$100M Raised: CFO Reveals Brutal Truths About Venture Capital

This is the first episode of my new podcast! I am very excited to introduce Pav Manchanda, CPA, who has raised $100M for startups, talk about the life and career reflections he's had over his 15 year professional career. Pav is the owner and founder of Clearbooks Technology, an accounting firm that specializes in helping SMB's scale their finance functions from $1m to $10mm. He started his career at Deloite (Big 4) and brings lots of insight to help founders make the right strategic decisions (hiring, scaling, operations) with accurate financial insights. Where to find Pav Manchanda, CPA 🔵 https://www.linkedin.com/in/pavmanchandacfo/ 🔵 https://calendly.com/pav-clearbooks/20min?month=2025-02&date=2025-02-21 🔵 https://clearbookstech.com/ ⚡️Start designing today with Gamma for free ➡️ https://gamma.app TIMESTAMPS 00:00:00 Introduction 00:03:07 What makes a good podcast? 00:04:13 Pav’s Story & Background 00:08:40 How Alice Wanted To Go To Law School 00:10:51 Working For Ubisoft (Radical Entertainment) 00:11:28 How Video Games Are Made 00:15:16 How Pav Got Into Deloitte / Big 4 00:19:40 Pav Didn’t Rub Shoulders With Kevin! 00:20:37 Alice’s Experience Of Going Through Recruit 00:22:00 The Dream of Being An Audit Partner 00:23:24 Being A Teacher And Working In Academia 00:24:15 Alice’s Experience in Public Practice 00:26:10 Professional Service Firms Are An Extension of School 00:28:11 Pav’s First Role After Big 4 00:33:34 Being A Tech Savvy Accountant 00:36:55 After Leaving Public Practice 00:40:10 How Long It Takes To Make a Career Change 00:41:46 Working In SaaS + State of Tech 00:43:38 What We Don’t Learn About Running Companies 00:47:24 Working With Non Accountants 00:51:56 How the US CPA or MBA differs from Canada CPA & MBA 00:54:43 Opportunities in Vancouver 00:55:39 Kevin's Career Path After Big 4 00:57:05 How Pav Started His Accounting Firm 01:02:00 What Do Most Startups Struggle With? 01:02:25 What Questions Should Founders Ask When Looking For A Fractional CFO? 01:04:00 Difference Between Controller vs Fractional CFO vs CFO 01:05:45 When Does Company Need a Real CFO? 01:06:56 The 3 Types of CFOs 01:09:37 Dabbling in Amazon FBA 01:11:11 How Alice Started Youtube 01:24:45 Raising Money with VC - Pros and Cons 01:32:29 How AI Impact Jobs OTHER FREEBIES & SPREADSHEETS 🟢 Ultimate Personal Finance Tracker - https://www.alicecee.com/personalfinancetracker 🟢 Why Net Worth Skyrockets At 100k - https://www.alicecee.com/networth100k