Chiao Cheng

Critic
DISC Type : C

CFO at Tala

Santa Monica, California, United States

Overview

Chiao Cheng is the CFO of Tala, where he progressed from being the first finance hire at Series B. His expertise lies in scaling global finance organizations, securing capital through multiple equity and debt rounds, and managing M&A activities, such as DogVacays merger with Rover. He holds an MBA from UCLA and is a Certified Public Accountant.

There is no publicly available information about Chiaos personal life, interests, or hobbies outside of his professional career.

He built Talas global finance organization from zero to 25 professionals while driving 10X revenue growth.

Personality Overview

ROI Driven

Information Seeker

Precise

They prefer to do logical analysis and value evidence over emotions.  They are quite likely to negotiate on pricing or other key terms. They don’t appreciate bells and whistles unless backed by data.

Topics They Care About

Scaling Finance Teams
He built Tala's global finance team from the ground up and frequently posts about hiring for key roles, showing a focus on talent acquisition and team building.
Growth-Stage Funding
He has successfully secured capital through more than three equity raises and four debt funding rounds to enable aggressive company growth initiatives at Tala.
Mergers & Acquisitions
He played a key role in the M&A activities that led to the successful merger of DogVacay with Rover, demonstrating experience in strategic exits.

Media Appearances

Chiao has no verified media appearances

Work History

6-2025
CFO at Tala
2-2022
SVP, Finance at Tala
2-2019 - 2-2022
VP of Finance at Tala
10-2015 - 6-2017
Controller at DogVacay (Acquired by Rover, March 2017)
9-2014 - 10-2015
Assistant Controller at Creative Technology

Education

2012 - 2014
Master of Business Administration (M.B.A.) from UCLA Anderson School of Management
2002 - 2005
Bachelor's Degree from California State University, Los Angeles - College of Business and Economics

More Information

Social Presence :

Prographics :

Exp : 14 Location : Santa Monica, California, United States Job Level : Leadership Designation : CFO at Tala
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Insights For Selling To Chiao

During A Call Or A Meeting

DO's

  • Use phrases like ‘expect X% improvement’, ‘data clearly shows’ etc.
  • Leverage facts and figures wherever possible; use percentages, numbers etc.
  • Be ready to answer many clarity-seeking questions and requests for information

DONT's

  • Avoid phrases like ‘trust me’, ‘others just love’ etc.
  • Make extra effort to not seem pushy or confrontational
  • Don't give superficial answers, they are easily rattled by them

When Cold Calling

When Writing An Email

While Negotiating & Closing

    The secret to closing fast with Chiao is

  • Strong evidence of ROI, effective pricing, and proven data points matter the most to them.
  • Will you ever get a clear answer from Chiao

  • It is not very hard for them to say no if they are not convinced about the decision.

Insights For Deal Planning

    How fast (or slow) will Chiao move?

  • They are neither the fastest nor the slowest decision makers, they are somewhere in the middle.
  • Can Chiao take some risk or not?

  • They can bear some risk if their analysis backs the decision.

You And Chiao

Personality Compatibility


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