GrowCFO Show

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https://open.spotify.com/episode/35qKYO14JG1pUeM5uoCQPg

In a world of rapid disruption and volatility, finance teams can no longer rely on single‑point forecasts and rigid spreadsheets. They must understand ranges of possible outcomes, quantify risk, and communicate uncertainty in ways that enable better, faster strategic decisions, turning uncertainty from a threat into a competitive advantage.

In this episode of The GrowCFO Show, host Kevin Appleby speaks with Jason Brisbane, Founder of Finhelm, about how AI and Monte Carlo simulation are reshaping finance by replacing deterministic forecasts with probability‑driven models. Brisbane shares his journey from FP&A and treasury at Adobe to founding Finhelm, a platform that brings “computational finance” into the CFO organization and assigns an “uncertainty exposure score” to models, essentially a credit score for forecast risk.

This approach helps FP&A teams treat variances as learning signals rather than failures and move from static scenario planning to continuous simulation at scale. The discussion also explores how probabilistic modeling supports risk management and AI governance, including “nutrition labels” for AI‑enabled processes so domain experts can understand volatility, detect drift, and know when human intervention is required.

Key topics covered:

Shift from deterministic to probabilistic finance: Brisbane explains how most organizations still rely on single‑point, deterministic forecasts, and how Monte Carlo simulation combined with AI introduces probability distributions, helping teams understand the likelihood of outcomes rather than relying on one number.

Uncertainty Exposure Score as a “credit score” for forecasts: Finhelm applies Monte Carlo simulation to generate an “uncertainty exposure score,” giving finance leaders a clear measure of volatility and risk embedded in their models over time.

Variances as learning, not failure: Brisbane argues that probabilistic finance allows FP&A teams to reframe forecast variances as opportunities for learning and calibration, rather than signs of failure, driving a more mature approach to performance management.

From scenario to simulation in risk management: The discussion extends Monte Carlo beyond financial forecasting into risk, highlighting how organizations can move from simplistic low/medium/high risk grids to simulated, monetized risk impacts across portfolios and risk registers.

AI “nutrition labels” and governance: Brisbane introduces the idea of a “nutrition label” for AI‑enabled processes, where risk scores and volatility bands help domain experts decide when it is safe for autonomous agents to operate and when human intervention is required.

AI‑native build by a finance domain expert: As a finance professional rather than a traditional technologist, Brisbane describes how he is using AI‑native development tools to build Finhelm, demonstrating how domain experts can now create sophisticated, AI‑driven solutions without large in‑house engineering teams.

Links

Jason Brisbane on LinkedIn

Kevin Appleby on LinkedIn

GrowCFO Mentoring

Timestamps: 

00:00 – 04:30 – Jason shares his background from Adobe’s rotation program through FP&A and product roles, and explains Finhelm’s mission: bringing computational finance and Monte Carlo simulation into the CFO organization to add probability and distribution to traditional forecasts.

04:30 – 08:30 – Appleby and Brisbane break down Monte Carlo as running hundreds or thousands of simulations across best/likely/worst‑case assumptions to produce a forecast with confidence bands instead of a single number, reframing how finance understands uncertainty.

08:30 – 13:45 – Appleby recounts a defense procurement project where Monte Carlo was used to estimate 25‑year life‑cycle costs and readiness, illustrating why probabilistic modeling is essential when multiple uncertain drivers interact over long horizons.

14:00 – 18:30 – Brisbane contrasts the classic “three‑tab spreadsheet” (worst/base/best) with probabilistic finance, arguing that Monte Carlo and uncertainty exposure scores allow FP&A teams to treat variance as learning data and continually recalibrate models.

18:30 – 22:30 – The conversation turns to risk registers and enterprise risk, discussing how organizations can move beyond low/medium/high matrices to simulated, monetary impact of risks, and how this supports more informed resource allocation and strategic decisions.

21:30 – 26:00 – Brisbane introduces the concept of scoring volatility to determine when AI agents can operate autonomously within “safe bands” and when domain experts must intervene, aligning probabilistic finance with AI governance and auditability requirements.

25:20 – 32:00 – Brisbane outlines Finhelm’s early traction in law, professional services, and healthcare, and shares his vision that within 12–18 months, FP&A teams will routinely use Monte Carlo and uncertainty scoring to answer deeper questions about risk and performance.

Find out more about GrowCFO

If you enjoyed this podcast, you can subscribe to the GrowCFO Show with your favorite podcast app. The GrowCFO show is listed in the Apple podcast directory, Spotify and many others. Why not subscribe there today? That way, you never miss an episode.

