Key takeaways

1. Finance is the web of the organization, connecting teams and driving shared goal
2. Start-ups require some element of gut feeling, but finance can help quantify learnings and results
3. Building trust, reactivity and the right tools are all common challenges for start-up finance teams
4. When it comes to managing SaaS and cloud costs, it’s all about maximizing ROI

Welcome back to For the Love of Finance, the series where we decode insights from finance leaders and turn them into practical insights for your career.

In this episode, we’re exploring the exciting and ever-changing world of start-up finance with Laurent Saurel. As a former finance leader at Smule, Laurent secured $33M in funding, tripled user revenue, tightened sales forecasting, boosted retention 80%, and led key financial & legal functions.

Laurent also spent 7 years at Ubisoft where he managed budget planning across Mobile, Facebook, Online & B2B with a team of Financial Analysts. Today, he works with various high-growth tech companies in Silicon Valley.

Read on (or watch the video above) to hear Laurent talk about practical strategies to enhance financial operations and drive scalability, how finance can help find product-market fit, getting maximum ROI on your SaaS and cloud spend, and more.

You can connect with Laurent on LinkedIn here.

Finance is the web of the organization, connecting teams and driving shared goals

Start-ups face a constant challenge – lots of ideas but limited resources. This is where finance shines. By understanding the business as a whole, finance can help allocate resources strategically. Early-stage start-ups benefit the most when finance is integrated into the organization, from marketing to sales to engineering, for better communication and decision-making. Laurent describes the ideal role of finance as being the central web of an organization, helping people understand how their individual contributions lead to overall company success.

Start-ups require some element of gut feeling, but finance can help quantify learnings and results

Early-stage businesses are all about growth and finding their place in the market. Decisions are often made based on intuition and a strong belief in the product. But as the business matures, relying solely on gut feeling can hold you back.

Here’s where finance steps in. Start-ups constantly test and gather user feedback, sales conversations, and marketing results, but this qualitative data can become overwhelming. Finance acts as the translator, turning it into clear metrics that show what resonates with your target audience. This data-driven approach compliments human intuition and experience to drive the business forward.

Building trust, reactivity and the right tools are all common challenges for start-up finance teams

Laurent notes that building trust across the business is a crucial step for start-up finance teams (or any finance team). It needs to be seen as a partner in the business, not just the back office. This means CFOs should encourage open communication and collective understanding of the company’s goals within the finance team.

Another common challenge is being reactive enough. Finance needs to be able to make quick decisions to support the fast-paced nature of early-stage businesses. They can’t wait weeks and months to make decisions – agility and responsiveness is a critical mindset to keep pace with current business needs.

A third challenge Laurent notices in start-up finance teams is having the right tools. Spreadsheets can work initially, but developing or adopting financial tools can improve efficiency. Affordable financial tools that can automate tasks, improve visibility, and support faster decision-making can enable this move towards efficient work.

Strategies for managing rising SaaS and cloud costs

• Focus on ROI: Before approving any SaaS or cloud spend, ask “what is the ROI?” If it’s not clear, explore alternative solutions.
• Challenge the status quo: Don’t accept current SaaS costs. Ask “what if we didn’t have this?” This can spark creative solutions like negotiating with vendors or finding alternative tools.
• Consider optimization tools: Explore tools that can help you negotiate better rates, optimize your SaaS spend across different vendors, and find more cost-effective solutions.

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