Mostly metrics
How Finance Shows Its Value Beyond Being the “No” Department | Maria Izurieta
Mostly metrics
•January 26, 2026•0 min
0
Mostly metrics•Jan 26, 2026
Why It Matters
Finance teams that become strategic partners can accelerate growth, improve cross‑functional alignment, and reduce friction in fast‑moving companies. Maria’s people‑first, data‑driven approach offers a roadmap for CFOs and finance leaders seeking to add value beyond cost control, making the episode especially relevant as organizations grapple with rapid scaling and complex revenue models.
Key Takeaways
- •Finance should enable, not block, business decisions.
- •Build single source of truth for ARR data.
- •Remove friction with simple, automated processes across teams.
- •Embed finance in go‑to‑market for real‑time insights.
- •Foster a culture where failure fuels learning.
Pulse Analysis
Maria Izurieta, CFO of Huntress, frames finance as the connective tissue that turns transactional chores into strategic insights. In high‑growth tech firms, she stresses aligning people, processes, and systems to eliminate friction points—whether simplifying purchase‑order workflows or streamlining travel‑expense reporting. By positioning finance as an enabler rather than a "no" department, organizations unlock faster decision‑making and empower teams to focus on core competencies, driving durable, scalable results.
A core pillar of her approach is data transparency and a trusted single source of truth, especially for critical metrics like ARR. Maria advocates building data trust through centralized, forward‑deployed finance teams that embed with sales, marketing, and support functions. Real‑time, consumable analytics give stakeholders the confidence to act strategically rather than debate numbers, creating win‑win scenarios where both finance and the broader business benefit from shared insights.
The evolving CFO role, according to Izurieta, blends technical execution with a people‑first mindset. She champions a culture where uncertainty is embraced, mistakes are safe learning opportunities, and automation tools—such as Abacom, Brex, and Metronome—free CFOs from manual tasks. This shift enables finance leaders to focus on growth‑driving initiatives, unblocking friction across the organization and positioning the finance function as a catalyst for sustainable expansion.
Episode Description
In this episode of Run the Numbers, CJ sits down with Maria Izurieta, CFO of Huntress, to unpack what it really means to lead finance as a connective tissue across the organization.
Show Notes
[
](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!4ByT!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F1ce0cc7a-637e-4c44-a014-2ba28db8d2f4_1400x1400.jpeg)
In this episode of Run the Numbers, CJ sits down with Maria Izurieta, CFO of Huntress, to unpack what it really means to lead finance as a connective tissue across the organization. Drawing on experience across VC-backed, PE-owned, and public companies, Maria shares how she balances impact versus perfection, builds trust through small wins, and helps teams move from transactional finance to insight-driven decision making. They dig into data transparency, centralized BI, partnering with sales and marketing on revenue, and why the best CFOs unblock friction instead of becoming the “no” department — all while bringing a deeply people-first lens to scale.
—
SPONSORS:
Abacum is a modern FP&A platform built by former CFOs to replace slow, consultant-heavy planning tools. With self-service integrations and AI-powered workflows for forecasting, variance analysis, and scenario modeling, Abacum helps finance teams scale without becoming software admins. Trusted by teams at Strava, Replit, and JG Wentworth—learn more at https://www.abacum.ai
Brex is an intelligent finance platform that combines corporate cards, built-in expense management, and AI agents to eliminate manual finance work. By automating expense reviews and reconciliations, Brex gives CFOs more time for the high-impact work that drives growth. Join 35,000+ companies like Anthropic, Coinbase, and DoorDash at https://www.brex.com/metrics
Metronome is real-time billing built for modern software companies. Metronome turns raw usage events into accurate invoices, gives customers bills they actually understand, and keeps finance, product, and engineering perfectly in sync. That’s why category-defining companies like OpenAI and Anthropic trust Metronome to power usage-based pricing and enterprise contracts at scale. Focus on your product — not your billing. Learn more and get started at https://www.metronome.com
RightRev is an automated revenue recognition platform built for modern pricing models like usage-based pricing, bundles, and mid-cycle upgrades. RightRev lets companies scale monetization without slowing down close or compliance. For RevRec that keeps growth moving, visit https://www.rightrev.com
Rillet is an AI-native ERP built for modern finance teams that want to close faster without fighting legacy systems. Designed to support complex revenue recognition, multi-entity operations, and real-time reporting, Rillet helps teams achieve a true zero-day close—with some customers closing in hours, not days. If you’re scaling on an ERP that wasn’t built in the 90s, book a demo at https://www.rillet.com/cj
Tabs is an AI-native revenue platform that unifies billing, collections, and revenue recognition for companies running usage-based or complex contracts. By bringing together ERP, CRM, and real product usage data into a single system of record, Tabs eliminates manual reconciliations and speeds up close and cash collection. Companies like Cortex, Statsig, and Cursor trust Tabs to scale revenue efficiently. Learn more at https://www.tabs.com/run
—
LINKS:
Maria on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/maria-izurieta-909a3b/
Company: https://www.huntress.com/
CJ on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/cj-gustafson-13140948/
Mostly metrics: https://www.mostlymetrics.com
—
RELATED EPISODES:
How the Best CFOs Lead Without Being the CEO | Ken Stillwell
—
TIMESTAMPS:
00:00:00 Preview and Intro
00:01:01 Maria’s Background
00:03:09 People-First Team Building
00:05:16 People, Process, Systems at Scale
00:07:13 Removing Friction Outside Finance
00:09:15 Data Transparency & Decision-Making
00:11:06 Sponsors — Abacum | Brex | Metronome
00:14:22 Forward-Deployed Data
00:16:21 Centralized Data vs. Silos
00:19:23 Finance as Data Steward
00:21:08 Cost-to-Price Feedback Loop
00:22:35 Curiosity Builds Credibility
00:23:43 Sponsors — RightRev | Rillet | Tabs
00:27:12 Trust First, Then Impact
00:30:27 Celebrating Small Wins
00:31:21 From Transactions to Insights
00:33:00 CFO at the Revenue Table
00:34:32 Educating the Org on Metrics
00:36:21 Customer-Level Margin Reality
00:37:13 Using Facts to Change Decisions
00:38:27 Ownership Mindset in Growth Companies
00:39:10 VC vs. PE vs. Public CFO Tradeoffs
00:41:02 Operating Inside Constraints
00:42:18 Finding Your Stage Fit
00:44:17 Building a Personal Advisor Network
00:46:43 Visibility and Women in Leadership
00:47:44 Work–Life Integration, Not Balance
00:48:45 Lightning Round: Biggest Mistake
00:50:10 Advice to Younger Self
00:51:36 Finance Tech Stack
00:52:01 Craziest Expense Story
00:52:44 Credits
#RunTheNumbersPodcast #CFOLeadership #ScalingCompanies #DataDrivenDecisions #ExecutiveLeadership
0
Comments
Want to join the conversation?
Loading comments...