Episode 70 - Aarish Shah: What I learned from two decades operating as CEO or CFO

Aug 30

Show Notes

Aarish Shah is the Founder of EmergeONE a Fractional CFO firm for venture-backed UK tech startups and scaleups (from Seed to Series B). He has spent nearly two decades operating as a CEO or CFO and now specializes in helping startups understand and act powerfully on their numbers.

In this episode, Aarish shares his insights on financial planning and analysis (FP&A) in startups and the fundamental lessons he has learned in his career.

His “worst budget ever” when one of his factories burnt down in Papua New Guinea
Who he would most like to meet
His Nothing Ventured podcast and key lessons talking to players in the venture ecosystem
Why he likes the constant “challenges” of Series B startups over other stage companies
The difference between "building" the playbook and "running" the playbook in startups
How to consider your finance tech stack scales pre-seed to Exit
How FP&A should consider their tech stack
Why you need to spending your money at pre-seed
Investing in early stage businesses in the UK
How do we go about creating a budget and forecast for a startup?
Key metrics I use to analyze startups
How startups can cope with the drying up of cheap capital
How to get your CFO to say yes
Favorite Excel function
How AI understanding is the one skill every FP&A practitioner needs