Be a Corporate Athlete

⏰ Today in 5 minutes or less:

• Performing your absolute best requires optimizing your biomarkers.

• Awareness of your habits can prevent you from sabotaging yourself.

• Great with numbers? You might like being a fractional CFO.

Becoming a Corporate Athlete With Mariela Hunter

What’s the secret to performing your best at every high-stakes moment? 

For Mariela Hunter, the answer lies in demystifying cutting-edge neuroscience to help people (especially high-performing executives) perform at their peak. 

Two years ago, I got really interested in the idea of the “corporate athlete” and optimizing mental performance through better physical well-being.  

After seeing how LeBron James and Rick Fox applied these principles, I knew Mariela would have insights to help high-functioning people because she did the work to simplify it for us. 

With a background as a fractional executive and co-founder of synapptic.ai, Mariela is uniquely positioned to discuss how data, biomarkers, and personalized insights can empower you to excel at work and in life. 

In this interview, she shares her journey from corporate burnout to building an app for “corporate athletes” – along with her vision for the future of performance optimization through AI. 

Check out the full interview here:

First, I want to congratulate you because I heard that synapptic.ai will be available on the Google App Store. Can you tell us more about this app and what you’re doing? 

Mariela: We started by interviewing over 100 corporates and entrepreneurs who felt like their mental performance is slowly declining over the years. We asked them about the challenges that they’re facing, the things they tried to improve that, and how it worked for them. They gave us the top performing apps they used and compared those. 

But here’s one question that’s missing – how much do you actually care about performing your absolute best? 

When you have multiple back-to-back meetings and there’s no time to prepare for some of them, you tend to just show up and hope for the best. You might also be great at something you do, but you can’t be good at absolutely everything you do every day – there are little things you wish you could do without. 

And maybe that's where we talk about AI agents. Like “I'd rather not do that, but you have to do it.” There are other things that you’re required to perform at your best, but don't have the data. 

Think of top performing athletes and their coaches, everything is being measured because the sole focus is to maximize the performance of the athlete and increase the likelihood of winning at any point. This means checking the environment, studying the opponents, evaluating the biomarkers – nothing goes unmeasured. 

But when it comes to our corporate lives, we don’t measure anything about ourselves – that’s the irony. People in business make every decision based on data, so why is it that when it comes to our overall health and brain performance, we’re happy to go along without any data and not knowing anything. 

Knowing that you have all the biomarkers and conditions optimized when you do get to that stage means you're going to be at your absolute best. And this is where synapptic.ai comes in. 

So, what’s the solution? What is synapptic.ai looking at that’s different from the other apps? 

Mariela: For some context, I went through a major health crash that when I was looking for solutions myself, I couldn’t find anything like this. 

When it came to the actual solutions, the experts that were trying to treat me weren’t in the business of trying to cure me.  

In a podcast by Daniel Eamon, he was explaining the concept of managed care and how a patient cured is a customer lost. From there, I thought “I’m not going to be curing myself, so why don’t I take the next step? Get the data about what these doctors are doing for the diagnosis and move to the treatment myself.” 

And so, I started speaking to them and reading their textbooks – but it was so painful, Lauren, because these are all written to be peer-reviewed, not by someone who’s in a different field. I also made sure to filter through the papers – no mice-based results, pharma funded studies, or other things that might lead to distortion. 

After organizing the information, I started developing the protocols for synapptic.ai. 

We have four protocols, and the first one is sleep. It’s absolutely essential because none of these precautions would work if you don’t have sleep. The next one is focus and productivity. It includes protocols to get you into the flow state and stay there longer. The third one is general wellbeing, but it’s still being worked on since it’s becoming too broad. 

Those three are coming in the first version of the beta and then the AI gets integrated. With AI, you can get neuroscience AI precision, which means it’s ultimately optimized on what’s happening on your biomarkers every day – not just over time. This causes the AI to be more proactive. 

Imagine you have that big meeting next Thursday, but you didn’t get a good sleep for the last couple of nights, your diet isn’t the best, and your stress levels are particularly high because of something that happened unexpectedly. 

