loader from loading.io

594: The Art & Science of Raising Funds | Chris Mausler, CFO, PeerNova

CFO THOUGHT LEADER

Release Date: 05/03/2020

1,028: Shaping Finance Operations to Support Global Growth | Clemente Cohen, CFO, PG Forsta show art 1,028: Shaping Finance Operations to Support Global Growth | Clemente Cohen, CFO, PG Forsta

CFO THOUGHT LEADER

Clemente Cohen’s finance career began in the early 1990s inside the Munich offices of Silicon Graphics, approximately 6,500 miles from the Silicon Valley company’s headquarters and 7,500 miles from his birthplace in Argentina. This transcontinental start marked the beginning of a career defined by global problem solving , adaptability and generous helpings of M&A experience. Cohen, who grew up in Germany after moving from Argentina, problem solving perspective to his role. Joining Silicon Graphics as an accountant, Cohen tells us he was able to quickly demonstrate to others a...

info_outline
1,027: Strategic Finance in the Digital Asset Industry: Lessons from a Bitcoin Mining Leader | Salman Khan, CFO, Marathon Digital Holdings show art 1,027: Strategic Finance in the Digital Asset Industry: Lessons from a Bitcoin Mining Leader | Salman Khan, CFO, Marathon Digital Holdings

CFO THOUGHT LEADER

When Salman Khan arrived in Dubai from the U.S. in the early 2000s, he was a seasoned auditor with PricewaterhouseCoopers, ready to narrow his focus on the oil and gas industry. If someone had told him then that he would one day be the CFO of the world’s largest Bitcoin mining company, Khan would have undoubtedly replied, “What mining company?” At the time, digital assets were a distant concept, and his world revolved around the complexities of oil reserves, regulations, and international finance. In Dubai, Khan honed his skills by navigating the intricacies of the oil and gas sector,...

info_outline
1,026:  Partnering for Growth in the Age of AI | Kabir Ahmed Shakir, CFO, Tata Communications show art 1,026: Partnering for Growth in the Age of AI | Kabir Ahmed Shakir, CFO, Tata Communications

CFO THOUGHT LEADER

According to CFO Kabir Shakir, when AI giant Nvidia sought to expand its alliances in India, it knew exactly with whom to partner: “They did their homework, and they tapped on Tata’s door.” This partnership, Shakir tells us, has proven to be but one of a number of alliances in Tata’s journey toward becoming “the national AI champion for all of India.” Along the way, Tata Communications received its first order of Nvidia’s technology, whose integration has since been fast-tracked into Tata’s production processes. With Tata’s dominance in the Indian market, Shakir continues to...

info_outline
1,025: Cost Management to Strategic Investment | Chikako Tyler, CFO, California Bank & Trust show art 1,025: Cost Management to Strategic Investment | Chikako Tyler, CFO, California Bank & Trust

CFO THOUGHT LEADER

In her role as CFO of California Bank & Trust, Chikako Tyler faced the collapse of Silicon Valley Bank—the second financial crisis of her career. Unlike the first crisis, the Great Recession, which forced her to leave a rewarding career in commercial real estate, this time, Tyler was prepared to take charge. In 2009, as the economic downturn decimated the real estate market, Tyler recognized the need for a change. She pivoted to banking, taking on a temporary role at California Bank & Trust, where she quickly discovered her passion for the intricacies of finance. Her journey through...

info_outline
1,024: From Overdrive to Insight: Lessons Learned in the Pursuit of Success |  Tom Bock, CFO, SmartFinancial show art 1,024: From Overdrive to Insight: Lessons Learned in the Pursuit of Success | Tom Bock, CFO, SmartFinancial

CFO THOUGHT LEADER

In 2005, fresh into his first banking job at Citigroup, Tom Bock found himself working 63 hours straight to prepare for a critical pitch. Fueled by a desire to prove his worth, he pushed his limits, refusing to rest until the task was completed. However, this grueling experience came at a cost—his nose began bleeding, a stark sign of physical exhaustion. Despite his best efforts, the pitch fell short, leading Bock to a moment of deep reflection. At the time, Bock was someone who believed in sheer perseverance, equating success with pushing through challenges alone. But the Citigroup...

info_outline
1,023: How Finance Propelled a Tech Enthusiast into the C-suite | Doug Potvin, CFO, Trinity Logistics show art 1,023: How Finance Propelled a Tech Enthusiast into the C-suite | Doug Potvin, CFO, Trinity Logistics

CFO THOUGHT LEADER

Doug Potvin’s journey to becoming the CFO of Trinity Logistics reveals the power of adaptability and continuous learning. Initially captivated by technology in high school, Doug pursued a degree in computer science, only to discover a passion for finance during a college course. This pivot led him to the National Marine Fishery Service (NMFS), where he gained invaluable experience in loan origination and financial analysis. Despite the security and stability of his government job, Doug felt increasingly constrained by bureaucratic micromanagement. Seeking greater autonomy and a desire to...

info_outline
1,022: The Power of Lean Thinking | Todd Patriacca, CFO, BVI Medical show art 1,022: The Power of Lean Thinking | Todd Patriacca, CFO, BVI Medical

