In this episode, Charlie Talbot shares how two decades in brand leadership and operations paved the way for his success as a multi-time CFO and now Executive Partner at Shore Capital. He reflects on scaling companies like Potbelly, Athletico, and Tend, building strong CEO partnerships, and learning to lead with both numbers and empathy. Charlie discusses the value of culture, the mindset shift from reporting to forecasting, and why joining Shore was a natural next step to give back, share hard-earned lessons, and help leaders navigate their journeys.

Key Takeaways:

• CFOs who understand how a business truly operates are better prepared to lead with impact across the organization
• Sustainable growth is built on a foundation of strong culture and authentic, relationship-driven leadership
• New CFOs earn trust by developing curiosity, building relationships, and learning every function of the business
• The strongest CFOs become strategic partners to their CEOs by fostering trust, clarifying roles, and aligning on execution

Chapters:

• 00:00 Introduction
• 03:46 A Surprising Start
• 06:39 Becoming a CFO
• 12:15 Advice from a CFO
• 20:54 Why Shore?

Listen to our podcasts at:

https://www.shorecp.university/podcasts

You'll also find other Microcap Moments episodes, alongside our series Everyday Heroes and Bigger. Stronger. Faster., highlighting the people and stories that make the microcap space unique.

Other ways to connect:

Blog: https://www.shorecp.university/blog

Shore Capital University: https://www.shorecp.university/

Shore Capital Partners: https://www.shorecp.com/

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/shore-university

This podcast is the property of Shore Capital Partners LLC. None of the content herein is investment advice, an offer of investment advisory services, or a recommendation or offer relating to any security. See the “Terms of Use” page on the Shore Capital website for other important information.

Michael Burcham: 00:00:18

Welcome to Microcap Moments, a podcast from Shore Capital Partners that highlights the stories of founders, investors, and leaders who have taken on the challenge of transforming ideas and small companies into high growth organizations.

Michael Burcham: 00:00:32

The journey of building and scaling a business takes one down many unexpected paths.

Michael Burcham: 00:00:37

It's a journey where we learn from our mistakes fall down often, but have the entrepreneurial grit to pick ourselves up and persevere.

Michael Burcham: 00:00:45

Within this series, we will share these stories of success and failure of the challenges and the rewards faced by those who dare to dream big.

Michael Burcham: 00:00:54

And through their lessons learned, we hope to inspire others who are on a similar journey of becoming growing and leading.

Anderson Williams: 00:01:02

In this episode, I talk with Charlie Talbot, Executive Partner at Shore Capital.

Anderson Williams: 00:01:06

Charlie has been a highly successful Chief Financial Officer and worked with several brands many of us are familiar with, including Yum Brands and Potbelly Sandwiches.

Anderson Williams: 00:01:14

But Charlie didn't start his career as a finance guy.

Anderson Williams: 00:01:17

He spent almost two decades in brand operations and corporate development roles, really learning what it takes to grow and scale a business before he ever even stepped into the CFO role.

Anderson Williams: 00:01:27

He describes this experience developing a deep understanding of business and what growth and scale mean for various functional areas as key to his eventual success as A CFO.

Anderson Williams: 00:01:38

Charlie talks about the importance of the CFO enabling other functional areas, almost as a facilitator of the business, and discusses what makes a successful partnership between A CFO and A CEO.

Anderson Williams: 00:01:49

He shares advice, particularly for young CFOs or those aspiring to become one about the importance of building relationships and knowing all aspects of the business as the way to build your early credibility.

Anderson Williams: 00:02:00

Finally, Charlie offers some of the best advice he ever got as a CFO.

Anderson Williams: 00:02:04

Always aspire to never be surprised.

Anderson Williams: 00:02:08

Well, welcome Charlie.

Anderson Williams: 00:02:09

Thanks for joining me today.

Anderson Williams: 00:02:10

Will you just introduce yourself and give us your name and what you do at Shore Capital?

Charlie Talbot: 00:02:14

Sure.

Charlie Talbot: 00:02:15

Thanks for having me.

Charlie Talbot: 00:02:16

It's an honor to be here.

Charlie Talbot: 00:02:17

You guys do a great job with these, so appreciate the opportunity.

