A CFO’s Guide to Raising Take Rates and Increasing Gross Margins, with Kapil Agrawal

In this episode, CJ is joined by Kapil Agrawal, CFO at Outschool, former CFO of Poshmark, and former Global Head of Pricing and Finance Business Partner at Uber. Kapil shares insights on Uber's pricing strategies and the use of promotions to drive customer growth. He discusses the multiple North Star metrics used at Uber before explaining his role in changing the company’s take rate. He also talks about his role at Poshmark and how he raised the company’s gross margin. The conversation explores the advantages and challenges of marketplace models versus subscription models and highlights the potential of combining both. Also covered is the significance of high-quality decision-making as a leader and the role of hard work in achieving this.

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@cjgustafson222 (CJ)

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TIMESTAMPS:

(0:00) Preview and Intro

(02:50) Sponsor – MUFG | Brex | Vanta

(07:15) Discounting and Promotions at Uber

(09:26) Pros and Cons of Acquiring Customers with Promotions

(13:48) How Uber Determined the Promotion Term of Nine Months

(14:33) Promotional Launch Strategies Across Different Uber Platforms

(17:49) Sponsor – Tropic | RightRev | Planful

(21:10) The Multiple North Star Metrics at Uber

(24:31) Retention for Drivers Versus Passengers

(25:25) Tackling the Competition for Drivers

(27:20) Changing Uber’s Take Rate

(31:55) Raising the Gross Margins at Poshmark

(37:53) Moving from Buyer and Seller Cohorts to User Cohorts

(39:20) Poshmark’s Take Rate

(42:46) Intro to Outschool

(43:20) Transaction-Based Models Versus Subscription-Based Models

(45:04) The Role of Capital Allocation

(47:22) Combining Transaction-Based and Subscription-Based Models

(49:45) Being Judged on the Quality of Your Decisions

(54:00) Hiring: Generalists Versus Specialists

(56:06) Long-Ass Lightning Round: A Price Cut Regret

(57:34) Advice to Younger Self

(58:44) Finance Software Stack

(59:28) Craziest Expense Story