Your weekly go-to guide to transform your finance function into a strategic powerhouse.
Welcome CFO Techstack Community đ,
This week, weâre excited to introduce The Stack Exchange, a new forum for in-house finance pros to connect and share insights. Following the success of Stacked and the positive feedback about the value of peer discussions, we wanted to create a dedicated space for meaningful collaboration within our community.
The Stack Exchange is a Slack-based forum that will be your go-to for connecting with peers, asking questions, sharing app updates, and discovering industry eventsâeverything you need to keep learning and transforming your finance function into a strategic powerhouse. And itâs absolutely free!
We canât wait for you to dive in, meet your peers, and make the most of this resource. Find out more below, or get started here >
FEATURED ARTICLE
Introducing The Stack Exchange
Your new forum to connect with in-house finance pros
Weâve come a long way together on this journey. Since our very first issue of CFO Techstack, our goal has been clear: to help in-house finance leaders make the most of tech, build better processes, and drive impactful transformation within their teams.
What started as a weekly newsletter aimed at empowering in-house finance leaders has grown into something much larger than we ever anticipated. Each week, as weâve tackled topics ranging from data-driven decision-making to tech-stack optimisation, our subscriber base has continued to growâproof that thereâs an eager audience of in-house finance professionals ready to embrace technology and lead with innovation.
Last month, we took things to the next level with Stacked, our first in-person event designed to bring together the voices, ideas, and expertise of our amazing community. We received such fantastic feedback about the value attendees got from sharing insights with their fellow in-house finance peers. Itâs clear the community is eager for us to keep the connection going!
"The best part of Stacked was meeting people in similar situations"
Seeing so many of you gathered under one roof to exchange tips and discuss the latest advancements in tech was powerful. The buzz from Stacked showed us not only the appetite for knowledge-sharing among in-house finance leaders, but the immense value that comes from simply connecting with each other in a space dedicated to innovation and growth.
This brings us to the next step in this journeyâThe Stack Exchange. Built as a Slack community exclusively for CFO Techstack subscribers, this new space has been shaped by the input of our members. After asking for your thoughts in a recent survey, we received overwhelmingly positive feedback. You wanted a place to connect and learn from like-minded peers, and weâre here to make it happen!
What is The Stack Exchange?
The Stack Exchange is a Slack-based forum where finance professionals can connect on their own terms, whether thatâs asking questions about the latest app integrations, troubleshooting challenges with specific tools, or sharing advice on long-term tech strategies.
If youâre not familiar with Slack, itâs a free messaging app that makes instant communication easy. Think of Slack communities as online hangouts where you can connect, share ideas, and collaborate on all sorts of topics.
Hereâs what you can expect:
A hub of knowledge sharing: Imagine the support and expertise of our newsletter but amplified by your own voices. Whether youâre looking for guidance on which KPIs to track with new software, or advice on the best ways to approach automation within a small team, this community is a goldmine of insights from peers who understand the unique challenges of in-house finance.
Collaboration and support from a like-minded community: The forum is about building real connections. This is a space where finance leaders can not only troubleshoot issues but brainstorm, collaborate, and discover new tools and strategies together. Whatever question or idea you bring, thereâs someone in the community whoâs likely already encountered itâor is just as keen to solve it as you are.
Learning that goes beyond the headlines: Our newsletter has always aimed to share meaningful stories and actionable insights, but we know that real learning often happens in the conversations that follow. The Stack Exchange gives you the chance to dive deeper into those ideas, whether thatâs exploring how others approach tech adoption or what theyâve learned about building finance functions that scale.
And we're already getting started!
Why this forum matters
We see The Stack Exchange as the third pillar of the CFO Techstack community, joining the newsletter and Stacked. The forum is a natural extension of what weâve been building: a supportive, forward-thinking space that fosters growth and collaboration. In a fast-paced digital world where technology is reshaping finance faster than ever, having a community to learn from and lean on is invaluable.
The launch of this Slack community is also a celebration of youâour subscribers and event attendees who have shaped CFO Techstack with your ideas and insights. Youâve helped us to keep refining our content and growing our reach, and itâs only fitting that you now have a dedicated space to continue the conversation.
So, hereâs what to do next. Once youâre in, we encourage you to dive right inâintroduce yourself, share a win, ask a question, or post an insight. This is your community, after all. Together, we can make The Stack Exchange a place where finance leaders are truly empowered to embrace innovation and lead their teams to success.
Weâre excited to welcome you into this new phase of the CFO Techstack journey. Hereâs to sharing, learning, and thriving together!
Scott Martin, Head of Finance at XY Sense, shares their tech stack
XY Sense provides a cutting-edge workplace occupancy sensing and analytics solution designed to transform office environments.
Backed by an intuitive analytics platform built for property teams, XY Sense empowers organisations to optimise space utilisation, enhance employee experiences, and make informed decisions to create better workplaces.
Scott told us, "I head up the finance function with a lean team of two. My day-to-day covers everything from overseeing finance operations and forecasting to managing revenue operations, investor and board reporting, equity platforms, inventory systems, and strategic tax planningâessentially covering everything across the startup finance spectrum."
Here's what Scott and his team are using:
Maxio for Revenue Recognition: Maxio handles E2E revenue recognition, invoicing and revenue reporting. It has a huge amount of functionality which can be excessive for some, however, we find this allows us to fully tailor the system to our customer profile. If we invest in this tool, it will definitely support our ability to scale.
Mayday for Intercompany: We use Mayday to manage our intercompany loans across 5 entities. Previously we were doing this manually and struggling to manage and understand the FX impact in reconciliation.
Fathom for Reporting: Fathom allows us to consolidate our Xero entities. It works well however I am not a fan of the predefined reports as they are hard to change and lack deep dives, especially around cash management and reporting.
Cin7 Core for Inventory: We're currently using Cin7 Core which has strong inventory management features.
Airwallex for International Payments: Great for international payments with competitive FX rates, employee cards, and now expense management and staff reimbursements, Airwallex is fast becoming our one-stop shop for all things payments, FX and expenses. Global coverage supports our niche customers and UX is super simple with the product really starting to get some depth.
Dext for Receipt Capture:Dext is efficient for receipt capture and expense management, however, we are currently in the process of moving this over globally to Airwallex. Decent UX but it doesnât really offer us anything that canât be done in Airwallex.
Bill.com for US Payments:Bill.com helps us deal with payment nuances in the US and supports checks to state tax authorities.
Gusto for US Payroll and Insurance: Simple to use, Gusto manages most of the E2E of US requirements.
Cake for Managing Equity: We recently transitioned to Cake for managing equityâ it has a good UX for employees with equity training and education, and it's much more cost-effective compared to Carta. Reporting needs some development but overall it's been great to onboard with.
Salesforce for RevOps:Salesforce is fantastic for managing our pipeline and revenue operations, though customisations can get tricky.
Google Sheets for Forecasting:Google Sheets is simple and flexible for quick forecasting, but weâre constantly managing the risk of human error in complex models.
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