Charlie Talbot: 00:02:19

I'm an Executive Partner at Shore Capital.

Charlie Talbot: 00:02:22

I sit on a few boards across the firm and I do a bunch of formal and informal advisory work as well.

Anderson Williams: 00:02:27

So you had an incredible career as a multi-time CFO and senior level finance leader with brands most of us have heard of like Northern Trust, Yum Brands, Potbelly Sandwiches, Athletico, and most recently Tend.

Anderson Williams: 00:02:40

Will you just start by walking us through your evolution as an executive through that career?

Charlie Talbot: 00:02:45

Sure.

Charlie Talbot: 00:02:45

You know, first I'd say I've had the pleasure and opportunity to work with some great businesses and great people.

Charlie Talbot: 00:02:51

More importantly, I've always enjoyed taking companies through growth cycles, and I've had the opportunity to do that.

Charlie Talbot: 00:02:56

So, you know, and the last thing I'd say is I enjoy working with consumer facing brands.

Charlie Talbot: 00:03:01

They're exciting.

Charlie Talbot: 00:03:02

You always get feedback on how you're doing it as a leadership team from your consumer base, and so that's always been exciting for me.

Charlie Talbot: 00:03:09

Starting at Northern Trust, you know, your typical first job outta college.

Charlie Talbot: 00:03:12

I learned a lot of things at Northern.

Charlie Talbot: 00:03:14

I learned how to work in a professional environment.

Charlie Talbot: 00:03:16

I learned how to build relationships and then, you know, just, I learned how to manage people at a very early age, which was really terrific.

Charlie Talbot: 00:03:23

The other thing that happened when I was at Northern is that I pursued my MBA at night, which was a lot of work, but it was a really kind of a career changer for me.

Charlie Talbot: 00:03:33

It set me up to be more on the finance track relative to where I started.

Charlie Talbot: 00:03:36

So I also started a family around the same time.

Charlie Talbot: 00:03:39

So while I was at Northern, a lot was going on, very busy.

Charlie Talbot: 00:03:42

But you know, I got a great foundation from the 10 years that I was at Northern.

Anderson Williams: 00:03:46

And when you were there and started your career, did you know you wanted to be in finance?

Anderson Williams: 00:03:50

Was that a path that was clear to you?

Charlie Talbot: 00:03:52

No, I really not.

Charlie Talbot: 00:03:54

I mean, I was, you know, my parents were both teachers, so you know, there wasn't an obvious path there in terms of a role model.

Charlie Talbot: 00:04:01

But I did have a role model in terms of people development and building character around younger people.

Charlie Talbot: 00:04:05

So that was always in my genetic DNA.

Charlie Talbot: 00:04:07

I was a chemistry major going to college.

Charlie Talbot: 00:04:09

So we had a pivot from that.

Charlie Talbot: 00:04:11

But you know, I got into banking and started to learn to love it in terms of working with numbers and working with people, and working with businesses in general.

Charlie Talbot: 00:04:19

So that's kind of how I got down that path.

Charlie Talbot: 00:04:21

After I finished my MBA, I really wanted to get into an operating company, and so I took the opportunity to go down to Louisville, Kentucky and work with Yum Brands, which was at the time spinning off from PepsiCo.

Charlie Talbot: 00:04:31

So, great DNA, a big business, but acting much like a startup, given that they were starting their journey as an independent company.

Charlie Talbot: 00:04:38

At Yum, I spent a number of years working in brand leadership roles, worked my way into overall corporate business planning, which gave me a lot of exposure outside of the US where they had a big business.

Charlie Talbot: 00:04:50

And then worked as the head of strategy for the company.

Charlie Talbot: 00:04:52

And you know, the great thing about Yum looking back was they had an incredible group of leaders at that company that I learned a ton from.

Charlie Talbot: 00:05:00

And you know, it's a group of people that I really watched how they worked, you know, how they made decisions, how they handled adversity, and how they celebrated success.

Charlie Talbot: 00:05:09

And having that kind of exposure at that age point in my career was tremendous.

Anderson Williams: 00:05:14

Did you know at the time when you were there that you were experiencing something special in terms of leadership?

Charlie Talbot: 00:05:19

I did, and that's why I stayed there 10 years.

