Coworking is a weekly segment where we talk to CFOs and other leaders in the finance space about their experiences, their companies, and the larger economy. Let us know if you are – or you know – a CFO we should interview.
Sandeep Beotra joined Degreed as its CFO in May. Prior to that, he spent seven years as CFO at LG Ads and, earlier in his career, was head of corporate development at ION Media Networks, and worked in M&A and investment banking.
This interview has been lightly edited for length and clarity.
How do you think the CFO role has changed over the past five to 10 years, both for you, and in general?
The CFO role has become a lot more strategic and value-driven. It’s no longer enough to be a good and experienced accountant or FP&A person to be a great CFO. You really have to understand the whole picture and relate very closely to value creation so that you can advise your C-Suite colleagues and the board effectively.
Especially in VC and PE-backed companies, it is extremely important that the CFO can be trusted with partnering with the rest of the team to move the needle on growing enterprise value—scaling operations for growth, cost optimization, investor relations, M&A, etc.
Degreed provides continuing education services. What are some areas of continuing education that you think finance professionals should focus on?
It all depends on which background you come from. If you feel, “Oh, yes, I’m a finance professional, but I’m weak on the accounting side,” maybe that’s what to look for. I believe as a senior finance leader, you need to have a very well-rounded outlook. It’s one thing if you’re a staff accountant joining in, then your lane is very narrow and you kind of focus and get your art and science perfected there. But as you go through the ranks as a modern finance leader, I feel you need to be “well-rounded.” I should increase my knowledge to know what’s going on in the world-at-large.
You were involved in a lot of M&A previously. With higher interest rates and other large factors affecting M&A activity, what do you think the field will be like now, from the CFO suite?
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It’s a very, very interesting time. It is just so much better a time to be a buyer now than two or three years ago. Valuations obviously got out of hand; if your business wasn’t making money, investors were ready to forego money. That music has changed, which has created more sane valuations for M&A, especially as the public markets and private markets have gone on to become more disciplined. That definitely creates a better deal-making environment which as a potential buyer, you feel good about.
[On the sell side,] it hits you…the multiples are shrunk, and the only way to separate the wheat from the chaff now is much higher growth rates and profitability. Now you have to show them all these KPIs, not just one single metric of growth, unlike before, when people would say, “I’ll pay you 15 times multiple, just because you’re growing so fast.”
What advice do you have for future CFOs?
Always keep learning and broadening your horizons. Always be open to try and learn new businesses, business models and industries. It keeps the job interesting and provides a rich varied experience which is a must have for out-of-the-box problem solving.
As a strategic CFO, your key KPI is how much you can take off the CEO’s plate. To do that effectively, you have to be very strategic in outlook while efficiently setting up and managing the tactical stuff.
What’s your coffee order?
My favorite coffee is my homemade coffee. I can’t have a lot of caffeine, so I can only afford to have one cup of coffee in the morning. When you only have one cup, you want to have that right. I work from home, and even if I was not doing that, I would find time to get beans from a shop I trust, ground them myself, and enjoy that 10 minutes of break time.
It’s a bit of a meditative, spiritual experience for me. I don’t meditate, but to me, nothing can interrupt me [during my coffee]. I literally put my phone away…Life is too short to have bad coffee.