If you would like to earn CPE credit for listening to the show, visit earmarkcpe.com.
Download the app, take a short quiz, and get your CPE certificate.
Finally, if you enjoy listening to FPA today, please go to your podcast platform of choice, click the subscribe button and leave a rating and review of the show.
And now, on to the show.
From Data Rails, this is FP&A.
Welcome to FP&A Today.
I'm your host, Glenn Hopper.
Today, I'm joined by Estee Levy Daron, Executive Vice President of Finance at Fiverr.
Esty's journey is one that many finance professionals aspire to.
She started in public accounting at Ernst & Young and eventually leading the finance function at one of the most well-known global freelance marketplaces.
Since joining Fiverr in 2016, Esty has helped the company scale through international growth, a successful IPO and a rapidly evolving tech landscape.
She's played a critical role in building modern finance organization that balances strategic planning, financial rigor and operational agility.
In this episode we'll explore Esty's career path, how she built and scaled Fiverr's finance team, what it takes to prepare for an IPO, and her approach to leadership and innovation in finance.
Whether you're an aspiring CFO, a startup, FPA leader or just trying to figure out what's next in your finance career, there's something here for you.
So let's dive in.
Esty, welcome to the show.
Hi, thanks for having me.
We got a lot to cover today, so let's just dive right in.
So you spent nearly a decade at Ernst & Young before moving to Fiverr, and I'm wondering what prompted you after that long in public accounting, what prompted you to move into the startup hyperscale role that you took at Fiverr?
Yeah, so EY was it was a great journey.
You know, I started my career there, right?
So at DUI, You and I worked at the audit department.
I was part of audits of companies that are from startup to huge organization.
I started in Israel and then I spent a few years in the US And I think the ability to see different type of organizations, different types of finance teams, different types of business models, Actually it's so interesting.
I don't know how many careers you have that you have the ability to see so many different types and actually even to sit in board meetings and audit committee pretty early in your career, right.
So I think the journey definitely gave me the ability, on the one hand, to see the bigger picture, but also to dive in once you see something interesting, once you feel there's something that you need to investigate more.
It actually built that skill of you know, looking at a big picture, but also, when important, to go into the details.
Yeah, it's like no matter how many case studies you might do in an MBA program, nothing prepares you for the broad depth and exposure that you get being in public accounting like that.
Yeah.
So then you made the jump.
With 2016, you joined Fiverr, and back then the company was still private, growing rapidly.
So, coming in at that point, What were some of the biggest challenges that you faced?
Building the finance function basically from the ground up right.
So I made a decision of leaving EY and going into a company because I wanted to build something.
I wanted to be part of something.
So it was great to see that so much variety of companies.
But at the end of the day, to really feel that you're connected and you're helping the company to grow, you have to be inside.
So I think that once I did the move, the first thing that shocked me that finance was not a product right.
So it sounds like It goes without saying, right?
When you are going to a company.
The finance department is a department that provides service, helps the company to grow, but it's not the product itself.
When there is EY, finance is the product.
But I think that shock actually helped me when I came into Fiverr to feel like it should be part of the business.
I couldn't feel like I'm not part of the business because I wanted to contribute, right?
So I think that point and that willingness to be part of something actually helped me to really understand the business, to work with all the departments, to understand what's working and what's not.
And when we're talking about marketplace also, you can think about it that finance has something in the product right.
Because at the end of the day, you're taking money from one side and then moving it To the other side.
You have to be very precise.
You have so many transactions, right?
Millions of millions of transactions, and you have to be very precise.
So I think that actually really helped me.
First of all, to feel that, to feel that I'm part of something, but also real life, right.
So we were growing really rapidly.
And as you mentioned, it was really early days of the finance.
There was only two or three people.
So really to build that infrastructure for the rapid growth That was a challenge.
That was definitely a challenge.
It was both you know, the basic accounting and the basic recording and automating the processes, because you can't really capture and understand and analyze millions of transactions just from doing analytics or to review on a high level.
We actually need to have a system in place to implement reconciliation to payment processors, to understand how the platform works and move money from one side to the other side.
You actually need to implement infrastructure to support that.
So that was really interesting.
Yeah, that's such an interesting time to be at a company because the bringing on the finance team companies don't do that until they have a base.
There's not usually a finance person among the founders or there's someone who's wearing multiple hats and doing that as the company's growing, it becomes.
