Table of Contents
Table of Contents
It indicates an expandable section or menu, or sometimes previous / next navigation options. Amrita Ahuja, CFO, Square
Amy Weaver, CFO, Salesforce
Chuck Fisher, CFO, Turo
Jenny Bloom, CFO, Zapier
Kevin Hettrich, CFO, QuantumScape
Kristen Ankerbrandt, CFO, Compass
Mark Mason, CFO, Citigroup
Rachel Prescott, CFO, The Sill
Tracey Griffin, CFO, Framebridge
Tricia Gugler, CFO, Whoop
Vasant Prabhu, CFO, Visa
Credits
Amrita Ahuja, CFO, Square
Amy Weaver, CFO, Salesforce
Chuck Fisher, CFO, Turo
Jenny Bloom, CFO, Zapier
Kevin Hettrich, CFO, QuantumScape Kristen Ankerbrandt, CFO, Compass Mark Mason, CFO, Citigroup Rachel Prescott, CFO, The Sill Tracey Griffin, CFO, Framebridge Tricia Gugler, CFO, Whoop Vasant Prabhu, CFO, Visa Credits This article is part of The CFO Project: Future of Finance series that drills down on what’s on the agendas of some of today’s most influential financial executives. Companies have been stretched in demanding ways during the COVID-19 pandemic. Labor shortages and supply-chain constraints are now topics of conversation, as organizations must readjust or bolster their financial strategies in preparation for the new year.At the center of these discussions is the chief financial officer, who plays an instrumental role in how their company stays on track and positions itself for the future. And while the position appears to consist of financial responsibilities, the CFO of today is a critical stakeholder in innovation.As part of our What’s Next series, we asked 11 financial executives from a variety of companies to share their biggest priorities, their challenges, and the ways they plan to guide investments and innovation within their organizations.In a range of industries and company sizes, two trends remain constant.First, companies are welcoming new and innovative strategies for long-term growth. CFOs are taking risks — sometimes big, sometimes smart — to put their company in the best position for success.Second, the ongoing implementation of technology is forging new paths of internal and external growth. CFOs see technology as a catalyst, and they’re leaning into it to overcome COVID-related barriers and rethink their financial position.This push for technological innovation — and access to untapped data — is changing the way the CFO operates inside and outside the organization. As the CFO’s role expands, so too does their impact and opportunity to play more of a governing role across the entire company. Interviews with CFOs have been edited for space and clarity. Amrita Ahuja, CFO, Square Today, Square has $7.4 billion in available liquidity , with $6.9 billion in cash, cash equivalents, restricted cash, and investments in marketable debt securities, as well as $500 million available to be withdrawn from our revolving credit facility.With this in mind, we believe we have a strong balance sheet that affords us the flexibility to invest for the long term both organically and opportunistically inorganically, and we expect our balance sheet to grow over time.At Square, our view has been to invest for the future, and that has become even more clear now than ever. We believe our platform uniquely serves sellers and consumers, and we want to be positioned to reach more customers coming out of the pandemic. This is a $160 billion total addressable market, and we are less than 3% penetrated. We believe the verifiability, transparency, and independence of blockchain technology and cryptocurrency will be disruptive. Additionally, we believe the two big themes that will disrupt commerce and potentially other fields in the future are AI/ML and crypto/blockchain.On the first, AI/ML will enable companies and their employees to be more efficient — the potential to quadruple revenues while only doubling employees. And it will enable us to launch products around industries that have been narrowly restricted because of their lack of modernized technology or inadequate risk models, opening up the funnel to provide access to more people.On the second, we believe the verifiability, transparency, and independence of blockchain technology and cryptocurrency will be disruptive — first potentially as an asset like gold and possibly down the road like a currency. We want to build capabilities and learn in a disciplined way in both areas.Our investments are long-term in nature, so while we’re always willing to pivot and adapt, we have conviction in investing over long periods of time. As we measure the effectiveness of those investments, we think about compelling unit economics and about efficiency in returns on those investments across product development, sales and marketing, and customer […]
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