In this episode of The Forward Thinking CFO, host Stephen Aldridge is joined by Daniya Stewart - a former banker turned startup founder and now fractional CFO and advisor to early-stage businesses.
Daniya shares her fascinating journey from a 17-year career in renewable energy project finance to launching and scaling Phomo - a Vietnamese meal kit startup born in lockdown. She takes us behind the scenes of her founder experience: the initial idea sparked by missing her favourite lunch, raising over £300,000 in funding, securing retail interest from the likes of Selfridges and Whole Foods, and ultimately winding down the business after a tough fundraising environment in 2023.
Now running Valor Advisory, Daniya works with early-stage companies to help them build financially resilient business models - applying hard-earned lessons from her time as a founder and startup operator.
In this episode, Daniya and Stephen explore:
- What project finance taught her about startups
- Why she bootstrapped Phomo before seeking investment
- How she navigated capital raises through angel investors and crowdfunding
- The hard truths about D2C economics and retail pivots
- Her reflections on failure, survivorship bias and the power of sharing the full founder story
- The value she brings now as a fractional CFO to other founders on a mission
Daniya’s honesty, humour and insight make this a must-listen for anyone navigating the realities of growing an early-stage business.
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In this episode of The Forward Thinking CFO, host Stephen Aldridge is joined by Daniya Stewart - a former banker turned startup founder and now fractional CFO and advisor to early-stage businesses.
Daniya shares her fascinating journey from a 17-year career in renewable energy project finance to launching and scaling Phomo - a Vietnamese meal kit startup born in lockdown. She takes us behind the scenes of her founder experience: the initial idea sparked by missing her favourite lunch, raising over £300,000 in funding, securing retail interest from the likes of Selfridges and Whole Foods, and ultimately winding down the business after a tough fundraising environment in 2023.
Now running Valor Advisory, Daniya works with early-stage companies to help them build financially resilient business models - applying hard-earned lessons from her time as a founder and startup operator.
In this episode, Daniya and Stephen explore:
- What project finance taught her about startups
- Why she bootstrapped Phomo before seeking investment
- How she navigated capital raises through angel investors and crowdfunding
- The hard truths about D2C economics and retail pivots
- Her reflections on failure, survivorship bias and the power of sharing the full founder story
- The value she brings now as a fractional CFO to other founders on a mission
Daniya’s honesty, humour and insight make this a must-listen for anyone navigating the realities of growing an early-stage business.
Numeritas - Episode 18 - Janene Liston - The Pricing Lady
The Forward Thinking CFO
27 minutes 15 seconds
2 years ago
Numeritas - Episode 18 - Janene Liston - The Pricing Lady
In the latest episode of The Forward Thinking CFO, we catch up with Janene Liston, a highly trusted Pricing Consultant & Business Coach.
Janene’s company The Pricing Lady specialises in supporting businesses with their pricing, and offers workshops, mentoring and strategies to help SMEs and large-scale businesses improve their relationship with profits.
This is something Janene has been doing since her early days in corporate management. After starting out her career as an engineer, she worked her way through various marketing jobs to become a Pricing Manager at Siemens and Syngenta AG.
In 2016, Janene decided to take the plunge and co-found her own business, Gouta. This eventually evolved into The Pricing Lady – an all-encompassing service that teaches leaders to manage their pricing with confidence.
With a huge breadth of knowledge and experience in pricing models, Janene is well-placed to give some valuable insights and advice that can help your company thrive.
In this compelling episode, you’ll learn:
- The key components of a pricing strategy, and why these should align with your brand, communications, values and overarching business goals
- How to make the most out of a value-based pricing model
- Implementing strategically different approaches for B2B and B2C organisations
- The three key things you should be considering when re-evaluating your pricing model
Whether you’re a CFO or entrepreneur wanting to refresh your pricing and offerings, this is the episode for you.
As always, we’d love to hear your thoughts on this episode. Please get in touch with any feedback you have.
If you want to find out more about Janene, you can view her LinkedIn profile – https://www.linkedin.com/in/thepricinglady/
And if you’re eager to learn more about Janene’s business, you can take a look at The Pricing Lady website – https://thepricinglady.com/
The Forward Thinking CFO
In this episode of The Forward Thinking CFO, host Stephen Aldridge is joined by Daniya Stewart - a former banker turned startup founder and now fractional CFO and advisor to early-stage businesses.
Daniya shares her fascinating journey from a 17-year career in renewable energy project finance to launching and scaling Phomo - a Vietnamese meal kit startup born in lockdown. She takes us behind the scenes of her founder experience: the initial idea sparked by missing her favourite lunch, raising over £300,000 in funding, securing retail interest from the likes of Selfridges and Whole Foods, and ultimately winding down the business after a tough fundraising environment in 2023.
Now running Valor Advisory, Daniya works with early-stage companies to help them build financially resilient business models - applying hard-earned lessons from her time as a founder and startup operator.
In this episode, Daniya and Stephen explore:
- What project finance taught her about startups
- Why she bootstrapped Phomo before seeking investment
- How she navigated capital raises through angel investors and crowdfunding
- The hard truths about D2C economics and retail pivots
- Her reflections on failure, survivorship bias and the power of sharing the full founder story
- The value she brings now as a fractional CFO to other founders on a mission
Daniya’s honesty, humour and insight make this a must-listen for anyone navigating the realities of growing an early-stage business.
