Q&A with Nano Dimension CFO Yael Sandler

Nano Dimension

 Yael Sandler, Nano Dimension CFO

In recent times, most of our headlines have come from the sales offices and the labs. This is to be expected, given the intensity of our R&D and business efforts around the DragonFly Pro 3D printer.

However, Nano Dimension remains one big team and everyone has their irreplaceable part to play in keeping the gears running smoothly. Within this team, not everyone gets equal attention from the public and tech circles, due to the nature of their jobs.

One prime example is our Chief Financial Officer Yael Sandler. Her line of work requires her to concurrently balance the bottom line of our operations and extend its peak. While the rest work with researchers, engineers and sales partners, her community is formed around board directors, consultants and lawyers. 

Recently, we sat with Yael to understand more about her work.

Q. What do you do as CFO?

I lead Nano Dimension’s financial and legal activities. As the CFO of a public company traded on both Nasdaq and on the Tel-Aviv Stock Exchange, I am responsible for compliance with all applicable laws, regulations, financial reporting, budget, tax, communication with the board of directors and its committees, press releases, investor relations, funding and more.

Q. How did you get into 3D printing?

My first interaction with this field was when I started working in Nano Dimension, more than 3 years ago. I find this field very interesting and with diverse opportunities for new applications.

Q. What makes Nano Dimension unique to you?

Nano Dimension evolves and grows rapidly with a disruptive and game-changing technology. Since I joined Nano Dimension, we have achieved many significant milestones, such as raising more than $55M from both private investment rounds and public US offerings. More recently, we have started our commercial sales and growth. It is my privilege to be the CFO of such an amazing company.

Q. It’s amazing that you are holding the position of CFO at the age of 32. How did you manage to achieve so much?

When I was given the opportunity to be the CFO of Nano Dimension, I knew that although I was young, I had all the required capabilities to be in this position and was able to help Nano Dimension grow and expand. I also enjoy the support from other members of Nano Dimension’ management, as well as from the board of directors and external consultants.

Q. What is the biggest challenge in your work?

Well, juggling between all my tasks. ? Also, as the CFO of a publicly traded start-up that started sales last year – keeping the balance between spending, investing in R&D, operations and keeping our cash balance.

Q. You handle lots of legal matters for Nano Dimension. What do they revolve around?

A few main things. Firstly, regulatory requirements from Israel and US entities, such as TASE, Nasdaq, SEC, tax authorities, et cetera. Second, corporate legal matters such as agreements with suppliers, customers, resellers, partners and employees. Third, corporate governance – our board of directors and its committees, compensation and audit. Last but not least, reporting requirements – immediate reports, PRs, quarterly financials and annual report.

Q. What are forward-looking statements and why are they important?

Forward-looking statements are statements that the company mentions publicly which are not facts, such as predictions, estimates of future sales, results of collaborations, timings of future events et cetera. Investors should note and take into consideration that such statements are not facts that happened in the past, but our beliefs and expectations. In every PR, we include a forward-looking statements paragraph that basically reminds our investors that they should read such statements with the required caution, i.e. taking into consideration relevant risks and uncertainties.

Q. How does a usual investor call go? If there is a “usual”.

There isn’t really a “usual” investor call, but most questions we got from investors lately were with regards to our sales and revenue: How many printers we sold each quarter, who were the customers, what was the average sales price, what did we expect the ink consumption per printer to be going forward, what were our projections regarding future sales, why and how we felt comfortable with our pipeline, our relationship with the resellers, et cetera. Other questions are related to different subjects, such as R&D collaborations, sales strategy for the long-term, finance and funding and more – it all depends on the nature of the investors and what interest them.

Q. What preparations have to be done before an investor call?

We hold quarterly investor calls, also called “earnings calls”, after we publish our financial results each quarter. A few weeks before the call, we look back and prepare a list of all major events that happened in the last quarter and ask employees for additional information, such as events and shows we participated in, important R&D developments et cetera.
I also prepare financial data that I expect our analysts to ask about, such as share count at the end of the quarter, depreciation and amortization expenses as well as share-based payment expenses. In addition, we try to think of possible questions that will be asked during the Q&A session following the call.

Q. What are some of your priorities for Nano Dimension’s future?

Four main priorities: Increase revenue, improve efficiency of internal processes to support our growth, tighter budget control and establish financial infrastructure and procedures in our US and Hong Kong regional offices.

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