How to Scale Without Slowing Down: Lessons from Motorway CFO Liz Kistruck

Episode notes

How do you build a finance organization that fuels rapid scale without losing agility and clarity of purpose? In this episode of The CFO Playbook, David McClelland is joined by Liz Kistruck, Chief Financial Officer at Motorway, the UK’s largest consumer to dealer used car marketplace and one of the country’s fastest-growing unicorns. Liz shares how Motorway has transformed a fragmented offline industry into a digital platform that creates value for both sellers and dealers, and how the company is preparing for its next chapter as it approaches profitability. Listeners will hear Liz break down the CFO remit inside a high-growth scale up, from saying yes faster with confidence to knowing when to pump the brakes. She explains the discipline required to avoid the trap of doing too much, why organizations should only pursue slam dunk initiatives and how finance can be a force for clarity, conviction and forward momentum rather than the office of no. We also explore the evolution of hybrid work, scaling communication muscles as companies grow, the realities of navigating regulation as a disruptive business model and the mindset needed to push through uncertainty.