Synapptic.ai will start telling you in a proactive way about what’s happening, which will make you more thoughtful of how you will spend the next days – which ones should you tackle first or what do you need to change? 

The protocols are split between bust and boost. ‘Bust’ is for the things you need to stop and the ‘Boost’ is for the things you want to start doing. It’s a simple concept, but unless you do the ‘bust’ first, you can’t get ‘boost.’ 

Sometimes, it’s just awareness of the little things and habits we do that will prevent us from sabotaging ourselves. 

Let’s switch the focus a bit. How is AI transforming reactive support functions by organizing data and using customer interactions to boost efficiency? 

Mariela: Let’s split it into two parts. First is when you think about customer support functions all done by humans as purely troubleshooting. When you interview the customer, the customer support team starts looking at the data over a certain period of time to identify trends. 

Typically, about 80% of the reasons why people call is related to just five or six reasons. They will just have different wordings for the questions they want to ask, so there will be differences in triggers. 

But all of these are cataloged. When somebody new comes in and they undergo training, they will have access to a library of data that has the troubleshooting procedures and types of responses they can use to attend to the customer. That kind of data already exists and every time there’s a call; the library keeps getting richer. 

Now, the second part is how you want the agent to interact with the clients. You want them to be polite, ask the right questions, and keep the customer satisfied at every step. You also want them to have a personality, so you give them values of how you want them to feel and interact – all that’s needed in soft skill training. 

You also do the same thing with an AI agent – you give them expectations of how to treat a customer and what language to use. With all of those things factored in, you give them a definition of success. It’s the same process as how you train humans in a support team. 

On the surface, it sounds pretty straightforward. But at the time we were starting, these tools were incredibly clunky. You had to do so much coding to get it to work in the way you needed it to.  

Fast forward to today, all those things has improved so much that these different types of tasks requiring prompts from engineers and data analysts are made redundant. It’s becoming much easier to do these things with AI.  

What We Can Learn From Mariela Hunter: 

1. Perform like a corporate athlete. Mariela emphasizes the importance of using data to optimize sleep, focus, and overall well-being to perform at your best during high-stakes moments, much like how top athletes are coached and measured. 

2. AI can help manage your performance. Synapptic.ai uses biomarkers and AI to help users proactively manage their mental and physical state, alerting them to areas that need attention before big events. It integrates data from multiple sources and offers personalized insights to help users perform better when it counts. 

3. AI revolutionizes support and sales. AI agents are transforming reactive customer support by organizing data, automating troubleshooting, and enhancing customer interactions. The future of sales and support will be hybrid, where humans and AI work together for maximum efficiency and personalized service. 

Master the Game of Numbers as a Fractional CFO

How are you with numbers?

If spreadsheets are your playground and formulas are second nature, you might want to lean into this: a career as a Fractional CFO. 

I’ve been talking to some fractional CFOs recently and let me tell you – they’re playing an entirely different numbers game. They step into growing businesses, like startups and SMEs, and help them navigate financial chaos. 

Why? Because many of these companies can't afford a full-time CFO but still desperately need someone to sort out their balance sheets, fundraising strategies, and overall financial outlook. 

If that sounds like your jam, let me share what I’ve picked up from the conversations. 

Financial Strategists for Hire: What Do Fractional CFOs Do? 

Fractional CFOs are essentially financial strategists for hire. They swoop into companies that are either scaling fast or in financial trouble and lend their expertise part-time. 

Unlike a full-time CFO who’s tied to one organization, fractional CFOs juggle multiple clients, keeping their schedules flexible and staying sharp across various industries. 

Here are the kinds of messes they clean up:  

• Company Finances: A classic. When startups start growing, their financial statements become a web of chaos. Fractional CFOs step in to provide clarity and direction into every financial function, including treasury, accounting, compliance, and more. 

• FP&A Strategy Optimization: They’re experts in translating strategy into budgets and financial forecasts. 

• Systems Implementation: Setting up scalable financial systems is vital for companies to keep up with their growth. 

• Capital Infusion: Startups often live and die by their ability to secure funding. Fractional CFOs are the ones preparing the books and arranging those crucial fundraising efforts. 

