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Advancing Your Influence: Strategies for CFOs

What growth stage startup leaders can expect from the current fundraising environment.
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How People Leaders Can Invest In Their Own Growth

What growth stage startup leaders can expect from the current fundraising environment.
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5 Levers of Leadership: How CHROs Can Foster a Resilient and Efficient Workforce

What growth stage startup leaders can expect from the current fundraising environment.
Bold Leadership: 5 Moves CFOs Should Make to Succeed in 2024

Bold Leadership: 5 Moves CFOs Should Make to Succeed in 2024

What growth stage startup leaders can expect from the current fundraising environment.

The State of Fundraising in 2024

What growth stage startup leaders can expect from the current fundraising environment.

Leveraging an EOR or PEO for Operational Efficiency

Setting up, managing and transitioning off an EOR or PEO.

The State of Venture Debt in 2023

The evolution of venture debt post-SVB.

Leading Effectively During Crises

How CHROs can support and lead the organization during a crisis.

The “Art” of Annual Planning

How to drive efficiency and navigate conflicts during annual planning.

The “Science” of Annual Planning

Align your board, executive team, and broader organization with your vision to create a successful roadmap for the future.

Generative AI in Finance: 5 Questions Finance Leaders Should Be Asking

Generative AI opportunities, risks and use cases in finance

Generative AI in HR: Opportunities, Risks, and Policy Considerations

Considerations for introducing generative AI in the HR function.

CHRO’s Role with the Board: 3 Strategies to Build Boardroom Impact and Influence

How to build boardroom impact and influence as a CHRO.

Architecting Equity: Considerations for Equity Structure, Refresh Grants, & Employee Communication

Equity strategies for growth stage companies.

The State of Fundraising in 2023

Fundraising outlook from a VC, banker, lender, & finance executive.

The 2022 IPO Readiness Guide for CFOs

Sage advice on going public from battle-tested CFOs.

Managing Your Board of Directors Through Uncertainty

How to manage board dynamics during uncertainty.

8 Tactics for Leading Effective Annual Planning Conversations

Advice for mastering the art of financial planning.

A Three-Part Framework for Annual Financial Planning

Best practices for annual planning strategy and communication.

Cash Management for CFOs in Profitability Mode

Navigating public market expectations and engineering growth in a downturn.

Cash Management for CFOs in Recalibration Mode

Advice on prioritizing spend and efficiency in a market downturn.

Cash Management for CFOs in Survival Mode

How CFOs can cut costs and extend their runway under challenging times.
The IPO Software Stack: What You’ll Need Before Going Public

The IPO Software Stack: What You’ll Need Before Going Public

Best practices for developing the systems and processes you’ll need to go from private to public company, with insights from EY.
Brian Long | Attentive CEO

5 Hyper-scale Hacks From Attentive CEO Brian Long

As a CFO, how do you help manage the transition of your board of directors from a private company to a public company? Four battle-tested CFO’s shared their experience and advice with The Circle Community.
5 Financial Planning Hacks for CFOs

5 Annual Planning Strategy Hacks for CFOs

CFOs in The Circle share strategies and advice for annual financial planning, including: balancing growth and spend, benchmarking, and managing board and internal communications.
The Role and Responsibilities of the CFO with the Board

The Role and Responsibilities of the CFO with the Board

Led by our mutual friends, Rob Krolik and David Oppenheimer, this Circle|Call was geared towards discussing how CFOs can shift their role from one that reports to the board to one that leads the board (of course, in conjunction with their CEO).
“Ask Me Anything” with CFO Jeff Epstein of Apex and formerly of Oracle (2008-2011)

The Road to IPO: CFO Jeff Epstein of Apex and formerly of Oracle (2008-2011)

From his former role as CFO of Oracle to his current position as co-CEO + CFO of a SPAC, Jeff Epstein has earned plenty of scar tissue with invaluable experience as a CFO for both private and public companies. Jeff shares his views on CFO best practices, navigating the transition from public to private, the "why" of SPACs, and more.
"Ask Me Anything" with CFO Tim Bixby @ Lemonade

The Road to IPO: CFO Tim Bixby @ Lemonade

Despite a global pandemic and recession, CFO Tim Bixby recently helped steer Lemonade to one of the best IPO debuts of 2020.  Having traveled the entire startup-journey through IPO more than once (LPSN, SSTK), Tim has the critical experience and insight into the leadership and strategy necessary to be a successful CFO.
Leading Through Crises & Downturns in a Remote Environment

Leading Through Crises and Downturns in a Remote World

Complimenting as well as contrasting points of view by Dave Dorman and Sid Sijbrandij were shared with leaders of The Circle on how leaders can be available, communicative, and vulnerable to drive desired attitudes and behaviors throughout the organization and across all stakeholders.
The IPO Readiness Guide for CFOs Hero

