Retained Learnings

The CFO of a growing franchise business wears many hats, including a few that other CFOs might never try on. Laura Wittholz, the CFO of The Ten Spot, has worn many of them over 15 years at the spa beauty bar company. The company was one of the fastest growing in Canada, ready to expand into the U.S. right before the pandemic hit in 2020. Laura had to quickly pivot her role from scaling and strategy to assisting the franchisees make it through the most challenging two years of the company’s existence. Learn how a CFO participates in the franchising process, how Laura and The Ten Spot survived months of closures, and what Laura believes can help make you a better finance leader based on her years of experience. 

Learn more about The Ten Spot by visiting https://www.thetenspot.com/

This podcast episode was produced by Quill.

Not all pathways to the CFO chair are identical and there is no step-by-step guide to get there. And in the case of Paritosh Gupta, his first role as a CFO was thrust upon him when he admittedly didn’t even want the job. His experience was probably more uncommon than most CFOs but this gave him a unique perspective and helped him learn important lessons along the way. When he moved from a CFO position in the mining industry to a CFO position in a tech company, there was an entirely different set of lessons he had to learn. Learn how experience in different industries and positions can make you a stronger CFO, and how the path to this role can take many different forms.

Learn more about Felix Health by visiting https://www.felixforyou.ca/ .

This podcast episode was produced by Quill.

Building a new finance team is a balancing act between hiring for the future and hiring for today, especially if you’re at a fast growing company. Knowing which roles to fill first and where to find talent isn’t easy if you haven’t done it before. In this episode of Retained Learnings, Rhianna Brancato, VP of Finance at Properly joins host Rob Khazzam to share advice on team structure, where to find your next hire, how technology can help supplement your team and some of the do-overs she would make if she could go through it all over again.

Learn more about Properly by visiting properly.ca .

This podcast episode was produced by Quill.

When the economy starts shifting towards a recession, the VC ecosystem can also shift, moving the goal posts for early stage startups trying to secure funding. In this episode of Retained Learnings, Matt Golden, the founder and managing partner of Golden Ventures joins host Rob Khazzam to share advice for staying capitalized and how to successfully pursue financing during a market downturn.

Learn more about Golden Ventures by visiting golden.ventures .

This podcast episode was produced by Quill.

Matt Petrow, CFO at Coconut Software recently led his team through a $28 million Series B financing round in 2021. He joins host Rob Khazzam to share how his team planned and successfully executed raising the new capital. Matt offers some advice for other finance leaders that may be considering a Series B raise in the future.

Learn more about Coconut Software by visiting www.coconutsoftware.com.

This podcast episode was produced by Quill.

Whether you’re implementing a zero-based budgeting model for the first time or raising a Series B, there’s a good chance someone has been in your shoes before. Listening to their stories just might help you turn these milestones into career-defining opportunities. What if you could hear from Canadian finance leaders about how they overcame one of these challenges in their own unique way?

Listen in as Rob Khazzam, the founder and CEO of Float speaks with Canada’s most respected and accomplished finance and business names to bring you some of the lessons they’ve collected during their careers.

Retained Learnings is coming to your favourite podcast app this September.