In this episode of Fiscally Awesome, Hiline CEO Matt Gardner sits down with multi-time founder Eli Portnoy to explore how customer obsession directly drives financial success. As the CEO of BackEngine and veteran of three successful companies, Eli reveals why most businesses are flying blind when it comes to understanding their customers—and how that ignorance costs them real money.

What You'll Learn:

• Why customer sentiment is a leading indicator of financial performance
• How "going quiet" is actually your biggest churn warning sign (not complaints!)
• Why setting up finance infrastructure on day one saves you massive pain later
• The AI revolution that's finally making customer intelligence scalable
• Real examples of how customer feedback directly impacts revenue and retention

Related Links:

• BackEngine: https://www.backengine.com/
• Connect with Eli Portnoy on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/eliportnoy/
• Connect with Matt Gardner on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/mattgardnercpa/
• Book mentioned: "The Hard Thing About Hard Things" by Ben Horowitz: https://www.amazon.com/Hard-Thing-About-Things-Building/dp/0062273205
• Hiline x Digits: https://www.hiline.co/services/real-time-accounting

About Fiscally Awesome
Want to unfu*k your finances? Fiscally Awesome is produced by Hiline, where we make small business finances stress-free so you can focus on building a great company. Visit our website or connect with us on LinkedIn to learn more.

Hosted by Matt Gardner, CEO and Co-Founder of Hiline. New episodes drop every other Thursday.