On December 4th, Tim Yarbrough (MBA ’06), shared his wisdom with the Corporate Finance & Investment Banking (CFIB) MBA Students on public company finance, the role of the SEC, the CFO’s evolving role, AI’s corporate impact, and career advice. Tim is the CFO of ZipRecruiter, an online employment marketplace that connects job seekers with employers by distributing job postings across multiple sites and using AI-driven matching to recommend relevant employment opportunities. Tim not only leads ZipRecruiter’s finance organization but played a key role in guiding the company’s growth from a startup to a publicly traded leader in the online employment marketplace.
The Realities of Going Public
Tim painted a picture far more nuanced than most textbooks provide. Once public, companies gain significant advantages in accessing capital markets. Whether through debt offerings or equity raises, seasoned public companies can tap into funding streams that remain largely closed to private firms. This capital flexibility becomes particularly valuable when you’re sitting on positive cash flow and eyeing strategic acquisitions or major internal initiatives.
Disclosure Over Perfection: The SEC’s Role
Tim also mentioned the biggest goal of SEC is disclosure. They want to make sure those issues are resolved for an investor to make an appropriate risk-adjusted decision. The SEC will not tell a company, “you do not have your house in order.” Tim mentions how the market self regulates in a way that “the system works well enough so that a terrible company that is in complete shambles will not go public because no one will purchase their stock.”
From Numbers to Narrative: The Public CFO
Tim shared with students that as a CFO, it is very much about story and narrative. People need to understand the journey of a company. The CFO needs to elaborate on what drives the direction of the KPIs their firm are highlighting. The CFO paints the company’s vision for people and provide context on what is happening in the financials. Tim explains how he needs to provide context to ZipRecruiter’s performance relative to the job market.
AI: Supercharging Work and Matching Jobs
Tim delivered a clear message about artificial intelligence: stop treating it as optinal. His advice was practical and direct. Before doing any task, try it with AI first. If it works, keep using it. Then carry that learning into your next role, where you can supercharge entire functions and processes.
ZipRecruiter walks this talk. Their platform has evolved from simple job matching into something far more sophisticated. By analyzing billions of interactions between job seekers and employers, their AI systems continuously improve match quality. They’ve also integrated large language models to help candidates craft stronger, more tailored resumes while simultaneously helping employers write more specific job descriptions. The result? Better matches and faster hire both sides of the marketplace.
Tim’s Career Blueprint
Tim closed with career guidance that stood out for its practicality:
Have a healthy disrespect for your job description. Think like an owner, not like someone who colors within the lines. Your formal responsibilities define the minimum, not the ceiling.
Always ask why. Curiosity separates people who execute from those who innovate. Understanding the reasoning behind decisions make you invaluable.
Make your boss bored. Study what your manager does and start doing that work for them. When you anticipate needs before they’re voiced, you become indispensable.
Become a subject matter expert. Deep expertise in something specific gives you leverage throughout your career.
Tim emphasized that credibility and trustworthiness ultimately drive career growth more than any technical skill. Build those foundations early, and opportunities follow.
For MBA students navigating an uncertain job market with rapidly evolving technology, Tim’s message was clear: embrace change, think like an owner, and never stop learning. The fundamentals of trust and expertise haven’t changed, but the tools and expectations certainly have.
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