GrowCFO is a great place to extend your professional network. Join GrowCFO as a free member today and participate in our regular networking events and webinars. Premium members can also access our extensive training center and CFO Digital Toolkit. You can enroll in our flagship Future CFO or Finance Leader programs here.

You can find out more and join today at growcfo.net

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https://open.spotify.com/episode/0zRJsjw9He6j7fvBc1Vzkp

Stepping into senior finance leadership is rarely neat or linear. The move from technical expert to strategic leader often happens sooner than expected, with higher stakes, tougher decisions, and sharper scrutiny. Yet these stretching moments are where the next generation of CFOs is really formed.

In this episode of the GrowCFO Show, Kevin Appleby speaks with David Hudson, Group Financial Controller at Empiric Student Property PLC. David shares how he found himself effectively operating as CFO during Empiric’s takeover by Unite Group plc; leading a difficult audit, resolving a major misstatement, handling confidential deal work, and guiding his team through intense change.

He explains how combining these real-world challenges with the GrowCFO program, especially the virtual boardroom, peer learning, and focus on personal branding, helped him accelerate his readiness for the top job. The conversation offers a practical blueprint for senior finance leaders who are being asked to step up before they feel fully prepared, showing how confidence, mentoring, and smart use of technology can enable them to perform credibly at CFO level.

Key topics covered:

David Hudson outlines his journey from audit into senior finance roles and ultimately into a position where he was effectively acting as CFO during a major corporate transaction.

He explains how stepping into the CFO role created a step‑change in responsibility—owning cash, leading the team, and steering auditors through a challenging year-end with a significant misstatement.

Hudson shares how the GrowCFO program, especially the virtual boardroom, stress‑tested his skills, built confidence, and helped him prepare for real board‑level scrutiny.

He highlights the importance of personal branding, networking, and maintaining a strong LinkedIn presence and CV as critical enablers for aspiring CFOs.

The discussion covers the realities of acquisition and integration—confidentiality, staff retention, fair reward, and managing external stakeholders such as brokers and investment banks.

Hudson describes how leveraging AI and OCR in the finance function, combined with mentoring and team development, positions him for his longer‑term ambition to become a CFO in a FTSE 250 business.

Links

David Hudson on LinkedIn

Kevin Appleby on LinkedIn

GrowCFO Mentoring

Timestamps: 

0:00:01 – David Hudson’s background and progression to Group Financial Controller at Empiric Student Property, and how he found himself stepping into a de facto CFO role during a takeover.

0:03:00 – Discussion of fear versus imposter syndrome, and what changes when the responsibility and accountability of a CFO role land on your desk.

0:04:52 – How the GrowCFO virtual boardroom and peer group challenged Hudson, built confidence, and simulated real board pressure ahead of stepping up. 

0:10:35 – The importance of personal branding, LinkedIn presence, and professional networking for finance leaders aiming at CFO roles.

0:18:10 – Lessons from leading through an acquisition: confidentiality, employee retention, fair recognition, and learning from brokers and investment banks.

0:21:25 – The role of mentoring, team strength, and calm leadership in successfully handling CFO‑level challenges.

0:29:37 – Practical use of AI and OCR in the finance function and how technology supports a more strategic, commercially focused CFO.

0:35:22 – The link between physical well‑being (e.g., marathon training) and better problem‑solving and resilience in high‑pressure finance roles.

Find out more about GrowCFO

If you enjoyed this podcast, you can subscribe to the GrowCFO Show with your favorite podcast app. The GrowCFO show is listed in the Apple podcast directory, Spotify and many others. Why not subscribe there today? That way, you never miss an episode.

GrowCFO is a great place to extend your professional network. Join GrowCFO as a free member today and participate in our regular networking events and webinars. Premium members can also access our extensive training center and CFO Digital Toolkit. You can enroll in our flagship Future CFO or Finance Leader programs here.

You can find out more and join today at growcfo.net

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https://open.spotify.com/episode/5YwnZv8yNCPYP1osEaVFY6

In a world where business models, technology, and regulation can all shift in a single planning cycle, building a finance team and infrastructure that still works five years from now is a strategic necessity. Short‑term fixes and ad hoc processes quickly turn into bottlenecks as organizations grow and face deeper scrutiny from investors and regulators.

In this episode, Kevin Appleby speaks with Rishi Oberoi, Deputy CFO and CAO at Varo Bank, about designing a finance function that scales for the long term. Rishi frames finance as a leadership system that enables organizations to move fast without breaking trust, drawing on two decades in global banking, fintech, audit, and capital markets.

