Podcast

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Scaling quickly is every growth company’s dream, but it’s also the phase where finance is under the greatest threat. Rapid headcount expansion, evolving pricing, complex contracts, and rising investor expectations all hit at once—and every weakness in your finance stack is amplified. Understanding why this phase is so dangerous, and how to design the right controls, systems, and billing infrastructure, is critical if you want to protect cash, avoid revenue leakage, and build a resilient, investor‑ready business.

In this episode, Kevin Appleby talks with Shadid Talukder, Strategic Finance Lead at Posh AI, about why the fastest phase of scaling is also the most dangerous for finance. They explore how a lean three-person finance team manages rapid ARR growth, complex enterprise contracts, and investor pressure for both growth and efficiency.

Within Posh AI’s finance stack, Zenskar plays a central role in billing and revenue recognition for a complex SaaS business selling into banks and credit unions. As pricing and contract structures evolved—across monthly, annual, and multi‑year deals—manual spreadsheets became too risky and operationally heavy. Zenskar now acts as a single system of record for contracts, subscriptions, line items, and future invoices, forecasting and scheduling billing over the life of each deal. This dramatically reduces manual reviews, mitigates missed invoices and revenue leakage, and lets Posh scale billing complexity without proportionally scaling finance headcount or operational risk.

Key topics covered:

• Zero-to-one finance in a fast-scaling AI startup: Shadid joined Posh AI when “the books were literally empty” and helped the company triple ARR while building financial models, reworking an initially non-scalable chart of accounts, and installing core finance processes from scratch 
• Scaling headcount vs. VC expectations and burn: As Posh grew from ~30 to ~80 FTEs, shifting VC expectations forced a move from “growth at all costs” to tighter burn multiples, proving that rapid scaling without disciplined financial guardrails quickly becomes dangerous for finance 
• Running a modern finance org with a very lean team: Posh operates with a three-person finance function—SVP Finance, Strategic Finance (Shadid), and Accounting—where no work is “above” anyone, and leaders still handle AP/AR emails themselves, demonstrating what lean but high-caliber finance looks like in practice 
• Zenskar as a critical control for complex SaaS billing and revenue: To cope with complex, evolving pricing and a mix of monthly, annual, and multi-year contracts, Posh implemented Zenskar as a centralized system of record for contracts, subscriptions, and future invoices—significantly reducing the risk of missed billings and revenue leakage that could materially distort burn and board reporting 
• Deliberate restraint in tooling and tech stack: After initially “buying software like crazy,” Posh reversed course, cutting underused tools and adopting a strict standard that any new system must have a foundational, clearly justified use case; core stack is QuickBooks + spreadsheets + Zenskar + Ramp, with careful use of GPT for productivity rather than headcount replacement 
• Balancing growth, profitability, and dilution risk: Shadid outlines that the next phase is defined by sustaining growth while pushing toward profitability, making every incremental hire and dollar of software spend a high-stakes decision—especially when additional fundraising brings dilution, complex cap-table dynamics, and heightened investor pressure for returns

About Posh AI

Posh AI is an AI‑native SaaS company focused on transforming customer engagement for banks and credit unions. By combining conversational AI with deep domain knowledge of financial services, Posh helps institutions automate routine interactions, deliver personalized experiences, and operate more efficiently, while meeting the strict reliability and compliance standards of regulated industries.

About Zenskar  

Zenskar is a billing and revenue platform built for modern SaaS companies with complex pricing and contracts. At Posh AI, Zenskar serves as the single source of truth for all customer contracts, subscriptions, and invoice schedules. Once a deal closes, the finance team loads key terms into Zenskar, which then automates invoicing over the contract term.

By moving off spreadsheet‑driven billing, Posh AI uses Zenskar to:

• Reduce manual billing work and one‑off reviews
• Prevent missed or incorrect invoices that can distort burn and board reporting
• Confidently support varied billing cadences and sophisticated deal structures
• This makes Zenskar a core control mechanism that enables Posh to scale faster while keeping finance lean and tightly governed.

