E4: The Unexpected Qualities of Great CFOs with Public.com’s Sruthi Lanka

Sruthi Lanka (CFO of Public.com) joins host CJ Gustafson to discuss the unexpected qualities of great CFOs. If you’re looking for an ERP platform, check out our sponsor, NetSuite: https://netsuite.com/metrics  --- ! Run The Numbers has a new Spotify and Apple show link. Follow the links to subscribe and ensure you'll never miss an episode  Apple: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/run-the-numbers/id1723787140  Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/0zQCkklNnVgMD364kCW5SV --- SPONSORS: NetSuite provides financial software for all your business needs. More than thirty-six thousand companies have already upgraded to NetSuite, gaining visibility and control over their financials, inventory, HR, eCommerce, and more. If you're looking for an ERP platform ✅ NetSuite: https://netsuite.com/metrics and defer payments of a FULL NetSuite implementation for six months. Tropic is the next-generation Procurement Platform that’s helping modern CFOs take control of their budgets and bottom line. By combining approval workflows, supplier management, and pricing benchmarks all in one place, Tropic makes savings opportunities easy to find and act on. 🌴 Visit www.tropicapp.io/metrics to learn how.  --- RECOMMENDED PODCAST: The HR industry is at a crossroads. What will it take to construct the next generation of incredible businesses – and where can people leaders have the most business impact? Hosts Nolan Church and Kelli Dragovich have been through it all, the highs and the lows – IPOs, layoffs, executive turnover, board meetings, culture changes, and more. With a lineup of industry vets and experts, Nolan and Kelli break down the nitty-gritty details, trade offs, and dynamics of constructing high performing companies. Through unfiltered conversations that can only happen between seasoned practitioners, Kelli and Nolan dive deep into the kind of leadership-level strategy that often happens behind closed doors. Check out the first episode with the architect of Netflix’s culture deck Patty McCord. https://link.chtbl.com/hrheretics --- X / TWITTER: @sruthilanka (Sruthi) @cjgustafson222 (CJ) @TurpentineMedia (Turpentine) --- TIMESTAMPS: (00:00) Episode Preview: CJ’s learnings from Sruthi (03:40) SEGMENT: CJ's opening “Off the Books” monologue - listener mailbag: where to allocate engineers who maintain infrastructure (05:17) Start of interview: Sruthi on how a CFO and CEO partnership should look like (09:59) How do you define important metrics for your team? (13:03) Data ownership at Public.com (14:36) Sponsor: Netsuite (16:00) Sruthi's favorite frameworks for decision-making (20:57) What separates a great CFO from a good CFO? (24:25) Tactics on how to be more embedded in different departments within your company (29:24) The biggest differences between a traditional SaaS CFO and CFO at Public.com (31:33) On retention (34:45) How to deal with situations where you are wrong (38:15) Tactics on modeling (39:20) On mentorship, management, giving advice (45:31) Balancing being a mother with being CFO (47:52) Long-ass lightning round: an example of when Sruthi screwed up on the job, Public.com’s finance software stack, the craziest thing someone has tried to expense This show is produced by Turpentine: a network of podcasts, newsletters, and more, covering technology, business, and culture — all from the perspective of industry insiders and experts. We’re launching new shows every week, and we’re looking for industry-leading sponsors — if you think that might be you and your company, email us at [email protected].