Run the Numbers

CJ Gustafson sits down with Marten Abrahamsen, CFO of Vercel, at the NYSE to talk about running finance inside a hypergrowth AI company. They cover AI use cases in finance, rev rec, forecasting, KPI dashboards, PLG, consumption pricing, and Marten’s “speeding tickets vs. parking tickets” framework for moving fast without losing control.

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SPONSORS:

Brex is an intelligent finance platform with AI-powered agents that capture expenses automatically, enforce policy before the spend happens, and close your books in minutes instead of weeks. 35,000+ companies like OpenAI, Coinbase, Anthropic, and DoorDash already run on Brex. It's time to get Brex AF. Learn more at https://www.brex.com/metrics

Aleph is a modern FP&A platform built for teams that want more than another planning tool. By connecting your ERP, CRM, and other systems into one trusted data layer with AI workflows, Aleph helps you move faster with real-time insights. Get a personalized demo at https://www.getaleph.com/run

RightRev is an automated revenue recognition platform that lets your product team ship new pricing without asking finance for permission, and your sales team close deals without creating downstream chaos. Check out their free tool at calculator.rightrev.com It scores your rev rec process, shows what's exposing you to risk, and tells you exactly where to focus before it bites you in the rear end. Check it out at https://calculator.rightrev.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 has been part of Silicon Valley since it was just a valley, helping the most successful names in tech go from startup to exit to megacap. With teams across strategy, tax, audit, and transactions, EY helps you get your financials right early, long before your investors start asking for it. You build the next big thing, and EY will help you build it right. Learn more at https://www.ey.com/techstartups

SpendHound cuts your SaaS and AI spend by up to 30% using real pricing benchmarks across 10,000 vendors, so you always know what fair pricing looks like before your next renewal. Rated #1 on G2 in SaaS spend management, it's free forever for teams up to 1,000 employees. Sign up by June 12th and get $500 just for getting started. Go to https://www.spendhound.com/cj

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LINKS: 

Mostly Talent: https://mostlymetrics.typeform.com/to/cLTxtAsN

Guest: https://www.linkedin.com/in/martenabrahamsen/

Company: http://vercel.com/

CJ: https://www.linkedin.com/in/cj-gustafson-13140948/

Mostly metrics: https://www.mostlymetrics.com

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TIMESTAMPS:

0:00 Speeding tickets vs. parking tickets

3:21 Visa IPO in the financial crisis

5:09 Going public has changed

6:45 Private market: 22–24 trillion

9:03 More or fewer public companies?

9:48 Sponsors — Brex | Aleph | RightRev

13:04 KPI dashboard on your phone

14:12 Revenue flux via Slack and Notion

15:37 RevRec tool: green, yellow, red

17:56 V0 is a job requirement

19:43 Speeding tickets vs. parking tickets

20:33 Sponsors — Rillet | EY | SpendHound

23:49 Very few one-way doors

25:02 Finance in hypergrowth

25:39 Three-scenario planning

27:00 Honest with the board

31:00 PLG + consumption at Vercel

33:32 What Marten checks every morning

34:03 Why RPO doesn't work here

35:36 Holiday usage is up

37:10 ICP shifted to solo developer

39:22 Capital allocation in a fast market

41:32 Growth compounds; margin can't

43:22 SaaS gross margins: spicy take

44:24 Cash-burning AI: 2026 vs. 2021

47:29 Are some hypergrowth cos destroying value?

50:00 Lightning round

50:11 Bank of Ireland mix-up

51:10 Don't punt problems forward

52:04 Finance software stack

52:38 Expensed an oven

53:12 Credits

In this episode of Run the Numbers, CJ breaks down how stock exchanges became the operating system of modern capitalism. From ship captains raising voyage money, to the Dutch East India Company’s first tradable shares, to coffee house traders, the Buttonwood Agreement, market crashes, Robinhood, and GameStop, this is the story of how markets turned ownership into something liquid, global, and very, very human.