Okay, here's the stuff we need to get done.
We're just gonna kind of push through it and figure it out as we go, but the processes are very clunky and systems aren't really in place and really just getting a handle on the data and um.
A lot of times i've worked in smaller startups where I came in and you know just getting their general ledger and chart of accounts straight and getting going from the blend of, you know, cash and accrual accounting both mixed together and trying to get all that straight.
You have to get more accounting rigor and get a handle on the data.
Bring in the systems and those automations.
So it's a lot of work, but it's, you can see the impact with each step.
Yeah, I totally agree.
I think that the skill that I've mentioned in the beginning of looking at the big picture and then diving in, I think that really helped.
Because, at the end of the day, I think the real secret is to simplify it as much as you can.
Processes to understand a process on the high level and then to dive in and understand what you need where.
And, as you mentioned, even if it's millions of transactions, it's a startup mode and you just, I mean the focus is to go fast.
But, on the other hand, when you understand that you're building something big, then understanding that the infrastructure needs to be robust that's crucial.
That's definitely crucial.
And it's so important that you got that infrastructure down because you're there in 2016.
You start building out the finance team, automating processes, and Fiverr goes public in 2019.
So now you have a whole new level of requirements on you, and not just I mean just the pre IPO process.
Forget the reporting and everything that you have to do after.
But in that three years from the time you joined to Fiverr going public, what was it like leading finance through that process?
And for someone who hasn't gone through that, what do people outside of the company or who haven't done an IPO, what do they often misunderstand about the financial work required to get a company IPO ready?
Because it's a massive lift, obviously.
Yeah, it's a massive lift and it's actually connected to different areas.
So I think one of the I mean maybe the more common that everyone think about and know that the financial needs to be in accordance to a specific gap and you have those filings of the SEC.
I think the challenge, and especially at Fiverr, the challenge is to build a robust forecasting model Because, as a public company, you always need to manage expectation and you always need to provide forecast.
And as a reminder, Fiverr is a transaction-based platform, right?
It's not a SaaS platform. a SAS model, right?
It's not a recurring model.
So that actually provides even additional difficulty.
So I think building that muscle and understanding pretty early in the process that yes, definitely.
I mean we took these two things.
That has to happen.
Or maybe three.
The third is the IR, but let's put that aside.
Definitely something that you need to work on how to develop, how to communicate the business model and determine KPIs, and so on.
So that's one.
The second is definitely accounting.
You have to clean your books and making sure it's based on the gap requirements.
But I think the more challenging part is how to build those models that help you forecast and help you feel comfortable with those guidance that you provide to the market.
Because once you're public, you're public.
You are required right to give those, those guidance and, as a startup company, usually what people do, and back then in 2016 you know it was even more with that right.
You had an Excel, you looked at what happened before, you imagine what's going to happen next.
But definitely then we build this model both on the top line and then on expenses, to be able to make those forecasts.
And as you build ramped up for the IPO.
So you came in and started structuring the team.
Can you walk us through what that early team looked like, who the first people you brought in and who you were surrounded with then, and then how you ramped it leading up to the IPO, and maybe how the team has grown and changed since going public?
Yeah, for sure.
So at the beginning, I mean, definitely you need bookkeepers and controllers.
That's to handle the accounting areas.
As we approach towards the IPO.
We also brought Someone to deal with really, really accounting right.
So to clean really to clean the books and write all the memos, working with auditors, making sure that it all aligns to have the forms required from that perspective.
So that was one angle.
The second angle, as I mentioned, it was the FP&A.
Then we brought someone in-house, we built a model.
So that was definitely something important.
And then the IR to be prepared on the messaging side.
Then afterwards, once after we started trading and become public, then we also already now we had cash right and also we were aiming to to, to generate cash in the most efficient way, because then right, free cash flow is definitely a kpi that is important.
So at that point we build the muscle of treasury.
So, building how to manage cash, how to even if it's a deposit or to invest cash to do the projections, learning how we can, you know, be most efficient in order to become what we need to become, in order to become a cash positive company.
So treasury, it was very, very important.
Stock admin, right?
We start to, you know, now equity is not just something on the tree.
Now you have to handle that.
So definitely stock admin is another area that we invested in and taxes.
So, as the company grew right, you have all this more complexity that in the beginning it was just, you know, four of us, or three of us, that handled everything.
