Overview

In this episode of The CFO Playbook, David McClelland explores how financial management should be embedded into company culture with Richard Dana, co-founder and CEO at Tembo Money.

With a background in corporate finance, Richard shares how he leveraged his interest in travel to co-found the budget-boutique hotel booking platform Doris and Dickie, and the lessons learned from being thrifty in balancing the books from day one with a small team, managing by cost.

Reflecting on his role as CFO at Founders Factory, a unique platform matching leading corporate brands with industry expertise with innovative start-ups to solve specific pain points within their sector. Richard affirms his mantra that founders should focus on being thrifty and making every pound work hard, whilst having a path to profitability and a clear understanding of the financials.

Now on a mission to address the housing affordability crisis, Richard co-founded family lending platform Tembo Money, with the aim of closing the generational wealth gap by broadening access to homeownership. With no CFO currently in place, the focus since its launch in 2020 has been on becoming profitable with a lean team and outsourced accountancy. Richard highlights that despite the crossovers between the CFO and CEO roles, there is a much greater focus on “selling the business” as a CEO, whilst keeping an eye on the money during the early days of growing a new business.

Finally, against the backdrop of the current economic landscape, Richard gives his view on starting a business in a recession; although it’s challenging, partnering with established companies and focusing on a product with a real customer need can help mitigate risks. Extending cash runway is crucial for startups, and involves monitoring cash flow, cutting costs, and exploring non-investment funding options.

Chapters

(0:00:01) – Inside the World of Finance Leaders 

(0:13:29) – Building a Finance Startup 

(0:22:45) – Funding and Recruitment for Startups 

(0:33:57) – Startup Strategies and Acquisition Considerations 

(0:43:39) – Liberating Finance for Families 

About Soldo

Soldo is the proactive spend management solution that frees up businesses to accomplish more.

We champion the notion of Progressive Finance, because we believe in a decentralised approach to financial decision-making and greater spending autonomy for everyone. Over 25,000 organisations across 31 countries use Soldo to bring order, efficiency and agility to their decentralised spending, and empower the whole company to spend safely and responsibly.

By combining pre-programmed cards, a user-friendly app and a powerful spend management platform, Soldo enables decentralised spend decisions and frees everyone from tedious admin, while ensuring compliance

To find out more book a demo with Soldo.