Turning Finance Teams Into Growth Drivers with AI with Julio Martínez #247

Julio Martínez is the Co-Founder and CEO of Abacum, an AI-native FP&A platform built to help finance teams drive efficient growth and deliver real business impact. With Abacum, he focuses on turning finance into a strategic function by giving teams real-time visibility into their KPIs, automating reporting, and enabling better forecasting, planning, and decision-making across the organization.Before founding Abacum, Julio spent over two decades across finance and technology, beginning his career in investment banking in New York, São Paulo, Zurich, and London. He later transitioned into tech, where he launched multiple fintech products and deepened his focus on building solutions for modern finance teams. Originally from Spain and now based in New York, Julio brings a global perspective and a practical, operator-driven mindset to helping companies scale with greater clarity and control.In this episode we cover:00:00 - Intro01:52 - From Investment Banking to SaaS Finance05:36 - Why Abacum Was Built10:07 - Turning Finance Into a Growth Driver13:38 - AI Trends in the Office of the CFO18:16 - How AI Is Changing Forecasting and Planning23:20 - The Biggest Financial Planning Mistakes in SaaS27:32 - Building a Strategic Finance Function32:57 - Julio's Favorite Activity To Get Into a Flow State33:29 - Julio's Piece Of Advice For His Younger Self35:20 - Julio's Biggest Challenges at Abacum36:22 - Instrumental Resources For Julio's Success40:04 - What Does Success Mean for Julio Today41:42 - Get In Touch With JulioGet In Touch With Julio:Julio's LinkedInAbacum WebsiteBooks:Meditations by Marcus AureliusAmp It Up by Frank SlootmanThe Score Takes Care of Itself by Bill WalshTag Us & Follow:FacebookLinkedInInstagramMore About Akeel:TwitterLinkedInMore SaaS Podcast EpisodesSaaS ConsultantsHow To Value Your SaaS Company