Source: Kevin Leary, OpenView Partners If you’re selling a product online, your website should be a major source of sales. Many companies with well designed websites have a clear product pricing strategy that is openly displayed on a Pricing page. It may initially seem scary or even reckless to publish your company’s pricing structure openly […]
Software Pricing Strategies Read More »
Source: Firas Raouf, OpenView Partners Before we talk about what makes a CFO great, let’s make sure you are convinced you need one. Early stage software CEOs (the inexperienced ones, that is) have a tendency to postpone hiring a CFO. Typically, the reason revolves around cost and the perception that there’s not enough work for
Do You Have a Great CFO Yet? Read More »
Source: Tom Dibble, President and CEO of Aria Systems, a provider of cloud billing and subscription management solutions. The Software-as-a-Service delivery model has rapidly matured in the past few years, evolving from an experimental delivery method for niche audiences to a widely-practiced business approach. Investors are clearly enamored with it, in part, because it’s helped
Recurring Revenue Romance Read More »
A commercial real estate lease, like any other contract, can be negotiated. Do not use or accept a form lease submitted to you by another party. The lease should be slanted so that you obtain the maximum legal, economic and tax advantages. Keep in mind that any ambiguities in the lease are usually construed by the
Negotiating a Commercial Lease Read More »
How to Borrow with Honesty, Integrity and the Best Chance of Growing Your Business Long-term Source: Lee N. Katz, The Turnaround Authority & National Vistage Speaker Bankers and business owners can have trouble communicating because their mind-sets are different. As someone who began his career as a banker and who has spent the last 30
10 “C”s of Borrowing – For CEOs Read More »
Source: Michael Jacobs and Anil Shivdasani; Harvard Business Review With trillions of dollars in cash sitting on their balance sheets, corporations have never had so much money. How executives choose to invest that massive amount of capital will drive corporate strategies and determine their companies’ competitiveness for the next decade and beyond. And in the short
Do You Know Your Cost of Capital? 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: 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: Pascal-Emmanuel Gobry There are lots of trends people have been talking about in tech financing–“superangels”; delayed IPOs; secondary market sales; and more. But so far, few people have been putting the dots together: the entire financing landscape for companies is changing.There are lots of trends people have been talking about in tech financing–“superangels”; delayed
Changes in Ways Growth Companies are Financed 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.
