Ep42 Chris Thomajan: Bet on the Jockey, Not the Horse: A 35-Year CFO's Guide to Backing Winners
Episode Summary
Chris Thomajan, a CFO with 35 years of startup experience, discusses his career path from English major to finance leader across 100+ companies, primarily in Boston's biotech ecosystem. He shares frameworks for evaluating CEOs, navigating venture capital cycles, and managing founder transitions, emphasizing that betting on the right team matters more than the product itself.
Key Quotes
"Nine out of ten boards need to be managed away. They don't add value, they just cause disruption. The key is making sure they do no harm."
"You can get a pretty good product to market with a great jockey, but there's no way you'll be able to do anything with a pretty good jockey unless you're super lucky."
"The best CEOs are quiet in a pitch meeting. They say 'That's a question for the CFO' or 'That's a question for the chief scientific officer.' They're a quarterback delivering the ball to different people."
Transcript
Hi, welcome to Tales from the Sky Lounge. It's a podcast about business, consulting, and venture investing. We get out there in the world, we talk to people who are making it happen, and we get their stories. If you can like and subscribe, it makes producer James very happy. So today's guest in the Sky Lounge is Chris Tomagan. Hi, Chris.
Hey Todd, thanks for having me.
Yeah, it's good to see you. So Chris, who are you and what are you working on?
So I've been a finance guy for most of my career, but before that I went through the well-trodden path of getting an English major and then converting into a CFO. So there was some twists and turns along the way. I got out of college with the English major, wondered what the heck I was going to do. So I traveled for about a year or two. I worked in a disco in London for a year, which was a blast. And then I came back and I had to find a professional route. So I threw on a suit and I worked in a law firm which I hated every single second of, and that actually kind of steered me to business school. I ended up going to Columbia Business School and getting a business degree, great two years of my life, and then for about the last 35 years I've been a CFO mostly with small startups.
So English, hospitality, lawyer, MBA, finance, now you're home. Clear as mud. So it's fun how the universe kind of puts you on the path you're supposed to be on. You know, it just takes you a minute, right?
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