I was on The FP&A Today podcast with Glenn Hopper this week, and he asked me a great question:

“When you come in as the first CFO at a startup, where do you start?”

Here’s what I said:

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I start by figuring out what we’re optimizing for.

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Not every company needs the same thing.

Some need investor readiness.

Some need a handle on burn.

Some just need to sell something this month.

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As CFOs, it’s easy to walk in with our own checklist:

• ✅ Clean books
• ✅ Great dashboards
• ✅ Fancy spend policies

But here’s the thing:

None of that matters if the company doesn’t survive the next 60 days.

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The most valuable thing I can do early on?

Listen.

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I listen to the founders, the team, the product, the financials.

And I figure out where I can make the biggest impact, fastest.

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Sometimes that’s helping them get compliant.

Sometimes it’s rebuilding the model or cleaning up reporting.

Sometimes it’s something way outside the typical CFO playbook — like helping optimize the sales pipeline, hire the right people, close a big deal, or find a better technical partner.

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Startups don’t have the luxury of optimizing everything.

We get one or two shots to move the needle in the right direction.

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So my job isn’t to check boxes,

It’s to figure out what really matters and help the team deliver on that.

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🎧 Catch the full episode here on YouTube or wherever you listen to podcasts - just search FP&A Today with Glenn Hopper.

Huge thanks to Glenn for the great convo!

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Your Daily CFO,

Lauren

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