Charlie Talbot: 00:05:22

You know, it was something that I grew to really appreciate, you know, being part of that culture and part of that organization.

Charlie Talbot: 00:05:28

And so I knew that I was getting a lot of tools in my toolkit by being around those folks.

Charlie Talbot: 00:05:33

So that was a really important time in my career.

Anderson Williams: 00:05:35

What was it about that?

Anderson Williams: 00:05:37

If you had to capture a couple of the kind of leadership lessons from that experience, what are a couple of things that stood out to you that made that unique?

Charlie Talbot: 00:05:44

Yeah.

Charlie Talbot: 00:05:45

I think the power of culture and the power of putting people first as a mindset in how you run your business.

Charlie Talbot: 00:05:51

You know, that was a giant business, $9B of revenue and businesses in a hundred countries.

Charlie Talbot: 00:05:55

And so, you know, they built that culture post spinoff and it was really powerful and you could see it how that impacted the business.

Charlie Talbot: 00:06:02

I really learned how to operate a business at scale.

Charlie Talbot: 00:06:04

So the important thing there is that I learned what good looks like.

Charlie Talbot: 00:06:08

You know, as I think about my future, the experiences, you know, I look back at that and say I learned a lot during that time about where I needed to go with a business.

Charlie Talbot: 00:06:15

And then it all goes back to the unit economic model.

Charlie Talbot: 00:06:18

So, that was a real focus of the organization, how to run great operations, how to not compromise on your operational excellence and leadership.

Charlie Talbot: 00:06:26

And those are things that carried with me throughout my career.

Anderson Williams: 00:06:29

And how about, what was the transition there from Yum Brands to Potbelly and then Athletico?

Charlie Talbot: 00:06:34

Yeah.

Anderson Williams: 00:06:34

I mean, you sort of continue to find new and compelling companies as or so it seems on paper.

Charlie Talbot: 00:06:39

Yeah.

Charlie Talbot: 00:06:39

You know, I think I had a toolkit, right?

Charlie Talbot: 00:06:42

And you know, at the time I moved back to Chicago for both personal and professional reasons.

Charlie Talbot: 00:06:46

Landed at Potbelly.

Charlie Talbot: 00:06:47

I came in as a CFO.

Charlie Talbot: 00:06:49

Potbelly is a great story.

Charlie Talbot: 00:06:50

You know, rewind the tapes 15 years.

Charlie Talbot: 00:06:52

I lived around the corner from the original Potbelly store.

Charlie Talbot: 00:06:55

Frequent customer, love the business as a consumer.

Charlie Talbot: 00:06:57

And then you fast forward and I'm sitting in the chair, you know, being asked to build infrastructure and then scale the business.

Charlie Talbot: 00:07:04

And so I got there when there was about 70 shops, as we called them, an incredible consumer facing business that just needed help building the infrastructure and support.

Charlie Talbot: 00:07:12

So we did that.

Charlie Talbot: 00:07:13

We got the unit economic model right?

Charlie Talbot: 00:07:15

We did a lot of the things that I learned at Yum Brands in terms of culture and focus on people, and built the business out to over 400 units, took it public in 2013.

Charlie Talbot: 00:07:25

It was just a fantastic outcome and a great time for me personally in my career.

Anderson Williams: 00:07:29

Tell us a little bit about the Athletico and Tend, and then I want to come back to that first experience as a CFO 'cause Potbelly was your first in that role, right?

Charlie Talbot: 00:07:38

Yep.

Charlie Talbot: 00:07:38

Independent.

Charlie Talbot: 00:07:38

Company, CFO.

Anderson Williams: 00:07:39

So tell us about the move to Athletico and Tend, but then let's come back to what that first experience was like in that environment.

Charlie Talbot: 00:07:45

So few years after we went public.

Charlie Talbot: 00:07:48

You know, one of the things that I was always concerned about was I was turning into a quote unquote restaurant guy.

Charlie Talbot: 00:07:52

And so I've always wanted to keep learning and met the founder of Athletico, who's an incredible human being, and he built a great business and ultimately he convinced me to leave my public company job and join his 70 clinic, physical therapy business outside of Chicago.

Charlie Talbot: 00:08:07

And I saw what he was trying to do and he was just bringing private equity money in for the first time.