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SPONSORS:

SpendHound cuts your SaaS and AI spend by up to 30% using real pricing benchmarks across 10,000 vendors, so you always know what fair pricing looks like before your next renewal. Rated #1 on G2 in SaaS spend management, it's free forever for teams up to 1,000 employees. Sign up by June 12th and get $500 just for getting started. Go to https://www.spendhound.com/cj

Brex is an intelligent finance platform with AI-powered agents that capture expenses automatically, enforce policy before the spend happens, and close your books in minutes instead of weeks. 35,000+ companies like OpenAI, Coinbase, Anthropic, and DoorDash already run on Brex. It's time to get Brex AF. Learn more at https://www.brex.com/metrics

Aleph is a modern FP&A platform built for teams that want more than another planning tool. By connecting your ERP, CRM, and other systems into one trusted data layer with AI workflows, Aleph helps you move faster with real-time insights. Get a personalized demo at https://www.getaleph.com/run

RightRev is an automated revenue recognition platform that lets your product team ship new pricing without asking finance for permission, and your sales team close deals without creating downstream chaos. Check out their free tool at calculator.rightrev.com It scores your rev rec process, shows what's exposing you to risk, and tells you exactly where to focus before it bites you in the rear end. Check it out at https://calculator.rightrev.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 has been part of Silicon Valley since it was just a valley, helping the most successful names in tech go from startup to exit to megacap. With teams across strategy, tax, audit, and transactions, EY helps you get your financials right early, long before your investors start asking for it. You build the next big thing, and EY will help you build it right. Learn more at https://www.ey.com/techstartups

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LINKS: 

Mostly Talent: https://mostlymetrics.typeform.com/to/cLTxtAsN

CJ: https://www.linkedin.com/in/cj-gustafson-13140948/

Mostly metrics: https://www.mostlymetrics.com

Slacker Stuff: https://www.slackerstuff.com/

Ben on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/slackerstuff/

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RELATED EPISODES:

A CFO Explains Secondaries

https://youtu.be/pENvBuXhGuk

A CFO Explains the Diamond Industry

https://youtu.be/fPrho7hvykA

A CFO Explains Marketplaces

https://youtu.be/LpbH9GpBrSY

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TIMESTAMPS:

0:00 The First IPO, and Why It Changed Everything

2:50 Coffee, Buttonwood Trees, and the First Insider Trading Scandal

6:31 The Railroads Built Your Month-End Close

10:17 Sponsors — SpendHound | Brex | Aleph

13:47 Buying Stocks on Credit, and How That Ended

18:13 Merrill Lynch Goes to the Suburbs, and the Paper Almost Wins

21:44 Sponsors — RightRev | Rillet | EY

24:47 NASDAQ, Pets.com, and the Most Expensive Sock Puppet in History

28:49 The Phone in Your Pocket Democratized Everything, For Better or Worse

33:03 The Stock Market Was Never Really About Stocks

36:47 Credits

#RunTheNumbersPodcast #FinanceHistory #StockMarket #Investing #FinanceLeadership

In this episode of Run the Numbers, CJ sits down with Ryan Roccon, CFO of Zapier, to cover AI hiring standards, automating month-end close, measuring ROI on AI spend, and why determinism still beats agents most of the time.

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SPONSORS:

EY has been part of Silicon Valley since it was just a valley, helping the most successful names in tech go from startup to exit to megacap. With teams across strategy, tax, audit, and transactions, EY helps you get your financials right early, long before your investors start asking for it. You build the next big thing, and EY will help you build it right. Learn more at https://www.ey.com/techstartups

SpendHound cuts your SaaS and AI spend by up to 30% using real pricing benchmarks across 10,000 vendors, so you always know what fair pricing looks like before your next renewal. Rated #1 on G2 in SaaS spend management, it's free forever for teams up to 1,000 employees. Sign up by June 12th and get $500 just for getting started. Go to https://www.spendhound.com/cj

