When Vanna Krantz displays on her profession—from the early grind of New York’s monetary sector to serving to take Grindr public—she’s fast to credit score a sequence of “fortunate breaks.” However luck, in her telling, isn’t passive. It’s what occurs when preparation meets conviction—and when leaders are keen to wager on themselves.
“I believe having a number of breaks is essential,” says Krantz, who stepped down from her CFO function this month however remains to be serving in an advisory function at Grindr. “I believe I can present a variety of ardour, and I give folks the sense that I’m right here to get this achieved for you, and that has labored properly for me.”
That work ethic and presence have outlined Krantz’s path by a number of the most transformative chapters of her profession. Earlier in her profession, at establishments equivalent to PwC, Merrill Lynch, and later Morgan Stanley and Credit score Suisse, she realized to navigate the depth of New York’s monetary world. “These have been pretty powerful environments,” she remembers. “It compelled you to see in the event you may sink or swim.” The consequence was a confidence and rigor that might anchor the remainder of Krantz’s profession.
A turning level got here when a senior government at Thomson Monetary took an opportunity on her, naming her an SVP simply months earlier than the corporate acquired Reuters. One other chief later took an “unbelievable threat” on her in tapping Krantz to change into divisional CFO of Reuters Media. The expertise taught her that alternatives typically come up when one is perceived as each competent and dedicated.
At Thomson Reuters, Krantz spent a decade refining what she calls “academy-level finance,” studying what best-in-class appears like when finance isn’t a back-office operate however a strategic engine. That basis would show invaluable when she joined BAMTech Media, the streaming infrastructure startup later acquired by Disney, the place she grew to become CFO of the newly shaped Disney+.
That transition, she displays, was pushed extra by intuition than by a calculated technique. “It was a leap of religion,” Krantz says. She joined the fledgling Disney+ crew, drawn by the folks and the promise of the venture, not any assured success. Everybody concerned hoped it could take off, she says, however nobody may have predicted simply how massive it could change into.
Krantz helped steer Disney+ by one of many most successful streaming launches in historical past. When Grindr got here calling, it represented each a brand new problem and a possibility to use her expertise in main by transformation. As CFO, she helped take the LGBTQ+ social platform public in 2022, positioning the corporate as a digital neighborhood reasonably than only a courting app.
Nonetheless, she’s the primary to acknowledge that not each leap lands cleanly. “If you take a leap of religion, it doesn’t at all times work 100% of the time—and it didn’t for me both,” she says. Krantz admits that in earlier roles, her certainty generally got here on too sturdy. She’d make her case forcefully, armed with information and conviction, however not at all times tact. Over time, she realized that being proper isn’t sufficient to win folks over; persuasion requires connection as a lot as proof.
“You need to acknowledge when folks must really feel comfortable first,” she says.
In recent times, an expert coach has helped Krantz refine that intuition. She jokes that her tolerance for discomfort is unusually excessive—intense suggestions or harsh criticism hardly ever rattles her the best way it would others. However she’s since instilled the instructive suggestions she obtained years in the past when somebody instructed her, “‘Might you simply discover a velvet glove as an alternative of the boxing glove?’”
Krantsz provides: “The velvet glove is a crucial software within the toolbox that took me somewhat longer to acknowledge how a lot I wanted it, given my skill to face up to ache.”
For Krantz, that mix of resilience and empathy has change into her hallmark of recent management.
Trying again on what first drew her to Grindr, Krantz says the attraction was rapid and plain. “It was at all times my dream to be a public firm CFO, and when this chance got here, it was nearly too good to imagine,” she says. “After I noticed their financials, I actually went to the fellows and stated, ‘Is there a typo right here?’”
Grindr’s monetary efficiency—particularly its greater than 40% EBITDA margins—was uncommon within the trade, she says. Krantz seized the chance, guiding Grindr by its public debut, delivering 11 consecutive quarters of income development exceeding 25%, whereas sustaining EBITDA margins above 40%, she says. Alongside the best way, she refinanced the corporate’s debt, hosted its first investor day, and secured analyst protection.
Now, having achieved each milestone she set for herself, Krantz says she is able to tackle her subsequent massive problem.
“I really feel like we’re on this wave of one thing fairly massive and new on the market,” she says. “It’s inconceivable to not be excited by it and really feel that if I don’t be part of it, I would remorse it.”
That wave, after all, is synthetic intelligence. “I’m not even saying that I’m going to be lucky sufficient to have a possibility to work in that house,” she says. “I’m simply saying I’m going to offer it a shot.”
