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Hey everyone.

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Thank you for coming back to listen
to another episode of Count Me In,

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I am your host Adam Larson, and
this is episode 176 of our series.

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As we hold conversations about various
topics impacting the accounting and

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finance world, one of the underlying
themes across most is strategy.

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In this episode, you'll
hear from Paul Ruppert,

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an ambidextrous executive with
deep experience in startups,

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as well as global fortune 100 enterprises
who shares as knowledge and expertise

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on strategic partnerships.

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Keep listening to hear more about how
the finance team can best support large

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strategic initiatives
for the organization.

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So as we get through today's conversation,

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we're gonna look at some concepts
around strategy, strategic partnerships,

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but I think it's first important to
kick off what are some of the biggest

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considerations or are challenges that
many are facing in today's business

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landscape?

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I think, you know,

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many people get into business thinking
that there's some linearity from

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a plus B plus C equals D equation,

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but in reality, it's all
about adaptability and change.

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And change is not only the
change that you experience when

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you start facing various types of problems
and challenges and friction points,

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but also your ability to manifest change,

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create that change and
live through that change.

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I've been involved in businesses on
a global basis and how I approach

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the business in the US was very
different than I was approaching the

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business when I was in
Hong Kong or in Europe.

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And that adaptability, that agility
as it's often described, you know,

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in technology is really the the
watch word more than anything

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else, in my view. You know,
there's, as I mentioned earlier,

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earlier before our call, I don't
believe in a silver bullet solution.

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And as we talk about
adaptability, agility, you know,

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the bottom line is we are looking
to advance the business, right,

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advance the function and
adapt to modern advancements.

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And I think you just kind of
mentioned briefly technology here,

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but without having a crystal ball
and being able to see into the future

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perfectly, what does the future of
business really look like? And, you know,

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as we continue to adapt and be agile,
what are we really preparing for?

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What is the future of the
business landscape look like?

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Well, you know, that's a big, big question

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in the context of where
is everything going.

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If you just look at our immediate
past in past history, you know,

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three years ago,

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I'm involved in the text messaging
business and it's been around,

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it's how, you know,
enterprises communicate and
connect with end consumers.

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And we live through it
on a day to day basis.

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When you get tested for what's
called a one time password, you know,

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you just proving that you are who you are.

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And the business let's say
three plus years ago was moving

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steadily along. And let's say
let's call grocery store rates,

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meaning about three to 5% growth rate.

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This is a fairly established
industry. You know,

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it's roughly about $200 billion of
business globally. It's quite large,

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but people don't really experience on
a day to day basis relative to cost and

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effect if you will, but
they still utilize it.

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And since the pandemic,

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because of the dynamics of how we
behave as human beings and being

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working from home environments and the
fact that we are now utilizing zoom

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and video, et cetera,

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the reality is that the messaging
business has grown to about 30% CAGR for

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the next three years is
what the expectation is.

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And I am of the belief that once
human beings experience something much

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more convenient for them,

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they usually don't turn backwards and
want to do something less convenient.

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Okay. So in all of that context,

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that's kind of the dynamics
of where we are going,

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what it looks like and the over the
horizon perspective, the crystal ball,

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as you characterized it
is that your expectations

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often may be unexpected.

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Things may not go as you
think they are going.

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And there's lots of converging factors,
you know, digitalization prior to COVID,

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the growth of it, the speed of it,

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the means in which many business were
able to quickly and with great agility

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pivot to new types of
initiatives, you know,

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I can talk about call centers that
were stripped down from being on

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premise in the course of four to
five days and redistributed to the

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the call center rep's homes,
because everybody shifted, you know,

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we couldn't be in large groups any
longer, it was just too unsafe.

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Now a lot of our listeners
are in, you know,

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the business of opportunity recognition.

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And I know it's very difficult and
maybe unexpected as some of these

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you know, evolutions arise.
You know, we first spoke,

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I know you mentioned something
along the lines of you know,

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the business landscape reaching 6G.

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So with some of this uncertainty
but so much opportunity,

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what can our listeners
really take away you know,

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from the idea or what should
they be doing really to

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maybe open their eyes a little bit and
see what this opportunity means for their

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individual businesses.

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Right. Yeah. You know, we all watch well,

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many of us watch professional football,
the NFL on weekends, and, you know,

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the number of mobile phone companies
like principally T-Mobile, AT&T,

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and Verizon all talking about 5G.

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And then if you were to turn to your
spouse or friend that you're watching the

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game with and ask the question,
so why is 5G better than 4G

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outside of the reach?

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You know the reality there is that what
we're doing right now is probably gonna

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be the, one of the big
manifestations of 5G value,

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which is video and speed and processing.