Charlie Talbot: 00:08:11

And again, he needed help building the infrastructure and getting it ready for scale and dealing with private equity friends that he had just brought on.

Charlie Talbot: 00:08:18

So it was a new adventure, a new opportunity for me with a really outstanding brand.

Charlie Talbot: 00:08:23

And so I, um, ultimately jumped at the opportunity.

Charlie Talbot: 00:08:26

Which was, you know, a great decision looking back, I love that business.

Charlie Talbot: 00:08:29

We did a transformational acquisition almost immediately after I got there, which took us from roughly 70 clinics in Chicago to over 300.

Charlie Talbot: 00:08:38

So we bought a business almost three times our size and put us in 13 states.

Charlie Talbot: 00:08:42

And so that gave me a lot of exposure to integration, to quick scale, if you will, and how to pivot towards that.

Charlie Talbot: 00:08:48

And so, anyway.

Charlie Talbot: 00:08:49

I think we did a terrific job integrating the business.

Charlie Talbot: 00:08:51

18 months later, we sold to a, a large private equity firm.

Charlie Talbot: 00:08:54

It was a terrific outcome.

Charlie Talbot: 00:08:56

And the other thing I learned is that about myself and about my ability is my ability to play outside of restaurants is so much of what I learned in the restaurant business travels.

Charlie Talbot: 00:09:07

You know, especially when you're dealing with multi-unit and growth.

Charlie Talbot: 00:09:10

So that was something that was actually a lot easier than I thought it was going to be.

Anderson Williams: 00:09:14

Tell us about that first CFO role with Potbelly, and a little bit about what you had to change or grow to meet that opportunity.

Charlie Talbot: 00:09:25

Yeah, well, I think, you know, certainly I felt really confident about what I had learned in my days at Yum.

Charlie Talbot: 00:09:31

Like I knew what good looked like as I mentioned earlier.

Charlie Talbot: 00:09:34

And so a lot of it was just getting from here to there, you know, starts with people.

Charlie Talbot: 00:09:38

You gotta get the right people on the team.

Charlie Talbot: 00:09:39

And so we spent a lot of time recrafting the team and setting it up for where the business was going versus where it had been.

Charlie Talbot: 00:09:46

And then in terms of just being in the role in the chair, if you will, you know, one of the things I always prided myself was really understanding the business from a 360 perspective, meaning that I knew operations.

Charlie Talbot: 00:09:57

I knew market, I knew HR. I spent the time understanding how those parts of the business worked.

Charlie Talbot: 00:10:02

And so, you know, I never was confronted with an issue that seemed foreign to me.

Charlie Talbot: 00:10:06

Like I always understood sort of what was happening and how it was happening within the context of those functions.

Charlie Talbot: 00:10:11

So, you know, I worked hard at it, but, you know, I think the main thing was coming and really spending the time to learn the business and be able to contribute beyond my functional role that I had.

Anderson Williams: 00:10:20

Is it fair?

Anderson Williams: 00:10:21

As I listen to you, I think about it sounds through your experience and strategy and brand roles and you know, business planning and all of these other things that you were sort of a multi-tool growth business guy.

Anderson Williams: 00:10:34

That became a CFO.

Anderson Williams: 00:10:36

Not a finance guy that then figured out how to be a business guy.

Anderson Williams: 00:10:40

Does that seem reasonably accurate?

Charlie Talbot: 00:10:41

That's that's very accurate.

Charlie Talbot: 00:10:43

And I think part of it was by design.

Charlie Talbot: 00:10:45

Part of it was was by, I was an operator who sat in the finance chair, and that's the mindset I had about running a business.

Charlie Talbot: 00:10:51

I never thought that managing the finance organization was rocket science.

Charlie Talbot: 00:10:55

Not because it's hard, I understand that, but my mindset was to get past that part and just focus all my attention on how do I set my functional peers up for success.

Charlie Talbot: 00:11:05

You know, I had the advantage being in the CFO seat of having all the information and having all the insights and data and sharing that with the people around the organization would ultimately make my job reporting results a lot easier if they were successful.

Anderson Williams: 00:11:17

And talk a little bit about that relationship that the CFO carries with all of those other functional areas.

