Hi all, I’m Thi Tran, the new Director of Finance and Operations for Wildbit. I will be managing our budgeting/forecasting process, helping with strategic planning for the company, as well as leading various projects in the People, Legal and Admin functions.
I started my career in a very traditional corporate finance path at GE in their FMP (Financial Management Program), a 2-year rotational leadership program that introduced me to the many facets of finance. It’s a great place to build a foundation in a Finance career. After about 4 years at a big company though, I wanted to do something smaller and got a great opportunity to join a growing SaaS start up in New York called Conductor. Doing finance for a startup means, and it sounds very cliché but, wearing multiple hats, and doing whatever you need to do to get things done. I spent 6 years performing typical FP&A duties but was also heavily engaged in business operations initiatives as well.
That’s the fun part about working for a small company, you get to be involved in so many different parts of the organization. It was a crazy ride at Conductor, having gone through 2 rounds of equity raises, 3 rounds of debt financing and 1 divesture. I loved my time there, learned a ton, met really great people and had a lot of fun creating an exciting product. It felt like watching my kid go off to college when Conductor was recently acquired by WeWork. As much as my husband and I loved NYC, we decided it was time to head back to Philly to be closer to family and friends. But before that, we wanted to get 1 more crazy adventure in, so we packed up our bags, and backpacked for 3 months through Asia, Australia and New Zealand. Best thing we ever did.
After moving back to Philly, I joined TiVo. Having been at one of the largest companies in the world and then the craziness of a hypergrowth startup world, I thought something in the middle would be a good balance. 2.5 years later, I increasingly missed the small company feel and knew I wanted to get back in that space. Enter Wildbit! When I read the job description, it almost sounded someone was playing a prank on me because it was exactly what I was looking for. After meeting with Natalie and Chris, I was 100% sure this was the place for me and I couldn’t be more thrilled for the opportunity.
On a personal note, I was born in Vietnam and immigrated to the states when I was 7. I grew up in South Jersey, just 15 mins outside of Philly, went to Penn State University and lived in Milwaukee and Chicago for a bit during my time at GE before calling NYC home. My husband and I have a daughter, Ella, who keeps us active and grounded. Every once in a while, we throw around the idea of moving back to NYC but then, we see Ella growing up surrounded by so many family and friends, and we know we are exactly where we are supposed to be.
I am so grateful to be on this journey with all of you and I can’t wait to see what the future holds for Wildbit!