Back in 2021, Lauren StClair helped to bring consumer finance platform NerdWallet public within months of taking the CFO seat. Speaking at a conference last week, the Silicon Valley finance veteran acknowledged she doesn’t recommend that blistering pace.
She’ll now have a chance to apply her experience and skills in a whole new industry: pizza. Earlier this year, StClair left NerdWallet to become CFO of Slice, a New York City-based venture-capital backed firm that gives independent pizzeria owners access to services and tech such as online ordering, websites and point of sale systems, enabling them to compete with bigger chain players.
StClair — who has also held senior roles at e-commerce marketplace eBay and StubHub — said her goal is to create “optionality” for Slice that could lead to a possible IPO in the next few years. During a keynote talk at the CFO Leadership Conference in Boston last week, she asserted a number of ways that finance chiefs must effectively play the long-game and lay the groundwork to ready their organizations for any outcome, whether that be going public or a sale.
“If you’re ready for an IPO I would argue that you're ready for a strategic sale,” she said, adding that the best thing finance leaders can do is give their company alternative exits.
That proactive preparation can take a number of forms. For example, she said it is the CFO’s responsibility to prepare the CEO to answer uncomfortable and even “weird” questions that they may get during the IPO process, so they are ready for tough questions from banks. Additionally, it’s never too early to begin meeting with investors and explain your organization’s story, she said.
“Meet with investors when you don’t need the money,” StClair told Dan Bigman, editor of the Chief Executive Group and former editor at The New York Times, during the keynote. Meeting early with bankers allows you to cultivate relationships that not only could lead to later funding, but could also foster better and more honest communications. “They don’t always tell you the hard truth,” she said.
At Slice, StClair is not raising funds right now, she said. But she told her CEO that it’s still important to be out in the market at least once a quarter proactively talking to people about the company’s story. “You can get real time and immediate feedback building those relationships and staying in touch with investors so when it is time to raise funds people know who you are,” she said.
The company’s last funding round was a Series D in March 2021 when it raised $40 million. The company’s largest investors include Notable Capital (former GGV), KKR, Primary Ventures, Cross Creek and 01 Advisors, she said in an emailed response to questions.
Based on her experience at public companies and in investor relations, she has also learned the importance of communicating early with investors — and of avoiding surprises.
Even if you can’t communicate everything that’s happening at your organization, she said CFOs can provide details that can help prepare investors for bigger news.
“If you start leaving some of those breadcrumbs, people might say, ‘oh you mentioned this a few times before, that makes sense,’” rather than feeling blindsided, she said.
One surprise that was a wake-up call for StClair herself was learning that not everyone wants to work for a company that is public. One day after the NerdWallet IPO, two employees resigned and she realized that employee education about what being public means is important. More broadly, she said it’s important to remember that an IPO is an important milestone, but one that carries ongoing additional responsibilities that are important to understand and prepare for.
“I liken an IPO, to a certain extent, to a wedding,” StClair said. “Everybody’s so excited about the wedding but then you sometimes forget that you have the marriage for the rest of your life that you have to actually deal with.”
