer engagement platform built to help companies better market to potential buyers. It’s the perfect environment for Will to be able to bring together much of what he learned during his tenure in the venture capitalist world. Not only is Will planning for his own company’s growth as Iterable’s CFO, but the services Iterable renders are aimed at helping other businesses achieve their own growth. Will’s strengths and background are in sync with his organization’s mission, making him a more effective asset to his team.

He is only as effective, however, as he is willing to step beyond the historical role of the CFO. More than taking a nontraditional approach to financial modeling, Will seeks to be an engaged member of the leadership team in all capacities, from finances to operations and sales. To him, this is the future of what it means to be a CFO.

To manage the company’s finances, Will believes he needs to have an equal seat at the table along with the other leaders in his organization. Together, they can work collaboratively to appraise the company vision and make decisions that allow them to make the most efficient use of resources, including financial assets. To be a meaningful part of these discussions, Will has to be willing to immerse himself in other elements of Iterable’s operations.

To Will, the CFO is actually more easily able to achieve this holistic understanding of the organization’s operational situation. Finances flow through all elements of a business and money is an asset that permeates every department. Because of this, the CFO has an intimate look at a cross-section of the full business through the window of finances. This gives Will a full understanding of his organization’s current situation and its ability to propel future growth. Steeping himself in departments outside of the financial realm enhances that understanding and better prepares him to make financial decisions that most effectively benefit the entire organization.

This extends beyond internal management. Along with his other leaders, Will has adopted an external salesmanship persona in his approach to CFO. Being an advocate for the value-added propositions that Iterable brings has helped to secure more business and create growth opportunities. Again, this ability is an extension of his knowledge of Iterable’s financial assets. Being so familiar with Iterable’s finances allows Will to understand the strengths that they bring, both to investors and future customers, and to better sell that value through concrete numbers. It’s a marriage of the abstractions of salesmanship relationships and the concretes of financial assets that only a dynamic and holistic CFO can provide.

Rather than view the CFO as one who only manages department-specific assets, Will understands the modern CFO as someone who uses their role to gather internal knowledge and applies that understanding outside of the financial department to plan for the future and achieve external results.

Maintain Curiosity

Will has seen the financial world transform dramatically over the last several decades. Throughout his transition from venture capitalism into the CFO role, he has kept an intellectual curiosity that he attributes his success to. As the demands of the CFO have evolved, flexibility and adaptability are easier to maintain if curiosity towards business and finance is equally maintained. 

Constantly interrogating the way the pieces of a business fit together is key. Will wishes to impart the importance of this mindset to other aspiring CFOs. The role now requires a dynamic approach, and that means a constant humility about your understanding of your own organization. There is always more to learn and there are innumerable ways to engage a business beyond its financial picture. Taking a closer look at the daily operations, understanding the role of sales in securing financial assets, and seeing investment opportunities as involving more than dollar figures are all opportunities for the CFO to expand their role and thus their effectiveness.

Finances are no longer an isolated, internal endeavor. The mark of a modern CFO is recognizing the bigger puzzle that the financial piece is meant to nestle into.

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