{"$schema":"https://raw.githubusercontent.com/jsonresume/resume-schema/v1.0.0/schema.json","basics":{"name":"Suraj Jain","label":"Chief Financial Officer & Capital Allocator","image":"https://saywise-production-profilepicturestoragebucket-kbfooccc.s3.amazonaws.com/profile-pictures/e021c970-acc9-4a63-9611-880d8153c95d/linkedin-1791235628990.jpg","summary":"Operator-first CFO and dealmaker with 15+ years building and scaling companies through buy-and-build M&A, FP&A infrastructure, and value creation. Built Begin's finance function from the ground up while scaling the company from $1MM to $75MM peak ARR and structuring $370MM+ in financing and five acquisitions totaling $220MM+ in enterprise value.","location":{"city":"New York City, NY, United States"},"profiles":[{"network":"LinkedIn","username":"suraj757","url":"https://linkedin.com/in/suraj757"}]},"meta":{"canonical":"https://saywise.com/member8584","version":"v1.0.0","lastModified":"2026-10-05T22:21:42.801Z"},"x_saywise":{"handle":"member8584","pronouns":null,"availability":null,"oneLiner":"Operator-first CFO and dealmaker with 15+ years building and scaling companies through buy-and-build M&A, FP&A infrastructure, and value creation. Built Begin's finance function from the ground up while scaling the company from $1MM to $75MM peak ARR and structuring $370MM+ in financing and five acquisitions totaling $220MM+ in enterprise value.","profileUrl":"https://saywise.com/member8584","markdownUrl":"https://saywise.com/member8584/profile.md","pdfUrl":"https://saywise.com/member8584/resume.pdf","archetype":{"code":"HB-DG","name":"All-Terrain Navigator","url":"https://saywise.com/sca/ca9301c0d622","rarity":"One of the first All-Terrain Navigators on Saywise"},"aiStack":[{"name":"Claude","description":"My daily driver for finance workflows","url":"https://claude.ai","storyCount":0},{"name":"Codex","description":"My daily driver for finance workflows","url":"https://developers.openai.com","storyCount":0},{"name":"Gemini","description":"occasionally for deep research","url":"https://gemini.google.com","storyCount":0}]},"work":[{"name":"Begin","position":"Chief Financial Officer","location":"New York, NY","url":"https://beginlearning.com","startDate":"2025-07-01","summary":"Partner with CEO and board on capital allocation, financing, and M&A strategy. Own treasury, multi-entity US and international reporting, and consolidated financial planning across five P&Ls. Built an AI-enabled finance stack and reduced cloud operating spend 45% through infrastructure optimization. Lead a 15-person finance organization spanning FP&A, accounting, data analytics, and fulfillment."},{"name":"BEGiN","position":"Vice President, Strategy and Corporate Development","location":"Greater New York City Area","url":"https://beginlearning.com","startDate":"2014-10-01","endDate":"2025-06-01","summary":"• Created and led cross-functional growth teams that owned A/B Testing across iOS, Android, and our Website • Shifted monetization model from freemium to free trial, which improved conversion rates by 220% • Supported marketing and BD partnership goals of adding subscribers and improving conversion rates • Led an agile scrum team to optimize conversion and retention • Launched a major app redesign featuring personalized pathways that improved conversion, increased retention by 35%, and delivered better learning outcomes for kids (while being more fun for them too!) • Tested onboarding flows, landing pages, referral program, new features, brand positioning, etc. that resulted in industry-leading mobile conversion according to Apple benchmarks"},{"name":"ClassPass","position":"Finance & Operations Manager","location":"New York City Metropolitan Area","url":"https://classpass.com","startDate":"2014-03-01","endDate":"2014-09-01","summary":"Ran finance and operations through Series Seed and Series A fundraising as the team scaled from 9 to 80+ employees. Owned the operating model, budgeting, and projections. Redesigned cancellation policy which cut fee incidence 80% and lifted gross margin 4 percentage points."},{"name":"FinLit.com","position":"Co-founder and Head of Business Operations","location":"New York City Metropolitan Area","startDate":"2012-10-01","endDate":"2014-03-01","summary":"Co-founded a financial education startup for young adults. Built the product strategy and business model from the ground up."},{"name":"Houlihan Lokey","position":"Investment Banking Analyst – Financial Restructuring","location":"New York, New York","startDate":"2009-07-01","endDate":"2012-10-01","summary":"Led debtor- and creditor-side restructuring mandates, equity raises, and M&A work including Six Flags' $2.4B restructuring as an advisor to the Board. Built DCFs, LBOs, 13-week cash flows, and liquidation analyses across multiple complex transactions."},{"name":"Houlihan Lokey","position":"Summer Analyst","startDate":"2008-06-01","endDate":"2008-08-01"},{"name":"GEICO","position":"Management Intern","url":"https://geico.com","startDate":"2007-06-01","endDate":"2007-08-01"},{"name":"Virginia Beach Leadership Workshop","position":"Staff Member","startDate":"2005-01-01","endDate":"2005-01-01"}],"education":[{"institution":"University of Virginia","studyType":"BS in Commerce with a Concentration in Finance and Management","startDate":"2005-01-01","endDate":"2009-01-01"},{"institution":"University of Virginia, McIntire School of Commerce","studyType":"B.S. in Commerce with a Concentration in Finance and Management"}],"skills":[{"name":"Executive Development"},{"name":"Capital Allocation"},{"name":"Fundraising"},{"name":"Financial Forecasting"},{"name":"E-Commerce"},{"name":"Scenario Planning"},{"name":"Financial Oversight"},{"name":"Operations Management"},{"name":"M&A Execution"},{"name":"SaaS Metrics"},{"name":"Financial Planning and Analysis (FP&A)"},{"name":"Deals"},{"name":"Prioritization"},{"name":"Teamwork"},{"name":"Product Strategy"},{"name":"Cross-functional Team Leadership"},{"name":"Strategic Planning"},{"name":"Deal Sourcing"},{"name":"Market Analysis"},{"name":"Financial Structuring"},{"name":"Buy-and-build"},{"name":"Equity financing"},{"name":"Debt financing"},{"name":"Operating model"},{"name":"Monthly close"},{"name":"GAAP accounting"},{"name":"Audit coordination"},{"name":"Treasury management"},{"name":"13-week cash forecasting"},{"name":"Multi-entity consolidation"},{"name":"Pricing strategy"},{"name":"Unit economics"},{"name":"Cohort analysis"},{"name":"LTV/CAC"},{"name":"Retention analysis"},{"name":"Contribution margin"},{"name":"Channel economics"},{"name":"AI product economics"},{"name":"Cost-to-serve analysis"},{"name":"Post-merger integration"},{"name":"Deal structuring"},{"name":"Earnouts"},{"name":"Seller notes"},{"name":"Revenue-based financing"},{"name":"Business valuation"},{"name":"DCF analysis"},{"name":"LBO analysis"},{"name":"Product-led growth"},{"name":"P&L management"},{"name":"Data analytics"}]}