From Uber IPO to $1B AI Fundraise: Josh's Secrets to Success
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Episode Summary
In this episode of Tone from the Top, I sit down with Josh Waldron, the former Controller at Uber who played a pivotal role during their IPO. Now at ScaleAI, Josh shares his expertise on leading major financial transactions, including acquisitions and divestitures, and how he helped scale operations at Uber.
Discover the key lessons Josh learned from implementing Oracle during Uber’s rapid growth, and how automation and cashflow management are driving ScaleAI’s success today. Whether you're navigating an IPO, scaling your business, or looking to optimize back-office operations through automation, this episode is packed with actionable insights for financial leaders and executives.
Tune in to learn from Josh's experience, from Uber’s IPO journey to scaling operations at one of the fastest-growing tech companies in the AI space.
Chapters
00:00:00 Intro to Uber’s Culture and Operating at Your Red Line
00:01:48 IPO at Uber, Thumbtack vs. Twitter
00:11:49 Migrating 54 Entities from Quickbooks to Oracle in 6 Months
00:17:24 Why Josh Always Double Checks His Work
00:19:28 What Go-Live Looked Like vs. Ultimate Future State
00:22:42 Tales of Uber Businesses That Didn’t Work Out
00:26:02 Counting Cars & Rebuilding the Fixed Asset Subledger
00:30:31 Launching in a New Market and Divesting in China
00:39:10 Uber’s Playbook for Acquisitions & Divestitures
00:46:43 Navigating Country-Specific Nuances
00:48:14 Uber's Business Decisions that Cost Millions
00:54:10 How Josh Sets Focus at Scale AI
00:57:27 Inside Look at Scale AI's Plans for $1B Funding Round
01:00:05 How to Get Cashflow Positive as a Pre-IPO Company
01:08:25 Building a Future Ready Finance Function
01:18:35 Considerations for Managing Shared Services Center
01:23:22 Scaling by Leveraging Automation/AI & Protecting Your Data
01:30:48 Three Layers of Data
01:37:35 Wrap Up
About Josh Waldron
Josh Waldron currently serves as the VP, Finance and Accounting at Scale AI. In this role, Josh leads the controllership, tax, treasury, internal control, finance and financial reporting activities for the artificial intelligence start-up. Before Scale, Josh was the Controller at Uber and Thumbtack, where he led global, cross-functional teams spanning 30+ countries through the implementation of ERPs, complex financial systems, and shared service center build-outs. As Controller, Josh elevated processes and controls across accounting operations, managing unprecedented growth as the organizations evolved from small startups to multi-billion dollar corporations.
Notably, Josh led Uber’s financial preparation to become publicly traded, with the initial public offering (IPO) generating $8.1 billion and a $75 billion valuation for the ride-hailing app. Before Uber’s successful IPO, he led the diligence, accounting, and integration of several multi-billion dollar deals. Before joining Uber, Josh was an auditor for 13 years with the accounting firms PricewaterhouseCoopers and Grant Thornton.
