Extreme Ownership for CFOs with Adam Ante of Paycor

Adam Ante is the CFO of Paycor, a publicly traded payroll provider. Not only did he scale the ranks of leadership quickly, but he took Paycor public in the first two years of his first role as a CFO. Today he joins CJ to discuss his career journey and share the wisdom he’s gained along the way. Inspired by the book Extreme Ownership by Jocko Willink and Leif Babin, Adam explains how aggressively stepping into your fear can help you succeed in the world of finance. He talks about overcoming imposter syndrome, training your capacity for stress, and why the small things are really the big things. He gives advice on not pigeonholing oneself but pressing into other parts of the company and earning your seat at the table. He also sheds light on how Paycor makes money, its North Star metric, its competitive moat, how its IPO share price was determined, the evolution of the Human Capital Management (HCM) market, and how payroll companies have unique insights into the economy's health. —SPONSORS:Maxio is the only billing and financial operations platform that was purpose built for B2B SaaS. They're helping SaaS finance teams automate billing and revenue recognition, manage collections and payments, and put together investor grade reporting packages. 🚀 Request a demo at www.maxio.com/runthenumbers for 10% off your first year.Leapfin is accounting automation software that automatically prepares and posts reliable journal entries. High-growth businesses like Reddit, Canva, and Seat Geek choose Leapfin to eliminate manual tasks, accelerate month-end close, and enable accounting leaders to provide faster insights to help their companies grow. To automatically standardize your revenue data with measurable business impact, check out leapfin.com today. Mercury is the fintech ambitious companies use for banking and all their financial workflows. With a powerful bank account at the center of their operations, companies can make better financial decisions and ensure that every dollar spent aligns with company priorities. That's why over 100K startups choose Mercury to confidently run all their financial operations with the precision, control, and focus they need to operate at their best. Learn more at mercury.com.Mercury is a financial technology company, not a bank. Banking services provided by Choice Financial Group and Evolve Bank & Trust®; Members FDIC.NetSuite provides financial software for all your business needs. More than 37,000 thousand companies have already upgraded to NetSuite, gaining visibility and control over their financials, inventory, HR, eCommerce, and more. If you're looking for an ERP platform ✅ NetSuite: https://netsuite.com/metrics and get a customized KPI checklist. —FOLLOW US ON X:@cjgustafson222 (CJ)—TIMESTAMPS:(00:00) Preview and Intro(02:13) Sponsor - Maxio | Leapfin(04:58) Scaling the Ranks of Leadership Quickly (10:02) Overcoming Imposter Syndrome as a New CFO(12:25) Pricing Paycor's IPO Share Price(14:58) How Paycor Makes Money(17:16) Sponsor - Mercury | Netsuite(19:25) Paycor’s Atomic Unit and North Star Metric(20:36) The Evolution of the HCM Market(22:47) Navigating Finance and HR in Payroll (24:07) Paycor’s Competitive Moat(25:10) The Unique Insights of Payroll Companies Into the Economy (27:30) Advice for Asking for Advice(28:52) Valuable Advice Adam’s Received(35:34) Not Pigeonholing Oneself in Finance(38:55) Extreme Ownership in Finance (42:01) Strategy Vs Execution(44:35) Training Your Capacity for Stress(46:48) The Return of the Culture of Grinding(48:57) Long-ass Lightning Round: One of Adam’s Biggest Failures(50:39) Finance Software Stack(51:06) Craziest Expense Story This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit cjgustafson.substack.com