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And so as we then move to 6G,

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then it becomes much more engaged
on such things as what's called

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sentiment and intent. So you
might be reaching out to,

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you know, let's say your
mobile phone provider,

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because you've got an issue with your
iPhone or something along those lines and

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that inbound call or inbound
message or whatever it might be

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that platform that you're utilizing
to connect with your provider,

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they already have a sense of what your
intent is. Why are you calling, you know,

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and that's, you know,

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consumer data products and
platforms that are looking at

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combining your personal behavior,

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as well as the fact that you might
have an iPhone eight. And, you know,

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the lifespan of that iPhone eight is
probably five years past it's optimal

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performance. And so soon as
they start talking to you,

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whether or human being, or
not, whether it's a chatbot

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that may come into the dialogue as to,
would you like to upgrade your phone?

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We see that it's six, seven years
old, something along those lines,

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that's the kind of stuff that'll be
playing out, which is a little spooky.

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It is, it definitely is,

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but everybody's looking for the
answers as fast as possible. Right.

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So if that means getting
them to the solution sooner,

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I think we're just going to
adapt and take that luxury

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eventually. So with that in mind,
you know, I think, like I said,

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going back to opportunity recognition,

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this is an opportunity for individuals
to really expand their horizon, right.

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And it's an opportunity
to possibly, you know,

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take their business or their function
and look to build some strategic

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partnerships with others who are able
to bring those opportunities to us.

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So when it comes to
strategic partnerships,

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what are some of the things
that individuals should
really pursue or make sure

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that they have you know, for both sides,

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I suppose to make sure that this
endeavor is worthwhile, you know,

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with technology,

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there is so much risk and uncertainty
but developing strategic partnerships,

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what are some of the
keys to consider there?

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Yeah. First and foremost
is to be open-minded,

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don't be close-minded relative
to what you're looking at because

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even potentially partnering with your

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competitor may have value
I'm in a business that is
cooperative and competitive

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at the same time.

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And you can't do the business without
having that type of relationship

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that you may be competitive hammer
and tongs in the marketplace,

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but technologically,

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both of you need each other to be able
to provide the solution to the broad

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marketplace. So open mind open-mindedness
flexibility. I used to, well,

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I still use the term agility and humility
in the context of you're not walking

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in saying, this is what I
think I want. And instead,

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you're thinking about where are the
opportunities, as you mentioned,

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the opportunity recognition,
the opportunity subsets,

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and then it's as much about
what's your strategy in terms of

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partnerships,

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are you looking to influence influencers
that are gonna be making buying

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decisions?

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That's a different initiative than trying
to figure out I was once in a project

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where myself and my
technical lead in a company,

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we were in a hotel bar in Tokyo,

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and this was in 2012.
And I said, you know,

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this whole thing about cybersecurity,

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we gotta figure out how to be able
to provide a solution to identify

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potential infringements on mobile
networks and text messaging.

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Could we do that? He was like, well,
yeah, you know, and he brought,

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broke it down relative to
the analytical functionality,

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but we didn't know in the platforms.

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So we then went hunting for who
could provide that type of platform,

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that functionality, and we found them.

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And so then we reached out to 'em and
said, this is what we do, you know,

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and this is what you guys do.

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We want to be able to figure out how
we might be able to work together.

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And within nine months,

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that was a live trial with, at and T.

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And within two years, we were generating
about $16 million in revenues,

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which was roughly about 8% of the
total revenues of the business

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unit at that stage.

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And, you know, strategic partnerships,
something for many of our listeners,

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accounting and finance
particularly internally

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we address this as
business partnering, right?

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Being able to raise awareness
you know, identify some risks,

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not necessarily give all the answers
that everybody wants to hear,

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but look at it strategically. so before
we get to the accounting side of things,

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just from this risk and strategy,
you know, concept and, you know,

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talking about foresight, looking to
see that we need to do something,

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maybe it is working with a competitor or
somebody that you've never worked with

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before an industry you've
never dealt with before,

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with all this technology evolving now,

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how do you ensure that whatever
partnership you're proposing,

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you know,

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when you bring it to the table and
you have these internal discussions,

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how do you ensure that, you know,
you get that buy-in and you,

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you talked about influencing,

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but how do you take it to the next step
where you can actually see the results

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that you ended up seeing?

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Well there's no guarantee
to any of this, you know,

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you may be starting off on your
journey with the objective of, yeah.

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We found this company and
they do this type of process,

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and let's go talk to 'em and you may
find that they're not very likable

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or they're not very cooperative,

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or they're not interested in having
that kind of dialogue because they think

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that you might be stealing
their IP or whatever it is.

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So it's as much about, oh, you know,

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coming with an open hand in an open
mind and kind of laying out here's

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the opportunity.

