GrowCFO Show

.entry-img img{
display:none !important;
}
.single .hentry .entry-img{
display:none !important;
}

https://open.spotify.com/episode/5rFlxuL66fW6AAkx6MShdM

For first-time CFOs, board leadership is not merely a governance checkpoint; it is the arena where strategy, risk, and capital allocation converge. The board is the highest‑stakes audience, setting direction, probing assumptions, and expecting crisp narratives grounded in data and judgment. Mastering board dynamics early enables a new CFO to accelerate trust, shape decisions before they harden, and navigate uncertainty with confidence. From scenario planning and accountability to stakeholder alignment and strategic storytelling, board fluency becomes the multiplier that elevates a CFO from competent operator to indispensable strategic partner.

In this episode, Michael Anderson, a GrowCFO Mentor, traces a varied finance leadership journey that began at KPMG in Silicon Valley and evolved through operating roles in tech, biotech, media, and international logistics. He reflects on the pivotal shift from compliance to value creation, sharing how exposure to IPOs, M&A, and complex post-acquisition integrations at Getty Images sharpened his instincts around urgency, risk, and decision-making with imperfect information. Anderson underscores that the best finance leaders pair technical acumen with character, curiosity, and the courage to have difficult conversations early.

Anderson emphasizes understanding business processes before technology decisions, scenario planning to navigate uncertainty, and the importance of mentorship to build clarity, confidence, and conviction. He illustrates how board effectiveness grows when CFOs bring structured thinking, stakeholder empathy, and strategic storytelling, and he connects leadership depth to personal experiences, including lessons learned as a parent, that inform how he supports CEOs and boards in high-stakes contexts.

Key topics covered:

Why the AI skills gap is now a core strategic issue for finance leaders.

Guy’s journey from chartered accountant and VC to AI trainer for finance teams.

The essential foundational skills: prompting, architecture, and context management.

How AI is creating new roles and responsibilities instead of simply removing jobs.

Managing AI cost, tokens, and model choice like any other major operating expense.

The danger of AI-built financial models without proper financial modeling discipline.

Links

Michael Anderson on LinkedIn

Kevin Appleby on LinkedIn

GrowCFO Mentoring

Timestamps: 

00:03 — Transition from KPMG to tech; push beyond compliance into value creation

00:07 — Getty Images lessons: urgency, risk, and integrating acquisitions effectively

00:15 — Cross-industry perspective: biotech and logistics shaping CFO judgment

00:21 — Mentorship frameworks for leadership clarity and confidence

00:24 — Financing story: aligning with lender strategy to expand credit

00:39 — Supporting CEOs in board contexts; priorities for first-time CFOs

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

.entry-img img{
display:none !important;
}
.single .hentry .entry-img{
display:none !important;
}

https://open.spotify.com/episode/3kw8uHSos6XKFrZncc2CEa

Artificial intelligence is transforming the finance function, but most finance teams are still missing the skills to use it confidently, safely, and at scale. The real competitive advantage now lies in how quickly finance leaders can close this AI capability gap across their teams. 

In this episode, GrowCFO host Kevin Appleby is joined by GrowCFO Facilitator and AI training specialist Guy Weaver to unpack the AI skills gap that is rapidly emerging across finance teams. As AI tools move from experiment to everyday infrastructure, finance leaders face a stark choice: either build the skills to harness these tools strategically or risk falling behind competitors who do. AI is presented not as a “nice to have” experiment, but as a core capability that will shape productivity, decision quality, and the operating model of modern finance functions. 

Guy shares his journey from chartered accountant and venture capital portfolio director to AI practitioner and trainer, showing how a period on gardening leave became a deep dive into tools, agents, automations, and real-world business use cases. He explains that the real differentiator is no longer access to platforms like Copilot, Claude, or ChatGPT, but the human skills to design prompts, architect workflows, manage context files, and control costs at scale. Rather than eliminating finance jobs, AI is creating new responsibilities around context management, token and cost optimization, and continuous model evaluation—and finance leaders who invest early in mindset shifts, foundational skills, and disciplined experimentation will unlock both efficiency gains and new strategic opportunities that slower adopters will miss.

