Ask in Claude
Ask in ChatGPT
- Podcasts
- Management
- Run the Numbers
33 episodes
Run the Numbers
by CJ Gustafson · English
Run the Numbers is a business podcast about financial metrics and business models for CFOs, aspiring CFOs, finance leaders, and ambitious people operating tech startups. Hosted by CJ Gustafson, CFO and writer of Mostly Metrics, the show shares lessons, frameworks, and operator insights from the trenches as a tech exec. Think of it as a playbook for the things CJ wishes he knew earlier in his career, covering SaaS metrics, annual budgeting, forecasting, headcount, equity, dilution, fundraising, and the decisions that drive performance and growth.
Latest episodes
All episodes
The Profit Whale: The Chart Every CFO Should Build | Jason Cohen
How CFOs can use unit economics and a “profit whale” chart to identify which customers drive most gross profit, avoid over-focusing on cost-cutting, and improve pricing and product decisions.
12 Nov 2026 · 1h 3m · 21 chaptersQuantumScape’s CFO on Funding the Future of Batteries | Kevin Hettrich
QuantumScape’s CFO Kevin Hettrich discusses how to fund and manage a long, uncertain path to commercializing solid-state lithium-metal batteries—focusing on capital allocation, “saying no,” speed of…
9 Nov 2026 · 48m · 19 chaptersGreenhouse’s CFO on Breaking the AI Hiring Doom Loop | Paul Todgham
Greenhouse CFO Paul Todgham explains how AI is distorting hiring economics and trust, creating an “AI doom loop” (more applications, more screening, more AI-assisted noise/fraud), and how finance…
5 Nov 2026 · 51m · 25 chaptersToken Series Part 3 | Who’s Footing the Bill for AI?
The episode discusses AI pricing and packaging, focusing on who pays for AI tokens/inference costs as venture subsidies fade.
3 Nov 2026 · 18m · 7 chapters
The Hierarchy of Metrics BS: How Investors Spot Fake Numbers | Brian Neider
Investors’ “hierarchy of metrics” and how to detect fake or misleading numbers (e.g., EBITDA adjustments, token usage, downloads), especially in AI software.
2 Nov 2026 · 56m · 16 chapters
Anthropic's Historic IPO Has Arrived | S1 Breakdown
The episode is a “S1 breakdown” of Anthropic’s IPO filing and what it implies about growth, pricing, profitability, risks, and valuation.
27 Oct 2026 · 47m · 20 chapters
Why Databricks’ Sid Kumar is Always Planning
How go-to-market planning and sales org design must change for consumption-based pricing, where value realization (customer usage) is the “moment of truth,” planning becomes continuous (“always be…
26 Oct 2026 · 51m · 18 chapters
Oklo CFO on Leading Through Deepwater Horizon | Craig Bealmear
Craig Bealmear, CFO of Oklo, discusses leading a capital-intensive nuclear startup—how to forecast and hire for the future, manage cash vs.
22 Oct 2026 · 33m · 12 chapters
Token Series Part 2 | Finance's ChatGPT moment: MCP, Harness, and Headless Explained (simply)
Finance’s “ChatGPT moment” for AI agents, using MCP, plus how to structure a CFO tech stack with headless agents, orchestration (Harness), deterministic application layers, and governance/audit…
20 Oct 2026 · 19m · 7 chapters
Brex's CFO on the Weekend SVB Collapsed | Erica Dorfman
Erica Dorfman, CFO of Brex, discusses trust-based finance, what “being good during a crisis” means, Brex’s response to the SVB collapse, and how Brex decided to move away from lending toward…
19 Oct 2026 · 50m · 19 chapters
Former Netflix CFO Breaks Down Return on Compute | Jim Cook
How AI is forcing CFOs to rethink business measurement by introducing “return on compute” (ROC)—treating compute/tokens as a budget line item with definitions, controls, and reporting like CAC/LTV or…
15 Oct 2026 · 38m · 15 chapters
Inside the Food52 Bankruptcy | Heidi Robinson
Heidi Robinson, former Food52 CFO/COO, recounts how Food52 (Food52 Inc.
