Events

Join us for a high impact discussion with leading investors and operators as we examine how AI is reshaping the financial and operating metrics that define successful SaaS businesses today.

From growth efficiency and retention to margin durability, AI ROI, and cost volatility, this session will explore how venture capital, private equity, and public market investors are re evaluating performance in the age of AI. We’ll dig into what has changed, what still matters, and where traditional SaaS metrics fall short as companies integrate AI into their products, pricing, and cost structures.

Designed for CFOs and finance leaders, this conversation will offer practical insights into how top investors assess AI enabled SaaS companies—and how finance teams can better measure, communicate, and defend value creation in a rapidly evolving market.

Learning Objectives:

Speakers:

Bill Choi
CFO
Nile

Bill Choi is a CFO at Nile, a venture-backed company building the world’s most secure network delivered as-a-service. Nile enables enterprises to shift from owning infrastructure to consuming subscription-based, performance-guaranteed outcomes. He leads strategic finance, capital strategy, and operating rigor across a rapidly scaling, AI-driven infrastructure business, with responsibility for financial planning and global service delivery operations.

Bill brings a unique combination of investor and operator perspective. He spent over 20 years on Wall Street as a Managing Director and equity research analyst covering cloud, networking, and cybersecurity, advising institutional investors on growth, efficiency, and long-term value creation across SaaS and infrastructure companies.

He later joined Zscaler, where he helped take the company public and scale ARR more than 15x to over $2 billion. He built and led investor relations, ESG, and strategic finance, partnering closely with the executive team to align capital strategy with high-growth execution.  At Nile, Bill is focused on building durable, recurring revenue models, driving margin discipline, and aligning finance with go-to-market to support efficient growth at scale.

Bill holds a CFA charter and graduated with honors from the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania.

David Golob
Co-Chief Investment Officer
Francisco Partners

David Golob is Co-Chief Investment Officer of Francisco Partners. Based in San Francisco, he joined the firm in 2001. David currently serves on the boards of Lucidworks, Redis Labs, and Betterment. He serves as a board observer at Prosper. David previously served on the boards of 2Checkout, Aderant, Attachmate, Allston, Barracuda Networks, BeyondTrust, City Index, Foundation 9, Grass Valley, GXS, K2, Micro Focus, OfficeTiger, Optanix, PayLease, Primavera, Quest, RedPrairie, SmartBear, SonicWall, and Vendavo.

In addition, he was the past Chairman of the Stanford GSB Trust and past Trustee and Finance Committee Chairman of the Charles Armstrong School.
David has an A.B. in Chemistry from Harvard College, summa cum laude, Phi Beta Kappa as well as an MBA from Stanford GSB, Arjay Miller scholar.
He previously worked at Tiger Management, General Atlantic, Sutter Hill, and McKinsey.

Eric Mersch
Partner
FLG Partners

Eric Mersch has over 27 years of executive finance experience including twice serving in public company Chief Financial Officer roles. Eric is an equity partner at FLG Partners where he works as an Interim CFO to venture and private equity portfolio companies, specializing in Strategy and Operations, Strategic Planning, Equity & Debt Fundraising, Go-To-Market Strategies, Financial Planning & Analysis, Business Intelligence, and Accounting & Control. He’s worked with Software-as-a-Service (SaaS), AI Native and AI Infrastructure companies.

Previously, he served as Chief Financial Officer, Chief Accounting Officer and VP, HR for ZipRealty, a publicly listed, real-estate technology company. In this role, he joined the management team in the dramatic turnaround and successful sale of the business to real-estate conglomerate, Realogy Holdings Corp (NYSE: RLGY) in 2014. While at ZipRealty, Eric played a key role in reorganizing corporate overhead, developing a new go-to-market strategy and launching a new SaaS product. In his first public company role, he served as Chief Financial Officer for VitalStream (NASDAQ: VSTH), a Content Distribution Network (CDN) company, providing subscription-based data storage and streaming services for digital media companies. He introduced unit economic analysis and drove significant efficiencies in LTV/CAC. He managed due diligence in the company’s successful sale to Internap.

He also worked at Caesars Entertainment as Director Corporate Planning and later as VP, Finance for the Harrah’s and Flamingo Resorts, an $800 Million revenue business. Prior to his civilian career, Eric served in the US Navy as a submarine officer on the USS Los Angeles. Eric holds an MBA from Harvard Business School and a Bachelor of Science in Economics from the U.S. Naval Academy and is a graduate of the US Navy’s Nuclear Power School.

In 2023, Eric authored “Hacking SaaS: An Insider’s Guide to Managing Software Business Success”.

Michael Noryko
Managing Director
SLW

Mike Noryko is a growth investor with a deep understanding of the technology shaping the industry. As a Managing Director at SLW, he leverages his market expertise and network to help companies scale and succeed. With over two decades of experience in high-growth technology investments, Mike brings a unique perspective from his buy-side expertise and deep industry insight.

Before joining Silver Lake Waterman over a decade ago, Mike spent 10 years as a public technology investor, including roles at Citadel and Andor Capital Management and was an investment banker at technology boutiques starting with Robertson Stephens.
More than an investor, Mike is a trusted partner and connector, providing founders access to strategic relationships, resources, and market insights. He is committed to helping companies secure the right financial structures to drive transformation and create enduring value.

Mike graduated with a B.S. from the Haas School of Business at UC Berkeley, where he played NCAA Division I water polo.

Moderator:

Kim Crosslin
Commercial Banking Leader
Wells Fargo

Kim Crosslin is a Commercial Banking Leader in the Technology Banking Group at Wells Fargo Bank, with more than 25 years of experience supporting venture capital– and private equity–backed, as well as publicly traded, technology companies. She specializes in delivering capital markets products and treasury solutions across a wide range of technology industry verticals.

Kim leads a team of relationship managers focused on bringing strategic insight and financial intelligence to the technology ecosystem. Prior to Wells Fargo, she spent 10 years in the Technology Banking Division at Comerica Bank and began her career at Silicon Valley Bank in 1994. She holds a Bachelor of Science in Health Administration with a minor in Business Administration from California State University, Chico.

Event Details:

Tuesday, April 28, 2025
4:30 PM Networking & Registration
5:00 PM Presentation
6:00 - 7:30 PM Happy hour with heavy appetizers

Registration closes at 6:00 pm the day before the event.

Masks are not mandatory but welcomed.

Registration Policy

CPE Credits

One (1.0) CPE credit available. Field of Study: TBA

FEI is registered with the National Association of State Boards of Accountancy (NASBA) as a sponsor of continuing professional education on the National Registry of CPE Sponsors. State boards of accountancy have final authority on the acceptance of individual courses for CPE credit. Questions regarding registered sponsors may be submitted to the National Registry of CPE Sponsors through its website, www.NASBARegistry.org.