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When Nitesh Sharan exited Hewlett-Packard after 15 years of diligent career-building, he assumed\u2014like many seasoned finance executives have done\u2014that his finance skill set would be applicable to just about any industry or company.

However, Sharan recalls that when he stepped into a senior IR and treasury role at athletic footwear titan Nike, Inc., this assumption was sorely tested.

\u201cI had to relearn finance in a way because it was not just about the science or about your gross margins, profits, and cash\u2014it was about the art and the science together,\u201d observes Sharan.

\u201cAt Nike, the IR function was a very strong partner with communications and the brand, which was a wholly different element of IR that I came to appreciate,\u201d comments Sharan, who back in 2016 executed the intrepid career segue from HP, a company known for its engineering and maniacal focus on product, to Nike, a company known for its marketing and maniacal focus on brand.

Still, Sharan says, the two companies shared something very much in common: iconic founders and the cultures that they had built.

\u201cAt HP, we had a founder\u2019s culture in which Bill Hewlett and Dave Packard were embedded in everything. Even with the mergers and divestitures that the company has seen, HP is still the iconic founders' company of the Valley,\u201d remarks Sharan, who adds that Nike founder Phil Knight's imprint is similarly part of the company\u2019s culture today.

\u201cWhen I went to Nike, I felt one step closer because Phil Knight's footprint is still so deep there\u2014so much of the founder's culture has been embedded,\u201d notes Sharon, who reports that his experience in working at the two founder-led companies has influenced his thinking when it comes to businesses at large.

\u201cI really believe that the most dominant companies are founder-led\u2014you can see it in the markets,\u201d explains Sharan, who last year opened his latest career chapter by stepping into the CFO role at founder-led SoundHound, Inc.

Concludes Sharan: \u201cI just became attracted to the founder's culture, and, in a way, this is what catalyzed my transition to SoundHound.\u201d \u2013Jack Sweeney