The Secret to Growth is Helping Others Grow
Background:
In 2006, we met a passionate entrepreneur with great ideas. He wanted to try new things and create a business that would make a difference. Even with great ideas, this young gun didn’t know nuances of running a business.
Meeting with CFO Services:
He met one of the partners of CFO Services at a conference and approached them to help him making a business plan. His passion was addictive and CFO Services agreed to work with him for NO FEE as he was unable to pay. However, the condition was to work on weekends and not during working hours. His relationship with CFO Services began with a business plan. The business plan and idea were good but still, the business did not last for long because he wasn’t able to scale up due to market competition.
New Venture:
In January 2007, the entrepreneur started writing blogs on digital and social media and came up with another idea of starting a digital agency. As before, he turned towards CFO Services to help him get his company incorporated and create a fresh business plan for his new venture.
He couldn’t afford a full-time accounting team and therefore CFO Services handled the accounting for his company as an outsourced model. As the company was at its nascent stage Standard Operating Practices (SOPs) were also built by CFO Services, in order to support the company to grow faster. It was also involved in handling compliances like Income Tax, TDS, Service Tax and Secretarial Services for the company.
Ups and Downs:
In 2008, the company was affected by the global downturn and was on the verge of closing its operations when CFO Services, helped it tweak its business plan and made it more cash flow focused. Some of the steps taken by the business with the help of CFO Services were closing down of business verticals which weren’t providing positive cash flows. The change in the model helped the company focus only on profitable business verticals to sustain their cashflows. This facilitated the business to scale.
Growing Together:
CFO Services then transitioned the accounting function to an in-house team while keeping its responsibility by conducting periodic checks. The role of CFO Services enlarged from being Accountants of the company to Internal Auditors now. Right people with sound technical knowledge were chosen for the company with the help of CFO Services and the team started growing.
Going Global:
The role of CFO Services further expanded from Internal Auditors to Management Advisors who were involved in the upgrading of systems and processes in the areas of accounting and finance for the company. Due to this, the company was able to standardize and scale up much faster. The entrepreneur wanted to access global clients, which needed to partner with Global Networks. CFO Services initiated the discussion with multiple global networks for understanding the synergies and long term growth.
While the entrepreneur would look at the perfect fit with regards to the culture of the organization, CFO Services was looking into long term financial value creation of the business. CFO Services helped with the Due diligence, which was carried by the Big 4 audit firms. Post successful Due diligence and negotiations over terms of the acquisition, the deal was finalized. Post-acquisition CFO Services was involved in compliances of the new, bigger entity.
Trust and Value:
While the company was growing bigger, it was inevitable to appoint a full-time CFO as a general practice. However, CFO Services remains associated with the company as internal auditor & the entrepreneur on his personal finance front even today. The association which began with handing Accountants of the company went on to become Internal Auditors, extended to become a part of Management Advisors, and now becoming a part of the Promoter’s Family. The relationship with this entrepreneur and his growth journey is an ever-growing one.