Ben Murray, The SaaS CFO: My Career in FP&A

Ben Murray is known to his 40,000 dedicated subscribers simply as “The SaaS CFO”. On the number one website for SaaS finance (thesaascfo.com) Ben provides blogs, research, courses and templates based on more than 25 years running finance teams . Ben is also hired by SaaS companies: from small, private technology firms to global multi-billion dollar public companies. 

But few people know that Ben honed his career in FP&A.

Calling Financial Planning & Analysis "the key to strategic finance" Ben explains how this work is “near and dear to my heart” and provides a masterclass for FP&A professionals.

Ben's formative career roles included  manager of FP&A at Manager, at fitness company, A.D.A.M., Inc and (miles away from SaaS)Director, Financial Planning & Analysis (FP&A) at Pinnacle Airlines Corp. Since then he is called in by finance teams to enhance FP&A alongside other finance functions.

In an essential listen for anyone working in or considering a career in SaaS FP&A, Ben talks to Paul Barnhurst about:

• Rising up the ranks from FP&A to CFO and beyond 
• How FP&A and finance can make an impact in a downturn 
• The essential SaaS metrics most relevant for today's business
• The “end of party” for SaaS valuations and funding and what finance should be doing 
• The best practice he has learnt from advising multiple SaaS FP&A teams
• Product led vs Sales Led SaaS companies - and the metrics for both
• The importance of proper accounting foundations
• The different expectations of SaaS business at $1million ARR, $5million ARR and $10million ARR
• His best career advice

Watch the Full Episode on YouTube

Read the transcript and blog post

Show Links

Link to The SaaS CFO website - https://www.thesaascfo.com/

Link to the SaaS CFO academy (with 5k+ students) - https://www.thesaascfo.com/the-saas-academy/

Ben’s recent blog post on setting up an FP&A function in SaaS -  https://www.thesaascfo.com/financial-planning-and-analysis-strategic-finance/

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