Good morning, CFOs. Plaid has earned right to “pick our time” to go public, CFO Seun Sodipo says; Mark Maurer and Chip Cutter on why work has become so joyless: ‘A funeral in the office right now.’; inflation hits the basic cup of Joe.

A pro-business Trump administration. Chatter of animal spirits fueling demand. And high profile listings in the pipeline including SpaceX, OpenAI and Anthropic. The 2026 IPO market started with great promise.

As IPO preparations continue, Plaid’s finance chief Seun Sodipo says her company can afford to wait for the right moment to go public, she told the WSJ Leadership Institute’s Kristin Broughton in an exclusive Q&A.

Sodipo is focused on growth, and the fintech company is seeing results: Annual recurring revenue last year climbed 40% from the year earlier, to more than $500 million, according to Plaid. That’s up from a pace of 27% in 2024. Plaid also said it turned a full-year profit on an adjusted earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization basis.

Sodipo, who joined Plaid in October, previously served as finance chief at Glossier, the cosmetics company, and before that held senior roles at fintech company Stripe. Here are edited excerpts of a recent conversation she had with CFO Journal.

What are some high points from your first months at Plaid?

I believe very much in finance not being your laptop, but out in the business. So I would say upleveling our understanding of the business drivers across the business and really educating the company.

We do an all-hands every month. And a big idea of my role there is not just to report on results, but to make sure the entire company understands what’s driving it—even understands the financial metrics. So it’s giving a fluency in financial language so that people then have confidence in their understanding of what’s driving the business.

Any update on Plaid’s IPO plans?

My key focus is, first of all, to build a company that can exist as an independent company that delivers long-term, durable, sustainable growth. What drew me to Plaid is, this is a company that I know has every right—that we’re building into a company that can withstand the scrutiny of public markets.

As it comes to IPO, it’s part of my mandate to get us ready if and when we believe the timing is right to go public. For me, it’s a moment in time. It really is about the fundamentals of the business.

Read on here, for the full Q&A.

Monday

Earnings: Virgin Galactic Holdings

Tuesday

Earnings: FactSet Research Systems, McCormick, Nike and PVH

S&P Cotality releases its Case-Shiller U.S. National Home Price Index for January.

The Conference Board releases its Consumer Confidence Index for March.

The Bureau of Labor Statistics releases the Job Openings and Labor Turnover Survey.

Wednesday

Earnings: Conagra Brands and Lamb Weston Holdings

The Census Bureau reports retail and food service sales for February.

The Institute for Supply Management releases its Manufacturing Purchasing Managers’ Index for March.

Thursday

Earnings: Acuity

Friday

Equity markets are closed in observance of Good Friday. The bond market closes early, at 12 p.m. Eastern time.

307 is today’s data point of the day. CFOs at large U.S. companies mentioned “efficiency” at least once on that many conference calls in the latest quarter as of March 26, up from 219 a year earlier and the highest level since at least 2020, according to AlphaSense.

In their search for efficiencies, executives say it’s a delicate balance in gauging what perks, if any, to eliminate. Trimming the wine budget is one thing; touching the office snacks, like bananas or Kind bars, can be a no-go, Mark Maurer and Chip Cutter reported over the weekend.

“You can cut too far or make people feel less valued in the workplace and they’ll just go work for the competition,” said Ken Bowles, CFO of packaging giant Smurfit Westrock.

Here’s one striking anecdote: For employees at a Dell Technologies office, mornings used to start with a tiny dose of joy. The office coffee machines doled out free daily espresso shots, a small perk that workers relished. Then came the buzz kill: Last year the company started charging staffers a fee every time they used the machine.

The cost, while small, felt like what one worker described as the “cherry on top” of a demoralizing work culture beset by layoffs and overwhelming workloads. “Honestly, it feels like a funeral in the office right now,” said the employee, who pointed out that the coffee was just OK.

That anecdote reminded me of one of my favorite sports movies, Moneyball. That’s the cinematic adaptation of Michael Lewis’s telling of Oakland A's general manager Billy Beane and his successful attempt to remake the small market baseball team on a tight budget, by employing data and analysis to acquire less expensive players to build a competitive team.

In one notable scene, the aging star player David Justice’s character questions why the Oakland A’s organization charges the pro athletes for soda out of vending machines.

“And how come soda is $1 in the clubhouse?” Justice asks. “I’ve never seen it like that.”

“Billy likes to keep the money on the field,” the Jonah Hill character responds.

“Soda money? Really?” Justice responds.

For the full story, read on here:

• How Working in America Became So Joyless

• Why the Cost of Your Coffee Has Soared—and Isn’t Going Down Soon
• Heard: Food Megamergers Hardly Ever Work. Could McCormick-Unilever Be Different?
• Silicon Valley Has Stopped Talking Politics—Except for This Google Executive
• How Long Before Airport Security Lines Go Back to Normal?
• Politico Picks an Insider as Its New Editor in Chief

The Wall Street Journal's CFO Journal offers corporate leaders and professionals CFO analysis, advice and commentary to make informed decisions. We cover topics including corporate tax, accounting, regulation, capital markets, management and strategy.

Follow us on X @WSJCFO. The WSJ CFO Journal Team comprises reporters Kristin Broughton, Mark Maurer and Jennifer Williams, and Bureau Chief Walden Siew.

You can reach us by replying to any newsletter, or email Walden at walden.siew@wsj.com.