Manage the Board to Drive Collaboration

Challenge

This ten year old venture-backed, SaaS-based startup was challenged. They needed help to manage the board of directors, manage the accounting systems and procedures, and manage through thoughtful sales growth. During this time, the board of directors had a shortage of visibility into strategic marketing and financial performance of the business, leading to many challenging board conversations. One of the main concerns through this was accounting, due to the lack of reporting, accounting management, and absence of consistent deliverables.

Solution

Working with the management team, GrowthLab developed a strategic framework for delivering financial data and business insights in a standard, consumable format, delivered consistently. GrowthLab also helped restructure the sales strategy and team; one key aspect of this was linking compensation with sales performance…something almost all companies should do!

To help restructure their accounting systems and procedures, we implemented systems that could virtualize the daily and weekly accounting functions—ensuring that scheduling was never a bottleneck. Also, with additional cadence and rigor, we were able to generate cleaner, more accurate, and on-time financial reporting.

Results

The company is now able to manage the Board of Directors meetings proactively and with confidence. The Board is now receiving accurate and timely financials, budget-to-actual reports, and flash reports on a monthly basis, while now being in a position to weigh in on strategy and approve the company’s annual operating plan (AOP). These insights allowed GrowthLab and the management team to identify customers where they were making and losing money—one of the four main areas of pain for most businesses!

The accounting function is now completely virtualized and able to be served with greater agility and timeliness. Therefore, the conversations today between the management team and Board are much more productive and collaborative with a focus on long-term alignment and strategic growth.

This material has been prepared for informational purposes only, and is not intended to provide, and should not be relied on for, tax, legal or accounting advice.