Since joining LiveView Technologies in 2019, CFO Andy Gale has tried to bring a level of financial discipline few growth companies pursue. First joining the security systems company as a consultant, Gale drew on his 20 years of experience in the C-Suite to upgrade the organization’s accounting processes and solidify its banking relationships.
Gale’s objective as full-time CFO is managing the resources to fund rapid growth—and aiming to do that as efficiently as possible. The American Fork, Utah-based company has expanded to 600 employees and serves some very large U.S. companies with its SaaS and hardware platforms for video surveillance. It also has a foot in two worlds: software and hardware.
“The biggest hindrance I face is simply the number of hours available in a day,” Gale says.
In the following interview, Gale details some of the finance practices and principles he’s brought to LiveView, including his philosophy on managing the balance sheet.
What has been the most significant part of your role thus far as CFO at LiveView Technologies?
Like most fast-growing companies, securing liquidity to support that growth is one of my primary focus areas. I am in constant contact with our investors, potential investors and banking syndicate members to keep them apprised of current and future cash needs. While all that is ultra important, I am unimpressed with companies that brag about how much capital they have raised as though it is a sign of success in and of itself.
LiveView prioritizes efficiency and financial discipline, which gives us greater flexibility in how and when we fund our growth. By working closely with internal teams, we can ensure reasonable and modest expense management and proactively manage our balance sheet. As a result, we’ve raised far less venture capital than most software companies of our size, minimizing dilution and maximizing shareholder value.
How, as CFO, are you helping to facilitate the company’s growth?
I have worked to find creative and sometimes unorthodox ways to develop tools to assist the sales team in driving growth opportunities. That includes meetings with customers’ finance leadership to educate and discuss the role of accounting rules in financing the purchase of our services, often in ways that most [prospects] have not considered.
What is the biggest hindrance to the company’s growth from your perspective?
Our pace of growth has been so fast, and the complexity of our business, being both a software company and a hardware manufacturing company, creates various issues and challenges to address. At the same time, this variety is also one of the aspects that I love about my role; it is never dull, and I’m constantly learning.
What’s your most important tool for tracking the business’ financial performance?
My most valuable tool is a well-defined, timely, relevant dashboard of the most critical and actionable company metrics. I emphasize “actionable” because too many companies track countless metrics they can’t—or won’t—act on, turning them into trivia. The choice of software is less important than ensuring the metrics are meaningful, timely and genuinely drive decision-making.
What key lesson from your career do you bring to LiveView and any future executive roles?
Having spent over 20 years of my career at various private equity portfolio companies, I’ve come to appreciate the wisdom of being efficient with the use of capital. I have also seen firsthand the negative impact of taking this too far when it stymies growth opportunities. Managing that balance is something that I have learned and tried to bring to LiveView Technologies.