But once you have, you need to be more professional at that and things becoming more complicated.
So we also brought a tax person. to the team.
Gotcha.
And I think you're in such an interesting place.
It's got to be exciting because public company reporting obviously more rigorous than private company.
But if you're an established public company and things stay pretty normalized, you can get into a routine with that.
But you have You have the public company requirements plus this hyperscaling.
And when a company's rapidly scaling like that, it seems like spinning a lot of plates and a lot of juggling.
So, as a finance leader, fast-moving tech company, how do you balance that sort of agility and innovation while maintaining the rigor of the financial controls, SOX compliance and your forecasting accuracy?
That seems like you're being pulled in a couple of different directions all the time.
Yeah.
So I think it's different.
So there are a few things that I would say on that.
So first, I think, One of the roles of the CFO.
I imagine it like the foot on the gas pedal of a company.
I hope I'm saying it right in the, In the, in the in English.
But so you need to know how much to push or to with the foot right.
To in order to make sure that the car is moving and it's that had it has enough power to move on one hand.
However, not too hard, right?
In order to, so it won't crash.
So balancing growth and healthy growth is something that, as a CFO, I think that we want to give enough energy to the company and to support the strategic growth on the one hand, but it has to be healthy.
And in order to do that, so you have, I mean, that's also my...
My belief, as a manager, you need to have a very professional team that handle each one in their departments.
And as you mentioned, SOCs and controls.
So sovereign SOCs, lease SOCs that is required for a public company.
Sometimes it sounds like very compliance, very something that that annoying people don't understand.
It's more like a check mark that needs to be done.
But also to have people really, you know, also on the ground, right?
Really not giving everything to the machine to check, right?
So just also to be part of the process.
So once I see that as a mean for me to sleep good at night.
Right.
So to have those people with that that really care that each one of them is very, very professional of what they do.
And we have the right controls in place and we understand and we streamline the process.
That helps me to, to be able to make sure that we know what is the right balance to hit, that you know the foot on the gas.
So it's very interesting.
And I mean, I'm still waiting almost 10 years at Fiverr.
I'm still waiting to be boring and be repeatable.
But it's not because because really things change all the time.
And we at Fiverr are always being pioneered in everything.
And I think at the beginning, it even was shown through regulation.
So there was no regulation out there for certain things for marketplaces, services online.
There were products online, but services online, rendering services online.
So actually you know to see how things have developed over time and then to catch and include that regulation into Fiverr.
That was fascinating.
It sounds like the way you've structured your team and your focus to finance there that it does the mundane things that are routine.
It sounds like you've come up with ways to make those as efficient and streamlined as possible.
And I'm wondering if.
Do you guys and we don't have to get into the specific tech stack but would you say that on the finance side you guys have embraced kind of automation or if you're using any AI or other new technologies within finance operations?
And I wonder what's your philosophy?
I know tech is a big bubble and everybody's talking about generative AI, but I'd love to hear kind of what you guys are doing and thinking about latest tech and how you're using it.
Yeah.
So I think it's really early days still on the finance side, but definitely I mean, there is so many opportunities out there and I'm not concerned that AI will replace the finance team.
It's definitely going to make the work much more efficient.
Maybe we'll need less people, or we'll need people that will do much more thorough analyzing, strategic work in the finance department, and all the tedious work will be done by machine.
I have to say it's still not there fully, right?
And we're looking, definitely looking for tools and there are still tools out there.
As a public company, it's always a concern for us because you have to have things very precise and there can't be any glitch or miss something that is not correct, or privacy, of course, or something like that.
So I think that's a challenge.
But my view is definitely that things will change and the way departments or structures, if it's how we analyze data.
You know, in a perfect world you don't need the auditor to wait for the end of the quarter right to do the audit, right.
And even you know, maybe if we will take it a few years forward, maybe they wouldn't need to wait for the end of the quarter to get results right.
Because, at the end of the day, if everything is streamlined, but I think it's still science fiction definitely.
But I have to say that I mean for us.
We're looking at each department that I've mentioned, whether if it's treasury, whether if it's tax, whether if it's FPA, whether if it's pure accounting.
Each one are very, very interesting companies that can give that solution from an AI perspective and helping analyzing data.
I hear a lot about companies that are trying to gather information because, if you think about it, there are so many platforms out there, right?