Anderson Williams: 00:11:24

I think that's something we don't talk enough about, of just what a critical role it is.

Anderson Williams: 00:11:28

For bringing the company together.

Anderson Williams: 00:11:29

And aligning the company.

Anderson Williams: 00:11:31

Can you just say more about that almost facilitative and connector role that you play within the company?

Charlie Talbot: 00:11:36

Yeah, I worked really hard at.

Charlie Talbot: 00:11:38

Building relationships as a foundation for discussions that ultimately needed to be had, whether they're easy discussions or difficult discussions.

Charlie Talbot: 00:11:45

But whenever you build relationships in a setting like this where you're on a team and you're trying to build something together, you know, I think trust in those relationships are critical to be able to work through things.

Charlie Talbot: 00:11:54

And so I spent a lot of time, whether it was in the field with my operators or you know, working on marketing or HR issues with my functional leaders and I really tried to understand their mindset, you know, what motivated them and account for that as we went through the work that we did together.

Anderson Williams: 00:12:09

Yeah.

Charlie Talbot: 00:12:09

And you know, I think that opened a lot of doors for me to play a bigger role in organizations beyond just being a finance guy.

Anderson Williams: 00:12:15

Given that, just to pull that thread a little bit more, what do you think are some misconceptions people have about the CFO role that you lived maybe differently given your route to the CFO role, but are there any misconceptions you see as you talk to coach support CFOs or aspiring CFOs?

Charlie Talbot: 00:12:32

Yeah, I think some of the misconceptions that people have you know, they pigeonhole CFOs as really numbers people.

Charlie Talbot: 00:12:38

And so I think the best CFOs are business people that happen to have an expertise in understanding a business from a financial perspective, forecasting a business, et cetera.

Charlie Talbot: 00:12:46

So I think that that's one, and you know, I worked really hard not to be pigeonholed there, just again, through learning the business.

Charlie Talbot: 00:12:53

I also think that most of my time, I would say as I got further into my CFO career, most of my time was spent looking forward versus looking in the rear view mirror.

Charlie Talbot: 00:13:04

I think that the reason why that's important is because if you can spend the time looking down the road and understanding what decisions are being made and what the implications both intended and unintended consequences of those decisions, it allows you to have conversations with people about, you know, sort of what the outcomes could be and make sure that you're covering all your bases and solving problems before they become problems.

Charlie Talbot: 00:13:26

So I guess in terms of misconceptions, back to your question, you know, I think some of the best CFOs spend most of their time looking forward in the business and then helping their functional peers think that way as well.

Charlie Talbot: 00:13:35

And I just think you've run more effective business that way.

Anderson Williams: 00:13:38

Yeah.

Anderson Williams: 00:13:38

And when you think about this, so there's part of that that's like, well, that makes sense.

Anderson Williams: 00:13:42

You're looking forward to the business.

Anderson Williams: 00:13:43

You're planning, you're doing those things.

Anderson Williams: 00:13:44

That seems typical.

Anderson Williams: 00:13:45

So what is the counter to that when you are comparing that to looking backward, that would be another approach or a mistaken approach in your experience, what does looking backward then look like?

Charlie Talbot: 00:13:56

Well, I think that you're, you know, reporting on the business' table stakes, I mean, you have to do your functional role as a CFO and business in general, being able to report results and understand why the results are what they are.

Charlie Talbot: 00:14:06

I think the problem is that if you get stuck there, you don't ever apply learnings from the past into the future.

Charlie Talbot: 00:14:12

And so understanding the business and understanding what drives a business from a retrospective standpoint allows you to build intuition into the future.

Charlie Talbot: 00:14:20

And that's something that was always a focus of mine.

Anderson Williams: 00:14:22

So, one of the critical relationships is obviously between the CFO and the CEO.

Charlie Talbot: 00:14:27

Yeah.

Anderson Williams: 00:14:27

Can you talk about what that looks like when it's working?

Anderson Williams: 00:14:31

Yeah, and, and maybe what it looks like when it's not working in your experience.

Charlie Talbot: 00:14:34

We could do a whole podcast on that relationship.

Anderson Williams: 00:14:36

We may, we may come back to that.

