The Unicorn Playbook Volume 1
Industry insights from finance and accounting experts.
What you’ll find in the Unicorn Playbook Volume 1:
- Perspectives from pros who have scaled finance and accounting operations for more than one company.
- How they set and execute priorities.
- How a clean accounting set up and the right systems allow for scale.
- Ways company culture supports hypergrowth.
- Pitfalls to avoid.
- Some smart things to do.
How it can help you.
More companies are rapidly reaching unicorn status (a $1 billion valuation) than ever before, and while more efficient access to capital is a key factor, increasingly it’s the teams that know how to build hypergrowth organizations that make the difference.
Fast-growing companies rely on clean financial data to fuel rapid decision-making by all operational areas in a company. So, building a smooth finance and accounting operation is essential. At the same time, expectations for accounting and finance operations have shifted from giving support to providing leadership — from recording the past, to describing possibilities for the future. Our experts share what is involved in making that shift.
Their success was no accident. It grew out of a deliberate commitment to, and careful planning for, growth. And it was supported by their company’s culture, including a growth mindset, operational excellence, embracing automation, and creative problem-solving.
We hope you find something of value in the playbook, not least of which, the inspiration to drive your own company’s growth.
Meet our featured finance leaders.
Scott Clark
VC Firm CFO, Investor, Advisor
Prior to his current role as a CFO at a venture capital firm focused on investing in and advising early-stage software companies, Scott held finance leadership roles at Instabase, Lime, Zenefits, and Pinterest. He began his career at Ernst & Young auditing some of the most storied Silicon Valley tech companies. He talks to Airbase about how his early introduction to technology influenced him, and discusses the consistency in the processes and tools he uses across the variety of companies he has worked at or invested in.
Katie Slattery
Corporate Controller at Fivetran
Katie is a successful accounting leader. In her current role as Corporate Controller at Fivetran, she is responsible for the company’s global accounting and tax operations. Prior to joining Fivetran, Katie held leadership roles at both Zume and Tubi. Both a Chartered Accountant and CPA, Katie started her career at KPMG, where she worked alongside hypergrowth companies such as Stripe, Twilio, Slack, Square, and Zuora. Katie discusses how to scale companies successfully while staying focused on, and carving out, your personal career.
Jason Lopez
Controller at Lattice
Jason has held accounting roles at several startups, including Lattice, Applitools, BlazeMeter, and Upwork. Before that, he was an auditor at PricewaterhouseCoopers, working on the financial statements of a Fortune 500 company. Jason discusses the value of automation, company culture, the importance of onboarding, and more in our interview with him.
