Juxtapose recently hosted our inaugural portfolio operator dinner series, Table Talks, with an intimate group of senior finance operators from across our portfolio companies, including Wisdom, Herself Health, Nectar Allergy & Asthma, Propulsion, among others. The conversation spanned the personal and universal, diving into challenges and opportunities we're facing in the current environment. A few interesting threads:
๐ง๐ป ๐๐ผ๐ ๐ฝ๐ฒ๐ผ๐ฝ๐น๐ฒ ๐ฎ๐ฟ๐ฒ ๐๐๐ถ๐ป๐ด (๐ผ๐ฟ ๐ป๐ผ๐ ๐๐๐ถ๐ป๐ด) ๐๐ ๐ถ๐ป ๐๐ต๐ฒ๐ถ๐ฟ ๐ฑ๐ฎ๐ ๐๐ผ ๐ฑ๐ฎ๐ ๐๐ผ๐ฟ๐ธ๐ณ๐น๐ผ๐๐ - There was no doubt around the room that AI is going to transform finance and planning workflows and the importance of experimentation. There was active dialogue about whether this transformation would happen through totally new applications, or AI-enablement of modern solutions already in place. Sharing best practices and experiments was something everyone agreed on.
๐งฉ ๐๐ผ๐ ๐๐ผ ๐ฏ๐ฒ๐๐ ๐น๐ฒ๐๐ฒ๐ฟ๐ฎ๐ด๐ฒ ๐ณ๐ฟ๐ฎ๐ฐ๐๐ถ๐ผ๐ป๐ฎ๐น ๐ฟ๐ฒ๐๐ผ๐๐ฟ๐ฐ๐ฒ๐ - Being creative and resourceful early in a company's launch is imperative, and our finance leaders discussed that one way to do that was to leverage third-party, fractional resources. Several of the leaders at the event have spent time in a fractional capacity and shared the potential benefits of cross-organizational learning and resource access.
๐ ๐๐ฃ&๐ ๐ฎ๐ ๐ฎ ๐๐๐ฟ๐ฎ๐๐ฒ๐ด๐ถ๐ฐ ๐ฎ๐๐๐ฒ๐ - In more challenging / cash strapped environments, having real depth and a strategic lens on core strategic metrics, and how they ultimately funnel down to the three metrics that FP&A tracks - cash flow (and burn), profitability, and growth - is more important than ever. The group discussed the value of having the right folks in the seat helping to guide board decisioning and balance the right risk and reward in terms of investments.
We're excited to host and share more from our functional group Table Talks as a way to foster collaboration, connectivity, and knowledge sharing. Stay tuned!