Links

• Shadid Talukder on LinkedIn
• Kevin Appleby on LinkedIn
• GrowCFO Mentoring

Timestamps: 

• 0:00–0:04 Kevin introduces Shadid Talukder and his Strategic Finance role at Posh AI.
• 0:02–0:04 Shadid shares how he built finance from zero as Posh AI tripled ARR.
• 0:04–0:06 Posh scaled from ~30 to ~80 FTEs as investor focus shifted to burn efficiency.
• 0:09–0:11 Posh runs a full finance function with a three-person, hands-on team.
• 0:11–0:15 Shadid explains why Posh relies on QuickBooks, spreadsheets, and simplicity.
• 0:15–0:19 Zenskar became the system of record for managing complex SaaS billing and contracts.
• 0:19–0:23 After overbuying tools, Posh adopted strict controls to keep the stack lean.
• 0:22–0:23 Custom scripts and APIs replace traditional FP&A platforms.
• 0:23–0:26 GPT tools are used to boost productivity without adding headcount.
• 0:27–0:30 Shadid outlines the challenge of growing fast while staying within spend guardrails.
• 0:30–0:34 The discussion covers Series B trade-offs, dilution, and investor expectations.
• 0:35–0:38 Shadid reflects on decision pressure and the importance of founder trust.
• 0:38–0:40 He explains how he operates a high-impact finance role remotely with periodic in-person sessions.

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Beyond the Business creator Dave Rogers, is also known as ‘The Business Explorer’. He’s a previous TEDx Speaker, an award-winning Business Consultant, Coach and Author. For 30 years, he’s been using that curiosity to help businesses tackle challenges.

On top of that, Dave’s not your typical business consultant. Yes, he’s worked for big corporations. And yes, he knows how to turn lofty strategies into real, practical results. But what sets him apart is how he brings it all down to earth. He works alongside business owners, start-ups, and leaders to turn “what if” into “what’s next.”

Summary of Podcast

Introduction to Dave’s new membership service

Kevin introduces the topic of Dave’s new membership service for business owners, which Dave has been developing since his last appearance on the podcast about a year ago.

Identifying the target audience

Dave explains that the membership is aimed at business owners. You know, the ones who have built successful companies but are now feeling “stuck”. Maybe their business is running them rather than the other way around. The goal is to help them find a different way of looking at their business.

The membership structure and tiers

Dave outlines the three-tiered structure of the membership. The entry-level provides self-reflection frameworks and tools, the middle tier offering group coaching and training, and the top “inner circle” tier providing more personalised one-on-one support.

Feedback and suggestions on the membership model

Graham and Kevin provide feedback and suggestions on the membership structure, including potentially removing the entry-level tier, increasing the pricing for the middle tier, and emphasizing Dave’s personal involvement and expertise across all levels.

The role of AI and automation

The discussion turns to the role of AI and automation, with the group debating how to balance the use of technology with maintaining the human connection and expertise that Dave can provide.

Wrap-up and well-wishes

The participants wrap up the discussion, wishing Dave success with the launch of his new membership service and agreeing to stay in touch as he refines the offering.

The Next 100 Days Podcast Co-Hosts

Graham Arrowsmith

Graham founded Finely Fettled ten years ago to help business owners and marketers market to affluent and high-net-worth customers. He’s the founder of MicroYES, a Partner for MeclabsAI, where he introduces AI Agents that you can talk to, that increase engagement, dwell time, leads and conversions. Now, Graham is offering Answer Engine Optimisation that gets you ready to be found by LLM search.

Kevin Appleby

Kevin specialises in finance transformation and implementing business change. He’s the COO of GrowCFO, which provides both community and CPD-accredited training designed to grow the next generation of finance leaders. You can find Kevin on LinkedIn and at kevinappleby.com