By Margaret Heffernan, Entrepreneur and Author Although private companies have no legal obligation to create advisory boards, many of the most successful companies have them. Primarily this is because they’ve taken investment from individuals or firms for whom oversight and involvement is part of the price of the deal. But even firms owned wholly by their […]
Is Your Board of Directors Useful? Read More »
Source: Nick Petri – OpenView Partners In a great blog post entitled “Scaling is Hard,” Jeff Bussgang of Flybridge Capital gave four challenges that companies face after they’ve achieved the elusive product-market fit and started to gain traction with paying customers. As Jeff points out, scaling your company requires a very different skill set than
Scaling Your Business Model – 3 Necessary Adjustments Read More »
Source: Christopher Noble, MIT Technology Licensing Officer “How much money should I raise?” asks the new entrepreneur to anyone who will listen. The answers, unfortunately, are all over the map: “Nothing! Bootstrap”; “As much as you can”; “Ask the investor”; “Enough for the first six months/one year/two years”; “Plan at least two rounds ahead”… Being
How Much Money Should Entrepreneurs Raise? Read More »
Source: Jason Baptiste, OnStartup.com blog Everyone thinks that being a startup CEO is a glamorous job or one that has to be a ton of fun. That’s what I now refer to as the “glamour brain” speaking aka the startup life you hear about from the press. You know the press articles I’m talking about…
14 Ways to Be A Great Startup CEO Read More »
Greensboro, NC Rendell Richards – CFO & Partner Joe Thompson – Senior Controller & Director Paula Fong– Controller Melissa Varner – Senior Accountant Southern Pines, NC Gerhard Renner – CFO, Partner & Transaction Advisor Xan Smith – Transaction Advisor & Director Sarah Davidson O’Leary – Transaction Advisor & Director
Piedmont – Wilmington Team Read More »
VCs remain cautious as dollars, deals start low in 2012: Source: WRAL Tech Wire Funding for startups fell 19 percent in the first three months of the year, as cautious venture capitalists funneled less money into fewer deals. VCs invested $5.8 billion in 758 deals in the first quarter of 2012 compared to $7.1 billion
Q1 2012 Venture Market Starts Slow Read More »
Source: Jeff Wright, Senior Vice President, Hennessey Capital Managing cash flow vs profit is key to the success of any business. Without it, management cannot operate efficiently to address the needs of its customers and take advantage of new opportunities. Listed below are six ways to improve cash flow: 1 . Manage your receivables Before
6 Ways to Improve Your Cash Flow Read More »
Source: Chris Dixon, VC Three years ago, Fred Wilson wrote a great blog post called When Talking About Business Models, Remember that Profits Equal Revenues Minus Costs. The point he made was both simple and profound. The simple part is summed up in the post’s title[1]. The profound part is that high growth, early-stage tech companies
Revenue or Margin – Which is Better Path to Profit & Value? Read More »
Source: Doug and Poly White, Whitestone Partners It’s undeniable that small business is the growth engine of the economy. The Small Business Administration reports that there are 22.9 million small businesses in the United States. The Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) states that 90 percent of all net job creation from 1996-2007 came from small
Why Some Entrepreneurs Decide Not to Grow their Business Read More »
AtoZ Companies, Inc, a high growth, 22-store online retailer leveraging advanced, analytics-based customer acquisition technologies, has closed a significant capital raise led by a Raleigh-based angel group and individuals. SF provided advisory support and has been an investor in AtoZ since 2011. Lonny Bernath, founder and President of AtoZ Companies, disclosed that an angel group
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Graf Research™ unleashes innovation by developing ideas into disruptive technologies. The Graf mission aims to perform research, provide services, apply analytics, and create products that enable secure, high-performance, embedded, and adaptive computing solutions.
When the Director of Finance for Graf was leaving the company, Graf needed an experienced financial team to get them through the transition. Managing Director Gary Hayes was introduced to Graf and determined that CFO Rendy Richards and Controller John Schefke would be an ideal combination. These two were particularly important because Graf is a U.S. Government contractor, and both Richards and Schefke have strong backgrounds and deep skill sets in this industry.
