Episode 105:
The IPO Playbook, with Steve Cakebread
The IPO Playbook, with Steve Cakebread
Steve Cakebread
A recognized expert in preparing for IPOs, Steve Cakebread led the financial teams that took Yext, Pandora, and Salesforce to successful initial public offerings (IPOs). He serves on the board of Bill.com, which went public in December 2019, and sat on the boards of SolarWinds, and Ehealth, as they made their initial public offerings. Earlier in his career, Steve served as CFO for Autodesk, vice president of finance for Silicon Graphic (now SGI), an director of finance for Hewlett-Packard. Steve earned his bachelor’s degree in business from the University of California, Berkeley, and his MBA with a focus on international finance from Indiana University Kelley School of Business.
What you’ll learn about in this episode:
- What Steve learned from working in his parents’ auto garage and then later in college in their winery
- What similarities Steve sees in the highly regarded Cakebread Cellars and IPO’s
- What made Steve walk away from his career in established companies to join a startup
- What gave Steve the confidence that Salesforce, Pandora, and Yext could go the distance when he joined them in their early days
- Why Steve believes it is so critical to hire generalists in the early stage of a startup
- Why it is so important to talk to your people about where they see themselves in three to five years and how often you should have that conversation
- Why it is so critical for a startup to have a founder team that is really committed to a vision that is changing something
- How Steve has stayed so ‘even’ mentally, physically, and emotionally over the years in the stress packed startup world
- Why Steve believes it is so valuable to invest in your community and how that fits into The IPO Playbook
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