CEO-CFO Dual Role: Managing Aspiration and Discipline Efficiently

As a CEO and CFO of Block, Amrita is focused on growth, regulatory compliance, and investing in Bitcoin for the future.

### Square CFO Amrita Ahuja on Balancing Aspiration and Discipline as a Dual Role Leader
* 💼  Amrita Ahuja, as the CFO and CEO of Square, focuses on both aspiration and discipline, aiming to **capture a $200 billion TAM** while maintaining a strict focus on **unit economics and financial accountability**.
* 📉  Square's stock is down **18% year-to-date**, with multiple narratives, some closely tied to **Bitcoin**.
* 📈  At an **$8 billion annualized gross profit scale in Q1**, Square was growing **over 22% year-over-year**, serving important customer needs for small businesses and individuals.
* 🤖  Square uses technology and AI to underpin its products, aiming to **improve product velocity** to deliver **more products to customers**.
* 🏛️  Square welcomes regulation that serves consumers and works with regulators to build a **safe and secure platform** that fosters **trust over time**.
* 👥  Amrita Ahuja describes Jack Dorsey as a **visionary**, with the majority of his and Square's focus on the **mature ecosystems** of Square and Cash App, with **Bitcoin**.
* 🪙  Less than **3% of Square's CapEx** goes towards Bitcoin experiments and initiatives, but it could be a **potentially transformative investment**.
* 💰  Square continues to invest **10% of its gross profit into Bitcoin** on the balance sheet to learn about **Bitcoin custody, market transactions, and insurance**.

In my career, I've met many actually joint CFOs, CEOs, but it's a really interesting dual role where maybe at times you conflict with yourself because you have to manage the numbers and you have to run the operations of the business. What's that like? Well, first of all, thank you so much for having me here and I really appreciate it. That's right. I have to hold both things aspiration and discipline. Aspiration, because the market opportunity that we're going after is vast. Over a $200 billion TAM across financial services and commerce and discipline, because we want to do that with ruthless focus on unit economics and holding ourselves accountable to returns on those outcomes. And so as a CEO and as a CFO, I'm very focused on both and continue to show to demonstrate our progress towards our investment framework and financial targets of being a rule of 40 company in 2026. The stock is down 18% so far this year.

There are multiple stories coming with
blog, some of it very closely tied to Bitcoin.
And we can talk a little bit about about strategy.
But where would you say the company is at right now in where you're trying to
get it to? I think that we have a tremendous
opportunity ahead for growth. If you look at Q1, at an $8 billion
annualized gross profit scale, we were growing over 22% year
over year to be at that scale and to continue to demonstrate growth.
We clearly are serving very important needs on behalf of our customers,
whether small businesses with Square or the over 54 million monthly actives for
Cash app, which are individuals. We see a significant opportunity to do
more of that. We're early.
We use technology and AI to underpin all of our products, and we're focused on
improving our product velocity to ship more products to our customers.
You are early and in many ways AMRITA

regulation then has to play catch up.
I mean, it's not missed on many that they're trying to bring financial and
technology regulation into the 21st century.
That's what the last sort of Congress vote was actually on.
And I'm interested as to whether you think regulation is there in the right
place for you at the moment with. BLOCK Because there is lots of
investigations, and there's lots of people trying to get their head around
the future of crypto and payments. That's right.
And we welcome regulation as it appropriately serves consumers.
We work with regulators. We look to build a healthy ecosystem for
our customers. It's our top priority to maintain a
safe, secure platform that builds trust over time.
So ultimately that's good for block trust over time.
There has been some concerns around, for example, money laundering worries,
trading within sanctioned countries, which of course, I know is being
investigated at the moment when it comes

to Cash app.
How are you working with regulators in that to ensure that you are bringing the
level of transparency? I'm sure you have internally to those
externally we take any of those allegations extremely seriously.
We're working by investing in the appropriate areas that again, build a
healthy and safe and responsible platform for our customers, including
our compliance teams, our product teams, our risk management teams.
We are always open to feedback and want to create that appropriate dialogue with
regulators, policymakers and our company along with our customers.
Amrita When I moved to San Francisco in 2018, Jack Dorsey was probably a little
bit more closely associated with what was then called Twitter.
And a lot has changed since I've been here in the last six years.
He's now at blog and what is that like working with him and your relationship
with him and the role he plays day to day in the company?
When I look at the Bitcoin news that that came out recently, how much is that
where he's focused?

Of course, Jack is a visionary. He's now not only running our company, but also running Square. And so I would say that the vast majority of his focus and our focus is on our two mature ecosystems, the Square and with CASA, with Bitcoin. We have a stake in the future where money can move at the speed of the Internet. And we think Bitcoin is the likeliest contender to enable that vision because it is resilient. It's been battle-tested, it's secure, it's transparent, it's fairly liquid. And so, you know, what we see as we look around the world is that often the most underserved customers are the ones who have to pay the highest rates to access their money or to move money around. We think Bitcoin has the opportunity to change that. You know, we, of course, are going to be disciplined and prudent in how we invest towards that future. Less than 3% of our CapEx goes towards

Bitcoin experiments and initiatives, but it could be a potentially transformative one. I'm really interested in the investment side of it, Amrita, because, yes, you're building products. I can totally understand why you'd want to experiment for the good of the consumer, but why the balance sheet? Why continue to have 10% of gross profit going into Bitcoin? Products as well each month and indeed keeping it as an investment on the balance sheet. Yes, it's only it's 10% of Bitcoin gross profit, which is less than 5% of our overall gross profit. So it's a fairly modest sum. And what it helps us do is actually learn. It helps us understand what it means to custody Bitcoin, what it means for our Treasury teams to be out in the market buying Bitcoin, what it means with respect to insurance. There's a lot of different things that we get to learn from this relatively modest and small investment in the scope

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This CEO/CFO dual role involves managing both the business operations and financial aspects with a focus on a $200 billion market opportunity.

The company aims to be a "rule of 40" company by 2026, balancing aspiration for growth with discipline on financial targets.

With an 18% stock decrease, the company is leveraging technology and AI to drive growth and improve product delivery for its customers.

Block's Approach to Regulation and Compliance

Block welcomes and prioritizes regulation to serve consumers and build a healthy ecosystem.

The company is actively working with regulators to ensure transparency and address money laundering concerns.

Jack Dorsey's role in the company and his focus on Bitcoin are significant aspects of Block's operation and development.

Jack's Focus on Bitcoin and Its Potential Impact

Jack's primary focus is on the mature ecosystems of Square and CASA, with a strong belief in Bitcoin's potential to revolutionize the speed of money movement.

Despite being a relatively small investment, the company allocates a significant portion of its gross profit to Bitcoin, aiming to learn about Bitcoin custody, market buying, and insurance.

The goal is to experiment for the benefit of consumers and to understand the transformative potential of Bitcoin on the balance sheet.

The Impact of Asset Management on Overall Financial Health

Asset management has a significant impact on the overall financial health of an individual or organization.

It plays a crucial role in diversifying and maximizing the financial portfolio.

Proper asset management can lead to a more stable and sustainable financial future.