In episode 25 of Built By Margin, Laurie Chen interviews Fahim Talukdar, VP of Finance at Praetorian, as he shares his unique career journey, starting from commercial and personal banking to his current role in a cutting-edge cybersecurity company.

Tune in to learn more about Fahim's experiences and the evolving landscape of finance in the corporate cybertechnology space.

TIMESTAMPS

[00:01:17] Career path in finance.

[00:05:05] Startup finance and forecasting.

[00:10:16] Remote work culture challenges.

[00:14:00] Tools for finance and accounting.

[00:17:22] Upgrading ERP systems.

[00:23:47] AI opportunities in finance.

[00:27:42] AI in financial modeling.

[00:30:24] Human judgment in financial metrics.

[00:34:57] Key performance metrics for CEOs.

[00:37:21] Importance of networking in finance.

[00:41:34] Insights into income.

QUOTES

• "You have to be able to adapt. You have to be able to be real with stakeholders and provide them with... guardrails to end up with an overall plan that makes sense." - Fahim Talukdar
• "What we don't want to do is just be kind of stuck in how we do things, and then there's something out there on the market that's a game change,r and we didn't know that." - Fahim Talukdar
• “If you do good work, if you make good connections, that those connections tend to open doors for you down the road.” - Fahim Talukdar

SOCIAL MEDIA LINKS

Laurie Chen

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/lauriechencpamba/

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/lauriechen/

Fahim Talukdar

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/fahimtalukdar/

WEBSITES

Built By Margin: https://www.builtbymargin.com/

Praetorian: https://www.praetorian.com/

In episode 24 of Built By Margin, Laurie Chen shares key insights from her upcoming book Risk Worthy. — In this episode, Laurie breaks down one of the core ideas from Risk Worthy: your Best Possible Future — and why it’s the missing filter most people need when making high-stakes decisions.

You’ll learn the difference between Best Self and Best Possible Future: Best Self is about the thoughts, energy, and character you bring into the world, while Best Possible Future is about the outcomes and life vision you’re building toward — your “vision board fulfilled.” Laurie explains how your Best Possible Future helps you evaluate risk through a simple, grounding question: even with uncertainty, does this move me closer to my long-term vision?

From there, she connects the concept to real decisions with real consequences — building a life-changing product, investing $100K into a startup, or choosing the right business partner — and introduces the idea of qualitative ROI: when a decision is aligned with your Best Self and Best Possible Future, you can trust that the logistics and numbers tend to resolve over a long enough horizon.

Finally, Laurie challenges the timeline assumptions behind your goals, drawing from Peter Thiel’s “Why can’t you do this in 6 months?” and Benjamin Hardy’s argument for compressing timelines to force focus, simplification, and 80/20 thinking. The episode closes with a powerful question: Is your Best Possible Future ten years away — or six months away? And what would change if you had to find out?

Key themes: Best Possible Future framework, qualitative ROI, risk-worthiness, 10x vs 10-year thinking, timeline compression, simplifying for vertical progress, decision-making under uncertainty.

QUOTES

• "The question that both Peter Thiel and Benjamin Hardy lead me to ask is: is our best possible future 10 years away or is it 6 months away? Cutting the time leads to more honest and more critical assessments about achieving the best possible future." - Laurie Chen

SOCIAL MEDIA LINKS

Laurie Chen

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/lauriechencpamba/

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/lauriechen/

WEBSITES

Risk Worthy: https://www.riskworthy.co/

Advanced CFO: https://www.advancedcfo.co/

Built By Margin: https://www.builtbymargin.com/

In episode 23 of Built By Margin, Laurie Chen interviews Sean Travis, a former firefighter-paramedic turned entrepreneur and founder of Ecom for Heroes, based in Hermosa Beach, California, as he discusses the challenges he faced, including burnout and personal loss, that led him to take a leap of faith into entrepreneurship.

Tune in to hear valuable insights on entrepreneurship and the intersection of passion and purpose in business.

TIMESTAMPS

[00:01:06] Transitioning from firefighting to entrepreneurship.

[00:04:39] Teaching and coaching first responders.

[00:09:56] Overcoming imposter syndrome.

[00:11:41] Imposter syndrome in entrepreneurship.

[00:16:01] Daily habits for creativity.

[00:20:46] Financial growth and strategy.

[00:23:08] Cash flow forecasting importance.

[00:26:26] Client contract strategies.

[00:32:49] Client contracts and communication.

[00:35:01] AI's impact on business growth.

[00:39:19] AI product discovery dashboard.

[00:43:26] Optimizing treatment protocols with AI.

[00:45:12] AI tools for business efficiency.

[00:48:43] Google Gemini integration benefits.

QUOTES

• "Believing in reminding myself daily that I am enough." -Sean Travis
• "You cannot find the solution with the same mindset that gave you the problem." -Sean Travis
• "If you're going to pick one, pick one that integrates the most with your life."-Sean Travis

SOCIAL MEDIA LINKS

Laurie Chen

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/lauriechencpamba/

Facebook:https://www.facebook.com/lauriechencpamba

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/lauriechen/

Sean Travis

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/ecomforheroes/?hl=en

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ecomforheroes/

WEBSITES

Built By Margin: https://www.builtbymargin.com/