About Sreyanka – The Hustler Sreyanka has been a pure hustler at Outplay – She is a one-stop shop at Outplay and makes sure she delivers her 110% in everything she does. ‍ This gets validated by all the praise that she has been getting from her peers in Outplay. Sreyanka comes with an experience of working in multiple companies like Pedagoge, Startups Club, Greedy Game, Synup before joining Outplay Finance Function in SaaS companies Generally, Finance is one function, since the nature of it not being revenue generating – Founders tend to neglect it in the initial phases of building it. There are 3 stages of companies and how they’d handle Finance Companies with less than $1M ARR Generally Founders take the onus of spending their time in the finance function. Founders generally work on getting the numbers for MRR/ARR – This becomes a tiresome job once the number of customers increase. Some companies in this phase don’t do the accounting in the right way – which eventually bites them back when they want to take investments. They have to clean the data again during due diligence. Companies with more than $1M ARR | Series A funding Finance team is built out with maybe 2-3 people in the finance function Accounting/Ground work is generally outsources to third party vendors. Vendors are either taken from founder network or investor network. For example, Sequoia or Accel can refer finance partners to its portfolio companies. Companies with Series B Funding Hire a CFO and have a finance team Experience with working with Finance Vendors Generally vendors who work with SaaS companies have better understanding of SaaS finance than traditional CA firms. Generally the notion of traditional CA Firms is that the company needs to follow up with them on different occasions to get things done – However, Sreyanka has worked with Guru and Jana for the last 6 months and has loved their service. Guru and Jana have expertise in working with SaaS companies in different fields. Finance Compliance Legal Accounting ESOPs documentation While there are so many services being offered to SaaS companies, this is handled by a single POC so that the communication with the Vendor is sealmess. Whatfix was one of the early customers for Guru and Jana Where do we find Finance Leaders all in one place There are lots of communities for Sales or Marketing, but is there a community for SaaS Leaders in Finance? Probably not. However, there are a lot of internal groups like, whatsapp groups of Surge portcos, where all the founders and finance leaders hang out to connect. Spendflo keeps doing multiple webinars targeting Finance Leaders and this would a good space to connect with Finance Leaders. ‍

Shwetha – Much more than a Finance Rockstar! ⏱️ Fun fact: Shwetha is based in the US and she took the call with us when it was 7.00 AM in US! Great gesture ♥ Intro Shwetha is a seasoned executive who has worked in leadership roles in Strategy, Finance and Operations across Fortune 500 companies and startups. At present, she works as the Chief Financial Officer at Book+Street in Ohio, United States. Book+Street provides comprehensive finance and administration services that make it easy for startups to start almost effortlessly! Career Her journey of 20 years has been one awesome experience-rich ride! Shwetha started her career as a Finance Controller at Citi where she worked for 2 years She then worked at JP Morgan Chase for another 2 years where she led various strategic initiatives for the Investment Banking Operational Risk team She then managed Strategic Mergers, Acquisitions, and Divestitures analysis for Alcoa for 2 years Shwetha then took charge as the Head of Corporate Financial Planning & Analysis, Corporate Strategy, and Finance Transformation, with the development and execution of the overall finance strategy across all business segments at Reynold Consumer Products. She then moved to Barclays Investment Bank as VP of Investment Banking Operations Strategy She was then the in-charge of all finance activities for the $1B multi-site global IT, Corporate Communications, and Government Affairs at Eli Lilly and Company She had short stints as an independent consultant, also then co-founded OrgAnalytix Shwetha worked for another year at Bon Secours Mercy Health as its Director of Financial Planning and Analysis She finally landed at Worklytics as its VP, Head Of Finance, Operations, and Marketing. Disclaimer: This interview was taken when Shwetha was working at Worklytics, she is now working at Book+Street About Worklytics Worklytics is a Y-combinator-backed data analytics startup. It helps People Analytics teams quickly access reliable, meaningful, and anonymous workplace data and metrics How finance is managed Worklytics is still small, and Shwetha manages Finance, Operations and Marketing. She’s the only finance person, supported by external vendor consultants. Her 20 year experience helps and ensures that the FP&A is handled well, whereas the basic execution things are outsourced. When should a startup have a finance team? This depends on the founders’ perspective as well as the funding stage of the company. Regardless, in the early stages, even if a person is hired for managing finance, his or her role will spread across various other things such as operations, payroll management etc, inevitably making him or her a “shared resource”. How different is it working in a startup as compared to well-established MNCs? Working in a startup is much more challenging & stressful than in a well-established company, mainly because one has to wear multiple hats. Since most startups will not have systems or processes in place, you are expected to (and don’t have a choice but to) get your hands dirty. You need to work more hands-on & ensure that the work is done whether or not there are established systems. You LEARN a lot. For instance, Shwetha figured out the entire SaaS Metrics or how this business works after joining startups. It was impossible to learn this otherwise theoretically. How can a consultant differentiate it from others? Understanding the (SaaS) business and its nuances better in itself is a huge win. Help the management take strategic decisions. For instance, by discovering and analysing CAC and suggesting ways to improve that.“Finance is not just about numbers, nor is just a set of logics but a work of art and when you realise that, you understand that there are a hundred ways how you can add value to the organisation” Proactiveness, Professionalism and Responsiveness. Quick turnaround time – be it closing books or sending the reports on time – Founders hate waiting for days for getting the reports! ‍

