With more than 20 years of experience helping startups scale from seed to series B, Maria Azatyan has built architectures for companies across ai, robotics and the new space economy, translating complex technologies into numbers. This is coupled with her frank perspective as a single mother balancing finance leadership and advising startups.

• Sci-fi Dreams Made Real: sharing experiences with Waymo
• Setting up ArmGate, empowering entrepreneurs
• One month to “two minutes” using AI to work with data
• Case study: AI to Automate ERA Filings for Venture Funds
• Role as ex-CFO at DocDoc.ru whose exit was ranked one of Russia’s top five IT & Digital M&A deals.
• Problems with cash flow to 45% year-over-year revenue growth
• Biggest startup challenges for finance teams

Joyce Li, CEO, and chief AI strategist at Averanda Partners, brings a rare combination: CFA charter holder, computer science graduate, MBA from Wharton, Board advisor on AI. She advises on multi-billion dollar investment strategies and works with boards and C-suites on AI strategy, governance, and adoption.

• The power of Excel in an AI age
• The ROI of AI and what boards want to see
• 15% as the magic AI productivity number
• Agents and the future of finance

Rohini Jain leads finance strategy at BILL, which delivers strategic finance capabilities in one integrated platform including AP, AR, expenses and procurement. She has more than 20 years of experience shaping and leading finance, product, and operations teams at global fintech, payments, and e-commerce companies including at PayPal, eBay, Walmart and General Electric.

She spoke to us ahead of the earnings release for Bill.com (November 5) which revealed total revenue at $395.7 million, an increase of 10% year-over-year, and core revenue, (subscription and transaction fees) of $358.0 million, an increase of 14% year-over-year. Bill now serves 498,100 businesses as of the end of the first quarter.

In this episode:

• Deciding to choose finance (and disappointing my mother)
• The GE “magic” building the next gen of finance leaders
• Building a diverse skill set in my finance team
• Love for engaging small and medium-sized business
• Challenges and stress of public CFO role
• Building agentic capabilities and finance’s future
• A surprising Excel revelation