Sushen Talwar

About Sushen Talwar

I work best in high-ambiguity environments where the finance and ops infrastructure doesn\'t exist yet and needs to be built with both rigor and speed.Currently advising SoDA (Statement of Digital Assets) on digital asset accounting standards and the web3HODL Finance Community, a free resource for 300+ finance and treasury professionals in crypto.I build finance and operations functions at early-stage technology companies, from accounting infrastructure and treasury management to tokenomics, legal restructuring, and investor relations. I\'ve been the first finance leader at three companies, each time building the full function from scratch. Before that, I spent two years in Big 4 audit at KPMG Canada and led internal audit and technical accounting for a TSX-listed company with $5.3B in annual revenue.At Syndicate, Zora, and SuperRare, my work spanned $85M+ in digital asset treasury management, 600K+ on-chain transactions per month, and finance functions operating across US GAAP, FASB, and emerging digital asset compliance requirements. At Heap, I rebuilt the entire revenue accounting and O2C function as ARR scaled from $15M to $50M, achieving full ASC 606 compliance across multi-element SaaS arrangements on Zuora and Chargebee, and led financial due diligence for a $960M Series D.I led one of the first DUNA restructurings in the US, eliminating a Cayman Foundation and removing tax avoidance risk under US law. I recovered $9M tax-free through NOL-based crypto swaps, reduced month-end close from 30 days to 6 days at one company and 2.5 weeks to 4 days at another, and led financial due diligence for a $10M acquisition.I\'m focused on Director and VP Finance (+Operations), roles at crypto, fintech, and AI-adjacent companies where the finance function doesn\'t fully exist yet. I bring the technical accounting depth to build it correctly and the operational range to run it once it\'s built.

Experience

1. Director, Head of Finance & Operations

   Syndicate Labs

   Dec 2024 — Present · San Francisco, CA, US

   Member of the leadership team serving as the strategic finance and operations partner to two co-founders, with ownership of all non-engineering functions including finance, accounting, treasury, legal, and people operations.~ Supported fundraising and investor processes through financial modeling, investor materials, and OTC token deal structuring, while extending runway through disciplined cost management and yield generation on reserve assets.~ Led the launch of a proprietary L2 blockchain with 9 partners, 4 deploying mainnets within 4 months of TGE.~ Designed and led legal restructuring under the DUNA framework, one of the first US-domiciled crypto-native structures, eliminating the need for a Cayman Foundation.~ Led tokenomics design and go-to-market execution for $SYND, covering 45% of total supply (450M of 1B tokens) across 250+ investors via Token Purchase Agreements, Restricted Token Awards, and Token Warrants.~ Managed treasury operations across $15M cash and $70M+ in digital assets through risk-based allocation frameworks and yield generation on reserve assets.~ Built investor and board reporting for financials, treasury, and token operations, improving executive alignment and decision-making velocity.~ Transitioned all accounting and budgeting in-house, delivering monthly and quarterly reports to founders and leadership.~Used AI (Claude Code, Perplexity, ChatGPT) to refine technical memos ensuring GAAP, Tax Code, FASB and legal compliance.~ Reduced operating costs by 26% through vendor contract negotiation and managed cap table on Pulley.

Education

• DeGroote School of Business - McMaster University

  Post-Graduate Advanced Diploma in Professional Accountancy

• DeGroote School of Business - McMaster University

  Honours Bachelor of Commerce

Skills

• Event Planning
• Problem Solving
• Writing
• Leadership
• Teamwork
• Public Speaking
• Wordpress
• Microsoft Word
• Team Leadership
• Photography
• Social Media
• Budgeting
• Time Management
• Highly Detail Oriented
• Fashion
• Powerpoint
• Microsoft Excel
• Data Analysis
• Critical Thinking
• Determined to Succeed
• Customer Service
• Program Planning
• Microsoft Office
• Accounting
• Marketing
• Case Analysis
• Fundraising
• Bank Reconciliation
• Event Management
• Quickbooks