Sid Agarwal Live Highlights
Another week, another Framework Live! This Wednesday (8 Feb), members hopped on a call to hear some shiny pearls of finance and growth wisdom provided by the brilliant Sid Agarwal ????
Currently the CFO at Incredible Health — a unicorn company that connects hospitals with nurses for permanent roles, previously the finance brains behind Airtable , and with five years leading operations at Instacart to his name, it’s no surprise that what he had to say about #growth, #leadership, #finance, and #metrics was priceless! ??
Here are some highlights:
??The role of finance has evolved — Sid pointed out that finance roles have historically existed to keep the books clean. You know, “the guys who are gonna keep you out of jail” he told us. Nowadays, though, he’s witnessing smart businesses appreciate finance as a wider function. It not only ties together the overall business strategy but also heavily informs decisions around product pricing, new markets, operation costs, metrics, and much more.
??First principles come first — For Sid, transitioning successfully from one business to another very different business is all about first principles — breaking things down into fundamental components, challenging previous assumptions, and creating innovative solutions from the ground up. ??
??Listen to the market, listen to your business — When it comes to the profitability vs growth dilemma, Sid acknowledges that the market is going to dictate how you steer the ship. Sometimes, growth will reap rewards while low profitability is forgiven. At other times, profitability can’t be postponed. What's important is that you factor your business’s unique needs and unit economics into the equation too.
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??Ask the simple questions — Sid gave some great advice for startup folk without a finance background who want to support the financial well-being of their company. It's simple, he said: ask simple questions like ‘what does success look like for us over the next year’, and ‘what can I do to get us there’. Finance leaders can support this by giving everyone access to dashboards with top-level metrics too. ??
?? If you’re a Framework member, be sure to register for your seat at our next live event — Will Drewery , former Head of Global Supply Management at Tesla and former VP of Industry Marketing at Bright Machines .
Not yet a Framework member? Find out more at useframework.com and join the waitlist today!