Fewer unicorns are being minted — here’s the surviving formula.

In the face of macroeconomic uncertainty, managing capital is more instrumental than ever. Hypergrowth ambitions are being replaced with a focus on slow, steady, and resilient growth. For companies that are shifting from big spending to bulletproof efficiencies, finance and accounting teams are becoming the frontline.

Top-tier success in the form of unicorn status — a $1 billion valuation — is a rare feat in any season. This year, it is even rarer than before. In August 2022, only 11 companies were minted as unicorns compared to 45 in the same month of 2021. However, certain strategies are still muscling past uncertainty. Here at Airbase, we have the winning plays in our Unicorn Playbooks: Volume 1 and Volume 2.

In the Unicorn Playbook Volume 2, finance leaders from Figma, Remote, and Coda share how they innovated and orchestrated finance at their organizations to achieve billion-dollar valuations.

With non-traditional approaches — from systems, to hiring processes, and beyond — they are shaking off familiar finance and innovating traditional roles. Taking dynamic approaches, our interviewees go beyond the parameters of finance and accounting to drive growth.

In Volume 2, the following finance leaders shared insights you won’t get anywhere else:

• Pedro Monteiro de Barros, CFO at Remote.
• Praveer Melwani, CFO at Figma.
• Kenny Mendes, Head of Finance, People, and Operations at Coda

In The Unicorn Playbook Volume 1, discussions centered around overcoming the challenges associated with hypergrowth. In Volume 2, we witness a more nuanced discussion around unicorn blueprints and agile, finance-led growth. That seems apt, as finance teams globally move towards more grounded, steady growth amongst economic ambiguity.

Here are some of the key takeaways from the playbook.

1. The nitty-gritty: ownership of processes, pre-revenue operations, and novel hiring practices.

In this set of interviews, we get into the nitty-gritty of how our three interviewees used their role to successfully drive growth. A shared sentiment was the importance of hiring key leaders who can immediately own their own processes. Our interviewees all understood the value of tech and solutions that support a smaller, more experienced team in the early stages.

“I do give a lot of ownership to individuals — that’s the expectation. I cannot scale if I continue to do technical work all the time. I have to fully trust the individuals I have in the firm to make progress autonomously.” — Praveer Melwani, CFO at Figma

Our interviewees expanded on that sentiment by sharing the hiring processes that were successful for them in obtaining the right talent. At Coda, Kenny Mendes shares that he tries to connect what people are passionate about to the product in the interview process, creating a more personable hiring experience. Pedro Monteiro de Barros from Remote echoed that approach, sharing that he “tried to hire in a really personalized way, especially with senior folks,” explaining that approach made “all the difference.”

Beyond hiring, our interviewees also discussed the importance of getting data, billing, and system infrastructure right at the early stages when headcount is low and “managing runway is the lifeblood of your company.” Our interviewees were often the first finance and accounting hire, or leader, in their organizations. How they built finance departments from those early stages to unicorn status is a story worth reading.

2. “Humans are not scalable — systems are scalable.”

Pedro, Kenny, and Praveer were especially attuned to the importance of getting systems and processes right early on. Taking some non-traditional approaches, they all highlighted the importance of not viewing your company through the prism of others’ success stories.

Often, companies implement solutions piecemeal and may have to rip and replace as they grow. In this set of interviews, our interviewees highlighted how important it is to think outside the box regarding systems and tech stacks. They emphasized the importance of understanding your company’s needs rather than following precedents mindlessly.

“The more I revisit stories of how others set up early-stage systems, the more I understand that an alternative growth mindset was what really enabled me to go to the next level of solutions. For example, moving straight to an ERP instead of going from solution to solution.” — Pedro Monteiro de Barros, Remote

Praveer shared that he places particular importance on ownership and delegation around systems and processes, enabling his employees to understand the value of good solutions so that they begin to make wise choices themselves around subscriptions and implementations. Praveer emphasizes that “it’s important to evaluate your needs before committing to a system.”

He also highlights the importance of assessing system implications for your employees. Understanding implementation times, and whether systems provide the data your employees need, are vital in Praveer’s eyes.

“In today’s world, it’s so easy to have access to the best tools in the world — Airbase being one of them.” — Praveer Melwani, Figma

3. Communicating from finance — the data and metrics epicenter.

“You want employees deeply connected to the ‘why.’ Why are we doing this? Why does this matter? Why does my work matter? So that when they go home they feel like they moved the needle a ton on something that’s super important.” — Kenny Mendes, Coda.

Beyond the whys and overall mission of your company, the importance of communication from a finance perspective flags itself within these interviews. Foundational data and metrics are often centralized within finance but they are a compass to the whole firm. Getting them right is fundamental to controlled growth. Praveer explained the importance of finance and accounting teams as data owners and how that position informs others.

“Finance is known as the owners of critical financial data. That positions us within the company as the place people come to discuss particular questions they have, both around how we do things and customer metrics.” — Praveer Melwani, CFO at Figma.
Praveer expanded that understanding that exchange between finance and other departments will make you a “better partner to the business” and help you go beyond “finance in a technical sense.” Platforms such as Airbase that connect employees across departments to finance and allow for collaborative, automated communication, are uniquely valuable. That level of connection between AP and the rest of the company accelerates previously fragmented processes, acting as a catalyst for finance-led growth and liberating accounting teams from tedious chase-downs.

The unique insights continue within the full set of interviews. To learn more from those who have done it, you can read The Unicorn Playbook Volume 2: Non-traditional approaches, exponential results.

To learn more about Airbase, contact us for a product demo.