Brex is an intelligent finance platform with AI-powered agents that capture expenses automatically, enforce policy before the spend happens, and close your books in minutes instead of weeks. 35,000+ companies like OpenAI, Coinbase, Anthropic, and DoorDash already run on Brex. It's time to get Brex AF. Learn more at https://www.brex.com/metrics

Aleph is a modern FP&A platform built for teams that want more than another planning tool. By connecting your ERP, CRM, and other systems into one trusted data layer with AI workflows, Aleph helps you move faster with real-time insights. Get a personalized demo at https://www.getaleph.com/run

RightRev is an automated revenue recognition platform that lets your product team ship new pricing without asking finance for permission, and your sales team close deals without creating downstream chaos. Check out their free tool at calculator.rightrev.com It scores your rev rec process, shows what's exposing you to risk, and tells you exactly where to focus before it bites you in the rear end. Check it out at https://calculator.rightrev.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

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LINKS: 

Mostly Talent: https://mostlymetrics.typeform.com/to/cLTxtAsN

Guest: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ryanroccon/

Company: https://zapier.com/

CJ: https://www.linkedin.com/in/cj-gustafson-13140948/

Mostly metrics: https://www.mostlymetrics.com

—

RELATED EPISODES:

Ryan’s First Appearance

https://youtu.be/VIZ_RzfV78I

Chris Byington, Head of Data @ Superhuman

https://youtu.be/ydH38JnWfww

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TIMESTAMPS:

0:00 Preview and intro

2:11 Ryan's scope at Zapier

3:17 Why the finance guy runs ecosystems

6:19 AI is a required hire competency

6:46 The four levels: unacceptable to transformative

8:48 How Zapier tests for it

11:50 Favorite interview question

13:06 Sponsors — EY | SpendHound | Brex

16:18 AI changes the hiring profile

17:07 Support becomes customer-facing engineering

18:44 Where AI beats deterministic Zaps

21:00 80-90% of builds are deterministic

22:41 Sponsors — Aleph | RightRev | Rillet

26:00 Month end close on Zaps

27:40 Time saved is a leading indicator

29:53 AI token costs: COGS or investment?

31:51 Performance issue or measurement issue?

33:41 Partner ARR: chasing the wrong thing

35:56 Build around what changes the decision

37:17 The initiative sizing coach

40:00 Escalate on magnitude, not certainty

41:55 The 9,000 integration story

44:02 M&A process and minimum model

46:19 Cash vs. stock: incentive alignment

48:06 CFO's role in M&A: show up early

49:18 Credits

In this episode of Run the Numbers, CJ sits down with Aurélien Nolf, CFO of Navan, to unpack how to pre-align before budgeting, how to think about portfolio construction inside a company, when to fund or kill internal bets, how IR is becoming more connected to FP&A, and where AI actually works inside finance teams.

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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

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

SpendHound is a SaaS spend management platform built for finance and procurement teams that want visibility and leverage in every deal. By tracking all your software, benchmarking pricing across thousands of vendors, and surfacing contracts and renewals, SpendHound helps you stop overpaying and negotiate with confidence. Trusted by teams at ZoomInfo and Hootsuite. Get started at https://www.spendhound.com/cj

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

Aleph is a modern FP&A platform built for teams that want more than another planning tool. By connecting your ERP, CRM, and other systems into one trusted data layer with AI workflows, Aleph helps you move faster with real-time insights. Get a personalized demo at https://www.getaleph.com/run

RightRev is an automated revenue recognition platform built for teams that have outgrown spreadsheets and billing tool workarounds. It handles high-volume subscriptions, usage-based contracts, and mid-cycle upgrades, so you can scale without scrambling at month-end. For RevRec that keeps your books clean, visit https://www.rightrev.com/CJ

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LINKS: 