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I was once in an acquisition in a
company that we got approached by a

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visionary, and he said you
know, this text messaging stuff,

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this was in 2006, mind you
almost 15, 16 years ago,

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this text messaging stuff would be great
in a customer relationship management

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software capability, which
is what we do, you know,

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and those of us who were in the
transport side messaging side,

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we looked at each other and thought,
who would've ever thought, you know,

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we should have thought that. So, you know,

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here's somebody who's coming forward
with a potential partnership while the

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partnership was in acquisition is how
it all played out in the end, favorably,

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mind you. But, you know,

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if we had put up our guards and weren't
really interested in having that

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conversation that wasn't our attitude.

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We were open to any conversation because
we had already been looked at before,

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you know, but we also recognized
that wasn't a good play.

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We walked away from it. No
harm, no foul type engagement.

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And then something else came up. We
were like yeah, this might be viable.

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And our investors, like,
this is what we should do.

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And then, you know, as far as
investors, you know, M&A, a lot of that,

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our listeners are a part of, and I do
want to bring this to our, you know,

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the accounting and finance side of things.

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We talk about a lot of the strategic
partnerships, opportunity recognition,

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and many of us are, you know,

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involved in these, but you know,

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it's cross-functional and
somebody like yourself, you said,

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you're not in accounting
or finance. You know,

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it's important to have relationships
with those who do understand that. So,

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you know,

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from somebody who is experienced and
successful with a lot of these strategic

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partnerships, from your perspective,

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what is the value of having somebody
with that accounting background.

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It's critical.

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and I think I mentioned in our pre-call
in the context of how I've approached

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this being a commercial
guy, you know, the moniker,

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just a sales guy, I'm not just a sales
guy. You don't go from sales to M&A,

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unless you've, you know,

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laddered up and have a fair amount of
skill sets to be able to support that.

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But in every case where I've run either
a product group or even a sales group

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I had somebody that I designated
as the financial expert,

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meaning somebody who I could turn
to and say, I wanna model here.

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And here's how I want to model this
type of pricing exercise or what

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the valuation might be
relative to, you know,

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let's look at the business case and
create that and create that quickly.

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You know, I can do that,
but it takes too long.

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And so I'd rather go off and get
some, you know, younger, you know,

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person who literally I've walked in to
an office where we thought we were gonna

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be firing somebody you know,

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and about five minutes after meeting
with the guy re recognized that he was

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gonna be more valuable if we kept him.

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And I put him on my team
and essentially said,

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would you be interested in
joining the product team,

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even though you are in finance? And
he was like, well, yeah. I mean,

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that seems a lot more interesting
that what I do in finance,

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it was like, okay, you know,

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targeting people who would have the right
affinity and the right perspective and

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the flexibility to be patient with those
of us who are not spreadsheet monkeys,

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I should say, spreadsheet,
masters. and you get the idea,

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it's it's as much an attitude
in terms of being able

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to communicate what the objective
is, you know, I used to say,

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I write the manifesto, you write the code

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and be able to put that forward so that
the bridges are made and the bridges are

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made early on. And that partnership
is established early on,

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as opposed to, you know, okay,
what do you want us to look at now?

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And even in the context of how to
approach the problem, you know,

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recently I was in a conversation with
a client where they were talking about

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potential acquisition. The company
had no corporate development team.

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This was a substantial company, not
publicly traded, but still nonetheless,

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a very substantial company, almost
a billion dollars in revenues.

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And most of the stuff that they
had done in M&A was on the fly,

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what I would call fire,
ready, aim analysis.

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And you know, I looked around and
I asked the question, okay, well,

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you guys have done a few,
but they're really small.

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And this is a lot larger that
you're thinking of, bigger scale.

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You're gonna have to do it
swiftly. And by the way,

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there's a digestion
period off after the fact.

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So the numbers may look seemingly
at first pass a good thing,

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but there are a lot of soft
analysis and factors that need to be

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reflected.

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So we need to ensure that those are
reflected in the well that, you know,

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was a combination of my perspective
and on the operational side,

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as well as the financial
perspective of how do we measure and

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reflect the impact of
those as costs, you know,

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and put a dollar figure behind that.
And that that's a collaborative effort.

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And, you know,

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you mentioned being able to
do some of these models or

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analyses and doing them quickly.

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And I think a lot of what our accounting
finance listeners are looking to do is,

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you know,

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upscale with these technologies in
order to do their jobs more efficiently.

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But what you're kind of talking
about here is really the re-skilling.

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Being able to take that skillset and
apply it to a different function of the

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business. And I think a lot of
what we're looking to do right,

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is kind of get that seat at the table.

