{"id":16014,"date":"2025-10-20T16:36:04","date_gmt":"2025-10-20T23:36:04","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.planetdds.com\/?p=16014"},"modified":"2025-11-13T13:50:37","modified_gmt":"2025-11-13T21:50:37","slug":"cfo-cro-partnership-planet-dds","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.planetdds.com\/blog\/cfo-cro-partnership-planet-dds\/","title":{"rendered":"Inside the CFO and CRO Partnership Powering Growth at Planet DDS"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

This article was originally published on CFO.com<\/a> with highlights republished on Planet DDS.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Chief financial officers and chief revenue officers can, at times, find themselves in seemingly contradictory positions: A CFO\u2019s mandate to balance the books may sometimes be at odds with the CRO\u2019s impulse to invest in new initiatives in the hopes of boosting sales farther down the road. At Planet DDS<\/a>, CFO Stephen Fong and CRO Mike Huffaker have found a different rhythm. They\u2019ve built a true partnership grounded in trust, transparency, and collaboration.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThere can be tension between the CFO and the CRO role within an organization. But Stephen and I view it as an opportunity to pressure-test ideas. Maybe because we\u2019re both first-time in our roles, we don\u2019t come with preconceived notions about that tension or how we should be operating. We really seek to find ways to collaborate and work together.\u201d \u2014Mike Huffaker<\/a>, CRO at Planet DDS<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Read the CFO Article<\/a><\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

Aligning Data, Strategy, and Growth<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

As Fong sees it, the most natural area for partnership between the CFO and the CRO is in financial planning<\/a> and analysis. The pair meet at least monthly, going over things like revenue targets, hiring and headcount. \u201cIt does help that Mike is extremely analytical,\u201d Fong noted, adding that Huffaker\u2019s team has a \u201cvery business-owner mindset.” Any disagreements that come up largely have to do with timing, the two executives said. But the two aim for crossover through clear data and reporting, they said. That recently came to fruition in a plan to increase headcount on the account management team, for instance.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe have a shared taxonomy of how we define things and how we look at things.\u201d \u2014Stephen Fong<\/a>, CFO at Planet DDS<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A Shared Vision for the Future<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

The Planet DDS primary customer base is multi-location dental groups and dental support organizations (DSOs<\/a>). Since Huffaker signed on with the company in 2019, it\u2019s grown from about 60 employees to 370 people today and increased revenue tenfold. Founded in 2003, the company this year crossed the $100 million mark in annual recurring revenue, Fong said. And he expects more growth in the years ahead, albeit perhaps at a slower rate than in the past. Wherever the company goes in the future, Fong and Huffaker said they aim to move forward in lockstep. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe have very frank conversations about how things are going and where to invest. I think it tends to make decision-making and progress really smooth.\u201d \u2014Stephen Fong, CFO at Planet DDS

\u201cThe way I think about it is alignment, accountability, and autonomy in how we work together, leading the financial side of things.\u201d \u2014Mike Huffaker, CRO at Planet DDS<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Turn Partnership into Performance<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Ready to learn how Planet DDS can help your organization align growth<\/a> and operations? Contact us today.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Request a Demo<\/a><\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

This article was originally published on CFO.com with highlights republished on Planet DDS. Chief financial officers and chief revenue officers can, at times, find themselves in seemingly contradictory positions: A…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":12,"featured_media":16032,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[80,1427,128,1416,88],"tags":[1253,1584,13,43,1460,169,57],"class_list":["post-16014","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-dental-industry","category-dental-service-organization","category-dso","category-growth","category-planet-dds","tag-cfo","tag-cro","tag-dentistry","tag-dso","tag-finance","tag-growth","tag-planet-dds"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.planetdds.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16014","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.planetdds.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.planetdds.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.planetdds.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/12"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.planetdds.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=16014"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.planetdds.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16014\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.planetdds.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/16032"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.planetdds.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=16014"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.planetdds.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=16014"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.planetdds.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=16014"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}