Do the Work First

Some jobs teach you what kind of leader you want to be.
Others? They teach you what you never want to become.

When I started my career, I thought leadership meant having all the answers. Sitting at the head of the table. Delegating from a safe distance.

But in most of the startups I’ve worked for, I was the first accountant.
The first controller.
The one writing the journal entries, running payroll, handling international tax, and yes—sometimes plugging numbers last-minute just to get the statements out the door.

I didn’t start by leading a team.
I started by doing the work.
Because that’s how you learn. That’s how you build.

If I was going to coach someone through a reconciliation, I had to reconcile it myself.
If I was going to fix a broken process, I needed to see where it was leaking.

And that mindset still shapes how I build teams today.

People often ask me: What’s your hiring philosophy?
What kind of people should I look for in an accounting team?

Here’s what I’ve learned:
You want people who take full ownership—not just of their tasks, but of the outcomes.
People who ask why, who seek context, and who don’t just want to finish the work—they want to understand it.
People who challenge you as a leader—not to be difficult, but because they care deeply about getting it right.
People who see a working process and still ask, "Can we make it 1% better?"

Those are the folks who build the kind of finance function that grows with the business—not behind it.

And yes, some days I’m reckless.
But I keep showing up because I want to build a team that eventually doesn’t need me.

That’s what real leadership is.
It’s not being the smartest person in the room.
It’s building a room full of smart, accountable people—and then getting out of their way.

That’s how you scale.
That’s how you grow.
That’s how you build something that lasts.

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