Mostly Talent: https://mostlymetrics.typeform.com/to/cLTxtAsN

Guest: https://www.linkedin.com/in/aureliennolf5b716412/

Company: https://navan.com/

CJ: https://www.linkedin.com/in/cj-gustafson-13140948/

Mostly metrics: https://www.mostlymetrics.com

—

TIMESTAMPS:

0:00 Preview and intro

1:21 Welcome and guest intro

3:06 100-mile ultramarathon at Lake Tahoe

4:47 Resource allocation lessons from EA

6:41 Bucketing bets: proven, intuition, moonshots

7:43 Pre-alignment before budgeting

9:58 The 70/20/10 framework

10:35 Sponsors — Rillet | EY | SpendHound

13:51 The common trap: chasing everything

16:16 Lyft: $1B burning to $1B profitable

18:11 Killing projects without crushing morale

19:24 TAM as the planning foundation

20:57 Navan's TAM: managed vs. unmanaged

22:15 Sponsors — Brex | Aleph | RightRev

25:48 Why go after the unmanaged segment

28:24 Not all TAM dollars are equal

29:26 How IR is evolving

30:45 Why FP&A and IR belong together

31:54 Metrics: disclose vs. guide

34:04 Use internal metrics externally

35:12 Communicating bad news to the market

39:22 Earnings prep: the black book

40:04 AI in finance: can't vibe code compliance

41:31 Ava handles 55% of interactions

43:08 AI ROI: same framework as anything else

44:02 Why finance hasn't had its AI moment

44:46 Lightning round

44:56 Screwed up: wrong investor meeting

45:23 Sunday planning ritual

46:42 Advice to younger self

47:29 Finance software stack

48:34 Craziest expense: curtains at the hotel laundry

49:17 Credits

In this episode of Run the Numbers, CJ breaks down SpaceX’s S-1, unpacking what the filing reveals about Starlink, xAI, X, common control accounting, revenue, losses, CapEx, and Elon Musk’s Mars-linked compensation structure.

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SPONSORS:

RightRev is an automated revenue recognition platform built for teams that have outgrown spreadsheets and billing tool workarounds. It handles high-volume subscriptions, usage-based contracts, and mid-cycle upgrades, so you can scale without scrambling at month-end. For RevRec that keeps your books clean, visit https://www.rightrev.com/CJ

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

SpendHound is a SaaS spend management platform built for finance and procurement teams that want visibility and leverage in every deal. By tracking all your software, benchmarking pricing across thousands of vendors, and surfacing contracts and renewals, SpendHound helps you stop overpaying and negotiate with confidence. Trusted by teams at ZoomInfo and Hootsuite. Get started at https://www.spendhound.com/cj

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
Aleph is a modern FP&A platform built for teams that want more than another planning tool. By connecting your ERP, CRM, and other systems into one trusted data layer with AI workflows, Aleph helps you move faster with real-time insights. Get a personalized demo at https://www.getaleph.com/run

—

LINKS: 

CJ: https://www.linkedin.com/in/cj-gustafson-13140948/

Mostly metrics: https://www.mostlymetrics.com

—

TIMESTAMPS:

0:00 SpaceX S1 breakdown

0:50 Elon's Mars colony comp plan

2:03 Common control accounting: SpaceX + xAI + X

3:04 What SpaceX actually does

3:43 How reusable rockets work

4:24 Launch cost curve: foundation of everything

5:49 Launch services: $8B, 85% of global launches

6:44 Starlink: $11.4B, 63% EBITDA margins

7:36 xAI and X: burning $1B/month

8:22 Sponsors — RightRev | Rillet | EY

11:18 Colossus and orbital AI thesis

11:41 Revenue, segments and CapEx breakdown

14:54 RPO: $28.4B backlog

15:18 Starlink subscribers and ARPU decline

16:01 Target valuation: $1.5–1.75 trillion

16:47 Starlink deep dive

18:05 International pricing strategy

21:38 The consolidated entity problem

22:28 Related party section: nine pages

22:32 Sponsors — SpendHound | Brex | Aleph

26:15 Valor Equity: $20B in equipment leases

27:05 Tesla cross-ownership and Terrafab

28:23 R&D: $8.6B, 46% of revenue

30:33 Starship: key risk and growth linchpin

31:41 Red flag 1: CEO comp tied to Mars colony

32:22 Red flag 2: Musk concentration risk

32:49 Red flag 3: Cursor option — $10B downside

33:36 Red flag 4: X advertising is shrinking

34:06 IPO structure and SPCX ticker

34:50 30% retail allocation, no lockups

35:44 S&P 500 inclusion forces buying within 15 days

37:54 Valuation: 60–70x forward revenue

38:43 Peer comparison

39:44 What you're buying at $1.5T

40:53 CFO comp: the only sane plan in the filing

41:25 Bitcoin on the balance sheet

41:57 Credits

In this episode of Run the Numbers, CJ sits down with ParkerGale Operating Partner Paul Stansik to break down five ways CFOs can help build a better sales engine: making the budget mean something, improving forecasting, sharpening metrics, getting involved in key RevOps moments, and building real trust with sales.

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SPONSORS:

Aleph is a modern FP&A platform built for teams that want more than another planning tool. By connecting your ERP, CRM, and other systems into one trusted data layer with AI workflows, Aleph helps you move faster with real-time insights. Get a personalized demo at https://www.getaleph.com/run

RightRev is an automated revenue recognition platform built for teams that have outgrown spreadsheets and billing tool workarounds. It handles high-volume subscriptions, usage-based contracts, and mid-cycle upgrades, so you can scale without scrambling at month-end. For RevRec that keeps your books clean, visit https://www.rightrev.com/CJ

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

SpendHound is a SaaS spend management platform built for finance and procurement teams that want visibility and leverage in every deal. By tracking all your software, benchmarking pricing across thousands of vendors, and surfacing contracts and renewals, SpendHound helps you stop overpaying and negotiate with confidence. Trusted by teams at ZoomInfo and Hootsuite. Get started at https://www.spendhound.com/cj

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

—

LINKS: 

Mostly Talent: https://mostlymetrics.typeform.com/to/cLTxtAsN

Guest: https://www.linkedin.com/in/paulstansik/

Company: https://www.parkergale.com/

Hello Operator: https://hellooperator.substack.com/

CJ: https://www.linkedin.com/in/cj-gustafson-13140948/

Mostly metrics: https://www.mostlymetrics.com

—

RELATED EPISODES:

Is a weekly martini ARR? | with Dave Kellogg

https://youtu.be/Yb1lUQLJ6qw

—

TIMESTAMPS:

All verified. Here are the timestamps:

0:00 Preview and intro

2:27 Parker Gale and Paul's role

3:52 Topic: how CFOs build a better sales engine

6:21 1: Make the budget mean something

8:11 Budget segmentation and cleaving the business

10:54 Sponsors — Aleph | RightRev | Rillet

14:08 2: Help emphasize forecasting

17:23 Forecasting as non-threatening co-construction

19:37 Sponsors — EY | SpendHound | Brex

23:06 3: Lend a hand with data and metrics

25:32 Walking sales through NDR levers

27:16 Metrics tied to exit readiness

28:00 4: Get involved in a few RevOps spots

29:04 Pricing, proposals, and quoting

31:22 Kill your SKUs

32:51 Selling with certainty: quote formatting

34:26 CFO letter for enterprise deals

37:37 5: Build a great relationship with sales

37:59 You can't fix a secret

39:23 EQ over IQ for finance leaders

40:41 Recap: all five tips

42:11 Credits

#RunTheNumbersPodcast #CFO #SalesStrategy #FinanceLeadership #RevenueOperations

In this episode of Run the Numbers, CJ sits down with Figure Technologies CFO Macrina Kgil to break down how Figure’s business model works, why traditional lending remains so bloated, and how speed in origination and funding flows through financial performance. They also cover stablecoins, blockchain as invisible infrastructure, AI in accounting, and scaling finance with fewer than 35 people.