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I think that's what a lot of our members
and listeners want. So just, you know,

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you mentioned junior individuals and
other finance you know, professionals,

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but as far as, you know, maybe the
technical skills, but also some of those,

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the softer skills and just personality,

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how do you identify somebody from the
finance team that you want on your team to

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help your strategic partnerships?

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Wow. You know, I wish I could say, well,

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this was my plan, in
each of the scenarios,

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and here's the plan that I'll
use in the next scenario,

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but that's just not the case. You know,

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it's as much instinct,

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instinct is essentially inferred
experience and experience is

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gained. I should say an inferred
expertise and expertise is driven by

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experience.

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So there's a gut factor in the
context of knowing what I'm looking

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for and, you know, it helps when you're
the leader of an organization and,

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you know, you know, what you want
based on your past experiences.

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I guess generally I would
say back to keep an open mind

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and look to,

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as you put it re-skill and
apply your capabilities

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in other venues,

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because those skills may seem routine

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or even mundane in what you're doing. I
mean, that's why one guy was like, yeah,

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you know, this is gonna be a lot
more exciting than, you know,

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what I'm doing in the accounting group.
Good. That's the whole idea, you know,

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that may seem mundane and
routine in one environment,

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but then could be an extremely
valuable asset in another environment.

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And that's how you end up by
showing your judgment and skillset,

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et cetera. That's how you end up
earning the seat at the table.

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As you mentioned, you know,
we, there's a great book.

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I'm forgetting the author's
name, but it's called range.

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And the premise of range is essentially
that we have gone to the point where

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there's too much niche expertiers.
One person does one thing really,

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really well,

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and they are viewed as the grand
and therefore should be the unified

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leader. However you want to
characterize it. But in reality,

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the complexities of the
problems that we face, you know,

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there's a great example,
like climate change,

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you just can't have one perspective.

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You've gotta have a lot of
different experience to be
able to come to the table.

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And I think that's as much what
I've tried to do in my career.

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I mean, I've kind of ambidextrous in
the sense that I have a pretty solid

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public slash political career
when I was in my twenties and then

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exited into the private sector
when I was in my thirties,

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but still utilized a lot of the
skills and expertise that I developed,

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you know,

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as a young person in the political
world and applied in the private sector.

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And even in the context,

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I then took that and pivoted
into from going from large

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enterprises, you know,
fortune 100 companies, AT&T,

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into startups and leverage
that polish and process,

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but then also having the
creativity and the agility,

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and even the attitude of being
in a buccaneer inside a startup

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environment.

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00:21:44,510 --> 00:21:48,740
And so I do wanna wrap up
this conversation. It's
been extremely insightful.

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So thank you for sharing your experiences,

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some of the examples along the way you
know, just as a last question for you,

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any last thing that you
would like to add, you know,

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any advice or key takeaways from
this conversation in terms of

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strategy, strategic partnerships, you
know, earning that seat at the table,

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00:22:08,730 --> 00:22:09,291
you know, what,

355
00:22:09,291 --> 00:22:11,930
what is a piece of advice that somebody
in your position would like to share

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with our listeners.

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So often I'm not going to
label accountants as being

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the center of this, but so
often people like, you know,

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the minimal viable product perspective
of identifying your market and

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identifying your functionality
and moving from zero to one,

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and then going from zero to one
and realizing that, you know,

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that was a great success,

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which is essentially approaching a startup
and getting a startup up and running.

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00:22:41,000 --> 00:22:44,740
But I'm of the school that,
you know, Reed Hoffman,

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who's the founder of LinkedIn, I believe,
and wrote a book called Blitzscaling.

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And ironically, I kind of did blitzscaling
before he wrote the book, but,

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you know,

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00:22:55,410 --> 00:22:59,970
and as he puts it think going
from zero to a billion and

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think in that context of, you know,

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I characterize it as going global from
the start because global markets are

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gonna be bigger. They
may be more difficult,

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but if you've got network effects
that you can play out, you get faster,

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you get bigger and you end up defining
the terrain that you're operating in

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relative to your competitors
and even your customers.

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00:23:23,980 --> 00:23:26,200
And if you're in that space, you know,

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then you're really the
lead dog in all of this.

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So if there's one thing that I've
would suggest, you know, I would,

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I'll put it in the context of
special air squadron motto,

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which is the British SAS, who dares wins.

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This has been Count Me In,

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00:23:46,990 --> 00:23:51,000
IMA's podcast providing you
with the latest perspectives
of thought leaders from

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00:23:51,001 --> 00:23:53,480
the accounting and finance profession.
If you like what you heard,

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00:23:53,481 --> 00:23:56,800
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00:23:56,910 --> 00:24:00,480
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