Run the Numbers
Run the Numbers is a twice-weekly podcast about financial metrics and business models, designed for ambitious people operating tech startups. It's a collection of things host CJ Gustafson (CFO at Partstech and writer of Mostly Metrics) has learned and thought about in the trenches as a tech CFO. This show is meant to serve as a playbook of sorts for the stuff CJ wishes he knew earlier in his career, both from experience and from copying people smarter than himself. Topics frequently touch upon Startup SaaS Metrics, Annual Budgeting, Financial Forecasting, Headcount, Equity, Dilution, and Fundraising – and how all of th...
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Zapier's CFO on Closing the Books in 5 Days, AI Hiring Bars, and M&A Discipline
<p>In this episode of Run the Numbers, CJ sits down with Ryan Roccon, CFO of Zapier, to cover AI hiring standards, automating month-end close, measuring ROI on AI spend, and why determinism still beats agents most of the time.</p><p>—</p><p>SPONSORS:</p><p>EY has been part of Silicon Valley since it was just a valley, helping the most successful names in tech go from startup to exit to megacap. With teams across strategy, tax, audit, and transactions, EY helps you get your financials right early, long before your investors start asking for it. You build th...
Navan CFO Aurélien Nolf on Resource Allocation, IR, and AI in Finance
<p>In this episode of Run the Numbers, CJ sits down with Aurélien Nolf, CFO of Navan, to unpack how to pre-align before budgeting, how to think about portfolio construction inside a company, when to fund or kill internal bets, how IR is becoming more connected to FP&A, and where AI actually works inside finance teams.</p><p>—</p><p>SPONSORS:</p><p>Rillet is an AI-native ERP built for modern finance teams that want to replace NetSuite and close faster. With revenue recognition, close management, multi-entity support, and native Stripe and Salesforce integrations, Rillet helps scaling companies run...
SpaceX Is Going Public: Here's Everything You Need to Know
<p>In this episode of Run the Numbers, CJ breaks down SpaceX’s S-1, unpacking what the filing reveals about Starlink, xAI, X, common control accounting, revenue, losses, CapEx, and Elon Musk’s Mars-linked compensation structure.</p><p>—</p><p>SPONSORS:</p><p>RightRev is an automated revenue recognition platform built for teams that have outgrown spreadsheets and billing tool workarounds. It handles high-volume subscriptions, usage-based contracts, and mid-cycle upgrades, so you can scale without scrambling at month-end. For RevRec that keeps your books clean, visit https://www.rightrev.com/CJ</p><p>Rillet is an AI-native ERP built for modern...
5 Ways CFOs Can Build a Better Sales Engine with Paul Stansik
<p>In this episode of Run the Numbers, CJ sits down with ParkerGale Operating Partner Paul Stansik to break down five ways CFOs can help build a better sales engine: making the budget mean something, improving forecasting, sharpening metrics, getting involved in key RevOps moments, and building real trust with sales.</p><p>—</p><p>SPONSORS:</p><p>Aleph is a modern FP&A platform built for teams that want more than another planning tool. By connecting your ERP, CRM, and other systems into one trusted data layer with AI workflows, Aleph helps you move faster with real-time insights. Get a...
Figure CFO Macrina Kgil on Blockchain Lending, Stablecoins, and IPOs
<p>In this episode of Run the Numbers, CJ sits down with Figure Technologies CFO Macrina Kgil to break down how Figure’s business model works, why traditional lending remains so bloated, and how speed in origination and funding flows through financial performance. They also cover stablecoins, blockchain as invisible infrastructure, AI in accounting, and scaling finance with fewer than 35 people.</p><p>—</p><p>SPONSORS:</p><p>Brex is an intelligent finance platform that combines corporate cards, built-in expense management, and AI agents to eliminate manual finance work. By automating expense reviews and reconciliations, Brex gives CFOs more time for...
Cerebras IPO: S1 Breakdown - The Giant Chip, the OpenAI Deal, and the $24B Backlog
<p>Cerebras is going public with the largest commercial chip ever built, $510M in 2025 revenue, and a $24.6B backlog mostly tied to OpenAI. CJ breaks down the company’s wafer-scale AI bet, why inference changed the story, the strange customer-investor-lender relationships behind the IPO, and the big question: is Cerebras the next NVIDIA-style infrastructure winner, or a concentrated hardware company with a very expensive cloud pivot?</p><p>—</p><p>SPONSORS:</p><p>SpendHound is a SaaS spend management platform built for finance and procurement teams that want visibility and leverage in every deal. By tracking all your software, benchmarking pric...
The Investor Behind Warby Parker, Harry’s, and the Psychology of Consumer Growth | David Bell
<p>David Bell, co-founder of Idea Farm Ventures and early investor behind Warby Parker, Harry’s, and Diapers.com, and CJ break down how consumer investing works. They cover why durable consumer companies require more than clean unit economics, how to apply SaaS-style thinking to businesses without contracts, and why the best opportunities often live in boring gray space.</p><p>—</p><p>SPONSORS:</p><p>EY works with high-growth tech companies to navigate the messy realities of scaling—from regulatory requirements to IPO readiness. By helping teams get it right early and often, EY lets founders stay focused on buildi...
Inside Mostly Media: The Team Behind Run the Numbers
<p>CJ turns the mic on the people behind Mostly Media for a special behind-the-scenes episode of Run the Numbers. Michelle, Callie, Sarah, Matthew, Ben, and Steve share what it’s like building the company, scaling media, talent, sales, production, and operations, and dealing with CJ’s scooter lore, calendar quirks, and chaos along the way.</p><p>—</p><p>SPONSORS:</p><p>Rillet is an AI-native ERP built for modern finance teams that want to replace NetSuite and close faster. With revenue recognition, close management, multi-entity support, and native Stripe and Salesforce integrations, Rillet helps scaling companies run their financ...
Diamonds, De Beers, and the Death of Artificial Scarcity | A CFO Explains Diamonds
<p>In this episode of Run the Numbers, CJ Gustafson breaks down the diamond industry as a business model: how De Beers controlled supply, engineered demand, and built one of the most powerful pricing machines in history. From the Central Selling Organization to “A Diamond Is Forever” to the rise of lab-grown diamonds, this episode unpacks monopolies, scarcity, pricing power, and what happens when technology forces transparency.</p><p>—</p><p>SPONSORS:</p><p>RightRev is an automated revenue recognition platform built for teams that have outgrown spreadsheets and billing tool workarounds. It handles high-volume subscriptions, usage-based contracts, and mid-cycle upgrad...
The North Face Former CFO: How Finance Builds Iconic Brands
<p>In this episode of Run the Numbers, CJ Gustafson sits down with Angela Chen, former CFO of The North Face and Mars Veterinary Health, to unpack how finance leaders build and scale iconic consumer brands. Angela shares how to measure brand equity, why the CFO should act as an architect of growth, and how capital, talent, and strategy connect inside a scaling business. They also get into humanistic leadership, consumer-margin tradeoffs, and what a 39-cent Taco Bell taco can teach finance teams about growth.</p><p>—</p><p>SPONSORS:</p><p>Aleph is a modern FP&A platform built fo...
