E62: From Divvy FP&A to Parallel Founder: How Renato Villanueva Built the Tool Finance Actually Wants

In this episode, Sasha Orloff speaks with Renato Villanueva, Founder and CEO of Parallel, about his journey from finance professional at Divvy to raising $2.4 million from Bain Capital and K5 Tokyo Black for an AI-powered FP&A platform that helps founders model financial scenarios and make confident growth decisions. Renato shares lessons on building products founders are passionate about rather than forced wedges, nurturing investor relationships, and how Parallel's approach has enabled customers to achieve significant growth—including one company that scaled from planning one sales hire to four, ultimately raising one of Utah's biggest Series A rounds. -- SPONSORS: Notion Boost your startup with Notion—the ultimate connected workspace trusted by thousands worldwide! From engineering specs to onboarding and fundraising, Notion keeps your team organized and efficient. For a limited time, get 6 months of Notion AI FREE to supercharge your workflow. Claim your offer now at ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://notion.com/startups/puzzle⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Puzzle 📈  No more waiting for month's end. No more manual reconciliations, just financials that keep up with you. Puzzle is leading a new movement with an AI first ledger, built for speed, automation, and real time decision making. Join today at ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://puzzle.io/⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ -- RECOMMENDED IN THIS EPISODE: ⁠https://www.linkedin.com/in/villanuevar/⁠ https://www.getparallel.com/ -- X/SOCIAL: @_renatov (Renato) @sashaorloff (Sasha) -- TIMESTAMPS: (00:00) Preview (01:24) Intro (02:09) Meet Renado Villanueva (02:38) Renado's journey to founding Parallel (04:02) Moment of decision (04:45) Building the deck and quitting the job (09:20) Challenges and insights in fundraising (11:05) What Parallel actually does (14:24) Sponsors: Notion | Puzzle (15:49) Parallel’s target sweet spot (16:49) Common mistakes founders make (19:30) AI's role in finance decision-making (20:15) Balancing flexibility and opinion in software (23:11) Who should use Parallel? (25:06) Excel vs. Parallel: Finding the right balance (27:06) Evolution of FP&A tools (31:24) Lessons learned from building Parallel (35:34) Building and trusting a team (38:31) Future of Parallel (39:47) Wrap