Charlie Talbot: 00:14:38

but I think importantly, like the mindset I had in my relationships with my CEOs, which I always had terrific relationships with them, and my mindset was always like, we're a partnership.

Charlie Talbot: 00:14:48

Our job is to make each other's jobs and lives in general easier.

Charlie Talbot: 00:14:52

And so how do we identify the past and clear the past for each other so that you know we can be more effective as a team?

Charlie Talbot: 00:14:59

Again, starts with respect and trust and understanding of what, who each other is and how they.

Charlie Talbot: 00:15:04

Think and operate.

Charlie Talbot: 00:15:05

And then beyond that, it's really being transparent and being very open to conversations, even if they're very difficult to have.

Charlie Talbot: 00:15:12

And then, you know, that's easier to do once you have that trust.

Charlie Talbot: 00:15:15

I think the role definition between the two were very important.

Charlie Talbot: 00:15:18

I always tried to identify what I was gonna be focused on in a relationship, whether it was a PE firm or the public marketplace, or whatever the case and what the CEO's role was to make sure that we weren't talking over each other.

Charlie Talbot: 00:15:29

Internally, you know, it was just a function of what are you doing and what am I doing, and let's make sure that we're not overlapping or delivering counter messages.

Charlie Talbot: 00:15:36

But again, it starts with the relationship.

Charlie Talbot: 00:15:38

It starts with making sure you have the right partner and that you have the right mindset about how you're going to work together.

Anderson Williams: 00:15:43

You've given some relationship kinds of things between the CFO and CEO, but from the CFO seat, if you had to name.

Anderson Williams: 00:15:50

Two or three things that make a great CEO.

Anderson Williams: 00:15:53

For A CFO, what would those things be?

Charlie Talbot: 00:15:55

That's a great question.

Charlie Talbot: 00:15:56

I would say, you know, someone who is going to be consistent in terms of strategy and execution, you know, because then as a CFO I'm not chasing things.

Charlie Talbot: 00:16:06

I'm not sort of, I know how we're going to operate collectively and I can anticipate that.

Charlie Talbot: 00:16:10

I think the other thing is just being open and transparent with me as a partner.

Charlie Talbot: 00:16:13

I think that's really important.

Charlie Talbot: 00:16:15

'cause if I'm guessing how that the CEO is thinking, then I got a problem.

Anderson Williams: 00:16:19

So we've talked a little bit about your experience and knowing the business and being relationship focused.

Anderson Williams: 00:16:25

These were obvious strengths for you as you stepped into the CFO role.

Anderson Williams: 00:16:28

That prepared you for that finance lead.

Anderson Williams: 00:16:30

What weren't you good at?

Anderson Williams: 00:16:31

So when you stepped into that role, maybe for the first time, and maybe over time, just things that you knew you weren't good at and either needed to develop or needed to hire around you.

Charlie Talbot: 00:16:40

Well, the glaring one was, I was not a CPA.

Charlie Talbot: 00:16:43

I was not an accountant, so that was always my first hire.

Charlie Talbot: 00:16:46

And it wasn't just fill the seat, it was like, make sure I have the right person in that seat.

Charlie Talbot: 00:16:50

And I got pretty proficient over the years in the accounting world.

Charlie Talbot: 00:16:53

But early on in particular, I knew that was a gap, and I knew that I had to fill that gap with someone that was both excellent and that I could trust.

Anderson Williams: 00:17:00

You do a lot of work with a lot of aspiring CFOs, both within Shore and I imagine otherwise, what advice do you give an aspiring CFO, particularly let's say in the microcap space, your career has been in building and growing as well.

Anderson Williams: 00:17:15

They're stepping into microcap or lower middle market companies

Anderson Williams: 00:17:18

That are doing the same thing.

Anderson Williams: 00:17:19

What is the advice you give someone trying to prepare to succeed in that role?

Charlie Talbot: 00:17:24

One thing is not all the companies I stepped into were larger companies.

Charlie Talbot: 00:17:28

I mean, I went through that growth journey, so I do try to make sure that they recognize and I can empathize with what they're looking to do and how they're doing it.

Charlie Talbot: 00:17:35

I always tell 'em to make sure you take the time, as I've mentioned already on this conversation, make sure you take the time to truly understand the business from all angles.

