How Bad Finance Kills Good Companies with Ariel Menche of Raftel Strategy

Описание: What is the difference between a creative financier and a creative accountant? One becomes a billionaire; the other goes to jail.

In this episode of Very True, Alex Oppenheimer sits down with Ariel Menche, CEO of Raftel Strategy, to demystify the "black box" of startup finance. This is the first in a series dedicated to helping founders understand that finance is not just about paying taxes—it is the lifeblood of your company.

Ariel and Alex break down the critical distinction between accounting (looking backward/arithmetic) and strategic finance (looking forward/calculus). They discuss how to avoid "organizational debt," why benchmarking is often a waste of time, and the "Four Hats" every modern CFO must wear.

From managing budgets at the WWE (World Wrestling Entertainment) to building models for seed-stage startups, Ariel shares why net working capital, proper contract structures, and treasury management are the difference between "grow or die" and just dying.

👇 Key Moments:
00:00 - Intro: Why finance is the nucleus of a company
02:22 - Ariel’s Background: From KPMG Strategy to the WWE
08:10 - Alex’s Journey: Why an engineer fits in Investment Banking
16:01 - Street Smarts vs. Book Smarts: Getting paid vs. booking revenue 21:43 - The "Jail" Rule: The cultural difference between Accounting & Finance
23:14 - The 4 Hats of a CFO: Accounting, Treasury, FP&A, Corp Dev
29:32 - Net Working Capital & The Costco Cash Flow Model
34:07 - Contract Mistakes: Why your "Annual" contract is actually monthly 38:57 - The SaaS Magic Number & Linear vs. Nonlinear Growth
52:44 - Organizational Debt & The Hierarchy of Finance Needs

🔗 Links: Raftel Strategy: https://www.raftelstrategy.com/
Connect with Ariel:   / ariel-menche  
Verissimo Ventures: https://verissimo.vc/
Connect with Alex:   / alex-oppenheimer  

About Very True: Hosted by Alex Oppenheimer, Very True by Verissimo Ventures explores the honest, unvarnished stories of founders and the real problems they are solving. We look past the hype to find the truth in technology, finance, and entrepreneurship.

#StartupFinance #CFO #FPandA #SaaSMetrics #VerissimoVentures #StrategicFinance #Entrepreneurship #NetWorkingCapital