CFO Leadership: Asking Better Questions Instead of Saying No with John Glasgow
Thu Jan 29 2026
How do you raise $100m fast and still keep finance discipline as you scale?
In this episode of The CFO Playbook, David McClelland is joined by John Glasgow, CFO and CEO at Campfire (a Silicon Valley scale-up building a modern ERP for growing companies). John shares what it really looks like to run both the vision and the purse strings, including how Campfire raised $100m across Series A and B in rapid succession, why investors sometimes want you to spend more, and how finance leaders can enable speed without becoming the “office of no.”
Listeners will hear John unpack how fundraising becomes easy when the business is genuinely great, what investors looked for at an inflection point, and how a steepening growth curve changes the CFO mindset from protecting cash to deploying it with disciplined intent. He also explains Campfire’s bet on AI for accounting, including building a specialised “large accounting model,” and why many companies cannot unlock AI value without rebuilding their core data foundation.
We also explore the realities of migrating off legacy ERP systems, how implementation can be redesigned to move faster, and what changes when a founder hires themselves out of role after role. John closes with a practical CFO playbook principle: start every tough finance conversation by aligning on the same goal, because you are on the same side of the table.
John’s CFO Playbook principle: “We want the same thing. If you hit your plan, I hit mine. Let’s solve this together.”
Useful Links 🔗
Guest website: https://www.linkedin.com/in/johnglasgow/Company (Campfire): https://campfire.ai/About The CFO Playbook
The CFO Playbook is hosted by David McClelland, exploring how world-class finance leaders use technology, set goals, plan, lead teams, and drive growth.
Brought to you by www.soldo.com
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How do you raise $100m fast and still keep finance discipline as you scale? In this episode of The CFO Playbook, David McClelland is joined by John Glasgow, CFO and CEO at Campfire (a Silicon Valley scale-up building a modern ERP for growing companies). John shares what it really looks like to run both the vision and the purse strings, including how Campfire raised $100m across Series A and B in rapid succession, why investors sometimes want you to spend more, and how finance leaders can enable speed without becoming the “office of no.” Listeners will hear John unpack how fundraising becomes easy when the business is genuinely great, what investors looked for at an inflection point, and how a steepening growth curve changes the CFO mindset from protecting cash to deploying it with disciplined intent. He also explains Campfire’s bet on AI for accounting, including building a specialised “large accounting model,” and why many companies cannot unlock AI value without rebuilding their core data foundation. We also explore the realities of migrating off legacy ERP systems, how implementation can be redesigned to move faster, and what changes when a founder hires themselves out of role after role. John closes with a practical CFO playbook principle: start every tough finance conversation by aligning on the same goal, because you are on the same side of the table. John’s CFO Playbook principle: “We want the same thing. If you hit your plan, I hit mine. Let’s solve this together.” Useful Links 🔗 Guest website: https://www.linkedin.com/in/johnglasgow/Company (Campfire): https://campfire.ai/About The CFO Playbook The CFO Playbook is hosted by David McClelland, exploring how world-class finance leaders use technology, set goals, plan, lead teams, and drive growth. Brought to you by www.soldo.com