Key topics covered:

Why the AI skills gap is now a core strategic issue for finance leaders.

Guy’s journey from chartered accountant and VC to AI trainer for finance teams.

The essential foundational skills: prompting, architecture, and context management.

How AI is creating new roles and responsibilities instead of simply removing jobs.

Managing AI cost, tokens, and model choice like any other major operating expense.

The danger of AI-built financial models without proper financial modeling discipline.

Links

Guy Weaver on LinkedIn

Kevin Appleby on LinkedIn

GrowCFO Mentoring

Timestamps: 

00:00–05:00 – Why AI skills matter for finance leaders and how Guy’s career led him into AI training. 

05:00–12:00 – From “AI will take our jobs” to new responsibilities around AI, context, and automation. 

12:00–18:00 – Prompting, architecture, treating AI like an employee, and managing context files. 

18:00–24:00 – Who owns context files, how they’re maintained, and the implications for CFOs and COOs. 

24:00–29:00 – Rising AI costs, token limits, and the need to optimize AI usage across the finance function. 

29:00–34:00 – What Guy sees in finance training sessions and how teams can keep up as tools evolve.

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

.entry-img img{
display:none !important;
}
.single .hentry .entry-img{
display:none !important;
}

https://open.spotify.com/episode/3cW4LImOlr2eDc6opOmyPp

Going public is often seen as the ultimate milestone for a successful business, yet for many great companies it marks the beginning of decline rather than a new chapter of sustainable growth. In this episode of The Grow CFO Show, host Kevin Appleby sits down with Eric Ries, author of The Lean Startup, to explore why so many mission-driven, high-performing companies lose their way after an IPO – and what CFOs and boards can do differently to prevent this fate. The conversation frames governance not as a legal box-ticking exercise, but as a strategic discipline that protects long‑term value, mission, and trust.

Through vivid case studies – from Saul Price and the origins of Costco, to Novo Nordisk and its foundation structure, to Johnson & Johnson’s Credo – Eric shows how governance choices can either entrench short‑term shareholder primacy or build what he calls a “governance fortress” that shields companies from destructive external pressures. He argues that CFOs are uniquely placed to champion this new governance, redefine profit around human flourishing, and ensure the organization can’t make money except by achieving its mission. The result is a powerful toolkit for finance leaders who want to keep their companies “incorruptible” long after they hit the public markets.

About Eric Ries

Over the last two decades, Eric Ries’s ideas about continuous innovation, long-term thinking, governance, and market reform have reshaped company building and management practices. He is the creator of the Lean Startup method, and the author of the New York Times bestseller The Lean Startup; The Leader’s Guide; and The Startup Way. 

As a founder, he has put his own ideas into practice with The Long-Term Stock Exchange (LTSE); Answer.AI, an AI R&D lab; Virgil, a legal services startup; and IMVU. On The Eric Ries Show, he talks with world-class technologists, thought leaders, and executives building for the long-term. He lives in the San Francisco Bay Area with his wife and three children.

Key topics covered:

Why good companies lose control and drift after going public.

FedMart and Costco: how governance protects long‑term value.

“Governance fortress” structures that resist short‑term investor pressure.

Novo Nordisk: mission‑driven governance leading to massive value creation.

Why most M&A destroys value and how CFOs should filter deals.

Redefining profit around human flourishing and the CFO’s new role.

Links

Eric Ries on LinkedIn

Kevin Appleby on LinkedIn

GrowCFO Mentoring

Timestamps: 

0:00 – 1:42 — Why great companies lose their way post‑IPO.

1:42 – 4:27 — FedMart: investor pressure kills a great business.

4:27 – 7:30 — Costco and the “governance fortress” idea.

10:39 – 14:39 — The CFO as guardian of mission and structure.

15:21 – 20:19 — Novo Nordisk: foundation ownership and GLP‑1 success.

21:35 – 22:27 — Why many acquisitions are value‑destroying.

