Are you a finance, accounting or consulting professional looking to break into the tech industry? If so, Strategic Finance could be the perfect career path for you. So, what is Strategic Finance and how can current professionals or students leverage what they have to break in? In this blog post, we'll explore strategies for how professionals and students can make the jump into Strategic Finance and unleash the endless tech career opportunities.
What is Strategic Finance?
Strategic Finance is an emerging, high-impact function within growing tech companies that acts like the nucleus of the business; it connects all parts of the business and ensures all key business decisions are optimized and accretive to generating long-term value. A typical Strat Fin team will help drive decisions from customer acquisition strategy and pricing, to product rollout and fundraising, all by providing financial viewpoints to decisions being discussed. It is, by definition, the core of a business and therefore one of the most rewarding careers in today's world. As one can imagine, Strat Fin professionals not only have a solid financial background but a well-rounded understanding of key business concepts.
Strategic Finance connects all parts of the business and ensures all key business decisions are optimized and accretive to generating long-term value
We will have a full deep dive into what Strategic Finance is in a few weeks, so stay tuned for a deep dive; however, we will discuss its importance at a company, what skills are required, and finally, what you can do to break in!
The Importance of Strategic Finance in the Tech Industry
The tech industry is entering a challenging period where capital is scarce and data-driven decision-making will be essential for survival. For tech companies to navigate this period successfully they need a deep understanding of how their business makes money both now and in the future, and more importantly, how their costs will scale as they grow. The truth is, a lot of companies have many different ways to make money, and a lot of ways to burn cash; picking the wrong strategy or the wrong direction in today's environment could be fatal.
The tech industry is entering a challenging period where capital is scarce and data-driven decision-making will be essential for survival
That's where a high-performing Strategic Finance team comes in. With its ability to model and analyze complex financial scenarios, a Strategic Finance team is more important than ever. In fact, the companies that will succeed in our current economic environment will be those with well-developed Strategic Finance muscle. Strategic Finance teams allow business decision-makers to avoid dilutive long-term decisions and make data-driven choices that will increase profitability and create sustainable growth.
If you're wondering how finance professionals break into tech, getting a career in Strategic Finance is the best way to do it. With the increasing importance of this function, tech companies are actively seeking professionals with the skills and knowledge needed to excel in this field. So, if you're looking to break into tech, now is the perfect time to pursue a career in Strategic Finance.
The Skills and Knowledge Needed for a Career in Strategic Finance:
A Strategic Finance professional is a whiz at developing Excel or Google Sheet models that help rationalize and quantify decisions the business is trying to make. This could be as simple as a 3 statement financial model, or (and the more likely case) complex spreadsheets that use data pulls to help break down all the key drivers on how value is created through the specific project and/or business.
We will have a deeper dive into the skills required to be a successful Strat Fin professional in a later blog post.
Steps to Land a Job in the Tech Industry as a Strategic Finance Professional:
If you're a finance professional looking to break into the tech industry, a career in Strategic Finance might be your best bet. Here are some steps you can take to land that job:
1. Make sure you have a clear understanding of what Strat Fin is
2. Build the right skills
3. Networking; attend events and meet Strat Fin Professionals
4. Develop your inner entrepreneur
5. Lastly, and no bias of course - consider joining a program like Strategic Finance Careers
- SFC can help you build the skills, network, and engrain an entrepreneurial mindset needed to succeed in tech.
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