Shweta and her incredible 0-to-1 journey! Fun fact: Shweta comes from a legacy CA family – her dad & brother both are Chartered Accountants but that did not stop her from wearing multiple hats in her early days – Including product testing & writing test cases! Intro Shweta, a Chartered Accountant from India and a CPA (Australia), is an experienced Business Finance Manager with a demonstrated history of working in the accounting industry. Her journey from an Articled Assistant to Finance Manager has been enriching & fun! Career Shweta did her articleship at Rajesh Mehra & Associates in Chandigarh, where she also worked as an Audit executive post her articleship She then worked as a Business Finance Executive at Capillary Technologies for a couple of years. That’s where Shweta took her first lessons in Finance for B2B SaaS and then there was no stopping. Her reporting manager in Capillary was from a Science background. This opened her eyes that it’s not just the background but the interest & keen eye for detail that matters in this evolving space. She still recollects how “new” she felt in the B2B SaaS space since most of it in SaaS is never taught in CA or articleship. She took a short break and joined Nektar.ai. She was one of the early hires in Nektar and presently manages its business finance. About Nektar Nektar.ai is a B2B sales productivity startup that develops an AI-based virtual sales assistant to improve the productivity of sales teams. In other words, it is a Connected Revenue Operations platform for modern sales teams. It helps discover hidden revenue data across the scattered sales team and Techstack! Nektar’s killer founding team and 0-to-1 journey When Shweta moved to Singapore in 2020 around COVID, she had 2 opportunities – 1 with an accounting firm and 2 with a startup (Nektar). Even though there is an overlap in the responsibilities one has in an accounting firm & a startup (like compliances), the opportunity to start seeing the numbers in a different way excited Shweta and she took the leap of faith to join the startup. The rest is history! It’s been 3 years now and counting, and she still has a very positive outlook on the company. It was indeed a little daunting at the beginning but it was worth it.   Shweta considers herself lucky that she has a good team. A team that is appreciative of her efforts and hard work. She has never felt underappreciated so far, which is not the standard. What does working in a startup look like for finance rockstars? Since Shweta joined Nektar early, she had to take up a role as HR as well and at times, even the admin-related work. This was obvious too because early-stage startups focus mostly on engineering, building the product and the sales team. Even today, she is the only one managing finance and compliance. She’s done it all – managing payroll, sending out invoices, ensuring customer payments hit the bank account, looking at metrics and investor relations, reviewing shareholder agreements and what not. She even recollects how she continuously thinks about the booked revenue, CAC and runway and how her vocabulary is now completely “SaaS-based” Not just that, also undertook product testing in her early days and also wrote test cases. Shweta’s focus is on things like “server costs” instead of what is the closing tax return filing date because the latter can be managed by consultants as well but the former has to be optimised within the organisation When should a startup have a finance team (or a person)? Shweta feels that it is better to have a finance person on the early journey. This is because once the accounts and finances are sorted, the investor relations, compliances and other regulations are all sorted and become easy. However, considering the fact that the founders also consider the cost perspective of hiring an accountant, maybe they can outsource that as well but at the end of the day, the numbers won’t be something that is more business relevant at a later stage. Also, the role of the finance person in the early days can be widened to include other related aspects as well and then, the resource will be very useful and justify the cost of the resource by wearing multiple hats. How can a consultant differentiate it from others? Understanding the (SaaS) business and its metrics better so that the consultant is able to help the startup with SaaS Metrics rather than just limiting to bookkeeping & compliance.   How about a community for B2B SaaS Finance rockstars? Shweta admitted that the community-building aspect was one of the reasons why she jumped into this call. She was checking for a network that could help out with the finance. For instance, when there is some kind of query, she has to currently search around for people who can solve that up – and the search isn’t always easy.  So yeah, a community will be really helpful as per Shweta. This becomes even more important since this space is not yet mature enough and there are a lot of new metrics that the founders or stakeholders want to track. If the community is able to help resolve this, then it will be a huge learning curve for its members as well. ‍