—

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

Aleph is a modern FP&A platform built for teams that want more than another planning tool. By connecting your ERP, CRM, and other systems into one trusted data layer with AI workflows, Aleph helps you move faster with real-time insights. Get a personalized demo at https://www.getaleph.com/run

RightRev is an automated revenue recognition platform built for teams that have outgrown spreadsheets and billing tool workarounds. It handles high-volume subscriptions, usage-based contracts, and mid-cycle upgrades, so you can scale without scrambling at month-end. For RevRec that keeps your books clean, visit https://www.rightrev.com/CJ

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

SpendHound is a SaaS spend management platform built for finance and procurement teams that want visibility and leverage in every deal. By tracking all your software, benchmarking pricing across thousands of vendors, and surfacing contracts and renewals, SpendHound helps you stop overpaying and negotiate with confidence. Trusted by teams at ZoomInfo and Hootsuite. Get started at https://www.spendhound.com/cj

—

LINKS: 

Mostly Talent: https://mostlymetrics.typeform.com/to/cLTxtAsN

Guest: https://www.linkedin.com/in/macrina/

Company: https://www.figure.com/

CJ: https://www.linkedin.com/in/cj-gustafson-13140948/

Mostly metrics: https://www.mostlymetrics.com

—

TIMESTAMPS:

0:00 Preview and intro

3:10 Working for a CEO who's a former CFO

5:00 What Figure does and how it makes money

6:57 Blockchain's first commercial use case

8:17 50%+ margins, path to 60%

9:23 Sponsors — Brex | Aleph | RightRev

12:56 HELOC origination: 45 days to 5 days

14:26 Where the lending system is bloated

15:56 Credit and liquidity as core risks

17:06 Blockchain makes the marketplace transparent

18:10 Risk as a fintech CFO

19:49 Sponsors — Rillet | EY | SpendHound

22:58 Crypto on the balance sheet

24:12 Blockchain becomes invisible like cloud

25:44 Stablecoins explained

27:47 YLDS: Figure's yield-bearing stablecoin

29:02 Crawl, walk, run stablecoin strategy

34:32 IPO process: what got easier

35:03 What got harder: testing the waters

37:12 Blockchain KPIs and investor conversations

38:21 Finance team: 130 people down to 35

40:00 SEC engagement: storytelling not financials

40:49 IPO advice: pick durable KPIs

42:05 First earnings after IPO: don't miss

43:13 AI automation goal: 60% by 2026

46:11 Director of Finance Transformation hire

47:40 30-60-90 for the transformation role

48:58 Long-Ass Lightning Round

52:20 Credits

Cerebras is going public with the largest commercial chip ever built, $510M in 2025 revenue, and a $24.6B backlog mostly tied to OpenAI. CJ breaks down the company’s wafer-scale AI bet, why inference changed the story, the strange customer-investor-lender relationships behind the IPO, and the big question: is Cerebras the next NVIDIA-style infrastructure winner, or a concentrated hardware company with a very expensive cloud pivot?

—

SPONSORS:

SpendHound is a SaaS spend management platform built for finance and procurement teams that want visibility and leverage in every deal. By tracking all your software, benchmarking pricing across thousands of vendors, and surfacing contracts and renewals, SpendHound helps you stop overpaying and negotiate with confidence. Trusted by teams at ZoomInfo and Hootsuite. Get started at https://www.spendhound.com/cj

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

Aleph is a modern FP&A platform built for teams that want more than another planning tool. By connecting your ERP, CRM, and other systems into one trusted data layer with AI workflows, Aleph helps you move faster with real-time insights. Get a personalized demo at https://www.getaleph.com/run