So if in the past maybe a company had one I don't know big SAP or Oracle right, that included all processes?
So with going to the cloud, so it became.
All the processes has been broken to many many, many platforms.
And now the challenge is to reconcile all the data from all the platforms.
So I think definitely one of areas that are really interesting is how to build that layer above all those platforms and gather all the information.
I know that today people spend so much time by just understanding if this customer is written This way in one system and a different way in a different system.
Only reconciling and understanding the same customer, that actually can cause a pain.
So definitely AI can help with that.
So I think there are... many opportunities from financing.
But let's remember also when Excel was developed so maybe I don't know like 25 30, 40 years ago, people actually did the calculation, not in Excel.
Now that once we had Excel, it's not that we had less accountants. out there, right?
And less analysts, right?
There are just more and they're just doing more strategic work and more, and you know, being able to support bigger processes.
So definitely I think AI will help with that.
Yeah, and I always say nobody goes and gets their CPA or master's in finance or whatever their education is, because they're really excited about data entry.
So, as much as we can take away this sort of mundane, repeatable tasks and get to that strategic role, I think that's where we can really add value.
And we've seen with SaaS and automation that's happened over the years that FPA has become a more powerful function.
And you don't hear that moniker of it being a cost center so much anymore.
And I think between business partnering and the elevated role and maybe kind of the changing nature of a CFO, where historically maybe CFOs were more just backwards looking but now the CFO being a strategic partner and FPA playing a big part of that.
I mean, I think an automation is only going to make FP&A more valuable.
Definitely.
I mean FPA has to be a business partner, a partner to enable to understand the business opportunities out there and provide the data to support that.
I'm a big believer in that.
So definitely the finance team and I.
You know that's what I said when I came into fiverr and i felt that i'm not the product and it's not so why what i'm doing here.
I'm not here to record just numbers and to report how the months end.
That's not interesting.
Right, it needs to be done, but that's not why I came here for.
And I think that definitely AI will definitely help to even do that even better.
Data Rails is the artificial intelligence powered financial planning and analysis platform built for Excel users.
That's right, you can stay in Excel.
But instead of facing hell for For every budget, month-end close or forecast, you can enjoy a paradise of data consolidation, advanced visualization, reporting and AI capabilities, plus game-changing insights giving you instant answers and your story created in seconds.
Find out why more than a thousand finance teams use Data Rails to uncover their company's real story.
Don't replace Excel, embrace Excel.
Learn more at datarails.com.
One of the first things you mentioned when we started talking was forecasting and modeling.
And I'm wondering for you even though you don't, you know, you come from the accounting side.
Obviously you saw the value of finance and FPA early and I know that's important to you.
So what does FPA mean to at Fiverr and where do you think that FPA drives the most value in a modern company like yours?
So I think it's in different roles.
Definitely as a business partner.
I have to say for Fiverr, every initiative, every idea, and there are so many ideas right.
Every day there is a new idea.
Every initiative, any idea needs to have a model and needs to have to back that out, to think if that's actually, i mean, and sometimes it's just number that you did in the excel right, but it's not right because you at fpna, because they are business partners, so they really understand the business, but they also really understand how the business works on really in the numbers.
So sometimes you see the business side.
They have that vision, but to connect that with the ability that the company has from different areas.
The FPA has that ability because it connects different sides of the business.
So I think being a business partner and support a business decision, that's crucial.
And also as a public company and I mentioned that doing the forecasting and taking into consideration all the uncertainty.
Gather all those initiatives and putting that into a model and having different scenarios.
That's a task.
I see the team as really connected to everything, to see the big picture and baked into the cake.
So for us, we are definitely, I mean, we're pushing ourselves to be a part of every department.
If it's a business department, if it's a customer support department, every department I mean we want our people there in order to gather that information and bake that into the model and give the insight that is like 360 and put it into the model.
I keep thinking about what you mentioned earlier, that the Fiverr model, it's not SaaS.
So you just have millions of transactions that you have to model.
And over the last few years, I mean from COVID to macroeconomic swings, evolving business models, AI disruption, whatever it is.
There are so many variables that you have to track and monitor and account for.
So, I mean, how do you approach forecasting in such a tumultuous environment?
Yeah, it's not easy, but we believe in really building a flexible financial model that you can quickly adjust to changes.
I mean, it's important in order to have those scenarios and build them out.