Together, they explore why scalable finance is as much about people and principles as it is about processes and platforms. Rishi highlights empathy, humility, and storytelling as core leadership traits, and explains how AI can act as a control sentinel and efficiency driver while preserving customer trust and regulatory rigor in a mission‑driven bank.

Key topics covered:

Finance should be designed and run as a leadership system, where everyone in the function leads in some way, not just the CFO. 

Scalable finance functions are built on empathy, humility, and values-based hiring, not only on technical skill sets. 

AI’s most powerful role in finance may be as a real-time control sentinel, enhancing compliance, monitoring controls, and supporting faster, safer decision-making. 

Systems should be architected to be modular, vendor-agnostic, and future-ready, designed around what the organization will need in 4–5 years rather than just today’s constraints. 

Finance can and should be a force for good, especially in mission-driven organizations, by balancing profitability with equitable access to financial products for underserved communities. 

Modern CFOs must spend more time looking forward than backward, closing the books quickly so they can focus on strategy, relevance, and long-term value creation.

Links

Rishi Oberoi on LinkedIn

Kevin Appleby on LinkedIn

GrowCFO Mentoring

Timestamps: 

0:00:00 – Kevin introduces Rishi and his global finance career; Rishi outlines his experience building fast-moving, trust-centric finance teams.

0:02:21 – Rishi explains why he views finance as one of the world’s foundational leadership systems, shaping economies, companies, and households.

0:05:27 – Discussion on leading finance teams with empathy, recognizing life outside work, and hiring for values and learning ability.

0:09:46 – Rishi describes how finance must provide a forward-looking view and use storytelling to make numbers meaningful and actionable.

0:13:06 – Exploration of AI in finance, including using AI to monitor controls and compliance in real time within regulated environments.

0:18:12 – How to design finance systems that are modular, vendor-agnostic, and aligned to where the organization will be in 4–5 years.

0:24:26 – Rishi discusses using finance to benefit customers, employees, investors, and regulators, especially in a mission-led bank like Varo.

0:26:15 – The tension and balance between serving underserved communities and maintaining regulatory- and investor-grade profitability.

0:32:53 – Advice for CFOs to close faster, look further ahead, and focus on keeping their organizations relevant in a fast-changing world.

Find out more about GrowCFO

If you enjoyed this podcast, you can subscribe to the GrowCFO Show with your favorite podcast app. The GrowCFO show is listed in the Apple podcast directory, Spotify and many others. Why not subscribe there today? That way, you never miss an episode.

GrowCFO is a great place to extend your professional network. Join GrowCFO as a free member today and participate in our regular networking events and webinars. Premium members can also access our extensive training center and CFO Digital Toolkit. You can enroll in our flagship Future CFO or Finance Leader programs here.

You can find out more and join today at growcfo.net

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https://open.spotify.com/episode/5z9zV5mya9rDz6O8glCfy1

A high-income fractional CFO career is becoming one of the most attractive paths for senior finance leaders who want more control, variety, and upside than a traditional corporate role can offer. As businesses increasingly look for flexible, part-time strategic finance support, the opportunity for experienced CFOs and finance professionals to build profitable portfolio careers has never been greater. 

In this episode, Kevin Appleby interviews Rob Nicholls, a fractional CFO, board adviser, and GrowCFO mentor, on how finance leaders can build a high-income, portfolio-style career. Rob draws on his commercially driven background and international experience to explain what a modern fractional CFO really does and how the role can deliver both financial and lifestyle benefits.

He shares practical guidance on constructing a high-income fractional CFO portfolio – balancing a mix of clients, leveraging LinkedIn, and using non‑executive roles and mentoring to generate both impact and deal flow. The discussion highlights how deep experience, strategic advisory skills, and deliberate business development combine into a sustainable, long-term fractional CFO career.

Key topics covered:

How Rob built a high-value fractional CFO and board advisory portfolio across multiple SMEs, drawing on a career that spans finance, operations, sales, and supply chain.

Why LinkedIn is central to his business development, including disciplined daily activity that generates around 30 conversations a day and compounds into long-term opportunity.

The role of mentoring and advisory work (Innovate UK, university engagements, startup ecosystems) in building reputation, leverage, and future client pipelines.

How being industry-agnostic yet commercially focused allows Rob to mentor founders, senior finance executives, and career-changers while remaining anchored in value creation.

The impact of technology and AI on CFO work, including tools to streamline board reporting while reinforcing the need for real-world experience and judgment.

Why non-executive roles and multiple income streams are powerful components of a resilient, high-income fractional CFO career.

