Our guest Adam Lean, the founder of The CFO Project, is on a mission to make finance fun. During this episode, he shares insider tips on how businesses can stay ahead of their books and ensure that all that hard-earned revenue translates to actual profits. Adam shares a detailed action plan and directs us on the right numbers to analyze, the red flags to hone in on and a scoring system that ensures that everything’s moving in the right direction.

EPISODE HIGHLIGHTS

• [1:45]Adam’s origins and inspiration to starting the CFO Project.  Why a bookkeeper’s role is different from a CFO and how it impacts future financials and profitability

• [9:29]How emerging businesses are different from larger brands (Uber, Amazon, WeWork) that we hear about on the news?

• [14:25] The options for emerging companies to raise the capital necessary to run their business over time and Adam’s recommendations.

• [22:05] Giving every single person in the business some sort of metric to meet. If everybody hits their numbers then the biz as a whole will meet their profit targets.  

• [23:15] How to turn your numbers into a profit-generating machine.  A walkthrough of Adam’s process thru an example of a fictional pet supplies company. 

• [28:15] The three primary objectives of a profit plan.  And then the next steps that make it possible. 

• [31:14] Dashboards versus reports and why Adam loves to check out the scoreboard at large sporting events.

• [33:40] How to reach Adam Lean at the CFO project. 

Adam’s company, The CFO Project

eCommerce Financing Options including SBA Loans Info

Clearbanc – Working Capital for Online Businesses

Scott Galloway’s Evaluation and Takedown of WeWork (‘WeWTF’)