Source: Jeff Haden It’s too easy to lose focus after reaching this all-important milestone. Stay the course post-funding with these tips. Sometimes growth is impossible without a significant chunk of funding to fuel that growth. But say you do manage to beat the odds and attract capital–then what? Check out the following advice from Ashish […]
7 Things to Do After Raising Growth Capital Read More »
Source: Ricky Pelletier, OpenView Partners Often when I speak with a company that is looking for a new round of capital, one of the immediate follow-up items is the preliminary data request. At this point, I’m assuming we’ve walked through a solid pitch deck that at least gives some high-level on the financials and helps answer these
3 Critical Pieces of Data for Raising Capital Read More »
How to Pitch Raising Capital to Your Board of Directors Source: Firas Raouf, Founding Member of OpenView Venture Partners For some founders, the thought of pitching a VC round to their board of directors can incite a fair share of dread. Will the board disagree? Will certain board members stand in your way? Not if
How to Pitch Raising Capital to Your Board of Directors Read More »
Source: Andy White – PitchBook On paper, 2013 has not been able to match the pace set in 2012 for venture capital-backed companies looking to find an exit, though it has by no means been a slow year. The number of VC-backed exits was down almost 14% from 2012 and capital exited lagged by a
2013 Year in Review – VC-Backed Exit Activity Read More »
Source: Ricky Pelletier, OpenView Venture Partners I hear it over and over again: “I have no plans to raise outside capital right now, so I don’t think speaking would be a good use of our time. I’ll reach out if things change.” This (or close derivatives of this) is, by far, the most common response
5 Reasons to Speak to VCs (Even if You’re Not Raising Capital) Read More »
Source: David Gilroy, Managing Director, Scale Finance LLC Owners/CEOs of growing entrepreneurial companies often underestimate the difficulties, nuances, and complexities involved in the process of successfully raising equity capital. The challenge is made even more difficult as the company’s development stage is earlier rather than later, where investors can depend less on substantial trailing revenues,
Raising Venture Capital Read More »
Source: John Greathouse, Rincon Venture Partners Got a crucial meeting with potential investors? Here’s how to guarantee you’ll walk out empty-handed. If you follow the eight tips outlined in this entry, you will be guaranteed to suffer absolutely no dilution, as there is zero chance a reasonable investor will give you money. The prospective investors
How to Send Investors Running for Their Lives Read More »
Source; Lee Weisbecker, Triangle Business Journal The establishment of a state venture capital fund is on the McCrory administration’s agenda for revamping North Carolina’s approach to economic development. Commerce Secretary Sharon Decker, in a recent public appearance, confirmed the initiative, but she offered few details, including the targeted size of the fund or the organizational
New Venture Capital Fund May Be Part of NC Commerce Remake Read More »
Source: Nick Petri, OpenView Partners A Forbes article from a few months ago has been circulating around the office called “Why Do VC’s Cold Call?” The article is written from an Entrepreneur’s perspective (his name is Steven Rosenbaum), and essentially concludes that cold calling has no place in the VC-startup relationship. From our perspective here
Why a VC is Calling and Why You Should Answer Read More »
Source: PwC MoneyTree and NVCA Venture capitalists invested $6.7 billion in 913 deals in the second quarter of 2013, according to the MoneyTree™ Report from PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP (PwC) and the National Venture Capital Association (NVCA), based on data provided by Thomson Reuters. Quarterly venture capital (VC) investment activity rose 12 percent in terms of dollars
Venture Capital Market Update – First Half 2013 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.