• Transaction Audits: Think of audits, cash flow monitoring, and compliance as the unglamorous yet essential part of the job. 

The High Stakes: What’s Driving the Need for Fractional CFOs 

By late 2023, CFO turnover hit a four-year high of 15%, leaving many companies scrambling without financial leadership. 

Enter fractional CFOs: the go-to solution for navigating transitions and tackling complex projects. According to the Business Talent Group, the demand for interim CFOs soared 103% last year, as businesses leaned on fractional experts to steady the ship. 

Here are more reasons why companies prefer hiring fractional CFOs: 

1. Cost Savings: Hiring a full-time CFO is expensive – think of salary, bonuses, and benefits. Fractional CFOs bring in high-level expertise without the full-time price tag. 

2. Specialized Expertise: They solve complex problems that internal accountants can’t handle. It’s like having a secret weapon for specific financial battles. 

3. Flexibility: Businesses can scale up or down based on their needs. It’s like having a CFO on speed dial, but only when you really need them. 

The healthcare and tech industries are especially buzzing for fractional CFOs. Startups and private equity firms are also clamoring for them to keep their portfolios optimized. 

The Prize Pool for Fractional CFOs 

Here’s another thing to pull you into this niche: fractional CFOs earn about $100 to $500 per hour, depending on the experience and industry. Many prefer retainers or project-based pricing, which gives them more predictable income. 

The best part? Clients value results. If you can show a company how to save a million bucks or secure a multi-million-dollar fundraising round, you can absolutely justify premium rates. 

Your Secret Weapons as a Fractional CFO 

Being a fractional CFO offers a lot of benefits, but it’s not a role that suits everyone. 

If you want to make in this niche, you need a blend of technical and interpersonal skills, including: 

• Technical Expertise. You need to know your way around financial forecasting, compliance, and strategic planning. Having a CPA or CFA background is definitely an advantage. 

• Adaptability. One CFO told me, “You have to be a chameleon.” You’re dealing with different industries and business models all the time. 

• Communication Skills. It’s not just numbers. Explaining complex data to stakeholders in a way that drives action is a must. 

Your Game Plan to Stand Out 

If you think the fractional CFO niche is a great fit for you, here’s how you can get started according to the pros: 

• Leverage your network. Most fractional CFOs land their gigs through referrals. One told me, “Your network is your net worth in this line of work.” 

• Optimize your online presence. Make sure your LinkedIn profile screams “financial guru.” 

• Equip yourself with tools. Get comfortable with software like QuickBooks, NetSuite, or industry-specific tools.

• Focus on marketing. Build a portfolio of case studies. Highlight measurable wins like cutting costs or improving cash flow. 

One tip I heard repeatedly: Don’t be shy about marketing yourself. Write articles, share insights on LinkedIn, and let people know what you bring to the table. 

Another approach is to build a portfolio packed with case studies that show off your adaptability and industry know-how.

Prospective clients want one thing: clear proof that you can tackle their unique challenges head-on.

Make it easy for them to see why you’re the right fit. 

The Endgame: Fractional CFOs Are Here to Stay 

The consensus? Fractional CFOs are no passing trend.

They’re the Swiss Army knives of financial leadership – adaptable, effective, and cost-efficient. 

If you’ve got the financial chops and want a flexible, impactful career, this niche might just be your next big move.

As one CFO put it, “It’s the perfect balance of strategy and freedom.” 

And really, isn’t that the dream? 

Make Them Care in 5 Seconds

Stop introducing yourself by talking about your job. It's boring and no one cares. 

Your introduction with a client matters, so make them care in 5 seconds. 

Whether it’s a meeting or a LinkedIn headline, make sure clients lean in and don’t tune out. Speak to their goals, show how you solve their challenges, and build trust from the get-go. 

This article nails it – emphasizing how great intros focus on the value you bring instead of what you do. 

Remember, the path to success is paved with continuous learning and embracing fresh perspectives.

Let's stay connected, share ideas, and elevate your consulting business.

Stay curious, friends.

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