22:59 – 27:53 — J&J’s Credo vs reality: mission statements aren’t enough.

28:08 – 32:06 — Rethinking profit as human flourishing.

33:47 – 34:48 — Incorruptible as the essential book for CFOs.

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

.entry-img img{
display:none !important;
}
.single .hentry .entry-img{
display:none !important;
}

https://open.spotify.com/episode/47RAQ1TXbfnlvIjsxzCHwH

Delaying action on emerging technologies is often seen as the safest path for finance leaders. But in today’s environment, standing still can quietly erode competitiveness faster than visible missteps. For CFOs, the choice is no longer between perfection and experimentation; it is between shaping how intelligent tools transform their business model, or inheriting a cost base, tech stack, and operating rhythm that were designed for a world that no longer exists. The real risk now lies in missed efficiencies, slower decision cycles, and constrained strategic options when rivals are already compounding the benefits of data- and AI-enabled finance.

In this GrowCFO Show episode, host Kevin Appleby speaks with Todd McElhatton, CFO of Zuora, about why hesitating on AI adoption could be more damaging for CFOs than making imperfect early decisions. They frame AI not as a distant future technology, but as an immediate strategic lever that will separate adaptive finance leaders from those who are left managing obsolete operating models. The conversation stresses that waiting on AI often compounds operational risk, opportunity cost, and competitive disadvantage, especially for CFOs accountable for both efficiency and growth.

Todd outlines how AI is reshaping finance, from quote-to-cash and system implementation to workforce design and governance. Drawing on his experience at HP, WebMD, Oracle, VMware, SAP, and now Zuora, he explains why CFOs must actively lead AI strategy, re-architect their tech stacks, and develop robust oversight rather than defaulting to conservative inaction. By the end of the episode, listeners gain a pragmatic view of where AI can deliver tangible value today, and why inaction may be the riskiest choice of all.

Key topics covered:

Todd charts his career journey across major tech companies and explains how it shaped his view of the CFO as both financial steward and operational leader.

He details Zuora’s evolution into an AI-enabled quote-to-cash platform and how AI is accelerating shifts to new, outcome-based business models.

Todd and Kevin unpack the build vs. buy decision around AI, highlighting integration, domain expertise, compliance, and governance as critical factors for CFOs.

The discussion explores how AI can reduce rework, speed implementations, and reallocate finance capacity from manual tasks to higher-value analysis and decision-making.

Todd argues that CFOs who hesitate on AI risk constraining strategy, delaying business model transformation, and missing efficiency and innovation gains competitors are already capturing.

He shares his personal AI use cases: research, scenario analysis, and board preparation, while emphasizing human oversight, skepticism, and multi-model validation.

Links

Todd McElhatton on LinkedIn

Kevin Appleby on LinkedIn

GrowCFO Mentoring

Timestamps: 

0:00:00 – How roles at HP, WebMD, Oracle, VMware, and SAP shaped his perspective on the modern CFO and why understanding operations is now non‑negotiable.

0:02:53 – How AI is impacting subscription and outcome-based business models, and why this forces companies to reassess their tech stacks.

0:06:27 – ZUORA’s internal journey: moving beyond pilots to AI projects that materially affect performance while maintaining human oversigh.

0:11:37 – The trade-offs between building AI in-house and buying AI-native systems of record, with a focus on integration, compliance, and risk.

0:19:04 – How AI will reshape implementation timelines, roles, and the skills finance teams need, plus the efficiency and innovation upside.

0:19:19 – Todd’s guidance on aligning AI and tech stack decisions with business strategy, and a cautionary example where system limitations stalled an acquisition.

0:32:00 – How Todd uses AI for research, analysis, and board materials while maintaining critical thinking and cross-checking outputs across models.

0:36:21 – A closing argument for CFOs to lead AI adoption, embrace calculated risk, and redeploy teams from repetitive work to higher-value contributions.