Charlie Talbot: 00:17:44

It's an investment.

Charlie Talbot: 00:17:45

You have to find the time to do it 'cause everyone's really busy.

Charlie Talbot: 00:17:48

But spending time in the field or you know, however, whatever the context is in your business, and making sure you understand at the very lowest level of the organization how they operate will make you better.

Charlie Talbot: 00:17:58

And that's consistent feedback I give people.

Charlie Talbot: 00:18:00

Again, not to beat it dead horse here but people have to invest the time to build relationships across the organization, it's critical.

Charlie Talbot: 00:18:06

For especially young people in their careers, maybe first time CFOs.

Charlie Talbot: 00:18:10

They have to establish credibility and context.

Charlie Talbot: 00:18:13

And in my opinion, the best way to do that is to build strong relationships with the people and help them understand how you can help them as leaders or others in the organization.

Charlie Talbot: 00:18:22

So I think that's critical.

Charlie Talbot: 00:18:23

And then the last thing I'd say is especially early, and I was fortunate to have great mentors, but building a cohort of people or people that you can pick the phone up and ask the questions 'cause you're gonna run into things that you have no idea how to handle.

Charlie Talbot: 00:18:36

And being able to talk to someone about those situations is really important.

Charlie Talbot: 00:18:40

I see the mistake people make as they try to muscle through things and oftentimes that just doesn't work as well.

Anderson Williams: 00:18:45

So what are some common things that you see or you get when you're on the other side of that call that people are looking for?

Anderson Williams: 00:18:52

Like, okay, what do I do here, help?

Anderson Williams: 00:18:54

What are some common things you hear on your side of that call?

Charlie Talbot: 00:18:57

A lot of it's personality driven or really, you know, things that come up in the course of business and they just don't know how to handle a personality or a situation that seems to be going down a path that they can't seem to get in front of.

Charlie Talbot: 00:19:09

Yet, they know that it's not gonna end well, at least in their minds.

Charlie Talbot: 00:19:12

And so, you know, I think a lot of that, especially year in their career, people are hesitant to step in front of those things.

Charlie Talbot: 00:19:17

You know, whether it's a, a tough person to deal with or tough situation to deal with.

Charlie Talbot: 00:19:22

But I just encourage them, it's like, this is where you gotta practice.

Charlie Talbot: 00:19:24

This is where you have to step into, lean into those situations.

Charlie Talbot: 00:19:28

And, you know, again, try to understand where the person's coming from and try to navigate that conversation to, if it doesn't work this time, maybe it works the next time.

Anderson Williams: 00:19:36

Did you ever have.

Anderson Williams: 00:19:37

That call from you to somebody else saying help.

Anderson Williams: 00:19:40

And if so, what was something that you struggled with, that you needed somebody on the other end of the line for?

Anderson Williams: 00:19:45

You know, I think

Charlie Talbot: 00:19:46

there are situations where, you know, I learned really early and, and I remember a call I had with one of my mentors about, you know, hey, how do I deliver bad news?

Charlie Talbot: 00:19:54

'cause you know, that's one thing that I hadn't had a ton of experience doing, you know, up until I was in the role.

Charlie Talbot: 00:19:59

And so that was just, I was trying to navigate how to not disappoint people or how to not, whatever the emotional state was.

Charlie Talbot: 00:20:05

And so it was good to be able to talk to someone who had been through that and gave me a little more confidence to go have those conversations.

Anderson Williams: 00:20:11

And in that spirit, what's the best advice you ever got?

Charlie Talbot: 00:20:14

Best advice, I would say, especially in the context of being a CFO is always aspire, never to be surprised.

Charlie Talbot: 00:20:20

So, you know, it changes your mindset around not being reactionary and always thinking about the possible outcomes of what you're doing and what the business is doing, and being prepared to deal with those outcomes before they are realized.

Anderson Williams: 00:20:32

And I imagine setting expectations with the people around you to don't surprise me.

Charlie Talbot: 00:20:36

Sure.

Charlie Talbot: 00:20:37

That's, that's the whole point.

Charlie Talbot: 00:20:38

It's like, again, it's easy for me to sit in my office and think about that stuff, but if I see a range of outcomes, the most important thing I can do is communicate that and work with the team to figure out, you know, if I'm missing something or they're missing something, then how do we work together to make sure that we get the best outcome possible.

