Stephen Hedlund: From Debits to Dinner Parties - Finance Gets Loud at Rillet

Tea Time With Tech Marketing Leaders

From debits to dinner parties, Stephen Hedlund proves you can scale finance, keep your sanity, and still crack LinkedIn jokes that drive pipeline.

Finance doesn’t have to be dry (and neither does this conversation with Stephen Hedlund, Head of Finance at Rillet, the AI-native ERP built to close the books in hours, not weeks.

Stephen spills the secret sauce, if you will, on scaling a Series-A startup’s finance stack, the “zero-day close,” and why memes belong in month-end slides.

If you’re a numbers nerd, or just trying to make financial reporting less painful, grab your mug and be ready to learn what it takes to lead and grow a company when the playbook doesn't even exist yet.

Ready to make finance fun? Smash play and let Stephen’s curiosity-first leadership style inspire your next close.

Elijah referenced an episode from the archives where a marketer specializing in scrappy startups earned a better-than-expected ROI after hosting a go-kart event for prospects. Krissy Camacho on turning a $5K test into a 10× lead surge. Learn how B2C scrappiness fuels B2B growth.

Keep the kettle boiling! Your ears may also enjoy learning from Mike and Margie next:

- Mike Moreno’s “Marketing with Machines” playbook. Discover generative engine optimization (GEO) and AI-ready messaging.
- Margie Agin on messaging sales teams actually use. Align brand stories before you launch a single campaign.

Elijah steps in for Kerry while she enjoys a month off with her family for some summer R&R, Tea Time episode is powered by MKG Marketing. We're your fractional marketing team that manages the details, so you capture the market.

Check out why Rillet will crush Netsuite in less than a decade: https://rillet.com
Hang with Stephen Hedlund on LinkedIn and have a meme-tastic time.

• (00:00) - Finance guy hates how marketing wins
• (03:00) - Fast definition: closing the books + Rillet's superpower
• (06:00) - Zero-day close is now a reality
• (10:00) - 150K-impression LinkedIn lightning strike
• (13:00) - Birth of the in-house evangelist
• (17:00) - Dinners deliver ROI and relationships
• (21:00) - In-person events power pipeline
• (24:00) - Startup stress and constant fires
• (28:00) - Fatherhood reshapes work priorities
• (31:00) - Memes plus authenticity build brand
• (34:00) - Pick the fires that matter
• (38:00) - Where to find Stephen and Rillet
• (40:00) - Binge-worthy episodes worth listening to next
• (40:25) - Elijah claims he's sexier than his microphone (the jury's still out on that one)