The non-accountant who became a startup CFO - Luke Rix (KC Ventures)

“I’m probably the first guest on your show who’s actually not an accountant.”Luke Rix is the co-founder and CEO of KC Ventures, which now runs finance for circa 70 startups. But the story starts well before that.Luke is not an accountant. He failed Accounting 101 at university and went into communications.He only ended up in finance because he co-founded a company, With You With Me, that scaled faster than anyone expected.At one point, they were number 1 on the Deloitte Fast 50.When the first CFO hire did not work out, Luke stepped in for the interim and stayed for nearly 3 years.What made him good was not technical, it was knowing his limits and working to his strengths.So he hired a strong financial controller, leaned on external advisors and spent his time on what he could do that a career CFO couldn’t.He was a co-founder, so he brought leads into the sales meeting instead of asking why the team missed their quota.His biggest lesson is one every founder needs to know.A healthy profit and loss statement hid the fact the business was nearly out of cash.“You grow yourself into failure,”. Overdue debtors, contractors paid up front and milestones paid months later.The company still scaled to 200 staff across 5 countries, before he decided it was his time to move on.It means he brings a very unique perspective to his clients across startup finance.“It’s the CFO’s job to say yes, but how.”That's how finance should be run in a startup. Look for the opportunities, not the hand brake!Highlights:Hear why a non-accountant ended up running finance for nearly three yearsLearn his reframe that a startup CFO’s job is not to say no, but to say yes, but howUnderstand the cash versus profit lesson that nearly sank the business, and how you grow yourself into failureFind out how a side project to help an unemployed veteran friend became a company in five countries with 200 staffGet the 6am hack he used to hold down a bank job, an MBA and a startup at the same timeSee how an Anzac Day PR campaign took the business from ten signups a week to two hundredHear why he brought leads into the sales meeting instead of asking why the team missed quotaExplore his read on the startup market, why it is easier to start a business now but much harder to scale one Tom Hunter, Story Recruitment - first-CFO and first-finance-hire search for Australian tech, fintech and deeptech startups. Host of the CFO Track Podcast. Storyrecruitment.com.au