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Culture and Innovation Trailblazers—How 5 Companies Are Defining a New Path

There’s nothing quite like working in the San Francisco Bay Area. Innovation is happening all around us—and as consultants, we get to see it in person every day working with our clients. Tomorrow’s must-have apps are on the drawing board, some awe-inspiring ecommerce service is about to go live, and life-saving devices are going through their approval paces all the time.

Dig deeper and you’ll see innovation on many fronts beyond the products. These businesses are also disrupting the norms of the traditional workplace, adopting different definitions of what “work” looks like and creating notable cultures.

We saw it play out during the recent NewCo Bay Area festival, a multi-day distributed conference where we got to visit some of the most innovative and meaningful businesses in the Bay Area to see and hear what makes them tick. The five companies below have created engaged workforces and cohesive cultures.

Adobe

Adobe’s marketing and document solutions have enabled creativity for countless companies.

During a panel discussion at Adobe’s San Jose HQ, we heard a range of viewpoints on “the future of work,” with speakers from several organizations, including Adobe, General Motors Advanced Technology and even the mayor of San Jose.

The talk brought up a newer challenge for any team tasked with attracting and retaining in-demand talent. Today’s job candidates are not prioritizing money or profitable businesses—they are seeking meaning in their work (a common theme of NewCo companies). Passion vs. paycheck is a constant query for those on the job hunt.

Plum Organics

Acquired by Campbell Soup Co. in 2013, this 10-year-old company makes nutritious organic snacks and meals for babies and toddlers.

We got a private tour of Plum Organics’ newly remodeled Emeryville office space. It aims to be a healthy, happy workplace that entices employees to want to spend their time there—not just because they’re expected to show up every day.

While some companies tiptoe around the concept of a distinct culture, in reality they are focused on actually having one (sounds familiar to us!). Plum has a collective vision of who they want to be and how they want working there to feel. To pull it off, they encourage “shout-outs” of praise across the company that can be made by anyone (not just management) and an empowered workforce that manages their own time. They also follow four core value: BYOS (bring your own self); lead with heart; fight the good fight; and use business as a force for good

As longtime followers of RoseRyan’s core values, we admire Plum Organics’ dedication to nurturing and developing their culture.

Foundation Capital

This venture capital firm has supported the fast growth of companies like Netflix, MobileIron, ShorTel and others in the fintech, marketing technology and enterprise tech spaces.

In the firm’s San Francisco office, general partner Steve Vassalo told us why he was specifically hired for his design background. We think this is an interesting development in the tech industry. Their firm foresees an uptick in the number of designer-founded startups, and predicts their unique experience will lead to better user experiences all around. Consumers will see the effects of this trend as the Internet of Things continues to take off in the many appliances we use.

Like other firms that are transforming the concept of culture, this VC firm believes a focus on love and trust in the organization enables growth—rather than solely focusing on growth itself.

Stimulant

A creative interactive design agency turns static physical spaces into dynamic interactive environments.

As Darren David, CEO of this San Francisco firm told us, people are seeking experiences more than attaining things. That’s why there’s a heightened interest in virtual reality. However, the VR industry has mostly focused on creating a silo experience that shuts out users from reality and anyone in real life while they wear those nifty headsets.

Stimulant wants to create alternate realities that can be experienced together, therefore bringing people together. How do environments encourage collaboration? Stimulant is asking this question as companies benefit from figuring out how to drive more face-to-face interactions between their workers.

WeWork

Providing work environments where remote workforces can go for a change of pace, meetups and a collaborative atmosphere.

We checked out WeWork Transbay, seven floors of coworking space and amazing views of downtown, the Bay and lots and lots of sunlight. The open floor plans, glass office, community area and weekly social events foster collaboration among coworkers and people working from entirely different companies. Imagine the chance meetings and creativity that naturally bubbles up around today’s version of the water cooler—the entrance to a meditation room.