The IPO Readiness Guide for CFOs (2021 Edition)

Transitioning from private to public can dramatically alter the chemistry and operations of a company, which is why it’s so important to have the right people, processes, systems, and mindset in place.
"Ask Me Anything" with CFO Lee Kirkpatrick Twilio (2012-2018)

The Road to IPO: CFO Lee Kirkpatrick Twilio (2012-2018)

Veteran CFO Lee Kirkpatrick guided Twilio to and through its IPO from 2012-2018. Now he's an active board member and executive advisor to both venture-backed and public companies. Lee shares his views and best practices for exercising greater empathy, up-and-down the organization, as a cornerstone to being a strong leader in the company.
"Ask Me Anything" with CFO Criss Harms Forescout (2013-2020)

The Road to IPO: CFO Criss Harms Forescout (2013-2020)

Veteran CFO Criss Harms guided ForeScout, a 20-year-old company, for nearly eight years to and through its IPO from 2013-2020 where he helped scale the business with people, systems, and processes. Having traveled the entire start-up journey, Criss has key insight and experience concerning CFO leadership and strategy.
2021 Financial Planning and Setting Board Expectations

2021 Financial Planning and Setting Board Expectations

2020 has introduced a wide range of new, unpredictable variables to consider when financial planning for the future. The|Circle convened this week to discuss different planning approaches, including scenario planning, general planning advice, and tactics for communicating these plans to the board.
Consumer Playbook Morgan Stanley

A Look at the Consumer Public Company Playbook

The Circle gathered this week with our consumer-focused CEOs and CFOs to discuss the consumer tech market playbook, from the perspectives of public company CEOs, CFOs, and Boards. Umi Mehta & Shaan Tehal of Morgan Stanley joined the group to synthesize for them what they’ve learned from scores of public company leadership conversations.
Rightsizing Your Real Estate

Rightsizing Your Real Estate

The Circle came together with Tim Kazul, Jon Wittemyer, Lukas Ault @ CBRE, and Katherine Murphy, Brenna Moorhead @ Goodwin to discuss how to work with your landlord on financial needs here-and-now and space need in the near future as impacted by the pandemic.
Software Public Company Playbook

A Look at the Software Public Company Playbook

The CEO|Circle + CFO|Circle came together with Paul Kwan, Head of Morgan Stanley’s W. Coast Tech Group, and Melissa Knox, Global Head of Software, to discuss Morgan Stanley's software market playbook which they’ve synthesized from scores of public company leadership conversations they’ve held. 

M&A Considerations During a Pandemic

The CEO|Circle came together with James Kim + Nadir Shaikh of Qatalyst Partners to discuss M&A considerations during COVID19. During these challenging times, Qatalyst shared how CEOs can and should cultivate meaningful relationships on both sides of the M&A equation. 
Room to Grow

Room to Grow: Strategies and Tactics for Growth

Recently the consumer-facing CEOs of our CEO|Circle got together to share strategies and tactics for optimizing growth during these unprecedented times. This peer group offered helpful insights into how they are taking advantage of areas where there is “Room to Grow.” 

How to Survive So You Can Thrive in Wartime

CEO’s & CFO’s of The Circle convened with Karl Jacob to discuss “How to survive so you can thrive in Wartime”. Karl shared actionable (albeit painful) tips-and-tricks learned from the scar tissue he endured through the '00-'02 and '08-'10 (+'11-'12) downturn

Managing Your Company’s Debt During the Current Downturn

Peers of the CEO|Circle and CFO|Circle convened on a discussion w/ Ken Loveless, a Managing Partner here at Founders Circle Capital and veteran of SVB on “Managing Your Company's Debt During the Current Downturn.”
Architecting Growth in a Downturn

Architecting for Growth in a Downturn for Enterprise Companies

CEO's, CFO's and CRO's of The Circle for Enterprise companies convened with Scott Davis to discuss first principles to focus on that will increase the probability for revenue to stabilize, or even grow, in a downturn as well as position the company for growth post-downturn.
Financial Planning COVID

Scenario Planning in the Age of a Pandemic

CFO’s, today’s “Risk Officers”, convened with Rob Krolik (who leads the CFO|Circle Masterclass series) to discuss how to scenario plan around the financial downturn, including how to model cash preservation and assumptions to make around revenue and expenses.
Startup Founders and Executives Consider Financial Wealth Planning

Startup Founders and Executives Consider Financial Wealth Planning

Building a great technology start-up to and through a financial exit happens to a rare few.
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