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:
🧑💻 𝗛𝗼𝘄 𝗽𝗲𝗼𝗽𝗹𝗲 𝗮𝗿𝗲 𝘂𝘀𝗶𝗻𝗴 (𝗼𝗿 𝗻𝗼𝘁 𝘂𝘀𝗶𝗻𝗴) 𝗔𝗜 𝗶𝗻 𝘁𝗵𝗲𝗶𝗿 𝗱𝗮𝘆 𝘁𝗼 𝗱𝗮𝘆 𝘄𝗼𝗿𝗸𝗳𝗹𝗼𝘄𝘀 - 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.
🧩 𝗛𝗼𝘄 𝘁𝗼 𝗯𝗲𝘀𝘁 𝗹𝗲𝘃𝗲𝗿𝗮𝗴𝗲 𝗳𝗿𝗮𝗰𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻𝗮𝗹 𝗿𝗲𝘀𝗼𝘂𝗿𝗰𝗲𝘀 - 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.
🛒 𝗙𝗣&𝗔 𝗮𝘀 𝗮 𝘀𝘁𝗿𝗮𝘁𝗲𝗴𝗶𝗰 𝗮𝘀𝘀𝗲𝘁 - 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!
