Job Title: Chief Financial Officer
Location: Berlin, Germany
Christian Müller is Chief Financial Officer at Moss, a technology-driven platform for holistic spend management. Moss’ mission is to take the pain out of spend management by digitising SMBs’ financial workflows. With Moss, finance departments gain real-time visibility and control over all expenses and boost productivity across the business. Müller has more than 10 years’ experience as a finance professional, working across CFO roles and investment banking, M&A and global capital markets financing. Before joining Moss, Müller was Chief Financial Officer at Spotcap Global, where he was driven by a desire to empower SMBs with customised finance. He also held the role of Director at Deutschebank, where he was responsible for capital raising efforts across all global markets as well as ‘bulge bracket’ M&A advisory across buy and sell sides, as well as IPOs.
What was the most valuable piece of career advice that you received? As old fashioned as it may sound, it would have to be ‘If talent doesn’t work hard, hard work beats talent’. It’s been an invaluable piece of advice for me both early on in my career and as a manager and decision-maker too. Particularly in the world we live in at the moment, where talent is hard to come by – every employer wants to hire individuals with drive and passion, and hard work will always be something that makes you stand out and ultimately become indispensable to your team.
What was the worst piece of business advice that you received? Well, I think it might also have to be ‘If talent doesn’t work hard, hard work beats talent’!
As valuable as this has been, I’ve also learnt over the years that there is much more to being good at your job than ‘just’ hard work. You need to build up good instincts and be able to tell in which moments to take a leap, and when it’s better to proceed with caution. Interpersonal skills are paramount to success, and having trust within your team is absolutely essential – without it, your project is a non-starter.
What advice would you give to someone starting their career in IT/tech? Understand how engineers work, think, and engage. In the end, any company must depend on the quality of their output. The more you understand how your company is actually built, the better you can be at communicating your vision and finding solutions that actually work.
Did you always want to work in IT/tech? Given I spent 15 years working in the Finance sector, the answer to this would have to be “No”.
However, now being in tech, what has really been the most interesting part for me is the ability it gives you to re-shape businesses, industries, and value chains. The use cases for technology are truly endless, and it’s fascinating to be part of that journey to find out where we can go next with technology’s help.
What was your first job in IT/tech? I moved straight from a role in finance as a director of a bank, to taking on a position as the Chief Financial Officer for a Fintech company where I was responsible for the Finance, Legal, and Compliance departments. In that respect, my career journey in the sector has not evolved much from there!
What are some common misconceptions about working in IT/tech? The single biggest misconception with working in IT/Tech has to be that it’s all about coding. It is not. Connecting coding to the underlying customer pain point is just as important, so there is a lot of work in technology that is far more human and connected to understanding the way we do things and what can make our lives easier. Only by understanding customer pain points can we start to make things better.
What tips would you give to someone aiming for a c-level position? I think the quickest way would be to actually found a company yourself. However, this is probably also the hardest way. The other way to approach getting to a C-level position is to prepare and act as if you already have your boss’ job title.
What are your career ambitions and have you reached them yet? It’s been 20 years since I’ve finished university, but I have always wanted to go back in some shape or form, whether it’s being part of the faculty or becoming a guest lecturer. My ambition is to help deliver valuable knowledge and insights to the next generation of tech disruptors.
Do you have a good work life balance in your current role? Funnily enough, I think I do have a good work-life balance, however, if you ask my friends and family, they would think differently – I work too much and don’t spend enough time outside of work. I truly believe that having a genuine interest in what you do for a living is a blessing, but even then one must ensure the balance is achieved. Time is a non-renewable commodity and has to be valued as such.
What, if anything, would you change about the route your career path has taken? If I could go back in time, the only thing I would do differently is change the roles more often. Every single detour I’ve taken throughout my career has immensely expanded my knowledge and put me on a different learning curve, and I wish I had more opportunities to explore different routes.
Which would you recommend: A coding bootcamp or a computer science degree? Without a doubt, I would recommend attending a coding bootcamp rather than a computer science degree. If you want to learn the basics, it’s always more beneficial to do so with the actual practitioners. However, it’s not as simple as attending the bootcamp and becoming a tech genius – you’ve got to do self-studies afterwards to continue honing your skills. The tech industry evolves every single time, and, as a practitioner yourself, you have to do the same to stay on top!
How important are specific certifications? After my master studies I wanted to do a PhD as I thought this would significantly bolster my career outlook. I would not take that view anymore today. In exchange I did a CFA in parallel to junior M&A years which to be honest also only very few people ever asked about. In general one should very precisely assess if a certain certification is a real plus for one or the other profession, speak to active professionals about it and only then commit to it. As a rule of thumb I believe real working experience rarely ever is a weak decision.
In reality, I think you should assess if a certain certification is useful for your career, and speaking to other practitioners should help you make the decision and commit to it. As a rule of thumb though, having a real working experience is always the way forward.
What are the three skills or abilities you look for in prospective candidates? The three key aspects I look for are intellectual curiosity, reasonableness and common sense and technical knowledge – which the latter potentially being a Finance specific spike. When interviewing candidates, first of all I always look out for intellectual curiosity and whether the person is willing to ask questions. Then I see whether they have rationality and common sense to help them make fair decisions. And finally, I look for technical knowledge – having the financial industry knowledge is important, however having the first two abilities is much more essential, in my opinion.
What would put you off a candidate? If a candidate has been constantly job-hopping with short stints and opportunistic reasoning, that’s an instant red flag to me. I think you need at least 9 to 15 months to really understand your role and the business model that your company operated in. Afterwards, the next 12-15 months are probably the ones with the steepest learning curve. So, ideally I’d be looking for a candidate who stayed in a position for at least two to three years before making a move.
What are the most common mistakes made by candidates in an interview? How can those mistakes be avoided? Candidates should always have a basic understanding of the business they are applying for. They should also be prepared to answer why exactly they want to join the company in the particular role. Surprisingly, many candidates make a common mistake of interrupting the interviewer, which could be attributed to nervousness, so I would suggest paying attention to this during the interview and making sure you pause before answering the question.
And remember, honestly stating that you don’t know the answer to the particular question is absolutely okay, especially if you can demonstrate that you understood it regardless of the answer. However, waffling always comes across as a weakness, so again, taking a pause before answering should help with collecting your thoughts and slowing down your pace.
Do you think it is better to have technical or business skills – or a mix of both? If you look at junior roles, having technical skills is more important as you are more likely to serve as an individual contributor. On the flip side, a senior person with solely business skills doesn’t sound right either. So, to avoid generalisation, you can put it this way – your role is very important and will most probably define the right amount of skills you should have in that function. For example, a Salesperson can be very successful without any technical skills, however someone in Finance won’t be able to progress far without them. Ideally, it’s always better to have a mix of technical and business skills.