Meta CFO Susan Li on headcount vs. GPU allocation, “free cash flow” hats, and almost becoming a PM

Susan Li of Meta—the youngest chief financial officer of a Fortune 100 company—joins John Collison to talk about capital allocation, managing investors, and how Mark Zuckerberg has changed over the 17 years of working together.

Timestamps

01:20 - Early education and career

02:15 - Lessons from Michael Grimes at Morgan Stanley

03:12 - Leadership traits and succession planning at Meta

06:05 - Mark Zuckerberg’s leadership and culture of feedback

09:06 - Financial forecasting and capital allocation

14:18 - ROI on Meta’s portfolio of bets

15:05 - Investor sentiment in 2022

17:49 - The story behind the “free cash flow” hats

18:58 - CapEx trends in the AI era

21:48 - A memorable earnings call

24:16 - Challenges of allocating compute vs headcount budgets 

26:55 - AI’s impact on productivity and operations