In this episode of Run the Numbers, CJ goes live from Rillet Recon with Dana Decker (VP of Finance at Opendoor), AJ Ljubich (SVP, FP&A at Datadog), and Micah Richard (Principal, AI at PwC) to unpack how finance teams are actually using AI.
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SPONSORS:
Brex is an intelligent finance platform with AI-powered agents that capture expenses automatically, enforce policy before the spend happens, and close your books in minutes instead of weeks. 35,000+ companies like OpenAI, Coinbase, Anthropic, and DoorDash already run on Brex. It's time to get Brex AF. Learn more at https://www.brex.com/metrics
Anrok is the sales tax platform that watches your exposure everywhere, automates compliance, and flags risk before it turns into a surprise back-tax letter from a state you've never set foot in. Companies like Anthropic, Notion, and Vanta already trust Anrok to stay ahead of rules that move faster than any spreadsheet can. Talk to a sales tax expert for a personalized exposure estimate at anrok.com/rtn
RightRev is an automated revenue recognition platform that lets your product team ship new pricing without asking finance for permission, and your sales team close deals without creating downstream chaos. Check out their free tool at calculator.rightrev.com It scores your rev rec process, shows what's exposing you to risk, and tells you exactly where to focus before it bites you in the rear end. Check it out at https://calculator.rightrev.com
Pulley is an equity management platform that lets you issue options, model dilution, and complete 409As without your cap table turning into a spreadsheet disaster. Founders raising, hiring, and scaling use Pulley to keep equity clean and stay focused on building. Learn more or request a demo at Pulley.com/mostlymetrics
Rillet is an AI-native ERP built for modern finance teams that want to replace NetSuite and close faster. With revenue recognition, close management, multi-entity support, and native Stripe and Salesforce integrations, Rillet helps scaling companies run their finance stack in one place. Hundreds of teams, including Windsurf and Mercor, use Rillet to make the zero-day close real. Book a demo at https://www.rillet.com/cj
Maximor is an autonomous finance platform that runs order-to-cash, procure-to-pay, the close, cash management, and reporting on self-learning agents instead of a dozen disconnected tools. One PE-backed customer cut their close in half, took audit findings from seven to zero, and cut back-office costs by 70% in six months. You pay for outcomes, not seats. See it at maximor.ai
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LINKS:
Mostly Talent: https://mostlymetrics.typeform.com/to/cLTxtAsN
Guests:
https://www.linkedin.com/in/aj-ljubich-cfa-727ab912/
https://www.linkedin.com/in/dana-decker/
https://www.linkedin.com/in/micah-richard-64a53238/
Companies:
https://www.datadoghq.com/
https://www.opendoor.com/
https://www.pwc.com/
CJ: https://www.linkedin.com/in/cj-gustafson-13140948/
Mostly metrics: https://www.mostlymetrics.com
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TIMESTAMPS:
0:00 Preview and Intro
2:27 Panel intros: AJ, Micah, Dana
4:00 FP&A a year ago vs. today
6:45 Opendoor: default-to-AI company
7:40 Leadership being in the weeds
8:30 Building a daily P&L view with Claude
9:39 Sponsors — Brex | Anrok | RightRev
12:38 Forecasting at Datadog: consumption model
14:20 AI picks up seasonality, misses customer context
15:10 Semantic layer and blessed queries
16:35 Self-serve data: how far can you go?
20:10 Best-in-class adoption: build over buy
20:23 Sponsors — Pulley | Rillet | Maximor
23:30 Does a 2-year head start matter?
24:10 Build vs. buy criteria haven't changed
25:10 Evaluating vendor roadmaps
26:20 Procurement shifting toward build
28:00 Data access controls and RBAC
31:00 Token usage: haves and have-nots
32:50 Encouraging tokens across the org
34:40 ROI metrics haven't changed
35:45 90-day advice: just start
36:55 Leadership has to pull the red tape
38:05 Get the data right first
39:07 Credits
