In this episode we sit down with Artti Aurasmaa, CEO of Staria, to discuss how the CFO role is evolving from financial reporting to strategic leadership.

Artti has spent more than 25 years helping companies scale internationally and today leads Staria, a €60M+ business serving growth companies across 50 countries. In this conversation, he shares why the future CFO must become a business partner, data steward, and forecasting expert rather than simply the person closing the books.

We discuss why forecasting accuracy may be the most important KPI for a modern CFO, how AI is changing finance teams, why strong data foundations matter more than the latest AI tools, and what separates companies that scale successfully from those that struggle.

You will also hear Artti's perspective on international expansion, the increasing complexity of global business, and why the best CFOs are moving from the back office to the front row.

Topics covered:

• Why the CFO role is becoming increasingly strategic
• The shift from historical reporting to future forecasting
• Why forecasting accuracy is a critical KPI
• How AI is changing the finance function
• Building the data foundation before deploying AI
• The future structure of finance teams
• International expansion and global compliance
• Why CFOs need stronger technical and data capabilities
• The rise of the "rockstar CFO"
• What growth companies need to scale successfully

Whether you're a CFO, founder, CEO, finance leader, or SaaS operator, this episode offers a practical look at how the finance function is changing and what it takes to stay ahead.

In this episode, we’re joined by George Storm, CRO at N.rich, for a conversation about why traditional B2B SaaS forecasting is no longer good enough in today’s market. George shares how N.rich, the European ABM platform, helps sales-led companies influence complex buying committees, warm up priority accounts, and progress accounts before sales ever reaches out.

We spoke with George about why forecasting can’t be treated as a static quarterly exercise anymore, why revenue leaders need to account for macro signals like layoffs, budget freezes, acquisitions, interest rates, and market turbulence, and how to move from fixed-number forecasting to ranges, probabilities, and continuous forecast loops. He explains why CROs should think in “regimes” like calm, turbulent, and stormy markets, and how that changes the way you model win rates, sales cycles, ACV, and pipeline coverage.

Here are some of the key questions we address:

• Why is traditional SaaS forecasting broken?
• Why should forecasts be modeled as ranges instead of fixed numbers?
• How do macro signals like layoffs, acquisitions, and budget freezes impact pipeline confidence?
• Why can historical win rates be misleading in today’s market?
• What does it mean to forecast in calm, turbulent, or stormy weather?
• How can CROs build a continuous forecasting loop instead of relying on quarterly updates?
• What should revenue leaders monitor weekly to avoid surprise misses?

🎧 Tune in to hear how George thinks CROs can build more realistic, adaptive forecasting models in a market where hope is definitely not a strategy.

In this episode, we’re joined by Massimo Arrigoni, CEO of Beefree, the content creation platform behind thousands of SaaS products and one of the companies with a uniquely broad view of what’s actually happening across the software landscape. With customers embedding Beefree into products across industries, Massimo sees the SaaS market from the inside out.

And his take is clear: SaaS is not dead. But parts of the model are being challenged, valuations are being reset, and AI is forcing every company to rethink where real value lives. This is a conversation about what is actually changing, what is not, and why the future likely belongs to companies that understand the difference.

We spoke with Massimo about why people often mix up SaaS valuations, SaaS delivery, and SaaS business models when they talk about “the death of SaaS.” He explains why software sold to non-technical businesses is far less vulnerable than some people think, why “just build it yourself” is often a misleading argument, and why the real opportunity with AI is not replacing humans, but giving them back a better version of their jobs.

Here are some of the key questions we address:

• Is SaaS actually dying, or are we just seeing a market correction?
• Why are people confusing valuation resets with a broken business model?
• What parts of SaaS are most exposed to change, and which parts remain highly defensible?
• Why is “companies will just build it themselves” often the wrong assumption?
• What do you learn about the future of software when your product is embedded in thousands of SaaS applications?
• How are SaaS companies actually approaching AI right now: innovating, reacting, or just sprinkling it on?
• What kinds of products and use cases are most likely to stay sticky in an AI-first world?
• Why should leaders think of AI as something that may take your job and give you back a better one?
• What happens to entry-level jobs, and what should the next generation prepare for?

🎧 Tune in to hear Massimo’s thoughtful and grounded take on the future of software: SaaS isn’t disappearing, but the rules are changing fast. The winners will be the companies that understand where the real headaches still are, where humans still matter, and where AI can genuinely create leverage instead of just noise.