Ep. 67: Scaling for rapid growth & hiring for decision-making vs execution w/ Julian Rowlands, VP Finance at Spruce

The Backbone: a journey inside finance at a startup

Julian Rowlands, VP Finance at Spruce

I chat with Julian about:

1. His career journey from a History major before going to business school at uChicago to becoming the VP Finance at Spruce.
2. Spruce — what the company does and what it’s all about.
3. Structuring and growing the finance function for scale at growth stage company. When Julian joined Spruce, the company was 75 employees. Since then, the company has tripled, growing to 250 folks. As the head of finance, Julian explains how he inherited the finance function and how it has evolved to accommodate this hyper growth.
4. In June of 2021, Spruce raised a $60M Series C round from Bessemer, Scale Venture Partners and Zigg Capital. While Julian was at Xendit, he helped the company raise a $65M Series B round from Accel. Julian shares some of his biggest learnings going through these fundraise processes and imparts advice to folks going through fundraising rounds today.
5. The biggest misconception about the finance function within growth stage tech companies like Spruce.

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