Toby Carrington

Vanta CEO Christina Cacioppo on enterprise software spending in the wake of Trump’s tariffs. "We've actually seen... increase quite a bit... and then the AI boom has sparked a lot of that up, and I think it's with the premise of kind of efficiency savings, cost savings." “The volatility in the media is not matching the volatility of the markets, yet.” Watch the full episode on https://bit.ly/454IHo1

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C.C. Gong is a principal at Menlo Ventures focused on early-stage consumer tech and SaaS investments. Drawing on her extensive experience as a product leader and team builder, C.C. goes all in on supporting founders who optimize for impact. She believes that personalized AI will revolutionize the next generation of human-computer interaction and how humans live, work, and play. C.C. started her career at Microsoft, where she worked in product at Bing Ads and HoloLens, and ran an incubation team that shipped novel consumer experiences in mixed reality. At Meta, she led teams building the future of search and ranking in its suite of messaging apps. Guided by her passion for mission-driven impact, she left big tech when she was selected as one of 20 top technologists in the nation to serve as a White House Presidential Innovation Fellow, during which she used design thinking to advance service delivery at the United States Department of Veterans Affairs. Following her stint in public service, C.C. joined Bain Capital Ventures, then became NFX’s first Venture Fellow. She also helped run one of AngelList’s most prolific syndicates and scouted for multiple funds, including Menlo and Wing VC. She proceeded to delve deeper into the startup world, leading product and growth at multiple early-stage companies from seed to Series A, as well as launching her own company in the AI video editing space. She knows firsthand how hard it is for founders to get from zero to one, so she created a community and resources for entrepreneurs and hosted five AI hackathons in 2023. C.C. received her bachelor’s degree from Harvard University and her MBA from Stanford University’s Graduate School of Business. In her free time, she loves performing standup comedy, dancing salsa, and hosting poker nights. She grew up in Anaheim, CA next to Disneyland, and went to Disney Elementary School, so theme parks have a special space in her heart. An adventure aficionado, she’s traveled to 80+ countries and has infinite travel hacks to share. Topics: - The intersection of AI and consumer products - What sectors within SaaS are still undervalued or overlooked - How consumer behavior changes are creating new SaaS categories

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It was a pleasure joining Melissa Howatson on The CFO Show for a conversation about scaling finance at Carta — where the only constant is change. We talked about what’s worked (and what hasn’t): why we built a finance engineering team, how we use AI and automation, and the importance of surfacing issues early. I also touched on the cultural side of scaling: why adaptability and curiosity are non-negotiable traits for our team. 🎧  If you’re scaling a finance org or thinking about the future of our function, give it a listen: https://lnkd.in/gymxcfMF #CFO #FinanceLeadership #Scaling #Innovation #AI #TheCFOShow #TheCFOShow

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Gusto announced plans to acquire Guideline last week. This is huge news for the recordkeeping sector and a testament to the power of integrated retirement products. This acquisition is a product match made in heaven. Connecting Gusto’s payroll platform and Guideline’s recordkeeping system creates a product-first experience for the plan sponsor: everything they need to set up and manage a plan is readily available in the product. Built-in data connectivity makes plan setup entirely self-serve, which is perfect for most SMBs, who don’t have the time to sit through multiple plan design calls. Combining efforts puts Gusto and Guideline on the path to $1B in combined revenue and sets them up nicely for a future IPO. Gusto will continue to support other recordkeepers through Finch and their partner marketplace because every recordkeeper brings a different value proposition to the table. Some solutions may support complex plan designs or offer high-touch advisory services. Even while offering a first-class embedded experience through Guideline, Gusto is demonstrating the value of supporting employers’ choice in what software solutions they use and the importance of connected experiences, regardless of the provider. Congrats to Josh, Andy, and Tomer at Gusto and Kevin at Guideline.

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