The Journey to Drive Progress in Public Accounting
The Upstream Leader Podcast · 2026-04-13 · 43 min
Episode notes
Jody Grunden's path through accounting was anything but orderly: fired from public accounting, bored in industry after automating much of his own work away, then pushed into building something the profession barely had language for. On Episode 116 of The Upstream Leader , he traces how cash pressure, curiosity, and a willingness to keep making mistakes led to subscription billing, weekly client payments, remote teams, and a virtual CFO model long before any of that felt normal. Jeremy moves the discussion from the mechanics of pricing and niche focus to the harder reality of change inside traditional firms, where resistance rarely comes from clients and often comes from the stories leaders tell themselves. What emerges is a grounded look at progress in accounting less about grand vision than about testing ideas, surviving the awkward years, and proving that a different way can work. Get the full show notes and more resources at TheUpstreamLeader.com