Surya Teja

Strategic Finance Leader with 8+ years of progressive experience across E-commerce, Fintech, FMCG, Hospitality, and Technology sectors. Proven track record of driving business transformation through strategic financial leadership, having co-founded and scaled a hospitality venture from concept revenue while delivering over crores in annual cost savings across previous corporate roles. Demonstrated expertise in P&L ownership, unit economics optimization, cross-functional leadership, and building scalable financial frameworks from ground-up across diverse business models.

EXPERIENCE

CFO & Co-Founder
Move78                07/2024 - 05/2025    Hyderabad Hospitality & F&B Consultancy and Technology 

• Co-founded and scaled from concept to ₹3 Crores revenue in 10 months across F&B, events & hospitality verticals.
• Raised ₹1.5 Crores (₹1 Cr debt + ₹50L angel investment) while managing comprehensive investor relations
• Led sales conversion securing 5 enterprise clients generating ₹35L through kitchen setup, menu development & hiring solutions
• Achieved 20% cost reduction through vendor negotiations & 15% margin improvement via pricing optimization on average for clients.
• Designed & implemented budget planning frameworks, financial tracking models, KPIs, finance SOPs, & internal controls for both consultancy & event business units.
• Built organization from 0 to 12 team, managed 3-member finance team.

Sr. Manager Business Finance (Promoted from Manager)

Khatabook           08/2022 - 07/2024   Bengaluru

Fintech & SaaS apps for MSME community of India

• Co-delivered ₹21 Cr annualized savings. Monthly savings of: Software from ₹1.4Cr to ₹65L, SMS from ₹105L to ₹27L & other Central costs savings by ₹20L.
  Created & managed core central cost master data from initiation to quotation, negotiation, order forms, agreements, & purchase orders, ensuring complete traceability & control. Oversaw accounting and master data for metrics, usage, subscription periods, &renewals across all software, server, & SMS cost categories.
• Delivered 68% improvement in sales efficiency (0.71 to 1.2 productivity) through headcount & incentive planning with dynamic resource allocation and rolling sales forecasts, driving achievement of budgeted P&L targets and margin outcomes for channel and telesales teams in the SaaS vertical.
• Redesigned SaaS financial reporting & investor frameworks (P&L, unit economics, LTV models) aligned to industry benchmarks; delivered actionable insights on key SaaS metrics, cost trends, and revenue drivers through strategic and ad-hoc analyses for leadership and investors. This drove an 18% margin uplift & a 15% improvement in renewals via activity-based tracking and user engagement interventions, enabling timely and informed business decisions.
• Owned end-to-end master data maintenance for the SaaS vertical, ensuring accurate mapping of sales related costs & revenues in coordination with the Controllership teams. Maintained & updated cost centers & created structures for precise project level tracking of SaaS initiatives, enabling accurate financial reporting & analytics.
• Led consolidated organizational AOPs/Budgets for 2023 & 2024, building SaaS & functional vertical plans aligned with resource allocation & KPIs. 
• Managed 3-member team while leading business reviews covering P&L, MIS, commentary, unit economics, & performance drivers with data-driven insights.
• Collaborated with Product, Strategy teams to identify & experiment new monetization opportunities- managed budget-to-output mapping & conducted performance reviews

Sr. Manager Business Finance (Promoted from Manager)

Suprdaily (Swiggy) 07/2019 - 03/2022     Bengaluru

B2C Startupin Milk & Grocery (OPD Growth from 50K to 200K in 2 Year)

• Managed P&L, Budgeting, Forecasting, AOP models, Scenario analysis unit economics, investor reporting & conducted periodic weekly P&L , functional performance reviews with detailed commentary & KPI tracking vs AOP.
• Analyzed the data & implemented control frameworks reducing grocery wastage from 10% to 4% & Milk wastage from 3% to 1.2%.
• Co-led reduction of warehouse costs by 30% & last-mile delivery costs by 33% by implementing hub-level unit economics, enabling accurate demand forecasting, optimized routing, & implemented headcount planning & workforce optimization models from warehouse to Last mile delivery.
• Co-led transformation from milk-only to comprehensive grocery category, collaborating with tech teams to automate processes, execute PRDs, and ensure regulatory compliance across expanded portfolio. 
• Built comprehensive provisions and accruals collection framework with cross-functional teams, improving P&L and unit economics accuracy. Collaborated with analytics team to automate 70% of MIS reporting, enhancing operational efficiency & data reliability.
• Created & maintained hub-level financial data models covering topline to contribution margin, incorporating parameters such as sales, margins, inventory, wastage, manpower costs (OT, incentives), & fuel usage, forming the foundation for unit-level profitability analysis & data-driven decision optimization.
• Partnered with Supply Chain, Category, Ops, Growth/Marketing & Strategy teams to drive cost efficiency, KPI tracking , project implementation, capex tracking - ensuring alignment b/w Budgets, operational investments & ROI targets.
• Managed and mentored 4-member FP&A team 

