Eightx Talk to a CFO
Senior Financial Analyst · Pod 2

Ash Kagali

Bangalore-based Chartered Accountant. He spent three years in audit and tax, managed Nordic subsidiary audits at the London Stock Exchange Group, built solar transition and LBO models at XF1, and now leads financial planning, real-time analytics, and M&A data rooms for Eightx's corporate CPG and retail clients.

CA (Chartered Accountant) Bangalore, India CPG & PE Specialist Model Automation Geek
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Ash Kagali, Senior Financial Analyst at Eightx

Ash Kagali

Senior Financial Analyst

CA · Corporate Finance · Dashboard Automation

About

The view from both sides of the accounting ledger

Ash Kagali is a Senior Financial Analyst at Eightx. His approach to corporate finance is built on a simple conviction: numbers are not just meant to be reported—they are meant to drive behavior. When a client hands Ash their financial books, his job is to find the hidden leaks, optimize the levers of growth, and present the path forward so clearly that the strategic decisions become obvious.

"Good financial work doesn't give you more information," Ash says. "It makes the decision obvious. A model that doesn't change operational behavior is just a spreadsheet. We build to influence decisions, not to satisfy a monthly retainer."

Ash's professional journey began with the rigorous Chartered Accountant (CA) qualification in India, spending three intensive years in audit, bookkeeping, due diligence, and tax. From there, he moved to the London Stock Exchange Group (LSEG) as a financial controller, overseeing external and internal compliance audits for Refinitiv's Nordic subsidiaries across Norway and Sweden. During this time, he also lectured undergraduate business students on audit and financial management.

Seeking to build closer to operational growth, Ash transitioned to advanced corporate modeling at XF1. There, he structured a ₹34,000 crore solar electrification model (PM-KUSUM scheme) in partnership with the Ministry of Non-Renewable Energy (MNRE) and the Global Energy Alliance for People and Planet (GEAPP). He also designed leveraged buyout (LBO) templates for PE funds acquiring multi-facility agricultural enterprises, and built SaaS budgeting systems that helped startups successfully secure venture funding.

Today, Ash coordinates the strategic FP&A groundwork behind Eightx's corporate CPG and retail clients, operating inside Pod 2 alongside Matt Putra. He specializes in setting up automated real-time financial dashboards, rebuilding contribution-margin structures by sales channel, and packaging bulletproof M&A data rooms that help client brands achieve successful eight-figure exits.

“

Good financial work doesn't give you more information, it makes the decision obvious. Clarity isn't a deliverable—it's what happens when someone finally shows you the right numbers in the right context.

Ash Kagali

What Ash works on

The problems founders hand him

Operating at the intersection of accounting precision and custom web technology, Ash handles deep-trench modeling and dashboard automation for Eightx's clients.

Cohort & subscription unit economics

Ash builds longitudinal CPG and SaaS cohort models that track the retention curves of 18–24 month old cohorts, giving founders and prospective buyers a crystal-clear look at true customer lifetime value (LTV).

Real-time automated dashboards

He connects Shopify, Amazon, Meta, Google Ads, and QuickBooks into clean, interactive Netlify-hosted web apps using Data Slayer and Power My Analytics, auto-refreshing every 12 hours so teams can manage ad budgets dynamically.

LBO & debt covenant frameworks

For Private Equity and corporate clients, Ash designs LBO templates featuring variable debt amortization (monthly, quarterly, cash sweeps) and closing balance sheet premium/discount reconciliation.

M&A data room preparation

Ash specializes in cleaning up legacy charts of accounts, reconciling historical inventory, and packaging pristine financial data books that pass buyer-side due diligence with flying colors.

Driver-based cash forecasting

He builds rolling multi-week cash runway models that align marketing, operations, and inventory planning around the same baseline financial constraints and cash flow capacity.

Incrementality & attribution truth

Ash is passionate about tracking "attribution truth"—helping brands run geographical holdout tests (like shutting off ads in specific states) to calculate the true incremental CAC of their ad spend.

Career

Where Ash learned this

Now

Senior Financial Analyst at Eightx

Coordinates corporate and strategic FP&A inside Pod 2 under Matt Putra. Integrates Shopify, Amazon, and QBO data to build real-time client dashboards and runs advanced unit economics models for Eightx's CPG portfolio.

Previously

Financial Analyst & Modeler at XF1

Modeled a ₹34,000 crore government solar irrigation pump scheme (PM-KUSUM) across 5 states, built LBO template models for dairy acquisitions, and designed SaaS budgeting systems for venture-backed startups.

Before that

Controller at London Stock Exchange Group

Managed external and internal audit compliance for Refinitiv's Nordic subsidiaries in Norway and Sweden. At the same time, taught undergraduate courses in audit and financial management.

Started here

Chartered Accountant Article Clerk (Audit & Tax)

Completed three years of intensive mandatory practical training under a qualified Chartered Accountant, covering statutory audits, corporate tax, bookkeeping, and due diligence.

Favourite client win

The Real-Time Automated Analytics Engine

A high-growth North American CPG brand doing $7–8M in annual sales was struggling to track daily marketing metrics (blended CAC, ROAS, MER) and AR aging balances against their monthly budget. Static sheets failed due to slow load times and lack of visualizations.

Ash integrated Shopify, Amazon, Meta, and QuickBooks data, automated the pipeline to refresh every 12 hours via Google Sheets, and built a custom interactive Netlify dashboard using Claude.

The instant visibility enabled the client to optimize ad budgets in real-time, driving a 125% spike in new customer acquisitions and their highest revenue month in two years at ~$550K.

Hot takes

What Ash thinks the industry gets wrong

Overrated

Blended ROAS

"Blended ROAS is a vanity metric that hides severe inefficiencies. It doesn't tell you whether your next dollar of marketing spend will actually return a profit, or if it is just cannibalizing organic sales."

Underrated

Incremental Geo Holdouts

"Attribution platforms lie. The only way to find your true Customer Acquisition Cost is to turn off ads in a specific state or territory for a week and measure the actual organic drop-off. That's incrementality."

Banned word

"Standard reports"

"If a CFO is just sending you a monthly PDF report of historical financials, they're playing accountant, not strategist. A model that doesn't change daily operational behavior is just a spreadsheet."

Education & credentials

The qualifications behind the work

Ash works alongside

Eightx leadership

Matt Putra

Matt Putra

Founder, Managing Partner

Vancouver-based founder. Former Group CFO ($500M+ deployed). Closed multi-eight-figure exits including Turmeric Co. to A.G. Barr and Natural Dog Co. to Morgan Stanley.
Sam Dillon

Sam Dillon

Managing Partner, APAC

Melbourne-based turnaround CFO. Scaled a DTC brand from $5M to $20M as in-house CFO. Cut his teeth at Balderton Capital (Europe's biggest venture firm).
11+

The full Eightx team

Finance specialists across NA, EU, APAC

Advisory CFOs, Jr CFOs, financial analysts, senior accountants. Ash leads the groundwork in Pod 2.

Outside work

Cricket, Travel, Business History

When Ash isn't building financial models or running automation scripts, he is watching cricket, exploring South India, or listening to long-form business histories on the Acquired podcast. He learned his first lessons in leadership captaining his school cricket team in Bangalore—notably, delegating the pressure of a last-over defense to an unseasoned but in-form teammate.

Work with Ash

Ready for a CFO squad that
builds custom tools?

If you are an ecommerce, SaaS, or CPG brand and want Ash's data rigor on your side, book a 30-minute call.

Talk to a CFO

30-min call · Corporate finance expertise · For brands doing $5M–$50M