Propeller Industries is hosting a conversation between nextNYC's Charlie O'Donnell and Propeller founder Chris Fenster on why the hard part of AI isn't the AI.

AI can produce the analysis. Someone still has to be accountable for the number. That last mile is the job, and it's what Propeller Industries has done from inside the finance function of venture- and growth-stage companies for 18 years. We've served more than 1,500 of them. Our clients have raised over $29B, created more than $100B in enterprise value, and produced 26 unicorns — public companies like Hims & Hers, Planet Labs, and Braze, and brands including Liquid Death, OLIPOP, Poppi, Away, The Farmer's Dog, and Gruns. Our teams embed directly with founders, from their earliest hires through $300M+ in revenue, pairing CFO-level strategic guidance with the controllers, accountants, and analysts who run the day-to-day. All 250+ of us are full-time employees, not 1099 contractors or freelancers, and about two-thirds of our new business arrives by referral. The daily work is what earns the rest. Being in the books every day is what makes us trusted with the data, and the data across the portfolio is what lets an embedded team tell a founder how their burn, margins, and hiring compare to companies that have already been where they're going. Revenue benchmarks are available to anyone. The full picture underneath the revenue line is not. We use AI throughout, held to a finance-grade standard: every number traces to a source, every calculation shows its work, and a named human signs the result. Our clients didn't start their companies to manage a close process. We did, so they don't have to. Work with us: propellerindustries.com Work here: propellerindustries.com/careers