Access to capital is no longer cheap or guaranteed, forcing companies to prove they can scale sustainably and efficiently rather than relying on aggressive spending. In a conversation with Kevin Appleby, Manu Diwakar, CFO of Virta Health and veteran of Riot Games, the creator economy, AgTech, and digital health, shares his lived experience guiding high‑growth businesses through steep growth curves without burning cash. He explains how Virta tackles metabolic disease while emphasizing capital efficiency, smart fundraising, and the importance of talent, culture, and unit economics over vanity metrics, offering finance leaders and founders a grounded playbook for scaling with ambition while keeping control of their runway.