FP&A Today

Nord Security’s $3B Growth: The FP&A Vision


Listen Later

Laurynas Zabulis, CFO at Nord Security, is playing a starring role at one of Lithuania’s most famous success stories. Cybersecurity unicorn, Nord Security, went from being bootstrapped to a $3billion valuation in 12 years. Laurynas became CFO after a stint at Surfshark (which  merged with NordVPN in 2022). His achievements at NordSecurity include leading the first funding round for $100m – technically a “seed” round he says  (unusually the bootstrapped enjoyed revenues of over $100m when it approached investors). Laurynas is also building a purpose-driven finance team of 90 talented people across the department to deliver a “forward looking finance function” that propels growth at the leading startup. Laurynas has set out a powerful mission for FP&A whose vision to “earn respect from stakeholders at the company”, “have a seat at the decision-making table”, and use data and detailed knowledge of growth drivers to “make strategic decisions that drive our business”.

In this episode:

  • Moving back to my home country of Lithuania, from London. after success in investment banking (and not listening to those who tried to talk him out of it) 
  • Battling the “negative connotations” of VPNs when talking to investors and and building conviction around the management and culture of the company 
  • Bringing finance to strategic decision-making at the company including  a CFO tech stack focused on “availability of data and of analytics in a more timely fashion”
  • Investing in building finance relations with stakeholders in the company (from engineers to product development)
  • Building a finance team of 90 people based on data, tech, and stakeholder engagement
  • FP&A analysis powering painful decisions to sunset certain products 
  • Our FP&A team structure at Nord Security and the results we expect
  • Benefit of working with founders and the culture this provides
  • The Lithuanian tech ecosystem and finance opportunities 
  • Connect with Laurynas on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/laurynas-zabulis-0206333/

    ...more
    View all episodesView all episodes
    Download on the App Store

    FP&A TodayBy Glenn Hopper

    • 4.7
    • 4.7
    • 4.7
    • 4.7
    • 4.7

    4.7

    45 ratings


    More shows like FP&A Today

    View all
    Exchanges by Goldman Sachs

    Exchanges

    962 Listeners

    The McKinsey Podcast by McKinsey & Company

    The McKinsey Podcast

    389 Listeners

    PwC's accounting podcast by PwC

    PwC's accounting podcast

    182 Listeners

    WSJ Tech News Briefing by The Wall Street Journal

    WSJ Tech News Briefing

    1,639 Listeners

    CFO THOUGHT LEADER by The Future of Finance is Listening

    CFO THOUGHT LEADER

    124 Listeners

    TED Business by TED

    TED Business

    1,105 Listeners

    Invest Like the Best with Patrick O'Shaughnessy by Colossus | Investing & Business Podcasts

    Invest Like the Best with Patrick O'Shaughnessy

    2,351 Listeners

    WSJ Minute Briefing by The Wall Street Journal

    WSJ Minute Briefing

    676 Listeners

    The Accounting Podcast by Blake Oliver & David Leary

    The Accounting Podcast

    333 Listeners

    Eat Your Crust by Crystal Jiao, Jeesoo Kim

    Eat Your Crust

    214 Listeners

    Thoughts on the Market by Morgan Stanley

    Thoughts on the Market

    1,297 Listeners

    Think Fast Talk Smart: Communication Techniques by Matt Abrahams, Think Fast Talk Smart

    Think Fast Talk Smart: Communication Techniques

    794 Listeners

    CFO Weekly by Personiv

    CFO Weekly

    44 Listeners

    WSJ's Take On the Week by The Wall Street Journal

    WSJ's Take On the Week

    143 Listeners

    FP&A Unlocked by Paul Barnhurst

    FP&A Unlocked

    25 Listeners