John Hyun
Chief Financial Officer at Grabango
San Francisco, California
Overview
Work Experience
Chief Financial Officer
2024 - Current
Lead Finance, Accounting, Corporate Development and Legal for this SaaS artificial intelligence (computer vision) business backed by Commerce Ventures, Founders Fund and Honeywell Ventures. Grabango was founded by Will Glaser, co-founder of Pandora, which is a leader in consumer facing artificial intelligence (machine learning).
Grabango is a checkout-free technology for existing, large-scale grocery, and convenience stores.
Raised $93,775,000.00 from Honeywell Ventures, Vela Partners, Greenhouse Capital Partners, Launchpad Capital, WIND Ventures, Quiet Capital, Commerce Ventures, Bias Capital, Unilever Ventures and Founders Fund.
Chief Financial Officer
2021 - 2023
Led Finance, Accounting, Corporate Development, Legal, Security and IT for this SaaS Analytics business backed by HIG, Foundation, Valor and REV. Led sale of Mode to ThoughtSpot for $200M+. Completed mezzanine and senior debt financings totaling $65M and established treasury policies to diversify bank risk. Expanded international strategy through M&A in India. Opened office employing 20% of all employees. Partnered with executives to create governance and financial controls including Board committees, investor reporting, equity grants, compensation, hiring, promotions and budgeting. Mitigated tax exposure by executing sales, payroll and income tax strategies.
Mode Analytics is a developer of a collaborative analytics platform used to make data-informed decisions.
Raised $80,985,000.00 from overtime.vc, Valor Equity Partners, H.I.G. Growth Partners, Foundation Capital, Switch Ventures and REV.
VP Finance. Head of FP&A, Accounting, Business Intelligence, and HR
2018 - 2021
Head of Finance, Accounting, Business Intelligence, Human Resources, and Payment Operations for rapidly growing SaaS and subscription company. Led $230M financing with Vista Credit to fuel expansion. Led several rounds of debt and mezzanine financing with transaction value exceeding $60M. Transformed customer unit economics through analytics-driven SEM strategy. Developed and implemented state sales tax and income tax strategies.
Rocket Lawyer provides online legal services to help users meet the legal needs of their families and business.
Raised $291,650,818.00 from Vista Credit Partners and Armentum Partners.
VP Finance. Head of Business Operations and Strategic Finance
2013 - 2018
Head of Business Operations 2014 Head of Sales Finance 2013 Lead Finance teams supporting revenue through operating margin, reporting to CFO. Manage bottoms-up and top-down revenue and cost planning and forecasting. Collaborate with Investor Relations and SEC teams to review operating metrics and analyses. Member of Deal Desk team that reviews, approves, and negotiates more than 100 contracts annually. Created Sales incentive plan that helped drive 100%+ revenue growth in key product categories. Business Development (BD) plans helped drive 30%+ increase in key metrics with inventory publishing partners. Partnered with CRO and International GM to restructure international Sales and BD teams, resulting in improved profitability and increased employee retention. Pioneered customer segmentation model that allowed Regional Vice Presidents to identify and target key accounts, resulting in 90%+ customer retention and targeted strategies to upsell smaller accounts. Developed Transaction Acquisition Cost (TAC) model and process to manage costs within 2% variance. Led implementation of sales performance management software with leading provider. Online tool allows Sales and other users to view achievement and Sales effectiveness. Identified operating metrics and created processes to manage them as member of IPO readiness team. VC's included Accel Partners, Khosla Ventures, Menlo Ventures, and DAG Ventures. Promoted to Vice President
Media and Gaming Consultant
2011 - 2013
Confidential Global 1,000 Gaming Company - advised CEO's office on product licensing, digital distribution, and market entry strategy Confidential Global 1,000 Company - worked with CEO's office on market entry strategy into core gaming genres including MMO and RPG Confidential Global 1,000 Company - collaborated with Board on market-entry strategy into real money gambling and product roadmap strategy Real Samurai. Board Advisor. Mobile HTML5 start-up whose technology is used in apps with more than 20 million users. Advised CEO on market entry strategy, product pricing, and business development
Head of Business Operations and acting General Manager
2008 - 2011
Head of Business Operations and Acting GM of North America 2010-2011 Head of Business Operations 2008-2010 Managed $400MM P&L and provided monthly financial guidance to board of directors. Managed Business Operations (Business Intelligence) and Corporate Planning Increased product profitability 15% by creating collaborative product lifecycle marketing plan with DMMs from Wal-Mart, Target, and Best Buy. The plan leveraged big data and multi-variate regression analyses to optimize product pricing and marketing spend to extend retail shelf presence. Led cross-functional team including retail, Sales, Marketing, and Manufacturing Improved revenue forecast accuracy 35% by creating top down and bottom up process. Collaborated with Sales and IT to create a cloud-based set of sales forecasting tools and reports utilizing unstructured data on Oracle and Business Objects BI stack Led analysis in three-way negotiation with Nintendo and Olympics licensor (ISM), reducing royalties 35% on a $1BN product line Received President's Award for leading executive development team in creating a strategy to revitalize the Sonic franchise. Selected as one of 27 members
SEGA develops, publishes, and distributes interactive entertainment software products for a variety of hardware platforms.
Vice President, Investment Banking
2005 - 2007
Investment banker managing both M&A and equity financings for this leader in online auction IPOs, mostly notably, Google's. Led carve-out sale of multi-channel (DM, Retail, Internet) retailer, Jackson & Perkins, from Harry & David Led West Coast recruiting and training of analysts Promoted from Senior Associate
WR Hambrecht + Co is a financial services firm which uses technology and auction processes to provide fair access to financial markets.
Raised $83,000,000.00 from Scudder Kemper Investments, William Hambrecht, Instinet, Crimson Ventures, TPG, American Express, Hikari Tsushin Group, American Century Investments, Shea Ventures and epartners.
Head of Analytics and Senior Manager
2002 - 2005
Leveraged big data to create and manage product pricing and marketing strategy that increasd sales and sell-through 10%, reduce inventory by 50%, and reduce shipping costs 15%. Wal-Mart and Best Buy named team best in class among gaming vendors for this collaborative planning, forecasting, and replenishment (CPFR) process Lead member of IT Steering Committee, which implemented Business Objects and Peoplesoft as global BI tech stack Promoted from Manager
Associate, Investment Banking
2001 - 2002
Advised senior executives on M&A and financing options at this pioneer of online IPOs. Developed banking practice in gaming and media.
Summer MBA Associate - Strategy Practice
2000 - 2000
Ranked in top quintile of MBA Summer Associate class Received "Great Client Works Award" for team's work on Qwest/US West M&A