Paul Barnhurst had never run a podcast before FP&A software firm Datarails tapped him to host a show back in May of 2022. Sure, he’d hosted webinars before, but never a pod.
But he jumped in with vigor. Since he hosted his first show on Datarails‘ “FP&A Today” podcast, he’s gone on to launch three others: “FP&A Unlocked”, “Financial Modeler’s Corner” and “Future Finance.” Known as the FP&A Guy, Barnhurst estimates he’s created over 300 episodes and been a guest on dozens more. He says he doesn’t sweat the minute details of finance and instead aims to tell compelling stories to get his points across. “I really try to make my shows entertaining and educational,” Barnhurst says. “Never have I broken down WACC or discounted cash flow in detail.”
Barnhurst is among a wave of finance chiefs and other business leaders who have taken to the airwaves. No longer confined to a back office, some CFOs are jumping into podcasting as a means to educate others, network and even make a little extra cash.
A networking engine
Take Wassia Kamon, CFO of small business lender Access to Capital for Entrepreneurs. She launched her show, “Diary of a CFO”, a year ago. Kamon says the show has served as a content creation engine for LinkedIn, where she has over 28,000 followers, and a way to check in with fellow finance chiefs.
“I have people I’ve always wanted to meet,” she says. “Now, with the podcast, I can say, ‘Hey, I have a podcast,’ to people who have been on my hit list forever.”
Kamon says podcasting has been a natural fit for her: “I’m an extrovert who loves to talk.”
Barnhurst was instrumental in getting her pod off the ground, she says, jokingly describing him as the “Oprah of getting a podcast going.”
“He has been supporting me in so many ways, connecting with an agency to help with the podcast, for one,” Kamon says.
The pod, so far, has been more than a passion project. It’s attracted sponsors Bill, Insightsoftware and more, according to the show’s website. But Kamon says that to break through a world awash in podcasts, hosts must have genuine passion for their content and curiosity about their guests.
“Podcasting feels saturated,” Kamon says. “You have to do it for more than the numbers.”
Fellow CFO-podcaster Albert Ramos Jr., host of the newly launched “ValiSights” podcast, says he created his show to boost both his personal and company brand. The show bears the name of the financial services software company he works for. “This may convert to something monetarily, but it’s not at a point of landing sponsorships,” he said. Like Kamon, Ramos says the pod has helped grow his network since it premiered in March.
Passion project to career pivot
CJ Gustafson is an exception among CFO podcasters: He left his gig as finance chief of startup PartsTech in March to become a full-time podcaster and newsletter writer. His pod, “Run the Numbers,” is an outgrowth of a newsletter he launched back in December 2020. The show, which premiered about two years ago, now attracts about 50,000 listens a month. “It’s slowly become the largest CFO podcast out there,” Gustafson says.
Like other hosts, Gustafson says his show has helped him speak with guests he’d long wanted to get in touch with. “I have these people who wouldn’t pick up my call otherwise, but because I have a platform now, I can nerd out on business models and how they make money with them,” he says.
And, where some CFOs run pods as a side hustle, others do it as part of their day job. Lauren Pearl, a fractional CFO with multiple clients, is part of the latter group. She’d been a guest on several podcasts before but had never hosted one of her own until accounts receivable software firm Upflow approached her. “They had been looking for a cohost here in New York,” she says. “They reached out and interviewed me just like a normal client job.”
The show, titled “The Growth-Minded CFO,” premiered in September 2024, with Pearl cohosting alongside Upflow CEO Alex Louisy. At its core, the pod is, of course, a brand exposure play for Upflow. But Pearl says it has a broader aim of opening finance chiefs’ minds to “innovation.” It’s done that, she says, by bringing peers on to share their leadership approaches and anecdotes. The show’s guest list has included some familiar figures in the CFO world, such as Wayfair CFO Katie Gulliver, Planned Parenthood CFO Ilana Esterrich and fellow fractional CFO Chris Ortega.
“CFOs are just super risk-averse,” Pearl says. “The podcast is about interviewing CFOs who we knew to be more innovative. They’re at bigger companies and have to make bigger decisions. … We wanted a podcast that revealed how they think about taking risk and innovating because we suspected that message would bump up against the way that a lot of mid-market or less experienced CFOs think about the role.”
Finding guests for the show hasn’t been hard. “We have more folks who are asking to be on the show than we have episodes that we’re planning to record,” Pearl notes. “That said, we want to be very thoughtful in curating who we’re featuring.”
Upflow’s show has just wrapped up its second season and is in the midst of recording a third, Pearl says.
Mike Huffaker, chief revenue officer of dental services software provider Planet DDS, is another executive who was tapped to host a pod at the behest of an employer. His program, “The Dental Economist Show,” premiered in January 2024. He’d long been a fan of podcasts, though he also had never hosted his own show when Planet DDS VP of marketing approached him with the idea.
“I’m a longtime listener, first-time caller, if you will, as it relates to podcasting,” Huffaker jokes. “I appreciate the medium. It’s interesting to have the opportunity to hear from leaders in a relatively unfiltered way. And I personally enjoy long-form content.”
The aim, Huffaker says, is to build relationships and “add value to the industry we’re in.” The show has featured both current and potential clients as guests, and its niche subject matter has drawn a dedicated audience, according to Huffaker.
The company’s show has seen well over 150,000 downloads as of October, he notes. He’s also had listeners reach out to him via LinkedIn with positive feedback, and, in at least one case, in person. Huffaker recalls when a doctor he knew spotted him on the patio at a recent conference. “He took his AirPods out and said, ‘Hey, I’m listening to you right now!’” Huffaker says. “It’s nice when you start to get comments.”
