Foursquare is excited to announce the addition of Liz Brittain, as Chief Financial Officer.
With more than two decades of finance leadership experience in the tech space, Liz will oversee the company’s short and long-term financial health, tax compliance, investor relations and identify opportunities for greater efficiency.
As the company grows in accordance with CEO Gary Little’s vision, financial expertise will be essential. Liz is the latest person Gary has added to the executive team.
To learn more about Liz and her thoughts on the future of Foursquare, check out the below Q&A:
Tell us about your career path and background.
I love growth and change. I love seeing visions come to fruition, and making sure the finances and the vision align. Therefore, I tend to join tech companies just in time for major changes requiring strong financial leadership. The emerging technology sector always keeps me on my toes. It’s a marketplace that’s seen tremendous shifts and growth during my more than 20 years in this industry.
Most recently, as CFO HackerOne, I led $85M in venture capital funding. Prior to that I was the CFO of Base CRM, which was sold to Zendesk in 2018; acquisitions, of course, tend to come with financial implications and complications. Other roles include VP of Finance at DataStax, VP of Financial Planning and Analysis at Fusion-io during its successful IPO, and several roles at Sun Microsystems supporting numerous aspects of the Company.
Foursquare has an enormous opportunity for growth. Along with the rest of the executive team, we will seize that opportunity.
What will your role be at Foursquare?
As Chief Financial Officer at Foursquare, I’m responsible for overseeing the overall accounting of the company for better financial decision making. This isn’t just balancing books, it’s a very social role which requires me to collaborate with all areas of the organization. This is a big moment for Foursquare, with the lines between the physical and virtual world continuing to blur, our products are in high demand in a marketplace that’s changing daily. Ensuring that short and long-term financial health and preparing Foursquare for the growth opportunities of the future will be my core focus.
What excites you most about our business?
I love that I’m joining a company built on data used for decision making, because that’s what financial records ultimately are. Emerging tech innovators are going to be continuously blown away by all the ways they can maximize Foursquare’s location data. With better quality data, your decisions make more sense and yield better results. I’m looking forward to leveraging Foursquare’s financial data to help the company make the most out of its growing cash flow to foster continued success and evolution.
What do you see as the greatest challenges facing businesses today? What role can Foursquare play in addressing those challenges?
Coming out of the pandemic, companies must make sure they invest their money wisely in all areas, and that comes from having enough information to do so. Organizations need systems in place to not only provide that information but make sense of it. Again, this is what drew me to Foursquare.
An investment in better utilizing the vast trove of data that companies can access is always money well spent. For example, Foursquare’s location data helps organizations determine everything from which marketing efforts are actually working, to the best locations to open brick and mortar shops, to how to communicate with different customer demographics. Without this information, companies are essentially just spending recklessly.
What do you believe are the greatest growth opportunities ahead for Foursquare?
Applications for future technologies. Location tech is going to be essential to everything from AI to the autonomous vehicle revolution to data-driven supply chains and logistics. All of it will depend on precise, real-time, location based assessments. Foursquare has proven it can help companies make good decisions with location data; as these technologies become ubiquitous, Foursquare will remain a trusted, even essential, resource for companies.
Making sure all of this translates to strong financial growth will be a challenge. But it is a challenge I am excited for.
