Ventured Growth with Hercules Capital · Hercules Capital

#28 – The Non-CFO, CFO: Executive Leadership, Acquisitions, and Serving 350 Million Users as Fandom’s CFO | Ed Lu

·57 min·4 clips

The non-CFO CFO reveals why founders must design their company as carefully as their product.

Ed Liu, CFO of Fandom, joins host Lesya Kelchenko to share his journey as a "non-CFO CFO" with 23 years in finance and operations. Liu's career spans key gaming companies like Gazillion, BitLucky, and Machine Zone, where he helped scale the hit game Game of War. He currently leads finance at Fandom, a massive fan platform serving 350 million monthly users. Liu entered finance after college because it was convenient and well-paying, later merging his passion for gaming with his operational skills. He bet on the free-to-play model's rise in Western markets, moving from PC MMOs at Gazillion to mobile gaming at Machine Zone. At Fandom, he joined following TPG's investment and led a turnaround to profitability in 2019, with revenue growing over 3x and the team doubling to 500 employees. He emphasizes maintaining profitability through recent market volatility, avoiding drastic strategy shifts despite peer pressure to spend aggressively. Liu believes founders must be obsessed with product-user fit but also deliberately design their company's culture and structure as traction grows. He argues culture sustains a company during product transitions more than the product itself. His leadership style focuses on collaboration, aiming to "get to a yes" with peers by analyzing trade-offs rather than acting as a stereotypical "CFO no." He values data and intuition equally, promotes a fun team environment, and advocates for work-life integration over balance. Mentor Jim Cook taught him to storytell with data, not just present numbers, to better influence boards. Advisor Chris Carvalho encouraged board roles to build an equity portfolio, which has included several successful investments. Liu ignored early advice to get a CPA, instead doubling down on his strategic finance strengths and hiring strong controllers. He recalls raising venture debt from Hercules Capital for Machine Zone to fuel user acquisition, leveraging strong unit economics for cheaper growth capital. The conversation is educational and reflective, blending personal anecdotes with practical frameworks for scaling companies. Listeners interested in unconventional CFO paths, gaming industry dynamics, or startup financing will find valuable insights. Those seeking highly technical accounting guidance may find less relevance.

As heard by us

A grounded CFO conversation about scale, board influence, and learning to tell the story behind the numbers.

Ed Liu reads as a finance and operations leader whose real strength is judgment, not just spreadsheet fluency. The discussion connects his path, Fandom's growth, acquisitions, and the habit of turning data into a usable story for other decision-makers, which gives the piece a…

Read the full review in PlayNext →

Why you'd press play

You want a CFO playbook that feels lived-in, not polished, from a seasoned operator at Fandom.

Read the full recommendation in PlayNext →

Listen to the show on

Apple Podcasts Spotify

Play clips from this episode More from Ventured Growth with Hercules Capital