Tom is joined by Patrick Villanova, CFO of BlackLine, to unpack why deciding whether to build or buy has gotten harder now that private valuations haven't caught up to a falling public market, how BlackLine is threading the needle on AI adoption by keeping humans in the loop rather than chasing full automation, and why leaning into new technology — without ever losing sight of the fundamentals — is the only way finance professionals stay ahead of the curve.
Tom is joined by Patrick Villanova, CFO of BlackLine. Patrick shares how his path through 15 years at PwC and BlackLine's own controllership shaped his accountant's-eye view of risk, and how that background informs everything from platform strategy to M&A. Patrick digs into the real math behind build-versus-buy decisions, why private company valuations still haven't caught down to depressed public multiples, and why he's convinced this disconnect can't last. He also explains how BlackLine is deploying AI agents cautiously and deliberately — keeping a human in the loop at every step — and why that same "lean in, but verify" mindset is exactly what he'd tell any accountant or CFO trying to future-proof their career.
Guest quotes:
“ With any technological disruption, there are winners and losers. Those companies that avoided it or were afraid of it or didn't believe it, most of them went the way of the dinosaur.”
“Trust is something that takes years to build up and a nanosecond to destroy. We're bringing our customers along, building that trust, giving them a sampling, and then once we've established that, you have the S-curve of adoption that we've seen multiple times in history.”
“ The more diverse opinions you can get from a talent perspective within your culture, within your organization, the stronger your ultimate product and platform will be.”
Links & Resources:
Connect with Patrick Villanova
YouTube Timestamps:
00:00 Show Intro and Guest Overview
01:05 Patrick's background: BlackLine, PwC, accounting roots
02:03 BlackLine's evolution beyond financial close
03:19 Studio360 as the connective data layer
04:43 Single data source as the key to safe AI agents
05:32 Point solution perception vs. broader platform value
08:34 Why BlackLine stays ERP-agnostic
09:35 The BlackLine-Kyriba partnership model
12:24 Build vs. buy: weighing cost, speed, and talent
15:22 Why private valuations remain disconnected from public multiples
17:46 Engineering productivity gains from AI at BlackLine
19:10 Why "just build it" often underestimates true cost of ownership
23:22 Multiples: 2021 peak to the post-AI-narrative reset
26:53 The reckoning over real AI token costs
30:53 Balancing AI speed with accuracy and trust
34:35 Building customer trust through gradual AI adoption
36:07 Advice for CFOs resistant to change
39:38 Why evaluating security and partnerships matters as much as software
41:20 Advice for young finance professionals in the AI era