Links

Rob Nicholls on LinkedIn

Kevin Appleby on LinkedIn

GrowCFO Mentoring

Timestamps: 

00:00 – Intro to Rob and fractional CFO background

02:10 – From traditional finance to value creation focus

03:33 – Portfolio lifestyle and managing multiple clients

04:25 – LinkedIn strategy and pipeline building

09:37 – Mentoring, startups, and ecosystem leverage

12:15 – Who Rob mentors and career transitions

15:19 – Technology, AI, and modern CFO work

18:59 – Non-exec roles and board careers for CFOs

23:40 – Future plans and fractional startup in biz dev

Find out more about GrowCFO

If you enjoyed this podcast, you can subscribe to the GrowCFO Show with your favorite podcast app. The GrowCFO show is listed in the Apple podcast directory, Spotify and many others. Why not subscribe there today? That way, you never miss an episode.

GrowCFO is a great place to extend your professional network. Join GrowCFO as a free member today and participate in our regular networking events and webinars. Premium members can also access our extensive training center and CFO Digital Toolkit. You can enroll in our flagship Future CFO or Finance Leader programs here.

You can find out more and join today at growcfo.net

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https://open.spotify.com/episode/55cBmmBgaKb7MGUsUgPtNT

In this GrowCFO Show episode, Kevin Appleby sits down with Jeremy Earnshaw, GrowCFO Mentor, to unpack one of the most painful but instructive topics in corporate life. Rather than celebrating a headline-grabbing success, Jeremy walks through a deal that went badly wrong—financially, culturally, and strategically. The episode emphasizes why leaders often learn far more from failures than from smooth, textbook transactions, and why understanding what not to do in M&A can be a powerful competitive advantage. 

Drawing on more than 20 M&A deals across his career, Jeremy dissects an acquisition from 30 years ago where he joined mid-transaction, found due diligence to be dangerously superficial, and discovered too late that the target’s core direct-to-consumer channel was fundamentally unprofitable. He and Kevin explore how poor diligence, misaligned incentives, cultural blind spots, and weak integration planning combined to destroy value. The conversation offers CFOs, founders, and boards a candid look at the real costs of a bad acquisition and practical lessons on how to structure deals, probe assumptions, and retain the courage to walk away.

Key topics covered:

Jeremy explains how he joined an acquisition mid-stream and immediately saw that the “due diligence” was little more than an updated audit pack.

Kevin and Jeremy break down why buying “a balance sheet” instead of a future business led to a badly structured deal, with 90% of the consideration paid in cash at completion.

They expose how cultural issues, aggressive lawyers, and late negative disclosures undermined trust and should have been clear red flags to pause or walk away.

Jeremy reveals that the acquisition’s main focus—the direct-to-consumer channel—was actually loss-making, while an overlooked export dealer channel was where the real profitability lay.

The episode highlights how weak integration planning compounded the initial mistakes, turning a flawed deal into a value-destroying one.

Jeremy distills the lessons learned: insist on thorough due diligence, structure earn-outs intelligently, interrogate culture and people risk, and always be prepared to walk away.

Links

Jeremy Earnshaw on LinkedIn

Kevin Appleby on LinkedIn

GrowCFO Mentoring

Timestamps: 

0:00:00 – Kevin frames the episode around learning from “the worst acquisition” and introduces Jeremy Earnshaw and his M&A background.

0:02:00 – Jeremy describes joining halfway through the deal and discovering that due diligence was basically a thin audit update.

0:06:23 – Deep dive into due diligence and valuation: why paying 90% cash up front and underweighting earn-out was a structural mistake.

0:19:35 – Cultural and legal challenges emerge: aggressive lawyers, late disclosures, and a finance controller’s resignation revealed just before completion.

0:24:35 – Post-acquisition reality check: the direct-to-consumer channel is loss-making while the neglected export dealer business is the only profitable part.

0:36:56 – Jeremy and Kevin synthesize the core lessons around diligence discipline, deal parameters, and the importance of being ready to walk away.

Find out more about GrowCFO

If you enjoyed this podcast, you can subscribe to the GrowCFO Show with your favorite podcast app. The GrowCFO show is listed in the Apple podcast directory, Spotify and many others. Why not subscribe there today? That way, you never miss an episode.

GrowCFO is a great place to extend your professional network. Join GrowCFO as a free member today and participate in our regular networking events and webinars. Premium members can also access our extensive training center and CFO Digital Toolkit. You can enroll in our flagship Future CFO or Finance Leader programs here.

You can find out more and join today at growcfo.net