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HR & Finance
Powered by Battery  |  July 31, 2017
Focusing on Finance: CFOs Gather to Talk Metrics, Accounting Standards and Managing Up

Earlier this month, more than 85 CFOs and heads of finance gathered for the Battery Ventures CFO Summit in San Francisco.

These finance leaders—and more than a dozen high-profile speakers—spent an afternoon sharing insights about scaling the finance function at high-growth technology companies. Topics included the role of the CFO vis-à-vis a company’s CEO and advice for interacting with the board; key drivers of value for software-as-a-service (SaaS) businesses; implementing the new 606 revenue recognition standard; best practices for international expansion and acquisition integration; improving financial processes; debt financings; and preparing for an exit.

Speakers included Alan Black, the former CFO of Zendesk; Julie Bradley, the former CFO of TripAdvisor; Marc Cadieux, the chief credit officer at Silicon Valley Bank; Steve Collins, the former CFO of ExactTarget*; Stacy Down, a partner at RSM; Peter Fair, managing director of Golub Capital; Ken Goldman, the CFO at Yahoo!; Jennifer Harris, Q2*’s CFO; John Leonard, senior managing director at Wells Fargo; James McNicholas, the CFO of Cumulus Networks*; Junaid Mohiuddin, a startup advisor at McKinsey & Co.; Paul Parrish the former CFO of Brightree*; Steffan Tomlinson, the CFO at Palo Alto Networks; Dede Wakefield, CEO of Alogent*; and Peter Weed, the global co-head of McKinsey & Co.’s Fast Growth Technology Practice.

Below are snapshots from the event.

Battery Ventures General Partner Roger Lee interviews Steffan Tomlinson, the CFO at Palo Alto Networks, about how his role has evolved at Palo Alto Networks since the company’s IPO five years ago and how CFOs should interact with CEOs and their boards.
Peter Weed and Junaid Mohiuddin from McKinsey walk through key drivers of value in Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) businesses and industry benchmarks that demonstrate best-in-class performance.
Stacy Dow, a partner at the global accounting firm RSM, presents on the new 606 revenue recognition standard.

Dede Wakefield, CEO of Alogent*, and Alan Black, the former CFO of Zendesk, share ‘gotchas’ to look out for when considering acquisitions and advice for successful integrations.
Chelsea Stoner, a general partner at Battery Ventures, chats with executives from Silicon Valley Bank, Golub Capital and Wells Fargo about debt financings.
Battery General Partner Dharmesh Thakker interviews the current and former CFOs of ExactTarget*, Cumulus Networks* and Brightree* about key considerations for preparing for an exit–on both the IPO and M&A path.

 

This material is provided for informational purposes, and it is not, and may not be relied on in any manner as, legal, tax or investment advice or as an offer to sell or a solicitation of an offer to buy an interest in any fund or investment vehicle managed by Battery Ventures or any other Battery entity. 

The information and data are as of the publication date unless otherwise noted.

Content obtained from third-party sources, although believed to be reliable, has not been independently verified as to its accuracy or completeness and cannot be guaranteed. Battery Ventures has no obligation to update, modify or amend the content of this post nor notify its readers in the event that any information, opinion, projection, forecast or estimate included, changes or subsequently becomes inaccurate.

The information above may contain projections or other forward-looking statements regarding future events or expectations. Predictions, opinions and other information discussed in this video are subject to change continually and without notice of any kind and may no longer be true after the date indicated. Battery Ventures assumes no duty to and does not undertake to update forward-looking statements.

*Denotes a Battery portfolio company. For a full list of all Battery investments, please click here.

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