Sathya Seelan – Proving time and again that degrees do not matter! Intro Sathya is a Commerce Graduate who climbed the corporate ladder to become a finance leader! Career Sathya started his career as an AP Executive with TCS After working in  TCS for 3 years, he felt that a startup best suited his personality & learning requirements. So he got into FreshWorks as an AP & Procurement Specialist. After another 3 year stint at Freshworks, Sathya moved to Ally, a Microsoft company where he got first-hand experience on end to end finance. He finally landed at Kula, which has it’s presence in India, US and Singapore. Wherever Sathya goes, he ensures he comes out of it with flying colours.He was first involved in the IPO of Freshworks and in his next job at Ally, he was actively involved in the acquisition by Microsoft. He’s at the right place at the right time. About Kula Kula is a recruitment automation platform that lets users proactively reach out and engage with the top talent everywhere How finance is managed Sathya is the only finance guy in Kula. Yes you heard that right! He literally analyses bank statements, credit card statements, accounts etc on a daily basis. This way, he ensures that his month-end is light & quick. He is supported by consultants in India & the US When should a startup have a finance team? Sathya says this is totally based on the founders’ perspectives. Take for example – Kula – It started a company in August 2021. But immediately Jan 2022 they had a person (Sathya himself) to oversee the finance & compliance function along with the external consultant. This was because the founders had no bandwidth to manage finance & compliance by themselves. More importantly, coordinating with the consultant was something that the founders never enjoy. Sathya believes that the earlier a startup has a person overseeing finance & compliance, the better it is because that simply frees up a lot of founder bandwidth. Also, finance is not just raising invoices, making payments & making some compliance. It is much more. As soon as there is an investor onboard, most of them ask about the performance tracker. It’s better to spend some money on the finance person rather than having to pay double that (or more) on penalties or resolving due diligence concerns. Problems within Finance & Compliance [Outsourced] Lack of single-point-of-contact. So apparently, Sathya built a good rapport with the POC from the consultant’s office but he goes on exam leaves every 6 months and then you are assigned another POC for that month. Then the entire communication takes a backseat At times, the consultants pass some back-dated entries that make it difficult for the finance in charge to perform the reporting function diligently Mismatch in the consultant’s vision vis a vis company vision. The consultants, at times, fail to meet the expectations wrt timelines, quality, formats etc. Consultants are more reactive than proactive and nothing much moves without follow-ups. In fact, Sathya shared a story of how one of the earlier startups he worked with – entrusted their consultant with all compliances, only to later realise that certain basic things like share certificates were not even in place. Need for Finance Community Sathya strongly feels a need for a community wherein seasoned experts in the domain can be reachable and approachable by newbies. Mutual learning is inevitable in this dynamic space. Right now, Sathya has to ask friends, seniors etc abruptly and is still not sure if the queries are properly resolved. ‍

Intro Rohit has 18+ years of corporate experience working with hybrid cloud companies and B2B SaaS companies. Career From 2008 to 2013, Rohit worked at Citrix, a company that made cloud-based acquisitions to transition from a purely hardware and software player to a cloud player. This was Rohit’s first experience with the SaaS world, where he led the finance function for all Citrix legal entities based out of India. He joined Kronos (now UKG) in 2013. Kronos is an HR tech company primarily focused on workforce management. The company was transitioning from a hardware and software solution to a cloud-based solution when Rohit started leading the finance function of the India Sales and Services arm. Around 2015, Rohit joined Blue Jeans, a pure B2B SaaS company, which was recently acquired by Verizon in 2020. Here, he spent close to 4 years learning about the SaaS economy. His team was responsible for worldwide bookings, reporting, billing, and overseeing international subsidiary operations. In 2018, he joined Synup, a B2B SaaS marketing tech company focused on location-based intelligence services, as VP of Finance. He scaled the finance operations from 1 to a strong 6-member team by early 2020 and worked with the Founder & CEO and investors to grow the business to $5m+ in ARR. He also acted as General Manager for the APAC business. Currently, he is working at inFeedo, an HR tech company focused on employee experience and engagement, as CFO. He is responsible for investor relations, revenue operations, and finance. The company has grown 5x in the last two years. The key difference between working at startups and MNCs 1. There is a boundary defined while working for MNCs, and most people don’t like it if you cross it. Boundaries, according to Rohit, are mental roadblocks that prevent growth. But in startups, there aren’t any boundaries. If you have a marketing background and attempt to solve a financial problem or vice-versa, no one will even question you. 2. The second important distinction between MNCs and startups is in terms of speed and agility in their decision-making. Rohit believes that startups have the advantage of faster innovation and decision-making. What do VCs look for in a startup? Getting traction early in the startup process depends on the problem statement, solution, TAM, Founders, and team. They look at how well the founder can express the problem, solution, narrative, and vision. If that goes well, they are most likely to be interested. At an early stage, it is more of conviction around the problem, PMF, and the Founder. In the subsequent stages, the unit economics, GTM strategy, Product Expansion, and Path to Profitability take more focus The key takeaway for anyone who is stepping into a startup world is to change the mindset & be prepared to think and work beyond boundaries. Importance of Finance Professional. The Founders at an early stage look at the Finance function as transactional and operational, but Rohit’s recommendation is to hire a Strategic Finance leader during the early stage as it helps