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One key takeaway from Gainsight CFO Alka Tandan\u2019s career journey is the importance of being open to new opportunities and pivoting when necessary.

Tandan started in investment banking, transitioned to media, and then vectored again to the SaaS industry.

Looking back on the first move of her career, Tandan says that she \u201ccame to a decision\u201d and quickly became focused on the best way to execute it. \u201cInvestment banking gave me incredible exposure to a range of business models and industries, but after 5 years, I realized that I really wanted to be on a company\u2019s journey, so business school became the tool that I used to transition to industry,\u201d Tandan reports.

To better highlight her industry career-building years, Tandan discusses with us the 4.5 years that she spent with IGN Entertainment, an Internet media company that at the time was operating as a division of News Corp. \u201cI came in as they were separating IGN\u2019s finance organization from News Corp., which required us to build the finance function from the ground up,\u201d recalls Tandan, who adds that in the years that followed, IGN\u2019s finance team became involved in six different M&A transactions.

Other career chapters that Tandan highlights for us include her experience as interim CFO (2021\u20132022) for Gainsight, the SaaS software developer that pioneered the customer experience realm known as \u201ccustomer success.\u201d Tandan tells us that her year as interim CFO allowed her to \u201ctest out the role\u201d before assuming the position.

There\u2019s little doubt that fortunate timing contributed to what became Tandan\u2019s ultimate door-opener for the CFO office. Having first joined Gainsight in May 2019 as vice president of finance, Tandan had already logged 18 months with Gainsight when Vista Equity Partners acquired the firm for $1.5 billion in November 2020. Tandan would assume her interim CFO role only 3 months later.

Overall, CFO Tandan\u2019s story is a reminder that career paths are rarely linear and that being adaptable and open to new experiences can lead to unexpected opportunities.

Asked how Gainsight\u2019s finance team has worked to better educate the organization when it comes to achieving more profitable growth in the current economic environment, Tandan responds: \u201cLuckily, since we were already with Vista, we were on the right path, so I wouldn\u2019t say that there has been any huge shift for us in terms of educating the organization.\u201d \u2013Jack Sweeney