#268 Why Scaling Faster Is the Most Dangerous Phase for Finance, Shadid Talukder, Strategic Finance Lead, Posh AI
Scaling quickly is every growth company’s dream, but it’s also the phase where finance is under the greatest threat. Rapid headcount expansion, evolving pricing, complex contracts, and rising investor expectations all hit at once—and every weakness in your finance stack is amplified. Understanding why this phase is so dangerous, and how to design the right controls, systems, and billing infrastructure, is critical if you want to protect cash, avoid revenue leakage, and build a resilient, investor‑ready business.
In this episode, Kevin Appleby talks with Shadid Talukder, Strategic Finance Lead at Posh AI, about why the fastest phase of scaling is also the most dangerous for finance. They explore how a lean three-person finance team manages rapid ARR growth, complex enterprise contracts, and investor pressure for both growth and efficiency.
Within Posh AI’s finance stack, Zenskar plays a central role in billing and revenue recognition for a complex SaaS business selling into banks and credit unions. As pricing and contract structures evolved—across monthly, annual, and multi‑year deals—manual spreadsheets became too risky and operationally heavy. Zenskar now acts as a single system of record for contracts, subscriptions, line items, and future invoices, forecasting and scheduling billing over the life of each deal. This dramatically reduces manual reviews, mitigates missed invoices and revenue leakage, and lets Posh scale billing complexity without proportionally scaling finance headcount or operational risk.
Key topics covered:
- Zero-to-one finance in a fast-scaling AI startup: Shadid joined Posh AI when “the books were literally empty” and helped the company triple ARR while building financial models, reworking an initially non-scalable chart of accounts, and installing core finance processes from scratch
- Scaling headcount vs. VC expectations and burn: As Posh grew from ~30 to ~80 FTEs, shifting VC expectations forced a move from “growth at all costs” to tighter burn multiples, proving that rapid scaling without disciplined financial guardrails quickly becomes dangerous for finance
- Running a modern finance org with a very lean team: Posh operates with a three-person finance function—SVP Finance, Strategic Finance (Shadid), and Accounting—where no work is “above” anyone, and leaders still handle AP/AR emails themselves, demonstrating what lean but high-caliber finance looks like in practice
- Zenskar as a critical control for complex SaaS billing and revenue: To cope with complex, evolving pricing and a mix of monthly, annual, and multi-year contracts, Posh implemented Zenskar as a centralized system of record for contracts, subscriptions, and future invoices—significantly reducing the risk of missed billings and revenue leakage that could materially distort burn and board reporting
- Deliberate restraint in tooling and tech stack: After initially “buying software like crazy,” Posh reversed course, cutting underused tools and adopting a strict standard that any new system must have a foundational, clearly justified use case; core stack is QuickBooks + spreadsheets + Zenskar + Ramp, with careful use of GPT for productivity rather than headcount replacement
- Balancing growth, profitability, and dilution risk: Shadid outlines that the next phase is defined by sustaining growth while pushing toward profitability, making every incremental hire and dollar of software spend a high-stakes decision—especially when additional fundraising brings dilution, complex cap-table dynamics, and heightened investor pressure for returns
About Posh AI
Posh AI is an AI‑native SaaS company focused on transforming customer engagement for banks and credit unions. By combining conversational AI with deep domain knowledge of financial services, Posh helps institutions automate routine interactions, deliver personalized experiences, and operate more efficiently, while meeting the strict reliability and compliance standards of regulated industries.
About Zenskar
Zenskar is a billing and revenue platform built for modern SaaS companies with complex pricing and contracts. At Posh AI, Zenskar serves as the single source of truth for all customer contracts, subscriptions, and invoice schedules. Once a deal closes, the finance team loads key terms into Zenskar, which then automates invoicing over the contract term.
By moving off spreadsheet‑driven billing, Posh AI uses Zenskar to:
- Reduce manual billing work and one‑off reviews
- Prevent missed or incorrect invoices that can distort burn and board reporting
- Confidently support varied billing cadences and sophisticated deal structures
- This makes Zenskar a core control mechanism that enables Posh to scale faster while keeping finance lean and tightly governed.
Links
Timestamps:
- 0:00–0:04 Kevin introduces Shadid Talukder and his Strategic Finance role at Posh AI.
- 0:02–0:04 Shadid shares how he built finance from zero as Posh AI tripled ARR.
- 0:04–0:06 Posh scaled from ~30 to ~80 FTEs as investor focus shifted to burn efficiency.
- 0:09–0:11 Posh runs a full finance function with a three-person, hands-on team.
- 0:11–0:15 Shadid explains why Posh relies on QuickBooks, spreadsheets, and simplicity.
- 0:15–0:19 Zenskar became the system of record for managing complex SaaS billing and contracts.
- 0:19–0:23 After overbuying tools, Posh adopted strict controls to keep the stack lean.
- 0:22–0:23 Custom scripts and APIs replace traditional FP&A platforms.
- 0:23–0:26 GPT tools are used to boost productivity without adding headcount.
- 0:27–0:30 Shadid outlines the challenge of growing fast while staying within spend guardrails.
- 0:30–0:34 The discussion covers Series B trade-offs, dilution, and investor expectations.
- 0:35–0:38 Shadid reflects on decision pressure and the importance of founder trust.
- 0:38–0:40 He explains how he operates a high-impact finance role remotely with periodic in-person sessions.
Find out more about GrowCFO
If you enjoyed this podcast, you can subscribe to the GrowCFO Show with your favorite podcast app. The GrowCFO show is listed in the Apple podcast directory, Spotify and many others. Why not subscribe there today? That way, you never miss an episode.
GrowCFO is a great place to extend your professional network. Join GrowCFO as a free member today and participate in our regular networking events and webinars. Premium members can also access our extensive training center and CFO Digital Toolkit. You can enroll in our flagship Future CFO or Finance Leader programs here.
You can find out more and join today at growcfo.net
Podcast: Play in new window | Download
Responses