The two Scale Finance professionals quickly responded to Graf’s time-sensitive need, logically split up the work, learned the DELTEK version used by Graf, introduced more efficient processes and techniques, and helped meet their financial reporting needs. Our professionals also determined that the Senior Staff Accountant was underutilized and helped her grow into a permanent, cost-effective Controller role.
FX HedgePool (FXHP)
FX HedgePool (FXHP) is a New York and London-based highly innovative fintech company. FXHP is an award-winning peer-to-peer matching platform that optimizes the FX swaps market. The Company eliminates market impact and minimizes the effects of volatility – significantly improving outcomes for all investors.
FXHP’s unique credit model separates liquidity from credit, creating a new source of safe and dependable liquidity for the swaps market. The Company exists for the community, guided by the community with a “win-win-win” commitment that helps members, underlying investors, and banks yield safer and better results.
Scale Finance began serving FXHP years ago, providing annual business valuations to support 409A compliance for the Company’s management incentive equity plan. During this period, Scale Finance Managing Director Dave Gilroy advised FXHP about potential strategic corporate transactions. In 2022, the Company decided to raise institutional venture capital. Scale Finance managed this process from end to end, resulting in a highly successful closing of an $8 million Series A equity financing led by Information Venture Partners with participation from Fidelity International Strategic Ventures and NAventures (National Bank of Canada’s corporate venture capital arm).
Scale Finance continues to provide periodic business valuation support.
Heritage Trust
As the first independent trust company in New Mexico, established in 1994, Heritage Trust (HT) uses innovation, experience, and flexibility to meet clients’ needs. HT provides a full range of trust services, e.g., acting as their client fiduciary for their Trust assets, being an executor or personal representative related to the distribution of estate assets, managing and growing financial assets, and preparing annual tax returns for trusted clients.
Co-Founder and Managing Director of Scale Finance Gary Hayes has been providing CFO and managing Controller support since February 2021. We have streamlined their monthly and year-end close process and established budget/forecast capability to support management. Their business has grown over 40% since Scale Finance has been involved with the company’s financial management. Gary has also participated in Board Meetings as and when needed.
Southland Transportation Company
Southland Transportation provides transport, supply chain, and campus management services on a local, regional, and nationwide basis. When Southland contacted Scale Finance, they had a strong accounting staff but no Controller or CFO. After an unsuccessful search for a full-time CFO, Southland engaged CFO and Partner Rendy Richards as their fractional CFO.
Over 18 months, Richards helped integrate a new acquisition, made improvements in accounting and finance processes, developed the company’s first-ever annual budget, helped with the onboarding of a new Controller, and provided business valuations in conjunction with Scale Finance’s Managing Director, Dave Gilroy.
For over six decades, Cooper Electrical has served a wide range of industrial, commercial, and municipal customers across the Southeast, providing best-in-class Electrical Design/Build, BIM, Prefabrication, Instrumentation & Controls, and Calibration services. Cooper’s expertise spans multiple major markets, including bio-pharmaceutical, chemical, water & wastewater, power generation, manufacturing, gas production & transmission, and food & beverage.
When Cooper’s CFO left the company for another opportunity, the owners engaged Rendy Richards as interim CFO while they searched for a full-time replacement. On a half-time basis over eight months, Richards kept the company’s financial organization humming, made improvements in several business processes, initiated a detailed financial forecast, and met with the owners to share his observations and recommendations on the most feasible way to staff their finance and accounting department cost-effectively.
SymmetryRX, LLC
SymmetryRX is a leading provider of eSampling services allowing Pharma Manufacturing companies to access physician practices for the ordering and distribution of drug samples across the US. The Company was acquired in November 2018 from Aptus Health, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Merck. Since then, the company has expanded its robust suite of services that provides pharma manufacturing executives, brand managers, sales managers, product managers, and launch managers the ability to help more patients have greater access to samples, improving medication adherence and healthcare outcomes.
Co-Founder and Managing Director of Scale Finance Gary Hayes has been providing CFO Services to the Company since 2018 and was integral in the acquisition process, facilitated initial financing to support the company with a 7A SBA loan package of $600 thousand and an SBA-backed $300 thousand LOC. Since then, Gary has been actively providing CFO support across financial reporting, budgeting, forecasting, cash planning, and strategic planning.
