Exclusive: Stash’s new CFO says joining the $1.4 billion fintech firm is about having ‘real impact on folks across the country’

In an exclusive interview with Steven Hodgeman, the new CFO, and Stash CEO Liza Landsman, we discussed his role at the company, what Landsman sought in a finance chief, and how their strategic partnership will work.

So why did Hodgeman join Stash? “You’re helping the average Joe, the average Jane, across the U.S. to build and create wealth,” he explained. “It’s a market that’s oftentimes underserved and overlooked. It just feels good to be joining a company where you’re actually going to have some real impact on folks across the country—and hopefully one day across the globe.”

Stash, which certainly isn’t alone in the world of retail investing apps, focuses on long-term wealth building and allows for micro-investing. It charges users $3 or $9 a month, depending on which services and account types they request, and it has a robo-advisor. Stash has roughly 2 million subscribers.

In a 2021 venture round, Stash had a $125 million raise at a $1.4 billion valuation. Then in October, the company raised $40 million to help scale the business. Stash’s investors include T. Rowe Price and LendingTree.

Hodgeman joins Stash from Getir, the global delivery service that recently acquired FreshDirect and at which he served as CFO of international, overseeing financial responsibilities for the U.S. and all of Europe. Hodgeman also has been the global deputy CFO of Gorillas, a European and U.S. Getir competitor that the company acquired for $1.2 billion. 

Landsman, chief executive of Stash since February 2023, has been building an entirely new C-suite—with Hodgeman joining, and CMO Jackie Stern, formerly of E-Trade and Citibank, CTO Chien-Liang Chou who’s coming from Dave and Flexport, and Shannon Allmon, who’s joining as chief experience officer from Venmo and PayPal. The diversity of backgrounds, experiences, and skills of the leadership team all attracted him to the firm, Hodgeman added.

And the trajectory of the business was very appealing, Hodgeman said. “It’s an asset-light business,” he said. “It has recurring revenue, and it also is a business that has rapidly growing margins, which I think is really putting us on the path to being able to achieve profitability in the near term.”

Strategic partnership

So what made Landsman want to add Hodgeman to her C-suite? “I really wanted someone who brought a keen eye for financial discipline and a really open aperture on growth,” she said. 

It’s parallel to how Stash works with subscribers and customers, she said. “We want them to always be making healthy choices on their road to financial security, and we want the same thing for ourselves.”

Could the next move for Stash be going public? Landsman said it’s “one of several options available to us,” adding: “I think much of the work one would do to get a company ready to go public is also exactly the same thing that builds a sustainable, profitable, generational business.”

I asked Hodgeman and Landsman their perspectives on what a CEO-CFO partnership entails.

“I think the CFO is the copilot who’s sitting there and really making sure that every decision is made and has financial discipline and accountability tied to it,” Hodgeman said. In addition, “CEOs oftentimes need a sparring partner, someone who can really help them think inside and outside the box.

Landsman agreed, saying that as a CEO she needs in a CFO “someone who both challenges and advances my thinking and that of the whole senior leadership team.”

Sheryl Estrada
sheryl.estrada@fortune.com

Leaderboard

Michelle Carvin was named CFO at CarbonBuilt, a developer of concrete manufacturing technology to drive greenhouse gas reductions. Carvin joins the company with more than a decade of experience in corporate financial planning, deal structuring, and risk management. She previously served as CFO at Neely Clay Energy, a solar energy developer. Carvin also spent nearly a decade at Goldman Sachs as a VP in the Global Industrials Investment Banking Group. 

Adam Goldberger was named CFO at QuantHealth, an AI-powered clinical trial design company. Before QuantHealth, Goldberger spent more than two decades in various capacities within the private and public sectors, working for companies across Israel, the U.S., and Australia. Most recently, he acted as chief business officer at RenalSense and CFO/group executive at MedHealth.

Big deal

Gartner Inc. polled 302 CFOs and senior finance leaders to understand how budgets and spending are changing in 2024. Overall, 90% of CFOs are projecting higher AI budgets in 2024, and none are planning a reduction. And 71% of CFOs surveyed plan to boost spending on AI by 10% or more compared to last year. Eighty-one percent of CFOs are projecting to spend more on generative AI, according to Gartner.

“CFOs should complement increased spending on AI with critical C-suite discussions about the organization’s AI ambition," Alexander Bant, chief of research in the Gartner Finance practice, said in a statement.

Going deeper

"Sequoia Capital’s Roelof Botha Shares AI Predictions and Where He’s Investing," is an episode of Fortune's Leadership Next podcast. Sequoia was an early investor in OpenAI, the company that has accelerated the current AI wave with its generative AI technology, which Botha sees as a foundational shake-up for business. He discusses with Fortune CEO Alan Murray and Michal Lev-Ram, editor-at-large, why he doesn’t think this wave of AI is hype. 

Overheard

"The IPO market has been lackluster for the past couple of years due to higher interest rates and a difficult public landscape. However, as sentiment has begun to shift, and more and more companies are either filing or predicted to IPO in 2024."

—Mary Jane McCaghren writes in a Fortune opinion piece. McCaghren is an associate with ESO Fund and assists with target valuation, transaction reporting, investment strategy formulation, and new business initiatives.