the Founders run their business & operations efficiently. He referred to CFO as Co-Founder of One. Mutual Knowledge. You’ll find that people are eager to share their wisdom and experiences with you if you share yours with them. The best and most efficient way to grow your knowledge is to share the knowledge you possess and be open to accepting the knowledge you get from others. Financial reporting in Startup. The majority of the Founders don’t understand the prescribed P&L format and the accrual method of accounting. The # 1 metric to track has been always ARR, Net Burn, Runway, etc. It is important for Finance to think about creating MIS which takes care of this requirement. When it’s the best time to form a finance team? As per Rohit, people should build the finance team as early as possible. Investors want startups to have a finance team as they want somebody to take care of accounting and compliance. From a founder’s perspective, you need a partner to help you with Strategic Finance. Transactional and operational finance can be easily outsourced. Strategic finance with help you identify the areas of strength where the investments should be made and the areas of weakness where the investments should be cut. ‍

About Rahul Soon after clearing CA, Rahul started working at Deloitte in the audit division. Rahul then transitioned into an industry involving trading and infrastructure. During this time, with valuable insights into business management, customer interaction, and heading businesses he was able to optimize the cost as well as generate new vertical line of business. Amidst SaaS’s booming success, Rahul decided to challenge himself by joining Hippo Video and is now there for more than 2 years – adding even more knowledge about finance to his expertise set. About Hippo Video Hippo Video’s platform – powered by generative AI – helps companies increase sales engagement with hyper-personalized, interactive video content delivered at scale, which drives a significant increase in meetings booked and improves win rates. Challenges in Finance: Founders of new startups often need help to keep up with their financial goals, as they come from a non-finance background. Without proper oversight and follow-up measures, they can fall behind, failing to make necessary improvements quickly enough – leaving them stuck in an uphill battle with business growth. Being creative is rarely an option when it comes to decision-making, especially regarding coordination between finance and management. To ensure every operation has been thoroughly verified, a double confirmation process must be employed – despite its hindrance to creativity. The main challenges in finance is Managing cash flows and make sure you have adequate capital or runway along with ticking all the statutory compliances. The right time for a startup to hire a finance head It is right to hire from the start but As an investor-backed startup, the finance team has to enter the picture at Pre-Series A or a little earlier stage which require an expert’s eye for all the operations and compliances.  In other cases, consider outsourcing or hiring qualified professionals help – it’s the sensible option for any growing startup. Of course, if operations become more extensive over time, investing in an internal team to manage the finance function may make financial sense! A word of advice: There must be a pivot point even if your data entry (or any finance function) is outsourced. There should be someone in-house who understands the pulse of the industry, and it will help the founders realize what needs to be done or discarded. A day as the finance head of a startup: One good thing about a startup is its culture; we prioritize deliverables and timelines and not just the “job description”. The hybrid work system adds more to the work culture. There is an excellent work-life balance, and employees can manage things on the go. So the day starts with yesterday on the follow-ups and building financial models, analyzing and preparing financial statements. Managing the payroll, vendor payments and statutory compliances. Active involvement in vendor onboarding and negotiations process and handling employee related issues that arises. Apart from this, Rahul manages the FP&A and works closely on transactional the structuring. Not to mention the Monthly/Quarterly MIS. As compared to others in the league, Rahul also works hands-on on Variance analysis and identifying the cost centers that exceed budgets Right balance between In-House & Outsourcing the finance function The outsourcing option is good, but the control has to be in the hands of the in-house finance team. Outsourcing comes at reasonable costs and removes the friction of managing day-to-day activities. Everything falls back to the finance head regarding data entry, monthly closures, and statutory reporting. Two-people in-house team can do book-keeping, data entry, and so on. If not, you can outsource to manage day-to-day entries or be done internally; there should be someone to understand the pulse of what is needed or not needed. But the finance head roles cannot (and must not) be outsourced because they will not be able to support the founders and are essential to the operations. Taking the function entirely in-house is good if the founder cannot depend on outside in terms of high volume of transactions. If you are missing something, and it is hitting you back again. Investors will question you, “Why don’t you have an in-house team if you have a high influx?” The investors will suggest they keep it in-house. In terms of structure, maintenance, and working capital, a startup needs to handhold the outsourced talent. Founders need to follow up regularly. At the same time, the burden is lessened when the finance function is managed in-house. How a firm can differentiate itself from others? Be available when the customer needs you and give the right advice at every stage of their growth. Reporting can be specific for SaaS. Especially SaaS Metrics, Cash Flows, MIS etc. Have meetings at regular intervals with Founders and Finance team to understand the bottlenecks ‍