From tax to startup finance

You started your career at PWC in tax before transitioning to FP&A. What prompted that shift?

Tax gave me a solid foundation, but it was fairly reactive. The work involves mostly looking backward, reviewing what's already happened. I found myself wanting to work in a more forward-looking space, where I could influence decisions rather than just document them.

FP&A felt like the natural next step. It gave me broader visibility into how the business operates beyond the financials and how they connect to product, sales, and strategy. That shift into tech and eventually into SaaS was intentional. I wanted to be in a space where things moved quickly and where finance played a more active role in shaping outcomes.

The transition from tax to FP&A is a common challenge. How did you position yourself for it?

It came down to reframing my experience. At PwC, part of my role was consulting on tax strategy for large clients, including the New York Yankees. We weren’t just doing compliance work, we were advising on financial implications and modeling future scenarios. This overlapped with FP&A, including forecasting, scenario planning, and long-term thinking, which became the story I told in interviews.

But I also knew I needed more direct finance experience, so I made a stop at a specialty materials and chemical company to get my foot in the door. From there, I moved into tech and joined Quantum Metric, where I’ve grown into the FP&A manager role over time.

What does a typical day look like for you as an FP&A manager in a high-growth startup?

No two days are the same, and that’s part of the appeal. In a startup, FP&A is inherently cross-functional. I’m collaborating with business leaders, running hiring models, refining forecasts, supporting board and investor materials, and building ad hoc analyses based on evolving priorities.

It’s less about routine and more about responsiveness. Figuring out what the business needs that week or even that day, and making sure we’re guiding decisions with the right data and context.

Key to good business partnering

What separates a good FP&A team from a great one?

It comes down to how well you partner with the business.

Anyone can pull actuals and flag variances. But if all you're doing is saying “You're under budget,” you're missing the bigger picture. You should be working with business leaders to answer, Why are we under budget? Are we behind on hiring? If so, does that delay the product roadmap? And how does that impact revenue?

Strategic FP&A means connecting the dots across teams, timelines, and tradeoffs. It’s about asking better questions, not just delivering faster answers.

And crucially, it means understanding the business context behind every number. Without that, you're just reporting.

Let’s talk about that business context. How do you build real partnerships with other functions?

It starts with building trust. You can’t expect stakeholders to rely on you if your first interaction with them is during budget season. You must show up early, offer support, help solve problems, and demonstrate that you understand their function.

It’s also important to be consistent and accurate. When you bring analysis to leadership, especially tough news, it needs to be rock solid. People remember whether they could trust your numbers the last time, and that reputation builds over time.

And finally, you have to tailor your communication. Not everyone speaks finance. A good FP&A partner adjusts how they present data depending on whether they’re talking to product, marketing, or engineering, and makes sure the takeaway is clear, not just the math.

How do you approach tough conversations like budget cuts or resource constraints?

You have to lead with clarity and data, but most importantly, with empathy.

Saying “You’re over budget, you need to cut back” rarely lands well. Instead, I focus on why we’re having the conversation. What are we seeing in the data? What’s the risk if we don’t act? What tradeoffs do we face?

Then I bring options. Here's what we can do. Here's what I recommend. That way, we’re making a decision together, not enforcing a mandate.

Of course, it helps to have alignment at the top. When the CFO and CEO reinforce the guidance, it signals this isn’t just FP&A’s opinion; it’s a company-wide direction.

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Managing up and driving value

What skills do CFOs value most from FP&A teams today?

CFOs today expect more than clean models. They’re looking for speed, clarity, and insight.

Tools have improved, and we can get data faster than ever. With the tools we have now, AI, automation, and FP&A platforms like Drivetrain, there’s no excuse for waiting a week to get answers.

But more than that, CFOs want storytellers. People who can take messy data and turn it into a clear narrative. And have the ability to present it to different audiences. An executive summary for the CFO isn’t the same as a walkthrough for the marketing lead, and knowing this difference builds trust.

How can one effectively manage upwards?

Anticipate what’s needed and take things to the finish line.

When my manager left, I jumped in. When the director moved on, I stepped up. At one point, I was reporting directly to the CFO. The takeaway? Be useful before someone asks. That’s how you level up.

Don’t wait to be asked. If something needs doing, own it. If there’s a decision coming up, bring the analysis and your recommendation. Senior leaders don’t just want raw data; they want to know how you think.

And above all, be consistent. Accuracy builds trust. The more you can deliver high-quality work without needing a second review, the more confidence leadership will have in your judgment.

Do you have a framework or mental model you rely on for sharing insights?

The framework I have always followed: problem → cause → solution.

Like: “We’re under budget on R&D. Why? Hiring is behind. What’s the impact? We’re missing key roadmap milestones, which delays GTM.”

Then I bring options. Not just “here’s a number,” but “here’s what we can do.” Three possible paths, the one I’d recommend, and why. I want leadership to feel like they can trust me to close the loop, not just flag issues.

That’s how you become more than the finance guy. That’s how you become essential.

SaaS finance metrics

Is there an underrated metric more FP&A teams should focus on?

Not underrated per se, but under-contextualized. At a SaaS company, we track Rule of 40, burn multiple, magic number, all the usual suspects. But metrics only matter if you benchmark them properly.

Too often, teams use metrics without understanding what “good” looks like for their stage, market, or model. So I’d say the real opportunity is understanding your metrics in context, not just whether they’re up or down.

AI’s impact on FP&A

What’s your take on AI in FP&A?

It’s freeing up time to focus on what really matters. The role is becoming much less about data entry, data management, and reporting, and much more about interpreting data and asking: Where can I add strategic value to the company? Where can we influence things?

I've started using tools like Gemini as a brainstorming tool; if I'm thinking about doing a presentation, what data will be valuable? It helps shortcut the thought process.

Even a year and a half ago, when our FP&A team was just me and Excel-based, so much time was spent just bringing actuals into our model, updating headcount, all these small things. Now with AI and tools like Drivetrain, so much time has been freed up for meeting with business partners more frequently, bringing more strategic thinking, and writing board material.

Before, I’d spend 30 minutes building a slide: 15 minutes formatting the visual, 15 minutes writing commentary. Now, it’s 2 minutes on the graphic and 28 minutes on commentary.

This shift from grunt work to actual strategic work is what AI is enabling.

Breaking into FP&A

Any advice for aspiring finance folks?

The really important thing when trying to get into FP&A is leveraging your network and finding connections to where you are trying to go.. If you're looking at a specific company, understand what parts of your previous job are relevant, and lean on that as much as possible to get your foot in the door.

Additionally, find someone in FP&A you'd love to learn from and try to pick their brain. Form a mentor-mentee relationship with somebody in the industry who can guide you. Coffee chats are the way to go.