Source: Elizabeth Weil, Partner, Scribble Ventures (and featuring Andrew McLeod (Co-Founder & CEO, Certn) Most early stage founders learn to run board meetings the hard way — trial and error. And with remote work more common, there hasn’t been a lot shared on how to run a great board meeting over Zoom. So what does […]
5 Rules for an A+ Board Meeting for Investor-backed Companies Read More »
Launching a successful business is every entrepreneur’s dream, but it’s not an uncommon one. In 2022, there were approximately 333 million small-medium enterprises (SMEs) across the globe. Moreover, over 417 thousand new business applications were filed in the US during the last quarter of the year. It goes without saying of course that you’ll need
7 Ways a Business Name Generator Can Help Entrepreneurs Read More »
Source: Don Alexander, Founder, GeneCoda Many articles I’ve recently reviewed about employee turnover describe various methods to calculate the unplanned turnover costs of an organization. For example, a study from the Center for American Progress cites figures that range from 16% of annual earnings for jobs paying $30k or less up to 213% for very
Understanding the True Cost of Employee Turnover Read More »
Source: Clement Vouillon, Point 9 Capital Since I wrote “The Rise of Non “VC compatible” SaaS Companies” I’ve been in touch with many bootstrapped founders, brokers or SaaS acquirers and I’ve followed the development of the space by reading articles and listening to podcasts. The following post is a summary of what I saw evolving
Bootstrapping Your SaaS Business – What’s Changing Read More »
Source: Kelsey Simpson When it comes to finance and accounting, it’s common for some new business owners to feel overwhelmed; especially if they have no prior experience with bookkeeping in any form. Business owners will often hire local accountants to take care of their finance and accounting needs, but in the earliest days of a
Finance & Accounting 101 for New Small Company Owners Read More »
Source: Owen Nicholson, Head of Growth at IN-PART Publishing, and Operations Manager at the Dyson Robotics Lab at Imperial College. There are a vast amount of ways in which you can structure an intellectual property collaboration between a university and business. This article looks to provide guidance and points for consideration by both sides. University
Accessing University IP – Negotiating Financial & Other Terms Read More »
Source: BizActions Running a new business can be a daunting and high-risk endeavor. Many things can go horribly wrong. As soon as you form a business, you’ll face many important decisions, ranging from mundane to critical. While much of what you must learn comes through trial and error, other lessons can be learned by observing
7 Steps for New Business Owners Read More »
Source: Stanford Business Insights Take time to ensure that your earliest hires fit your company culture. Go slow when hiring your team. The wrong fit can hurt your success. Even in the biggest, most stable corporations, putting together a small team can be a perilous process fraught with personality clashes, hierarchical imbalances, and conflicting visions. But
How to Build a Better Team for Your Startup Read More »
Source: Solomon Brenner, Angel Capital Association Member (Keiretsu Forum Mid-Atlantic) Whether the patent process is worthwhile and beneficial depends on the inventor, the opportunity and the timing. Deciding to go through with the process can be intimidating, costly and time-consuming. That’s why I decided to call Danielle Williams, an attorney at Winston & Strawn who
To Patent or Not to Patent Read More »
Source: Billy Fink, AxialMarkets A market downturn, skewed valuations, skeletons in the closet — there are hundreds of factors that can derail an otherwise perfect opportunity. While some of these disruptors are truly factors out of your control, there are other risks that you unknowingly may be bringing to your deals. Cognitive biases are defined as
Negotiation Psychology – Common Blind Spots Read More »
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.
