Taco Bell and 39-Cent Margins

In this episode of Run the Numbers, CJ Gustafson sits down with Angela Chen, former CFO of The North Face and Mars Veterinary Health, to unpack how finance leaders build and scale iconic consumer brands. Angela shares how to measure brand equity, why the CFO should act as an architect of growth, and how capital, talent, and strategy connect inside a scaling business. They also get into humanistic leadership, consumer-margin tradeoffs, and what a 39-cent Taco Bell taco can teach finance teams about growth.

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SPONSORS:

Aleph is a modern FP&A platform built for teams that want more than another planning tool. By connecting your ERP, CRM, and other systems into one trusted data layer with AI workflows, Aleph helps you move faster with real-time insights. Get a personalized demo at https://www.getaleph.com/run

RightRev is an automated revenue recognition platform built for teams that have outgrown spreadsheets and billing tool workarounds. It handles high-volume subscriptions, usage-based contracts, and mid-cycle upgrades, so you can scale without scrambling at month-end. For RevRec that keeps your books clean, visit https://www.rightrev.com/CJ

Rillet is an AI-native ERP built for modern finance teams that want to close faster without fighting legacy systems. Designed to support complex revenue recognition, multi-entity operations, and real-time reporting, Rillet helps teams achieve a true zero-day close—with some customers closing in hours, not days. If you’re scaling on an ERP that wasn’t built in the 90s, book a demo at https://www.rillet.com/cj

EY works with high-growth tech companies to navigate the messy realities of scaling—from regulatory requirements to IPO readiness. By helping teams get it right early and often, EY lets founders stay focused on building while reducing risk as they grow. Learn more at https://www.ey.com/techstartups

SpendHound is a SaaS spend management platform built for finance and procurement teams that want visibility and leverage in every deal. By tracking all your software, benchmarking pricing across thousands of vendors, and surfacing contracts and renewals, SpendHound helps you stop overpaying and negotiate with confidence. Trusted by teams at ZoomInfo and Hootsuite. Get started at https://www.spendhound.com/cj

Brex is an intelligent finance platform that combines corporate cards, built-in expense management, and AI agents to eliminate manual finance work. By automating expense reviews and reconciliations, Brex gives CFOs more time for the high-impact work that drives growth. Join 35,000+ companies like Anthropic, Coinbase, and DoorDash at https://www.brex.com/metrics

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LINKS: 

Mostly Talent: https://mostlymetrics.typeform.com/to/cLTxtAsN

Guest: https://www.linkedin.com/in/angelachensf/

Company: https://sku.is/

CJ: https://www.linkedin.com/in/cj-gustafson-13140948/

Mostly metrics: https://www.mostlymetrics.com

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RELATED EPISODES:

Minted’s CFO: Half the Year Happens in One Month

https://youtu.be/hD4-exunKMo

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TIMESTAMPS:

0:00 Preview and intro

2:45 Measuring brand equity

5:09 CFO as architect of growth

7:11 Connecting money, ideas, and talent

7:52 North Face vs. Mars: where to invest

10:52 Sponsors — Aleph | RightRev | Rillet

14:14 Scaling North Face 5x without diluting the brand

16:31 From technical brand to lifestyle brand

19:30 Quality of revenue

21:49 Seasonality and Q4 concentration

24:01 Sponsors — EY | SpendHound | Brex

27:14 Retailers shouldn't own factories

31:30 Supply chain and 18-month product cycles

33:23 Humanistic leadership in finance

34:32 Purpose and profit are mutually reinforcing

36:15 Purpose vs. profit in public companies

38:05 Playing to Win framework

39:47 Operational cadence and the gas gauge

43:02 Killing bad projects: the battery jacket story

44:16 Taco Bell and 39-cent margins

47:10 Lightning round

47:36 Screwed up: hiring on credentials

48:27 Advice to younger self: network is the work

50:07 Craziest expense story: snowcat ski trip

50:50 Credits