At RoseRyan, our consultants get to work alongside some of the most innovative tech and life sciences companies in the Bay Area, becoming an essential part of their finance teams, such as when we’re controllers for emerging growth companies or helping with a liquidity event. No matter what we’re doing, we are guided by our firm’s distinctive culture and fascinated by the shifts in work trends we see evolving.

Tracey Hashiguchi heads up RoseRyan’s emerging growth and small business team, a dedicated group of consultants helping companies launch and grow. She develops RoseRyan’s strategy, programs and consulting team for helping startups get to the next level. Before joining RoseRyan, Tracey worked at Deloitte.

Our marketing coordinator Lauren Kershner keeps the marketing engine humming at RoseRyan. She joined the team in 2016 and runs our campaigns and programs, digital marketing and more, and she brings lots of positive energy to the office.

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Tales from the front lines in CFO and controller recruiting—what’s expected these days

A CFO who is good at financial integrity management but struggles with assessing situations and being visionary won’t be a CFO for very long. I see CFOs facing this challenge in companies of all sizes, from Fortune 500 companies to startups.

In my role on the RoseRyan management team, which includes interviewing candidates, and as a CFO consultant at various companies, I get the chance to interface frequently with other CFOs and recruiters. It’s a great way to stay on top of trends in senior finance roles. CFOs who take a strategic approach to the position have been in demand for awhile now at the largest of companies, and now smaller and medium companies are following suit. And controllers, another key role in finance organizations, are expanding the skills they need as well.

Starting at the top

During a recent FEI event in San Francisco that focused on the state of the market for Fortune 500 CFOs, executive search recruiters revealed that, not surprisingly, these companies take a different approach to recruiting CFOs than smaller companies. Many of them, in fact, recruit from within. Today’s recruiters spend more of their time assessing talent than finding it. This makes sense, because today more than ever, CFOs need to be strategic and analytical.

And CFOs aren’t the only ones getting held to a new standard. Controllers need to acquire these skills, too. Basic accounting has become so automated that the art of being a good controller has changed from just closing the books to understanding and interpreting the information at hand and navigating through lots of different situations.

In many cases, controllers and CFOs need to gather new information to help with their decision making. Technical skills are in great demand—but “technical” in this instance means the ability to gather and interpret new data from various databases and other sources. Needless to say, great communication skills are essential for anyone wanting to secure a senior finance role. To build a well-rounded and influential finance team in any organization, such capabilities are a necessity.

The takeaway for smaller companies

Fortune 500 companies that recruit from within focus on placing CFOs who have a proven ability to build relationships. This isn’t usually an inherent skill—it can take a number of years to achieve. They also look for a CFO’s understanding of the internal machinations of the organization, and they want a good cultural fit. These are all areas that smaller companies should consider, too. I find that a lack of cultural and emotional alignment is the biggest reason CFOs fail in companies, which is why recruiters take those elements into account up front.

The trend of CFOs becoming more strategic and analytical is well cemented in recruiters’ handbooks. The need for controllers to be strategic and analytical may not be as widely known, but it’s also becoming a trend. In my view, this trend will accelerate over the next few years. RoseRyan is already taking into account these skills and how the market has moved in our recruiting activities. Candidates need to have technical, strategic, analytical and soft skills to get hired, as our clients smartly demand these in today’s market. This demand is only going to increase.

Looking for a change? Do you have the mix of skills to fit in with the RoseRyan dream team and the fast-growing finance teams around the San Francisco Bay Area? If so, we’d love to hear from you. We’re always on the lookout for top talent—full-time and part-time. Contact Michelle Hickam at [email protected].

Stephen Ambler is a director at RoseRyan, where he oversees the CFO practice area and handles client CFO requests. He has over 30 years of experience helping a wide range of companies with their financing needs. His interim CFO stints at RoseRyan have included a social media company and the management of the financial integration process at a company acquired by Oracle. He previously held the CFO position for 13 years at NASDAQ-listed companies.

 

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