So I mean COVID was definitely rapid growth and the geopolitical conditions and the macro and interest rates.
And you know, sometimes we see that if Queen of England, you know, passed away, we actually can see I mean we see it live right how it affects a Fiverr transaction on that day, because everyone are very focused in this thing and they're not buying.
So being able to be agile and to gather the points in real time so that's one but also to have a model that is flexible and having number of of scenarios and then combining them.
I think that's really important.
And in order to have that, you have to have a really good data infrastructure.
That's A.
And you have to be really connected to the information on time, right?
So really on time.
Do you work closely with the BI or data science team there?
Or how does that, the handoff between data there, like for your team specifically?
Are they pulling a lot directly or are they customers of the BI team?
Do you do self-serve data mart or how do they get that data?
So I mean definitely the data scientists.
They were building the infrastructure of the data for the FPA to analyze.
But at the end of the day, today with AI tools, you definitely, it's even easier, right?
But even before that.
So we were great believers of having the knowledge how to do it in our team in order not to wait for.
So in general, I would say the crucial thing is really to work well with other departments.
And with the business, with the new initiatives and with the data, to tell them what data points we need in order to perfect the model and the forecasting.
So it's really, really crucial.
And that's like my best advice for each finance team and definitely fpna really not to be on, to not work on silo, really to be part to see.
Uh, hopefully it can be really physically meet, but you know, in our it's not always that easy and things are maybe are are through online.
But definitely be part of of those teams, work with them, understand what they're working on, really communicate the needs and think how we can, as a finance team, help them and how they can help us.
I think that's really, really crucial.
Not to consider the finance team as a department that just you know that it's outside of the business cycle.
It's just about, you know, closing the numbers and providing data to the board.
No, you have to be part of the business.
Yeah.
And I'm wondering in that, that just works so much better.
And it really it's changed over the last 15 years or so where it's true business partnering, where there's FPAs embedded across the different organizations.
And I think about things like the KPIs that are meaningful and if you don't have that collaborative environment where you're close with sales and marketing and you're close with operations and all the different teams and all the things that you measure, is your approach When developing KPIs and tracking, is it whoever's over that department drives and makes recommendations?
Or how do you work with the other departments to develop KPIs and determine source of truth?
And what are the important KPIs, the key things that you're measuring and looking at?
Yeah, you know you're touching a really interesting point, because there are KPIs for a department that are I mean, there are their own, and there are the KPIs that you need in order and, talking about FPA, that you need for the forecast or maybe you need for the business to have as KPIs of the business in order for the business to grow.
And it cannot be top down totally.
So it can't be just finance team saying, okay, these are the KPI, just deal with it.
Here are how you need to measure it.
And that's it on the one hand.
On the other hand, it cannot be only from the department side, right?
Because maybe the department, they have their own thought or thought process how they can contribute, but it's not really contributing to the big picture.
Right.
So I would say the right way is to think of the company.
You know high level KPIs and each company has those high level that it depends on the industry.
But if it's ARR or active buyers for Fiverr or whatever.
But then to break how those departments, how they contribute each one of them to that major KPI, the company's wide KPI, what we expect them to contribute them to the business, and then translate that into a KPI that is very specific to the field department.
Now that sounds amazing and easy.
But it's not.
Let's not fool ourselves, really.
I mean, I think it's a process that has to be with communication and discussion.
It has to have a strategy high-level strategy of the company and where the company is going to and what is expected from each department, and only then to translate that into how they actually contribute to do companies-wide KPIs and to translate that to their KPI.
I feel like that's got to be pretty similar to the budgeting process too.
You make the annual plan, you have your growth targets and whatever targets you're looking for, that you want to measure new users, transactions and all that.
So then when you go back, you know where those goals are.
You go back with the budget and you have to work with sales and marketing and see what are the levers we can pull here that'll drive more transactions or more users or whatever the metric that you're going after.
How do you work with the other?
How does your team in general work with the other departments during budgeting season?
So it's not very different from the ongoing year and the reason is because we have business partners that are, on an ongoing basis, helping those departments to to to work right, so It's not like we're meeting only in October.
Yes, in October maybe we have another meeting that is called.
Now it's budget time, but it's not a surprise, right?
I always say, You know, and yet January is always the continuance of December, right?
So yes, we have a budget frame that we've decided is 12 months starting, But it's not that we're meeting only on when we're planning that.
