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Gagan R.

Finance & Strategy for SaaS & High Growth Tech Startups

I have experience as a FP&A leader at Atlassian, Executive in Residence at Learn Capital (VC fund) and a technology investment banker at Barclays. I use my deep experience across finance and strategy to help SaaS and high-growth tech companies raise capital, set budgets, develop financial models and support efficient growth.

At Atlassian, I was Head of Strategy & Business Operations (reporting to the CFO) and Head of FP&A: R&D, G&A, Corp Ops. During my time at Atlassian, headcount grew ~3x and SaaS revenue grew ~4.5x.

Prior to Atlassian, I was an Executive in Residence at Learn Capital, an early stage venture capital fund, where I evaluated investment opportunities and advised companies on finance / operations.

I started my career as an investment banker at Barclays where I covered SaaS, digital payments and technology services companies. While at Barclays, I executed over $10B in transactions across equity financings, debt financings and M&A.

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Gagan R.

Work

Series A 2024 Budget (SaaS)

Worked with a Series A SaaS company to build their first budget

Partnered with CEO to develop revenue and operating margins goals for the year

Worked with executive team to develop bottom-up budgets, roadmaps and GTM plans

Developed bottom-up revenue and cost financial model for 2024

Presented budget to the Board and received approval

Used annual plan as a basis for a new operating rhythm for the business

Series B Fundraise (SaaS)

Currently working with a SaaS company to raise a Series B

Supported development of investor presentation materials, with a focus on traction metrics, financial forecast, TAM and competitive positioning

Built bottom-up financial model and TAM estimate

Developed data room materials and investor FAQ to support due diligence

Currently driving diligence by 2 strategic investors looking to acquire the company

Seed Fundraise (Fintech)

Worked with CEO to develop data room for Seed stage investors

Supported development of investor presentation, with focus on TAM, positioning, traction and financial forecast

Developed financial projections and bottom-up TAM model

Company successfully raised $500K

Business Cadence @ Atlassian (SaaS)

At Atlassian I developed a consistent approach to developing goals, evaluating performance and updating strategy based on business performance

I rebooted the company's operating system, which included developing OKRs, setting ambitious targets and driving weekly + monthly business reviews

Go Daddy Acquisition

Advised KKR and Silver Lake on their $2.25B acquisition of Go Daddy Group

Developed detailed bottom-up financial and valuation models

Led due diligence efforts

Created rating agency presentation to support financing

CDW IPO

Executed a $395M IPO for CDW, a provider of technology products and services

Developed financial model and crafted investor positioning

Led due diligence efforts

Experience

Jun 2023 — Present
Pari Passu

Pari Passu

Fractional CFO, Strategic Finance Consultant

Pari Passu provides fractional CFO and strategic finance consulting services

  • Partnered with two Series A SaaS startups build their 2024 annual operating plan + budget
  • Helped a Seed stage Fintech startup raise $500K
  • Working with a SaaS startup raise a Series B
May 2019 — May 2023
Atlassian

Atlassian

Finance + Strategy

Atlassian is a high-growth SaaS company that builds collaboration software

  • Led a 30+ person FP&A team, focused on forecasting operating expenses, providing quarterly guidance to investors and strategic finance business partnering
  • Drove the development of three-year company strategy and resulting three-year financial model for the Board; this work drove resourcing for two longer-term investments, informed a company reorg, and company OKRs
  • Drove the development of the company’s business cadence, which included goal-setting, measuring, reporting, understanding and acting upon business performance results
  • Partnered with real estate, workplace experience, accounting and operating team to develop real estate strategy and KPIs to support Atlassian’s shift to a remote company - this led to >$xxM in savings
  • Developed product profitability model that informed board-level decisions on multi-year product investments, including incremental investments in the ITSM market and putting two products in “maintenance mode”
  • Successfully drove quarterly guidance process for operating expenses and improved accuracy of forecasted expenses (within 1.5% of quarterly forecast)
Oct 2018 — May 2019
Learn Capital

Learn Capital

Executive in Residence

Learn Capital is an early-stage venture fund that invests in education technology companies

  • Evaluated early-stage and growth-stage investment opportunities by conducting due diligence, developing financial models and articulating an investment thesis
  • Partnered with portfolio companies to address critical business, operational and business challenges
  • Helped raise a >$250M fund
Jan 2016 — Aug 2018
Chegg

Chegg

General Manager

A Smarter Way to Student!

  • Launched new Test Prep paid business to expand Chegg’s product offering to the high school market - managed $xxM P&L, set KPIs, developed go-to-market strategy and developed partnerships
  • Partnered with finance team to develop long-term financial model, set annual financial targets and manage monthly budgeting cycle
  • Successfully transitioned test prep business model from a high fixed-cost model (investing over $xxM in content and technology) to a variable cost model by developing a long-term partnership with Kaplan
Jun 2009 — Nov 2013
Barclays

Barclays

Technology Investment Banker

Barclays is a British universal bank offering top-tier, full service, global corporate and investment banking services

  • Executed over $10B in transactions in the SaaS, payments and digital services sectors
  • Developed detailed bottom-up operating models incorporating key market drivers, product offerings, sales rep productivity, employee headcount and multiple scenarios
  • Executed a $395M IPO for CDW, a provider of technology products and services
  • Advised Gas Station TV, a digital out-of-home media company, on their sale to Rockbridge Growth Equity
  • Executed a $135M equity offering for Demandware, an eCommerce SaaS company
  • Advised KKR and Silver Lake on their $2.25 billion acquisition of Go Daddy Group