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

.entry-img img{
display:none !important;
}
.single .hentry .entry-img{
display:none !important;
}

https://open.spotify.com/episode/1O3AJJ7rl6xqzgLnf82KP8

In today’s finance function, relying solely on monolithic systems and periodic reporting is no longer enough, as rapid advances in AI transform how data is collected, processed, and turned into insight. Finance leaders are now expected to orchestrate an ecosystem of intelligent tools that automate routine work, enable continuous forecasting, and surface risks and opportunities in real time. Those who continue to treat technology as a back-office utility will quickly fall behind leaders who use it as a strategic lever for competitiveness and resilience.

In this GrowCFO Show episode, Kevin Appleby is joined by Darren Cran, CEO of AccountsIQ, to explore how AI is reshaping the finance function and what a “CFO Mindset 2.0” really looks like in practice. The conversation underscores why this shift is not just a technology upgrade but a fundamental change in how CFOs think about systems, teams, and decision-making. As AI tools, such as Anthropic’s Opus 4.6, rapidly increase their capabilities, Darren explains why finance leaders must move beyond simply running ERP systems and start orchestrating a broader ecosystem of AI-enabled tools that enhance forecasting, productivity, and strategic insight

The episode examines the practical realities behind this transition: the readiness of organizations to adopt AI, the risks and opportunities around system change, and the human impact in terms of workload, overtime, and work–life balance. Darren contrasts AI-native companies with established platforms like AccountsIQ and shows how AI can be layered onto existing systems of record to automate routine tasks, strengthen continuous forecasting, and free finance professionals to do more relational, higher-value work. For CFOs wondering what to do next, this discussion offers a clear roadmap: maintain robust core systems, embrace AI as an orchestration layer on top, and cultivate a mindset that looks for opportunity in uncertainty rather than reacting to it.

Key topics covered:

The episode positions “CFO Mindset 2.0” as a response to AI’s rapid impact on finance software, using Anthropic’s Opus 4.6 as a signal that traditional software models are being disrupted and augmented by AI-first approaches.

Darren explains how AccountsIQ is investing in AI orchestration, automating repetitive tasks for finance teams while preserving the ERP or core system of record as the backbone of financial data.

The discussion compares AI-native companies versus established platforms, arguing that incumbents with deep domain knowledge and existing customers can unlock major value by embedding AI into real workflows rather than chasing hype.

Kevin and Darren explore the evolving role of ERP systems, concluding that while ERPs remain essential for core functions, AI-powered financial operating platforms and integrations will increasingly handle flexibility, user experience, and advanced analytics.

The conversation highlights the human and cultural side of AI, showing how automation can reduce overtime, improve work–life balance, and shift finance professionals toward more strategic and relational work if leadership sets the right expectations.

Darren outlines how AI can transform forecasting, from periodic budgeting to more continuous, scenario-based modeling, while stressing that CFOs must still validate models and use judgment rather than blindly trusting outputs.

Links

Darren Cran on LinkedIn

Kevin Appleby on LinkedIn

GrowCFO Mentoring

Timestamps: 

0:00:02 – Kevin introduces Darren and frames the episode around CFO Mindset 2.0, AI’s impact on finance software, and the significance of Anthropic’s Opus 4.6 as a turning point.

0:07:18 – Discussion on the pain of system changes, how older systems will coexist with new AI capabilities, and how AccountsIQ is investing in AI orchestration to automate routine finance tasks.

0:14:12 – Deep dive into the limitations of traditional ERP systems and the rise of financial operating platforms that rely on integrations and AI to deliver more flexible, user-friendly finance environments.

0:17:45 – Darren explains why ERP systems will remain core systems of record, while AI will build rich ecosystems around them rather than fully replacing them.

0:21:06 – Exploration of how AI can reduce overtime, change the shape of finance roles, and the importance of company culture in ensuring that productivity gains translate into better working lives.

0:28:27 – Darren and Kevin discuss how AI can dramatically speed up financial modeling and scenario analysis, enabling continuous forecasting as long as CFOs apply proper checks and validations.

0:31:49 – Darren shares AccountsIQ’s roadmap for AI agents and products designed to improve the day-to-day experience of finance professionals and keep pace with frontier technology.

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