Anderson Williams: 00:20:54

So you work with Shore Capital as an Executive Partner.

Anderson Williams: 00:20:57

I'm curious at this state of your career and stage of your career, why an Executive Partner?

Anderson Williams: 00:21:03

Why Shore?

Anderson Williams: 00:21:04

Just any context for, I'm sure you had myriad things you could be doing with your time.

Anderson Williams: 00:21:09

Why Shore?

Charlie Talbot: 00:21:09

Well, why Shores?

Charlie Talbot: 00:21:10

You know, there's a couple ways to answer that question.

Charlie Talbot: 00:21:12

One, you know, I've gotten to know the Shore team over the years was introduced to Justin about nine years ago and have kept in touch with him and gotten to know the team.

Charlie Talbot: 00:21:20

I've always admired the way that the business is run and how they think about things.

Charlie Talbot: 00:21:24

And more broadly speaking, I've worked in large public companies, I've taken a company public, I've, you know, done private transactions.

Charlie Talbot: 00:21:31

I've worked in the VC space.

Charlie Talbot: 00:21:33

I've kind of done a lot of different things, which a lot of it was curiosity and just building my tool set.

Charlie Talbot: 00:21:38

And you get to a point where you look back and say, I have been so fortunate and part of the reason I've been so fortunate is 'cause I had people around me that were willing to, you know, gimme a hand up or you know, help me out in any way.

Charlie Talbot: 00:21:50

And I just got to the point in my career where that's really what I wanted to focus on is how do I get back to folks who are going through the journey that I have gone through?

Charlie Talbot: 00:21:58

Not to say my journey's over, but certainly, you know, using my experience to help on a broader scale, a group of businesses that are going through some of the things I have.

Charlie Talbot: 00:22:06

It was so natural to step into this Executive Partner role because I have gotten to know the people here and I have grown to appreciate how they operate, and they're giving me a platform to do that.

Charlie Talbot: 00:22:15

So I couldn't be more appreciative of the opportunity.

Anderson Williams: 00:22:18

And in that spirit of being clear that your journey isn't over, uh, or wrapping up anytime soon, what are you still learning?

Anderson Williams: 00:22:26

What are you still growing?

Anderson Williams: 00:22:27

What are the things you're still curious about as you do this work and other work that you're involved in?

Charlie Talbot: 00:22:32

Uh, it's fascinating to see all the different platforms that are being built and the different business models and the different people running the businesses, and certainly on the investment side, you know, the Shore side of the table, just how they think about things.

Charlie Talbot: 00:22:45

It just gives me more and more context to walk into situations where I can be helpful.

Charlie Talbot: 00:22:50

I understand the players from an operating standpoint as well as from an investment standpoint.

Charlie Talbot: 00:22:53

I think I can bridge those gaps.

Anderson Williams: 00:23:01

If you enjoyed this episode, check out our other Microcap Moments episodes at www.shorecp.university/podcasts or anywhere you get your podcasts.

Anderson Williams: 00:23:11

Here you will also find our Bigger.

Anderson Williams: 00:23:13

Stronger.

Anderson Williams: 00:23:13

Faster.

Anderson Williams: 00:23:14

and Everyday Heroes series, each highlighting the people and stories that make investing in the lower middle market unique.

Anderson Williams: 00:23:20

This podcast was produced by Shore Capital Partners and recorded in the Andrew Malone podcast Studio with story and narration by Anderson Williams.

Anderson Williams: 00:23:28

Recording by Austin Johnson.

Anderson Williams: 00:23:30

Editing by Reel Audiobooks.

Anderson Williams: 00:23:32

Sound design, mixing, and mastering by Mark Galup of Reel Audiobooks.

Anderson Williams: 00:23:37

Special thanks to Charlie Talbot.

Anderson Williams: 00:23:39

This podcast is The Property of Shore Capital Partners, LLC.

Anderson Williams: 00:23:43

None of the content herein is investment advice, an offer of investment advisory services nor a recommendation or offer relating to any security.

Anderson Williams: 00:23:51

See the Terms of Use page on the Shore Capital website for other important information.