Startup to Scaleup: The Importance of Maturing Finance Functions
BlueRock and Mighty Partners are pleased to host Startup to Scale-up: the Importance of Maturing Finance Functions.
This is an exclusive panel discussion designed for CFOs and finance leads of growing technology businesses, navigating the shift from early-stage survival to sustainable scale.
As your business grows, so does the role of finance. Our panel of experts will explore how today’s CFO must evolve from managing compliance and cash flow to shaping strategy, enabling commercial teams, and guiding capital decisions.
You'll hear from experts on how to structure a high-impact finance function—covering the systems, talent, and processes needed to support growth without creating unnecessary complexity.
Panellists
Daniel Eason: Director, BlueRock
Darren Betts: Chief Financial Officer at Amber Electric
Matt Leibowitz: Founder, Stake
David Putt: VP Commercial & Operations, BoardOutlook, former Head of Strategic Finance, LinkTree
Moderator to be confirmed.
About the Speakers
Daniel Eason: Dan specialises in buy & sell side transaction advisory, financial due diligence, modelling and business valuations.
With 21 years’ experience—including 16 in mid-tier firms and 5 as CFO of a impact investment fund—he combines deep technical expertise with commercial insight.
Dan holds a Bachelor of Business (Accounting), is a Chartered Accountant, and has graduate qualifications in Innovation & Entrepreneurship and Financial Modelling & Valuation.
He continues to advise high-growth businesses as their outsourced CFO and is known for his practical, hands-on approach with executive teams.
Darren Betts: Darren Betts is the Chief Financial Officer of Amber Electric, one of Australia’s most prominent energy scale-ups, where he has helped steer the company through rapid growth—including its recent $45M capital raise.
With over 20 years of financial leadership across energy, manufacturing, and tech-enabled services, Darren brings deep experience in scaling finance functions in complex, regulated sectors. Prior to Amber, he held CFO roles at Flow Power and Envirosuite, and led finance teams at BlueScope Steel and Tenix Solutions across Australia and Southeast Asia.
A Fellow of CPA Australia and GAICD, Darren is known for his hands-on leadership, commercial discipline, and ability to build high-performance finance teams that enable scale, manage risk, and support strategic decision-making.
Matt Leibowitz: Matt is the founder of digital brokerage Stake, launched in 2017 to open up direct access to U.S. markets for Australian investors. Under his leadership, Stake scaled to become Australia’s third-largest online broker, now serving over 500,000 local customers and backed by a $90M Series A.
Before transitioning to Executive Director in 2024, Matt oversaw Stake’s financial and operational engine—guiding it from early-stage product to a $480M business. He built core infrastructure, scaled teams, and led complex capital raises and compliance as the company expanded into ASX trading and SMSFs.
Prior to Stake, Matt led trading teams at global firm Optiver and was an early capital provider to Zip. He’s also a founding investor in Bridgit, a non-bank lender processing ~$1B in annual volume.
For finance leaders navigating growth, Matt brings deep insight into scaling capital-intensive, regulated businesses—balancing operational discipline with commercial velocity.
David Putt: David Putt is a finance and operations leader with experience across both high-growth tech companies and global media and consumer brands. He is currently VP Commercial & Operations at BoardOutlook, and previously held the role of Head of Strategic Finance and Corporate Development at Linktree.
Prior to this his multi-disciplinary background spanned roles within Disney, 7-Eleven, investment banking and law, where he developed sector expertise across SaaS, eCommerce, Media and the Creator Economy.
Having led teams in both Australia and the United States he’s particularly interested in developing disciplined capital allocation cultures that complement the needs of fast-moving, global businesses.
Event Organisers
BlueRock is a multidisciplinary advisory firm supporting founders and leaders to grow successful businesses, and individuals with wealth creation, to forge strong financial futures. BlueRock is a purpose-led B Corp that places great importance on culture, technology and innovation to deliver incredible outcomes for clients. BlueRock's experts in business and wealth are trusted partners for over 7,000 clients Australia-wide.
Visit website: https://www.bluerock.com.au/
Mighty Partners is a growth credit lender providing non-dilutive capital to high-growth private and ASX-listed companies across Australia and New Zealand. The firm focuses on software, technology-enabled businesses, and other innovation-led sectors.
Visit website: https://www.mightypartners.com.au/