Title: CFO
Company: Flyp
Length of time you’ve been an FEI member: 15 years
FEI leadership involvement: Former board member and Communications Committee Chair.
Why did you join the FEI Tampa Bay Chapter? And what benefits have you realized from your membership?
I looked up one day and realized that for ten years I had focused all my attention on my job and kept my nose to the grindstone so much that I had completely forgone professional networking. Some recruiters I was talking to at the time told me what a mistake that was and directed my attention to FEI. Since joining, I have been grateful for the new connections and relationships I’ve forged from being a part of the chapter.
Tell us a little bit about your career, educational/professional background and how you got to where you are today.
I started my career with a global CPA firm and have served in global and national financial institutions as well as CFO for small- and medium-sized businesses. Currently, I’m the CFO of Flyp, a VC-backed SaaS company. I also offer sell-side M&A advisory services through Ravelin Pointe Capital. At any company and no matter what the role, I try to learn from every project, every interaction, and every relationship.
What is your most rewarding accomplishment as a finance executive?
When I stepped into one CFO role, I encountered an immediate liquidity challenge and inherited an overly simplistic cash forecasting system that dissimulated its causes. It forced me to address funding limitations, pursue targeted trade finance opportunities, and develop a more realistic cash flow forecasting mechanism that considered the complexities of the company’s business model. Most significantly, I was able to identify specific tactical decisions by management that drove the challenges, and champion changes in the company’s contract negotiation approach.
What is one piece of information you wish someone had told you when you first started your finance career?
Finance as taught in school is an academic study focused on public capital markets. Private markets loosely share the same conceptual framework, but they operate very differently. I think I would have approached the business world differently if this realization had found me earlier.
What is your best networking tip?
I used to be very nervous about interrupting a conversation and self-conscious when approaching strangers at a networking event. I’ve found that a conversation starter that never failed is telling them you don’t know many people at the event, and you figured you may as well introduce yourself to the smartest-looking people in the room.
If you aren’t perfectly polished and eminently accomplished, the good news is nobody is really expecting you to be—and the person you’ve just introduced yourself to certainly isn’t perfect either. Relax and be genuine. I’m still not a natural extrovert, but it takes a real load off when you make acting natural your first rule of order.