Can Turning Down a Huge Upround Lead to a Greater Outcome? FloQast CFO Razzak Jallow Proves It Can

In this episode, Sasha sits down with Razzak Jallow, CFO at FloQast, to discuss the evolving role of the modern CFO as a strategic partner across the organization. They dive into how he builds trust with the CEO, his approach to fostering product innovation responsibly, and why he turned down a financing round that would have doubled FloQast's valuation.

Razzak also offers advice for aspiring CFOs on evaluating their first CFO role, skills like "precision Q&A", and hiring great talent

This show is a part of the Turpentine podcast network. Learn more: www.turpentine.co

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⏲️ Timestamps:

(00:00) Preview

(02:22) How Razzak would describe the role of CFO

(02:55) Razzak’s superpowers: hiring and working with different people

(04:28) Building trust with different colleagues across different functions and cultures

(06:31) How to be the office of “how to” rather than “no”

(08:47) Having an effective discussion when there isn’t a right answer

(11:47) Changing the culture from being a no shop to a let’s be a partner shop

(14:26) Precision Q&A

(15:24) Sponsor: Attio

(17:22) What is FloQast

(19:34) Taking on the first CFO role and evaluating fit

(21:45) Deciding not to raise at a higher valuation and why

(25:20) Having a cash war chest

(27:02) Balancing product innovation and financial discipline as CFO

(30:00) The early milestones in a new product that unlock more capital

(31:32) Getting alignment on what payback on a new product should be

(38:16) Advice to future CFOs and an underrated skill people should work on more

(41:39) Building trust with your CEO

(45:27) Wrap

Subscribe to this season of Turpentine Finance, where our guests speak candidly about big business inflections, market curveballs, and how they approach decision-making to tease out tactics and mental models you can use when the pressure is on.

You’ll hear stories from Instacart, Mercury, OpenAI, Andreessen Horowitz, Netflix, Runway, and more. Topics frequently touched upon M&A, Market Downturn, Macro, PMF, Fundraising, Financial Forecasting, Headcount, Equity.

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Turpentine Finance is a part of the Turpentine podcast network. Learn more: www.turpentine.co

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