So once you part, when you really I mean as a team, we really feel part of the business and we really feel part of the department.
And actually in some cases the people actually sit right next to that department and not just in the finance team, right.
So we encourage that.
Then the budget planning season is just another point in time that okay, we need to think about X Y Z, So it's So definitely.
Yes, I mean, we are, as a company, coming into the next year with the goal and our KPIs, but it shouldn't.
If it's a surprise, I think there's a problem, right.
So if you only meet once a year, just, okay, now let's talk about next year.
And maybe it's because it's also a fast, still fast growing company. and evolving company, right?
And really every month looks different from the previous month and new initiatives and new technologies and new ways to think of how we're going to grow.
So you can't wait for the budget season in order to talk with the teams.
So budget is painful.
It's a process that is painful.
But once you feel it's part of something that is ongoing, I think it's less painful.
Yeah, and I think about just how important it is that those budgets be accurate.
You don't want to be reporting quarterly or annually that you're missing your numbers.
So very, very important to have that done.
And we were talking before the show and I know to your team, you've got some strong team members to build these models, some very technical people.
We were talking before the show about managing people who might have more experience or technical knowledge than you do.
And I'm wondering how do you approach leadership in those situations where you know you've got a great team and everybody has their strengths and you're dealing with people across the spectrum?
But is there any leadership insight you can offer on that?
Sure, I always look for someone smarter than me in that area that is more professional in that area.
For sure, I think as a manager, I'm who I am and I got to where I am.
Mainly because of the people that worked for me and helped me be that.
And in order to do that, you have to have really strong people.
So, in order to be able to progress and step up and to sleep good at night because, at the end of the day, right you need to have that's always my like you have this intuition.
Will I sleep good at night when I know that that person is in charge on that field?
And he has enough, or he or she, of course.
They're professional enough.
I mean, they have... And it's not to say I don't understand.
Usually I say, okay...
Now explain to me because I really don't understand this tax thing.
I really, I don't know.
Let's assume that I don't know nothing.
Now teach me and educate me.
I don't think that's a weakness.
I think that's a strength.
And I will always look for someone.
And I think, as a manager, if you look for people that are less good from you, then you won't be able to step up and to see the bigger picture.
So that's definitely something to aspire to.
Yeah, love that.
And I'm sure it's different across the department, but for our listeners I want to focus just on the FPA roles.
When you're hiring someone in FP&A, what do you look for in that person?
The basic skill set, personality, attitude.
I mean, there's so many different components.
You know, you have the highly, highly technical people that can build incredible models.
And then you've got some that are better, maybe at visualization, or some are better at storytelling or whatever it is.
So there's a broad range of things to look at, including experience.
And I guess that's part of it too.
So I'm thinking about How do you make sure you're staffing with the right people?
And well, it sounds like with Fiverr's growth, maybe this second part isn't a problem, but keeping the talent engaged and feeling like they're doing meaningful work.
Yeah, so I think a mix of those skills that you've mentioned is very important to have in the department.
So you need to have the person that is really good in modeling and you need that person that is really good in communicating right.
Because, at the end of the day, part of the FPA role that you need to work with people, it's not just with the excel, right you just you actually need to work with and understand the business and help that i'm also looking for, always looking for for employees that have agility, i would say, in their thinking, because and i'm really not joking every month look differently and every business, Every budget season, it's like oh my God okay everything, all the departments are mixed now.
I mean, we need the structure to build it differently.
If people are not, don't have that ability to adjust and be agile.
For me, I mean, I know that for Fiverr, for fast-growing companies, it's just not going to work.
So I would say, you know, to have that mix of skills into a team and then to put in the right right.
So if you have a project now that it's more about Maybe it's more sensitive and it's more communication perspective, then that's the right person to be on that task.
But if it's a very very, very complex model that you need to work on, it's a different person in the team that fits more to that.
As for being motivated again, I really, really believe if you feel part of the business and helping FPA specifically, it's even easier because you really you're working with the business, you're helping them to decide to prioritize the initiatives and the work based on your models.
So once you feel that your work actually counts and it actually helps the company to understand where to go to, That's the reason to get up in the morning, right?
So I think, moving that or passing along that, thinking it, actually it also affects people.
