With startups being in a unique position with VC funding, figuring out how to manage finances is even more difficult in the early stages. Hans Robertson has the answers on when to hire for finance roles and how find the right tools for your business.
Hans is the founder of Meraki, the first enterprise cloud-managed networking solution, that today has over 230,000 customers. Cisco acquired Meraki for 1.2 billion dollars in December 2012. Hans subsequently started Verkada, a cloud-managed security camera company, and he's an active angel investor.
0:34 In the early stages of the company, what are the things founders should be putting into place on the finance or internal operations side?
1:24 What tasks are good to do in-house versus outsourcing?
2:34 What high leverage activities should the founders be doing themselves?
3:36 What financial metrics should founders keep an eye on? And how should they manage these?
6:10 When is the right time to think about those kinds of metric questions? During the seed round, series A, or even beyond?
7:13 Are there particular processes or systems you’d want in place during the seed stage?
7:51 From a software perspective, do you think something like QuickBooks is sufficient, or do they need something bigger?
9:03 At what point would you recommend founders start to improve their financial discipline?
10:45 Any advice on the right time to purchase a particular tool, or how to evaluate the level of complexity?
12:29 How do you evaluate software vendors?
15:13 What are your thoughts on operating plans?
17:01 How do you create the operating plan?
17:49 Who should present the operating plan to the board?
19:38 When is the right time to bring on the first full-time finance hire?
21:26 What should be their focus area be once you bring them on board?
22:13 What could go wrong with a financial hire?
25:57 At what point would you hire a CFO?
27:08 Do you think the main driver to bring someone in is the prep associated with the potential IPO?
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