Head of Finance

Who are we?

Our mission is to increase the number of people doing their best work (see our manifesto here read me!)

Figuring out what to do with your life is hard enough … let alone finding it! cord is in the business of creating human connections and so far we’ve started more than 100,000 conversations. But this is only the start …

We’ve grown to a small team of 45 people since 2016 – and we are planning on doubling in size in 2022. People from all over the world rely on cord to help them decide where to invest the time … and funds like Sequoia, EF, Founders factory and many more all recommend cord to their portfolios.

We believe doing your best work is routed in freedom, autonomy and a clear focus. We don’t rush our hiring, and we don’t make someone an offer lightly. But when we do, we back them.

We’re a diverse team of talented, value-driven people focused on creating positive change at scale. It is worth noting that as a general rule, we look for people who are what we’d term ‘value driven and results focussed’.

What does finance mean to cord?

We believe finance is an accelerator of growth.

Great companies cannot scale without deeply understanding their deployment of capital across company – both now and in the future. Alongside the core competencies of a senior finance hire, we are looking for someone to join our senior leadership team from day one.

And whilst we have got a lot right, there is so much opportunity for growth. For example, our core unit economics/SaaS metrics (like our CAC, LTV etc) are all monitored closely by our Growth Analyst. Yet as it currently stands, we could be doing more to use these key metrics to inform our decision making. This can also be said for marketing. We run both B2B and B2C acquisition models that are working very well. Yet we could putting more concentrated effort into maximising our deployment of resources – to get cord to more people and companies around the world.

cord is transitioning from building a product to building a company. As we near $10m ARR – our pricing, financial models and expansion opportunities will now all focus on getting us to £100m in ARR in the next 4 years.

You will join our senior leadership team from day 1 and line managed by our CEO. Our hope, is that this head of finance will scale the company / with the company – and become the CFO.

Who are you?

cord’s ‘value driven, results focussed’ culture is deliberately designed to create trust. You are …

• You are someone who is values driven and results focussed

• You leave your ego at the door

• You identify with our values

• You are deliberate about immersing yourself in the substance of cord and our collective vision of the future

• You have the right balance of pessimism and optimism. You are able to seek out truth in the here and now – and maintain and optimistic long-term view of the future.

• You can fly at multiply altitudes – you embrace both the detail, and the high level communication – with diligence and authenticity

• You are able to paint the financial picture of the company for the company 12-24 months – whilst also being in the here and now

• You seek truth, not approval

• You read between the lines of each team, and are able to notice missed opportunities and areas for improvement – all without blame and with excitement

• You intuitively see failure as an opportunity for growth and learning

What you will be doing

Below are the core areas of oversight/responsibility for cord’s incoming head of finance:

• Finance is an accelerator of growth at cord, not a speed bump. You will be working with all ‘Heads of’ to identify areas of opportunity (eg examples above)

• You’ll work very closely with our Growth Analyst to create financial and commercial insight dash boards and monthly reports that will guide key decision making

• cord has never raised any external funding. You’ll come in to a (real) profitable company – with the unique opportunity of scaling up through the growth phases without venture funding (we utilise new funding options like Pipe as/when needed)

• You’ll lead our Junior Accountant – and work closely with our outsourced accountancy firm to ensure high-quality (and timely) month end reporting, compliance filings, payroll and pension payments

• Managing and consistently iterating our financial processes (bank accounts, payments, treasury and budget approvals)

• Cash planning – managing and maintaining a short and mid-term cash planning tool, working with the leadership team and department heads to create budgets and robust reporting

• Company wide equity management (we use Capdesk) … share options are a cord part of our ownership culture.

• Working with our Head of Sales to build sales comp plans that scale incentives.

• Ensuring accurate revenue recognition / stripe products etc

• Working with our Head of Product on constant pricing iterations to align value with cost.

• Expansion analysis – our New York office (now 7 people) opened at the start of the year and is just getting up and running – more and more companies across the east cost are beginning to use cord.

  • You’ll perform future market analysis and monitor current revenue attribution and cash management between markets.

• Monitoring and communicating our key KPIs/unit economics/SaaS metrics across the company

• Building out a full finance team (currently Junior Accountant/Growth Analyst) to Controller, Accounts payable, Accounts Receivable, Revenue Controller, FP&A etc.

Who we are looking for

We don’t think anyone is the finished article – so, if you don’t tick all of these boxes, don’t let that put you off, we want to know where you may need some support. Here are the core requirements:

Core

• CIMA, ACA or equivalent accounting qualification

• Excellent post-qualification experience in commercial finance or FP&A ideally with a tech scale up business

• Strong analytical skills, inc Google sheets/Excel

• An ability to communicate numbers and insights in an accessible and meaningful way

• A desire and ability to build relationships across all levels of the company

Nice to have

• Experience with stripe products

• Previously line management experience

• Basic hands-on automation skills

What you’ll get at cord (full benefits here read me!)

The tangible

• Salary: £85,000-£100,000 base – We’ll happily pay slightly over or under

• Share options: Every at cord gets share options (Use Index Ventures benchmarks)

• Holiday: Unlimited holiday (28 days minimum)

• Flexible working hours: We trust you to do your job well, at a time that suits you

• Paid sick leave: For both mental & physical health

• Full mental health support: via Spill

• Remote communication | Personal connection: All communication is default remote. We spend 1-2 days per week in London or NY hub

• WFH budget: to make sure you have an amazing set-up, wherever you are

• Pension: Aviva Pension with 5% Employer contribution

• L&D budget: £1,000 per person annually

• Maternity & Paternity Leave: 12 weeks fully paid Maternity & Paternity

• Commuter club: Interest free season ticket loans

• Cycle to work: via Bike2Work

• Income protection: Protection from the unknown moments of life, protection pay for 1 year

• Life Insurance: Employer scheme with Unum, designed with you and your loved ones at heart

The intangible

• Culture: values based culture based on our 4 core principles (we’ve never raised funding from VC’s … it shows!)

• Idea Meritocracy: The idea that fits best with our values, wins.

• Continuous Learning: An environment that supports individual and collective learning.

• Leverage: we are a small team who positively impact 100,000s of people

• Pledge: 1% of our revenue goes to underrepresented groups