56 min listen
E2: When COVID Hits and You are CFO at Instacart with Sagar Sanghvi
From"Turpentine Finance" with Sasha Orloff | Startup Finance, Leadership, CFO Strategy
E2: When COVID Hits and You are CFO at Instacart with Sagar Sanghvi
From"Turpentine Finance" with Sasha Orloff | Startup Finance, Leadership, CFO Strategy
ratings:
Length:
51 minutes
Released:
Apr 11, 2024
Format:
Podcast episode
Description
In this episode, Sasha sits down with Sagar Sanghvi, Current Partner at Accel and former CFO at Instacart. They discuss how Sagar drove the change in financial culture at Instacart and adapted rapidly to Whole Food’s acquisition by Amazon, scaling Instacart during the COVID pandemic, the balance between growth at all costs and unit economics, Sagar’s transition from CFO at Instacart to being Partner at the venture firm Accel, and much more.
This show is a part of the Turpentine podcast network. Learn more: www.turpentine.co
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SPONSORS:
Attio is the next generation of CRM. It’s powerful, flexible and easily configures to the unique way your startup runs, whatever your go-to-market motion. The next era deserves a better CRM. Join ElevenLabs, Replicate, Modal and more at https://bit.ly/attioturpentine
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This show is produced by Turpentine: a network of podcasts, newsletters, and more, covering technology, business, and culture — all from the perspective of industry insiders and experts. We’re launching new shows every week, and we’re looking for industry-leading sponsors — if you think that might be you and your company, email us at erik@turpentine.co.
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LINKS:
https://www.accel.com/people/sagar-sanghvi
X/SOCIAL:
@sashaorloff (Sasha)
@spsanghvi4 (Sagar)
@turpentinemedia
CONTACT:
sps@accel.com
TIMESTAMPS:
(00:00) Preview and Intro
(02:30) Sagar's time at Instacart
(04:29) Training from Goldman and KKR
(06:58) When to transition to unit economic focus instead of growth at all costs
(08:31) The process of changing a financial culture at a company
(10:57) Advice for CFOs in driving culture with a founder where financial discipline is not present yet
(13:39) Sponsor: Attio
(14:55) How do you bring colleagues from other functions into alignment
(17:22) Amazon's acquisition of Whole Foods and Instacart's internal dynamics
(20:17) Signs that Amazon's acquisition of Whole Foods was a positive infection for Instacart
(21:43) Instacart's wartime and tactical parts of Sagar's job during wartimes
(24:04) Size of Instacart's finance team
(25:10) What Sagar would have done differently in response to the acquisition
(27:54) Sagar's VP of Strategy transition to CFO at Instacart
(30:13) Balancing growth versus profitability
(36:27) Instacart during COVID and lockdown
(40:41) Sagar's transition to Accel and VC
(44:59) Advice for CFOs positioning themselves to VC
(47:34) What gets Sagar excited about a deal?
(49:58) Wrap
This show is a part of the Turpentine podcast network. Learn more: www.turpentine.co
---
SPONSORS:
Attio is the next generation of CRM. It’s powerful, flexible and easily configures to the unique way your startup runs, whatever your go-to-market motion. The next era deserves a better CRM. Join ElevenLabs, Replicate, Modal and more at https://bit.ly/attioturpentine
---
This show is produced by Turpentine: a network of podcasts, newsletters, and more, covering technology, business, and culture — all from the perspective of industry insiders and experts. We’re launching new shows every week, and we’re looking for industry-leading sponsors — if you think that might be you and your company, email us at erik@turpentine.co.
---
LINKS:
https://www.accel.com/people/sagar-sanghvi
X/SOCIAL:
@sashaorloff (Sasha)
@spsanghvi4 (Sagar)
@turpentinemedia
CONTACT:
sps@accel.com
TIMESTAMPS:
(00:00) Preview and Intro
(02:30) Sagar's time at Instacart
(04:29) Training from Goldman and KKR
(06:58) When to transition to unit economic focus instead of growth at all costs
(08:31) The process of changing a financial culture at a company
(10:57) Advice for CFOs in driving culture with a founder where financial discipline is not present yet
(13:39) Sponsor: Attio
(14:55) How do you bring colleagues from other functions into alignment
(17:22) Amazon's acquisition of Whole Foods and Instacart's internal dynamics
(20:17) Signs that Amazon's acquisition of Whole Foods was a positive infection for Instacart
(21:43) Instacart's wartime and tactical parts of Sagar's job during wartimes
(24:04) Size of Instacart's finance team
(25:10) What Sagar would have done differently in response to the acquisition
(27:54) Sagar's VP of Strategy transition to CFO at Instacart
(30:13) Balancing growth versus profitability
(36:27) Instacart during COVID and lockdown
(40:41) Sagar's transition to Accel and VC
(44:59) Advice for CFOs positioning themselves to VC
(47:34) What gets Sagar excited about a deal?
(49:58) Wrap
Released:
Apr 11, 2024
Format:
Podcast episode
Titles in the series (58)
E4: The Unexpected Qualities of Great CFOs with Public.com’s Sruthi Lanka: On episode four of Run The Numbers, Sruthi Lanka (CFO of Public.com) joins host CJ Gustafson to discuss the unexpected qualities of great CFOs, how to manage your team well and achieve great retention, how to build relationships across company stakeholders, and more. by "Turpentine Finance" with Sasha Orloff | Startup Finance, Leadership, CFO Strategy