Rippling CFO Adam Swiecicki on Building a Compound Startup and Channeling Ambition

On this episode, CJ interviews Adam Swiecicki, CFO at Rippling and former CFO at Brex. They cover valuable strategies that have fueled Rippling's growth as a “Compound Startup” in the competitive HR, Finance, and IT space. Adam also shares lessons from being a short seller that he applies to being a company CFO, the ROI on R&D investment, capital allocation decision making frameworks and how to avoid CFO burnout. If you're looking for an ERP head to NetSuite: https://netsuite.com/metrics and get a customized KPI checklist.

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TIMESTAMPS:

(00:00) Preview

(02:27) Sponsor - NetSuite | Thoropass

(05:23) Understanding Rippling's Business Model

(09:42) Resource Allocation in a Compound Startup

(15:54) Sponsor - Maxio

(17:02) Competitive Moats in the SaaS Industry

(23:01) Launching Rippling’s Finance Cloud

(26:43) Understanding Customer Lifetime Value at Rippling

(28:36) The Signal of a Strong PMF

(30:34) Rippling's Northstars

(32:45) The Concept of Revenue Growth Endurance

(33:40) The Role of a CFO

(36:12) Balancing Strategy and Execution

(40:25) Adam’s Frameworks, Methods, or Processes for Prioritizing Work

(44:10) From Short Selling to Running a Company

(48:10) Avoiding CFO Burnout: Enjoying the Journey

(51:23) Adam’s Craziest Work Experience and Expense

(53:27) Rep Yo Stack Sponsored by Tropic: Adam’s Finance Software Stack

(57:57) Wrap

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