RightRev is an automated revenue recognition platform built for teams that have outgrown spreadsheets and billing tool workarounds. It handles high-volume subscriptions, usage-based contracts, and mid-cycle upgrades, so you can scale without scrambling at month-end. For RevRec that keeps your books clean, visit https://www.rightrev.com/CJ

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

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LINKS: 

Mostly Talent: https://mostlymetrics.typeform.com/to/cLTxtAsN

CJ: https://www.linkedin.com/in/cj-gustafson-13140948/

Mostly metrics: https://www.mostlymetrics.com

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TIMESTAMPS:

0:00 Preview and intro

0:59 Cerebras: the dinner plate chip

3:56 Why chip size matters for AI

5:26 Old vs. new AI: inference is the bottleneck

7:30 Revenue: 20x in 3 years

7:49 Sponsors — SpendHound | Brex | Aleph

11:33 Gross margin

12:02 Net income: the one-time accounting trick

12:41 Operating cash flow whipsaw

13:24 RPO: $24.6B backlog

13:58 Customer concentration: the UAE entities

18:06 Sponsors — RightRev | Rillet | EY

21:05 Cloud revenue: the inverse SaaS story

22:23 Cloud gross margin collapse

23:53 G42 warrants for pennies

29:14 The OpenAI warrant: Funky Town

31:08 $40B market cap milestone

31:36 R&D and S&M breakdown

33:15 Balance sheet and cash burn

35:59 Red flag 1: accounting weaknesses

36:37 Red flag 2: one foundry, no supply deal

37:28 Red flag 3: UAE geopolitical risk

38:10 Red flag 4: cloud is unproven

39:02 Cap table: founders diluted

40:43 Voting control: Class A, B, and N

41:15 Valuation: 10–13x forward revenue

41:48 Peer comparison

43:47 CEO's prior issues

46:10 Credits

Nothing said or created by this podcast is business or investment advice

#RunTheNumbersPodcast #IPO #Semiconductors #AIStrategy #FinanceLeadership

David Bell, co-founder of Idea Farm Ventures and early investor behind Warby Parker, Harry’s, and Diapers.com, and CJ break down how consumer investing works. They cover why durable consumer companies require more than clean unit economics, how to apply SaaS-style thinking to businesses without contracts, and why the best opportunities often live in boring gray space.

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SPONSORS:

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

SpendHound is a SaaS spend management platform built for finance and procurement teams that want visibility and leverage in every deal. By tracking all your software, benchmarking pricing across thousands of vendors, and surfacing contracts and renewals, SpendHound helps you stop overpaying and negotiate with confidence. Trusted by teams at ZoomInfo and Hootsuite. Get started at https://www.spendhound.com/cj

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

Aleph is a modern FP&A platform built for teams that want more than another planning tool. By connecting your ERP, CRM, and other systems into one trusted data layer with AI workflows, Aleph helps you move faster with real-time insights. Get a personalized demo at https://www.getaleph.com/run

RightRev is an automated revenue recognition platform built for teams that have outgrown spreadsheets and billing tool workarounds. It handles high-volume subscriptions, usage-based contracts, and mid-cycle upgrades, so you can scale without scrambling at month-end. For RevRec that keeps your books clean, visit https://www.rightrev.com/CJ

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

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Mostly Talent: https://mostlymetrics.typeform.com/to/cLTxtAsN

Guest: https://www.linkedin.com/in/david-bell-086820/

Company: https://www.ideafarmventures.com/

CJ: https://www.linkedin.com/in/cj-gustafson-13140948/

Mostly metrics: https://www.mostlymetrics.com

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TIMESTAMPS:

0:00 Preview and intro

3:16 Edge: economics and psychology

5:21 Best ideas in boring gray space

5:41 Functional, emotional, and symbolic value

7:08 Grüns gummies and divisibility

9:02 Sponsors — EY | SpendHound | Brex

12:31 Ideation: personal pain vs. market analysis

13:17 Diapers.com and the Starbucks origin story

16:00 Warby Parker: asking why

16:33 LTV to CAC in D2C

18:02 Retention math: 85 to 90% can double LTV

19:00 Milkman and recurring vs. reoccurring

20:42 Trust economics

22:38 Warby stores boost online sales

22:58 Sponsors — Aleph | RightRev | Rillet

26:12 Away store as advertising

27:46 Warby discovery: dots on a map

30:10 Home try-on word of mouth value

32:09 D2C unit economics mistakes

34:55 Innovating on distribution

35:50 Touchland in Sephora: right channel, right signal

37:00 Capital allocation: margin and low CAC first

39:18 Sequencing: people, brand, then inventory

40:58 Product vs. brand: the 8x10 thought experiment

42:23 Consumer monetization shifts

45:45 The gravity framework

50:32 Isolation principle: most underused lever

52:36 Working backwards from exit at day zero

57:23 What if your business isn't venture scale?

59:32 Book plug: Founders Gold

1:00:25 Credits

CJ turns the mic on the people behind Mostly Media for a special behind-the-scenes episode of Run the Numbers. Michelle, Callie, Sarah, Matthew, Ben, and Steve share what it’s like building the company, scaling media, talent, sales, production, and operations, and dealing with CJ’s scooter lore, calendar quirks, and chaos along the way.

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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

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

SpendHound is a SaaS spend management platform built for finance and procurement teams that want visibility and leverage in every deal. By tracking all your software, benchmarking pricing across thousands of vendors, and surfacing contracts and renewals, SpendHound helps you stop overpaying and negotiate with confidence. Trusted by teams at ZoomInfo and Hootsuite. Get started at https://www.spendhound.com/cj

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

Aleph is a modern FP&A platform built for teams that want more than another planning tool. By connecting your ERP, CRM, and other systems into one trusted data layer with AI workflows, Aleph helps you move faster with real-time insights. Get a personalized demo at https://www.getaleph.com/run

RightRev is an automated revenue recognition platform built for teams that have outgrown spreadsheets and billing tool workarounds. It handles high-volume subscriptions, usage-based contracts, and mid-cycle upgrades, so you can scale without scrambling at month-end. For RevRec that keeps your books clean, visit https://www.rightrev.com/CJ

—

LINKS: 

Mostly Talent: https://mostlymetrics.typeform.com/to/cLTxtAsN

CJ: https://www.linkedin.com/in/cj-gustafson-13140948/

Mostly metrics: https://www.mostlymetrics.com

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TIMESTAMPS:

0:00 Preview and intro

2:44 Show intro: meet the Mostly Media team

3:37 Michelle Finn: accounting and ops

4:28 Parts Tech days: CJ's first CFO role

7:21 How the newsletter convinced Michelle to join

9:02 Sponsors — Rillet | EY | SpendHound

12:11 Callie Spillane: talent director

13:17 Callie's background: HubSpot, Sneak, Superhuman

13:40 Why Callie was hard to hire

15:37 Snyk hypergrowth: 150 to 1,500 people

16:59 Zero to one vs. one to ten

18:20 9 of 20 roles filled: how it's going

23:24 Sponsors — Brex | Aleph | RightRev

26:58 Sarah Bousquet: media op

27:45 Stay at home mom to ops lead

33:48 CJ's schedule: American Psycho

34:43 Matthew Mozzocchi: sales and partnerships

35:41 Going full time with a newborn

36:20 Product market fit signal

38:07 Fewer, bigger bets on creators

41:00 Podcast is the air game, newsletter is the ground game

43:56 Ben Hillman and Steve Cerasoli: production

47:46 Media in service of a product vs. the product itself

48:37 Run the Numbers vs. Mostly Growth

51:25 Where are we in three years?

52:40 Credits

#RunTheNumbersPodcast #CreatorEconomy #MediaBusiness #Entrepreneurship #ContentBusiness