12 Oct 2026 · 48m · 26 chapters
Robinhood's CFO on Refounding & the Art of Capital Allocation | Shiv Verma
Robinhood CFO Shiv Verma explains “refounding” (2022–23) and how it changed decision-making, org structure, and capital allocation.
8 Oct 2026 · 1h 7m · 21 chapters
Token Series Part 1 | How AI Created a New Budget
How AI token/inference costs are forcing companies to rethink budgeting, ownership of spend, and pricing—moving from “experimentation budgets” to material, usage-based variable costs that behave…
6 Oct 2026 · 15m · 4 chapters
Why Owning Your Data Is the New Moat | Primary Venture's Emily Man
Emily Man (Primary Venture) explains where value accrues in the AI stack and why owning proprietary data/context is a competitive moat as software becomes “headless” and AI diffuses into everyday…
5 Oct 2026 · 54m · 20 chapters
Zuora’s COFO On Going Private and Pricing AI | Todd McElhatton
Zuora CFO Todd McElhatton discusses pricing and monetizing AI, budgeting token costs vs headcount, and how AI changes software value, implementation speed, and finance workflows.
1 Oct 2026 · 48m · 22 chapters
LiveRamp’s CFO Rebuilt Pricing From Scratch | Lauren Dillard
LiveRamp’s CFO Lauren Dillard explains how pricing strategy should be a business strategy (not just margin math), how she rebuilt LiveRamp’s pricing model from scratch, and why storytelling,…
28 Sep 2026 · 50m · 20 chapters
The NScale IPO | A Neocloud S1 Breakdown
N-Scale’s IPO filing (NYSE ticker NSCL) and “NeoCloud” business model—renting AI GPUs via long take-or-pay contracts tied to power/data-center buildout.
24 Sep 2026 · 34m · 14 chapters
How Media Actually Makes Money | Blake Saunders
How media companies monetize attention and how monetization models (ads, subscriptions, licensing/IP, events, data) map to durability, scalability, and deal multiples; includes discussion of AI/LLM…
21 Sep 2026 · 51m · 22 chapters
How to Sell Your Company: A Multi-Time CFO's Full Playbook | Rick Smith
How to maximize value and avoid pitfalls when selling a company, using Rick Smith’s “Smitty’s Law” (anything that can go wrong in diligence will be uncovered).
17 Sep 2026 · 1h 7m · 24 chapters
Masterwork’s CFO Runs 12 AI Agents at Once | Nigel Glenday
Nigel Glenday (Masterworks CFO/COO) explains how he uses AI agents and “context engineering” to automate finance and operations, arguing AI increases productivity and workload rather than eliminating…
14 Sep 2026 · 46m · 18 chapters
How Oura Built a $1.4 Billion Business Around a Tiny Ring
The episode breaks down Aura’s S-1 IPO filing for its Oura Ring (NASDAQ: OURA), explaining how a sensor ring became a $1.4B trailing-12-month business.
10 Sep 2026 · 34m · 16 chapters
What 20 Years of Software Investing Says About AI | Matt Hedberg
How 20 years of software investing informs AI-era strategy: cloud and AI as platform shifts, evolving moats, management/technical leadership, and how to fund and measure durable AI advantages (not…
7 Sep 2026 · 52m · 18 chapters
Andy Ellis: How to Lead Without Becoming the Hero, the Villain, or the Bottleneck
Leadership and delegation for finance/CFO leaders—how to avoid “hero/villain” narratives, don’t backfill immediately, don’t become indispensable, and delegate with broad directives plus specific…
3 Sep 2026 · 1h · 22 chaptersWe use cookies.They keep VO running smoothly and help us improve it. Privacy policy