CFO THOUGHT LEADER

Todd Patriacca was more than a dozen years into his finance career when two things happened that accelerated its trajectory. The first was that he found a mentor—or, rather, that his future mentor found him. The second was that he became immersed in Lean culture. Starting his career at Arthur Andersen, Patriacca spent nearly 10 years in public accounting, a span that allowed him to gain a broad perspective on various industries. However, it was in a subsequent role as corporate controller at a private company that he found a mentor to guide him through essential areas like tax, treasury, and...

info_outline
1,021: A Taste for Professional Growth: How the U.S. Coast Guard Granted Larry White an Expansive Finance Career show art 1,021: A Taste for Professional Growth: How the U.S. Coast Guard Granted Larry White an Expansive Finance Career

CFO THOUGHT LEADER

The year 1986 was a pivotal one for Larry White’s career in the U.S. Coast Guard. After entering the Coast Guard Academy in 1976 and graduating in 1980, White subsequently advanced through a series of intriguing roles including commanding an 82-foot patrol boat before deciding to pursue an MBA. The Coast Guard agreed to underwrite this move, enhancing his resume and eventually making him an attractive candidate for high-profile roles in Fortune 100 companies. Still, White had no intention of leaving the Coast Guard. Going forward, a decision by White to specialize in finance, rather than...

info_outline
1,020: A Savvy Investor Cracks the Operator’s Code | Seth Wunder, CFO, Acorns show art 1,020: A Savvy Investor Cracks the Operator’s Code | Seth Wunder, CFO, Acorns

CFO THOUGHT LEADER

t a recent executive team dinner, several Acorns executives were reminiscing about their childhood professional aspirations. While many had had career dreams that had long ago lost their luster—Seth Wunder told his colleagues that he never gave much thought to being anything other than an investor. “I grew up in a household and family that was focused on investing and on the growth of the markets,” Wunder recalls. As a teenager, he was already engrossed in financial markets, which would set the stage for a career path that would eventually lead him to the CFO office at Acorns, a...

info_outline
Navigating Communication Challenges - A Planning Aces Episode show art Navigating Communication Challenges - A Planning Aces Episode

CFO THOUGHT LEADER

Brett & Jack discuss the commentary and insights of three accomplished CFOs (Sandeep Aujla from Intuit, Shelagh Glaser from Synopsys, and Seth Wunder from Acorns), while highlighting their distinct approaches to strategic finance, organizational structure, communication, and business growth.  While all three Planning Aces highlight the importance of strategic finance and organizational efficiency, their reflections differ in focus. Aujla emphasizes the integration of finance with business strategy, Glaser focuses on aligning investments with strategic goals and improving communication...

info_outline
 
More Episodes

When it comes to raising money from the investor community, finance executives often find themselves standing in line for job assignments that promise to make them active participants in the process.

Such roles allow aspiring finance leaders to check off one of the more essential items on the demanding list of prerequisites required of high-growth­–firm CFOs.

For those executives who have climbed the accounting career ladder or toiled for years in an FP&A cubicle, the “money box” is often one of the last ones to get checked off.

Such was the case for finance leader Chris Mausler, who after a decade of devouring high-calorie FP&A assignments at IBM Corp. exited the computer giant to join a string of Silicon Valley firms. 

Removed from IBM’s sprawling organization, Mausler found himself in closer proximity to the action. Nevertheless, it would take years for the seasoned FP&A executive to land a role that allowed him to check that box and ultimately raise money for a variety of different firms.

“Even though my assignments had touched on treasury-type operations in an indirect way, I myself had actually never directly raised money before,” says Mausler, who last fall helped to raise $31 million in funding for San Jose, California’s PeerNova, the data governance company that he joined as CFO back in 2014.

“I’m certain that there are companies out there that make their first pitch and get funded with a term sheet, but this is not the norm,” says Mausler, who notes that most companies can expect to receive only a handful of term sheets from roughly 100 pitches.   

“It's a little bit of an art, a little bit of a science for anyone going through it,” he adds. –Jack Sweeney 

 

 

Mausler: As I’m sitting here at home under a shelter-in-place order, my first priority clearly is to manage our company over the next couple of months to make sure that we don’t lose any efficiency and effectiveness in meeting our short-term goals, and this is certainly a new challenge through these times. Other than that, the challenges that I have remain much the same at PeerNova. We raised a good financing last fall. We announced a $31 million round that’s going to take us for a while. We have goals and milestones for getting us through a large kind of growth round in the future. We’ve got to make sure that we get there, so it’s making sure that we’re hitting the near-term milestones and tweaking our strategy to hit the next ones.

Here at PeerNova we had good data, so it was just a question of organizing it into one place so that we could manage the business. It’s been very much of a journey for us as we’ve raised rounds to build out this platform and worked with early customers on projects to grow our business. The most critical thing at PeerNova has been to raise the right amount of capital to help to get us to the next set of milestones and to make the right set of investments to get to these milestones so that we can continue to grow the company and keep this kind of growth pattern going. At this point, having worked with a number of large institutions, we’re in that growth phase of a company where we’re ramping up revenue.

For me, it’s always been about trying to balance how quickly you grow the company to achieve the next milestone while keeping in mind how much cash you will need to manage the company until the next round. You’ve got to keep an eye on both. You want to build a company that’s growing extremely fast, but you have to reconcile this to some extent with how much capital you have. You also have to organize the milestones that you need to hit to get to the next round as well.