Koparan Can Iscan, a Finance Director at Infinitas Learning, draws on his experience in corporate finance and scale-ups to share his vision for modern leadership. He discusses the growing AI-driven talent gap, why CFOs must now be broad generalists, and the importance of preparing for tomorrow, not just winning today.
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Here’s a glimpse of what you’ll learn:
- The Biggest Risk of AI is the Growing Talent Gap. AI creates a divide between those who master it and those who don’t, challenging leaders to develop future talent as entry-level skills become automated.
- The Modern CFO Must Be a Broad Generalist. The era of the hyper-specialised expert is over; leaders now need wide-ranging knowledge of tech, product, and people to be effective.
- Prepare for Tomorrow, Not Just Win Today. Leaders must look beyond short-term results and ask the critical question, “Are we ready for the future?” to ensure long-term resilience.
Please tell us about yourself and your role.
My name is Can Iscan. My career started in the US, where I completed my bachelor’s and two master’s degrees, including an MBA and finance. I have started in financial research at academia and moved on to a rotational leadership program at the largest renewable energy developer at that time. After that experience, I moved back to Europe, where I have been an advisory consultant and followed up with leading start-ups’ finance functions for years.
Currently, I am the Finance Director, functionally the CFO, for an ed-tech platform development company within a group that serves K-12 educational publishers.
How did you first get into the finance field?
I was always interested in finance because it felt like the perfect intersection of something very quantitative and something very applicable to business. I found it fascinating how a business grows and how you can make sense of it mathematically while also applying business analysis. It was the way that numbers and a story come together to form a business reality that really sparked my interest.
The financial landscape is constantly evolving. What challenges are you currently facing?
In our industry of education technology, the impact of AI is humongous. On one hand, we have more tools than ever to teach and learn. On the other hand, we see a lot of “cutting corners,” where people become over-reliant on these tools, which can negatively impact learning outcomes.
I see this on the professional side as well. Colleagues who have excelled at prompt engineering and are comfortable with AI tools are doing really well. However, those who haven’t adopted them, or have adopted them badly, are struggling. The talent gap between these two groups is growing, which is a significant challenge.
What emerging trends and innovation opportunities should businesses in the finance sector focus on right now?
In terms of pure finance, the easy pickings are in automating consolidation and reporting. There is also a great opportunity to use AI for the more quantitative-heavy parts of business analysis. However, I believe the biggest improvements will actually come from the business and value-delivery side, not just from optimising internal finance functions.
What’s the biggest financial mistake you see companies make?
The biggest mistake I see, especially in the startup and scale-up world, is a disconnect from reality, often caused by the tension between chasing venture capital-led growth and achieving profitability.
Finance is the outcome of your value creation, not the starting point. Bad decisions often come from common human traits: chasing the wrong metrics, becoming disconnected from the customer, or simply misinterpreting data through over- or under-analysis.
How do you think the finance sector will evolve in the next three to five years?
It’s a fascinating time; I’m both enthusiastic and a little bit worried. The elephant in the room is AI. It’s an incredible enabler, but it’s also automating or replacing many entry-level skills. The challenge is that we need those entry-level roles to grow the next generation of finance leaders.
The biggest opportunity and challenge will be to rethink talent development. We need to figure out how people can coexist with AI and be empowered by it, rather than seeing it as a mutually exclusive replacement.
How are finance leaders navigating the changing regulatory environment?
The finance and accounting landscape is notoriously slow to adapt its regulations. While there is a lot of thought going into the ethical use of AI, the rules will likely lag behind the technology for the next few years.
A key risk I see is people becoming over-reliant on AI-generated summaries for complex topics, like IFRS reporting standards. Just because an AI gives you a confident-sounding conclusion, it doesn’t mean you have true expertise. There is a lot of nuance that can be missed.
What do you consider to be the most critical skill for a CFO today?
I would give a two-faceted answer. The first is understanding the people. Finance comes naturally to me, so my job has become more of a people exercise: understanding what they want, leading the business direction, and figuring out how to deliver value to the customer.
The second is having a sharper, broader mind. The days when you could be a CFO by being a hyper-specialist in one area, like tax, are fading. The bar is set higher now. In a world where knowledge is moving faster than ever, you need to know a lot about a lot of different things to be able to speak the same language as the rest of the business and truly contribute.
What’s one question all CFOs should be asking themselves today?
Looking into the future, the most important question is, “Are you ready?”
Are you, your people, and your organisation ready for what’s coming? We often get focused on one quarter or one earnings report at a time, but I think it’s a moment to really look ahead and have a genuine conversation about how to become prepared for tomorrow.
How do you approach mentoring and developing the next generation of finance leaders?
I am extremely passionate about this. I try to create an open environment where learning is appreciated, and people can share what they are curious about. I believe we should celebrate learnings, not just immediate business results.
For example, I encourage my team members to set a quarterly goal to learn something new—like analysing a competitor’s 10-K report or researching a new piece of software—and then teach their learnings to the rest of the team. This gets their mindset out of “this is my job today” and into “I’m already taking steps to prepare for the future.”
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