CMO–CFO Alignment: How to Think Like a Business Owner

Episode notes

#12 - If your CFO is asking you to justify marketing spend and you don’t know where to start, this episode is for you. The CMO–CFO relationship is one of the most undervalued partnerships in the C-suite — and one of the most powerful when it works. CMOs who understand how their CFO thinks about enterprise value, predictable returns, and bottoms-up planning don’t just get more budget. They lead like business owners. And that changes everything about how marketing is positioned at the executive table. In this episode, Mandy sits down with Darko Socanski, startup CFO, fractional finance leader, and advisor who has helped three companies reach successful exits, raised hundreds of millions in VC capital, and contributed to over $1.5 billion in equity value creation. Darko shares the CFO’s unfiltered perspective on marketing investments, budget conversations, brand vs. demand, and what it actually looks like when the CMO–CFO relationship works.