No Rest for Inaugural CFO, Natasha Lauricella

As the first CFO of fast-growing accommodation provider Urban Rest, first-time CFO Natasha Lauricella was excited by her blank canvas to get set for the scale-up’s dynamic expansion ahead.

Natasha Lauricella admits, paradoxically, that the spark for her to land her first CFO role last year came when she’d decided to step away from finance. 

“I’d been the Group Financial Controller in a company going through a lot of change at the time and my role became increasingly centred on historical data and lacked forward looking strategic analysis,” reflects the Melbourne-based finance professional who began her career in accountancy in 2009 and was appointed Group CFO of fast-growing flexible accommodation provider Urban Rest last year. 

“I knew that was not where I wanted my career to go. I wanted to be in a position of influence, that could help shape a business, so I’d decided to step out of finance and pivot towards a broader scope of general management or commercial leadership – and to get there I started by doing an MBA.”   

Within a month of attaining her MBA, in early 2022 Lauricella ticked off that goal, stepping up as a commercial business manager in a national architectural firm. “It was such a breath of fresh air to move into a broader leadership role where I was still able to leverage my analytical skills and expand my business acumen; putting those MBA learnings into practice,” she says.   

Around 18 months in, when Lauricella was approached by Urban Rest to become the scale-up’s first CFO, she felt ready – and excited – for the challenge.

“I don’t think I’d have been able to step straight into a CFO role at that point in my career without having gone through the MBA and getting that experience in a broader commercial role where I was bringing a different perspective to decisions and guiding the CEO and board,” she reflects. “It really helped in that transition.”  

Appealing dynamism

Founded in 2017 in Sydney, Urban Rest provides rental accommodation tailored to business travellers, through an expanding pipeline of more than 1000 properties – apartments, hotel rooms and homes – across Australia, New Zealand, Ireland and the United Kingdom. The company has focused on appealing to the corporate market, and counts employees of McKinsey & Co, Arup, Shell and Disney as regular guests.

Lauricella was attracted to the growth aspirations of the leadership team led by founder and CEO David Whelan, in an industry she knew well having worked with global serviced accommodation provider Quest Apartment Hotels and other property and real estate businesses.    

“It’s the first time I’ve worked with a young, dynamic, entrepreneurial team,” she says.

“In just a few years, the business has grown at an exceptional rate, and there’s more to come. You learn so much in a business where everything moves quickly and change is constant, and where you have the opportunity to play a part in shaping the journey.”   

Building an internal finance team from scratch was also appealing to Lauricella, the business having previously leveraged external support prior to bringing her onboard. 

“When it’s a completely blank canvas you have the autonomy to drive that change which is really exciting,” she says. “I know my team will look very different in a years’ time as we evolve to meet the growth and changing needs of the business.”  

Laying solid foundations

During her first 12 months, Lauricella’s focus has been on gaining a deep understanding of the business and laying solid foundations and robust structures agile enough to support the global business as it grows. A key priority has been to improve and leverage the technology systems – a task that’s familiar given the many process and system improvement projects she’s previously led.

“I don’t think I’ve ever walked into a business that doesn’t need some form of improvement – some element of automation or overhaul of their ERP system,” she says.

On an efficiency mission

Her intense determination to use technology to its full extent to improve efficiencies in finance teams was born from one of her earliest career encounters, where systems were incredibly outdated.    

“One of my first tasks at this company was to fill out a deposit slip!” she recalls. “Internet banking had been around for more than 15 years at this point, so I’d never even heard of a deposit slip let alone filled one in. The finance system was DOS-based – if you made a journal change, you’d have to wait for overnight scripts to run; so, you’d time your month end around those limitations. 

“Because everything was so manual, it meant spending so many unnecessary hours on data entry and checking data integrity – I made it my mission never to have anybody go through that experience!”  

Energised agenda

Ultimately Lauricella has her longer-term sights set on future boardroom roles, but right now she’s focused on the big growth agenda ahead at Urban Rest and feels energised by the team. 

“Working with great people, and respecting each other’s roles and opinions, is so important given we spend so much of our day collaborating,” she says.

“In our executive team, we are fully aligned with our vision, goals, and objectives. This alignment is embedded throughout our wider leadership team, positioning us for success.”

Natasha Lauricella’s TOP FOUR pieces of advice for aspiring or first time CFOs >

Nurture your workplace relationships: Make sure you’re fostering positive, supportive relationships with the people you currently work with. You never know where those relationships are going to lead – it’s possible a current colleague could tap you on the shoulder in future to ask you to sit alongside them as part of an executive team. 

Invest in self-development:  Whether it’s a course, a network event or an MBA, it’s important to invest in yourself. I’d thought about doing an MBA for 10 years before I did it, and it ended up being the perfect time

Collect mentors: Mentors can help in your career and life. They serve as catalysts for personal and professional growth and shape your journey with their shared experiences and insights. Find people who may already be CFOs, or CFOs who have moved into other executive roles, or who have taken a similar journey to the one you’re on.

Prepare to be unprepared: I don’t think you’re ever going to be fully prepared for your first CFO role, because each role is different. You need to get comfortable with being uncomfortable and allow yourself the time to fully understand the business and its needs.