They, they start to feel that way and then they, they take the job, their job very, very seriously and they, they think about it at night and right, and they, I mean they're, they're eager to be part of something that that is working and the decision will be made based on that.
So I think this is the way for me is always to connect that to the bigger picture.
Always.
I'm coming back to the bigger picture.
Your help, or your uh, what you're doing, your task, that you're doing now will help us to decide xyz, connected to the, to the strategy, to the bigger picture that motivates everyone.
I think about your path and I think to a lot of our listeners, that really sounds like a dream scenario.
And just I think that that's one that a lot of people would love to mirror and um, I'm wondering for people.
Maybe they're early in their FPA career and I don't know how many people you know who haven't yet made the jump into FPA, but maybe they're listening because they're thinking of leaving public accounting and coming into FPA.
But what advice and I don't know if it's mindset or things to do or or pathways you might recommend, but for someone early in their career that really wants to move up and they want to build toward a strategic leadership role, what kind of things do they need to be thinking about and doing today that are putting them on that trajectory?
I would recommend, first from a mindset perspective, is really to value the contribution of their work and of what they do.
Really to find And if they feel it's not valuable, I mean if they looked at it and said okay, I really am not.
I can't see how am I connected.
And it's even, it can be the most junior.
I felt like when in DUI, when I was really junior and doing that, I felt like I'm doing that.
It's like, it's on me.
It's a mindset.
It's on me.
If I'm not going to come to work and do this very tedious reconciliation of this number equals to that number, then the company's number won't be right.
And I was a junior person.
But it's a mindset of really feeling and understanding why you're doing a specific task and not just, you know, pushing your manager to tell you that because there are some managers to do that and there are some managers that don't, that they're not.
But really to to try to understand and to really to feel that you're a contributor at any point of the career really.
I mean every every, even at, i think, the most junior people in finance, for sure, the most junior people.
They are the the first building block in apparently that.
Then you know it's, it's a financial statement right, but it's so important that building blocks.
And if not, and if you're in a place that you don't feel it and you looked at it from every angle and you don't see that, I would say just move to the next thing to see that.
And not to hurry to be big managers.
I mean, I really believe in learning from the ground.
I really think that having the skill of looking at the big picture and then dive in but then really dive in and put your hands into dirt I think it's super important.
I think it helped me to develop over time.
And that's it.
And, you know, just do what you love.
That's always, that's always true.
Really, really great advice.
All right.
Well, we're getting towards the end of the show and we've got two questions that we ask every guest at the end.
The first one is what is something that not many people know about you, something they couldn't learn from your LinkedIn profile or from Googling you, or whatever?
I lost my last baby teeth.
When I was 30.
That was embarrassing.
To go into the world.
As a 30 year old.
Going into audit committees.
Without your missing teeth.
That was embarrassing.
But you know, if you're certain of what you're doing, that your work, that even if I missed a baby tip, I still felt that I'm contributing.
You should have made up a story, something that you were playing hockey or that you were in a fight and you should see the other guy.
Well, now I'm true to myself.
I just, you know, I'm aging.
Slow.
That's how I look at it, always looking at the full side of the glass.
I guess aging slow is better than the alternative.
Okay, so everybody's favorite question.
What is your favorite Excel function and why?
Okay, so...
Maybe now I'm going to ruin everything, but I don't see myself as very expert in Excel.
And I think my team.
If they are listening now they will smile and say oh, so she knows that about her.
Yeah.
So my favorite thing on Excel is that it's prepared in a way that I can spend really two, three minutes to understand the big picture and then to dive in.
So if it's a formula, if it's a way that the team built The information, it doesn't really matter.
But for me, it's the ability really to show, wait, this is the results, big picture.
Now this is what's inside.
And then if something's not feeling right, I'll be able to dig in.
That's funny.
So I talked to all these people who are the Microsoft MVPs and super Excel gurus.
And the truth is, I got my first CFO position in 2007.
And as a CFO, you did that for 15 years.
And as a CFO, you don't spend a lot of time building models and all that.
You receive models and you see them and you appreciate what the team does.
But every time I ask a guest, sometimes they'll say something and I'll be like I hadn't even heard of that.
I guess I shouldn't admit that being the host of this show, but that's the reality.
Esty, I really appreciated you coming on.
Some great insights and just love hearing about your career and everything going on at Fiverr.
And I just really appreciate you coming on the show.
Yeah, thank you so much for having me.
