Julio Martinez - Beyond the Books: Unlocking Operational Intelligence for Strategic Finance | Ep. 031

The Adam Shilton Podcast

Join us as we sit down with Julio Martinez, co-founder and CEO of Abacum, to discuss his journey from banking to tech entrepreneurship, and how he built strategic finance teams in tech. Julio offers fascinating insights into his move to the US with his family to co-found Abacum, a company providing FD&A tools for better revenue forecasting and cost control. His inspiring story serves as a great example of making big moves and understanding local markets while attracting talent.

Listen in as we continue the discussion with Julio on the role of group dynamics in business tech stack understanding and accountability. He stresses the importance of verbally committing to tasks and the pivotal role this plays in ensuring follow-through. The conversation also takes us through the role of finance teams in organizations, the limitations of spreadsheets, and how the FT&A category can help mid-market organizations transition from spreadsheets without lengthy implementation periods.

Finally, we explore the significant role of automation and AI in finance. Julio emphasizes the need to understand the tech maturity of a business before making major changes and paints a vision of future finance teams that can access and analyze data at the click of a button. He also shares his insights into the security aspects when working with sensitive data, the advantages of Abacum's multi-dimensional modelling engine, and even his personal experiences with sleep improvement. Don't miss this enlightening episode!

--------- SHOW NOTES ---------

*Where to find Julio*

- LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/in/thejuliomartinez/

*Tools Mentioned*

- Abacum (https://www.abacum.io/)

- NetSuite (https://www.netsuite.com/)

- QuickBooks (https://quickbooks.intuit.com/)

- Xero (https://www.xero.com/)

- Salesforce (https://www.salesforce.com/)

- Looker (https://www.google.com/analytics/data-studio/)

- Tableau (https://www.tableau.com/)

- Redshift (https://aws.amazon.com/redshift/)

- Snowflake (https://www.snowflake.com/)

- Slack (https://slack.com/)

- Notion (https://www.notion.so/)

- Spotify (https://www.spotify.com/)

- Upwork (https://www.upwork.com/)

- Power BI (https://powerbi.microsoft.com/)

- Riverside (https://riverside.fm/)

- Podium (https://www.podium.page/)

- Perplexity (https://www.perplexity.ai/)

- OpenAI (https://openai.com/)

- Anthropic (https://www.anthropic.com/)

- Notion AI (https://www.notion.ai/)

--------- EPISODE CHAPTERS ---------

(0:00:00) - Build Strategic Finance Teams in Tech

(0:16:02) - Group Dynamics

(0:21:12) - Finance Teams' Expanded Role in Organization

(0:34:45) - The Importance of Automation in Finance

(0:47:25) - AI in Financial Analysis and Data

(0:55:53) - Multi-Dimensional Modelling Engine and Sleep Improvement

📧: Sign up for The Tech for Finance Newsletter + More Goodies @ https://linktr.ee/adamshiltontech