Sr. Executive FP&A 
 Xiaomi    11/2017 - 06/2019     Bengaluru

 India's leading Smartphones, Televisions, Lifestyle accessories

•  Led Tally to SAP migration for ₹25,000 crores business ensuring 100% accuracy, closing PWC audit proving system reliability
•  Created & maintained master data of financial data consisting of multiple phone component costs (India procurement,
   China/Hong Kong parent/sister company imports, third-party international sourcing) across various sources, and designed & executed
   structured costing framework for calculating accurate mobile phone costs at SKU-level after reconciling all cost components, driving
   0.4% revenue growth through strategic pricing inputs.
•  Built comprehensive mi.com P&L framework from ground up, providing cost-per-order visibility across all margin levels. Optimized payment
   processing by identifying COD anomalies, reducing cash handling costs from 3.5% to 1.5%
•  Managed inventory & Fixed Assets accounting, month-end closures, provision completeness review. Partnered with Finance Controller and Global
   Consolidation Team to standardize monthly reporting packs, automate reconciliation templates, and reduce financial closure timelines.
•  Business finance partner for Customer support & Logistics departments leading functional MIS preparation, commentary & reviews &
   leading budgeting, forecasting for cost centers & consolidating them at business-unit level.
• Led insurance finance operations for ₹25,000 crores business, managing 0.5% damaged goods across B2B/B2C; optimized premiums, diversified risk via multi-insurer partnerships, & oversaw monthly transit/damage declarations & recoveries; implemented a framework cutting recovery cycle from 5–6 to 3 months. Enhanced salvage by negotiations with resellers, resolving payment-to-goods and delivery issues through cross-functional coordination, and establishing controls/reporting that improved data integrity & lifted reseller pricing from 50% to 60% of MRP.
•  Preparation of group level P&L with segmentation of business units. Delivered ad-hoc financial analysis on cost behavior, pricing impact, and inventory variance, directly supporting strategic and tactical decision-making at regional level.

Consultant (3 Months Contract)

Ernst & Young          12/2016 - 03/2017      Chennai

• Supporting onshore team in analyzing audit evidences, supporting, & performing substantive procedures to verify material misstatements in assertions
• Preparation of cash PSPs & identifying any material misstatement & performing accounts receivable & accounts payable PSPs
• Verifying the appropriateness of the supportings provided for various transaction & supporting onshore audit team in meeting the SLAs

Business Process Lead FR&A
TCS                      02/2016 - 08/2016     Chennai
Consultancy, BPO & Offshore Accounting

• Co-led Financial Reporting & Analysis (FR&A) team supporting National Grid's $12-13 billion gas & power transmission operations across Europe, managing comprehensive financial reporting for 22 out of 30 group sister companies with full accountability for accuracy & regulatory compliance along with Annual Report compilation integrating financial statements, directors' strategic reports, independent auditors' assessments, & detailed explanatory
• Supported monthly transfer pricing frameworks covering inter-company transactions & monthly trail balance variance analysis across group entities
• Provided remote support to European statutory & internal audit teams, delivering detailed working papers, reconciliations, & analytical support across group company portfolios during intensive audit cycle
• Contributed as key team member in strategic SAP BPC implementation replacing legacy Hyperion systems

Articled Assistant

Rameshwar Rao and co (Chartered Accountants) 03/2012 - 09/2015     Hyderabad D

• Internal Audits, statuary Audits, Stock Audits, Concurrent Audits, IS Audits, Tax audit
• Preparation of financial statements along with Annual Report, Tax computations, Reconciliations and maintenance of books of accounts
• E-filing of income tax returns/forms & ROC forms, GST, TDS returns.

Chartered Accountant
ICAI. 2017

Cost & Management Accountant 
ICMAI. 2015 (First Attempt + AIR 31- Final)