Episode 66 | Greg Mocnik from Celestia Labs on Becoming a Web3 CFO

The Accountant Quits Podcast

A recurring theme among the CFOs I've interviewed is their common starting point: many began their careers at top accounting firms, such as the Big4.

And the benefits of working for them are not insignificant - you are often surrounded by the brightest minds in accounting, work with some of the biggest clients, and your experience commands respect.

Despite the long hours and relatively low initial compensation, many professionals accept these challenges, hoping that the skills and experiences gained will provide a competitive edge later in their careers.

The Accountant Quits aims to highlight the stories of CFOs who have successfully made the leap from traditional finance to blockchain.

On Episode 66, I spoke with Greg Mocnik, the CFO at Celestia Labs and previous Head of Finance at dYdX Foundation, supporting the growth of the dYdX protocol, one of the most prominent decentralized exchanges.

Greg spent nearly five years at EY in their advisory department, and since many of you have similar backgrounds and aspirations to start working in web3, I hope this episode will serve as a source of inspiration.

Topics covered:

• Episode intro (00:47)
• Early years working at E&Y (2:39)
• Working at Meta & learning SQL (8:18)
• Getting hired at dYdX Foundation (9:36)
• Hiring process at dYdX Foundation (12:41)
• Challenges starting at dYdX Foundation (14:25)
• Extracting information from block explorers through Etherscan API (19:49)
• Thanks to our sponsor Web3Finance Club (23:47)
• Using Acctual as an AR & AP tool (25:30)
• Other tools for the web3 CFO (30:25)
• Learning from external audits & need for documentation (31:38)
• Skills required to be a web3 accountant (39:25)
• Taking time off (43:31)
• Greg’s favourite maxim (47:55)

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LinkedIN: linkedin.com/in/gregmocnik/

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