In this episode of CFO Weekly, Abir Syed, Co-Founder of UpCounting, joins Megan Weis to explore why the best finance leaders stop producing numbers and start driving decisions. A CPA by training, Abir built his career at the intersection of finance and marketing, helping direct-to-consumer brands balance profitable growth with smart investment.

With hands-on experience spanning Big Four auditing, startup finance, hands-on ecommerce operations, and paid media, Abir shares how he learned that handing founders a set of numbers is never enough. He unpacks why founders consistently lack clarity rather than data, why marketing is often the single constraint holding a growing brand back, why unit economics gets overlooked even by sophisticated operators, and why the CFO of the future needs to think and act like a CEO.