Results
Real transformations.
Real numbers.
Not one of these brands needed more revenue.
Every one of them needed to see what was already there
$2M+
Profit recovered
300+
Founders served
8-9 fig
Brands under management
10
CFO seats at a time
Client identities are protected, so these are described by category and revenue band. The numbers are real. Every one followed the same sequence: get the books to a standard you can trust, find where the money actually goes, then build the architecture that holds it.
01
eCommerce and affiliate, 9 figures
Problem
Marketing was performing. The bank balance did not agree. Same bookkeeper for years, and a founder who had stopped trusting the reports without being able to say why.
Root cause
Marketing was performing. The bank balance did not agree. Same bookkeeper for years, and a founder who had stopped trusting the reports without being able to say why.
What we built
Marketing was performing. The bank balance did not agree. Same bookkeeper for years, and a founder who had stopped trusting the reports without being able to say why.
Result
$2M in cash recovered. Net profit margin doubled in four months. Net revenue up 20 percent with no additional acquisition spend.
02
Apparel, $7M
Problem
Strong revenue, constant cash stress. Every reorder was a negotiation with the credit card.
Root cause
Cash was one number. Stock deposits, sales tax, payroll and profit all came out of the same balance, so every decision was made against money that was already committed and invisible.
What we built
Cash separated by purpose and mapped to the product cycle and the marketing rhythm, so the inventory account funds ahead of the reorder rather than during it.
Result
Cash flow stable in five months. $180K reserve built from existing trade. Reorders stopped being a stress event.
03
Homeware, $11M
Problem
Locked into a high-interest cycle financing inventory, with the founder convinced the business had to grow its way out.
Root cause
Revenue was overstated by 15 percent through double-counting across channels. Profit, and therefore the tax position, had been calculated on a number that was never real, and the debt was funding a gap that partly did not exist.
What we built
Cash management architecture plus a full debt elimination analysis. Channel reconciliation corrected so revenue reports once.
Result
15 percent of duplicated revenue removed and the accounts corrected. A $340K overstated tax position identified and handed to the client's tax adviser to correct. Debt cleared without a single additional sale.
04
Electronics, $3.8M
Problem
Ten years trading and the profit kept disappearing. No one could say where.
Root cause
The business had never done a stocktake and was reporting on a cash basis. In an inventory business that means the month you buy stock looks unprofitable and the month you sell it looks brilliant, and the average of the two carries no information. Real profit was sitting in stock on the shelf and had never appeared on a balance sheet.
What we built
Moved to accrual. Ran the first full stocktake in the company's history. Rebuilt COGS off landed cost.
Result
The brand was 32 percent more profitable than it had been reporting. Ten years of decisions had been made against a number that was wrong.
05
Health, $5M
Problem
Inventory funded on high-interest credit, with each reorder deepening the hole.
The cash conversion cycle ran longer than the payment terms, so stock was paid for months before it generated cash, and the shortfall was bridged with the dearest money available.
What we built
A cash management system built around the actual product cycle, with the inventory account funded from trade ahead of the reorder date.
Result
$47K of interest eliminated. Debt-free in eight months. Growth self-funded from that point.
06
Health supplements, $4.2Mre, $11M
Problem
Money going somewhere. Nobody could name where.
Root cause
Eight separate leaks, none individually large enough to notice on a P&L, all of them permanent. Processor fees misposted, freight outside COGS, returns netted against revenue, and a subscription discount that had never been switched off.
What we built
A full profit leak analysis, then cash architecture on top so the recovered margin stayed recovered instead of being absorbed into the next month's spend.
Result
Eight leaks plugged. Operations fully self-funded. The founder can now answer where the money goes.
07
Beauty and personal care, $12.2M
Problem
Every new customer lost money. A cohort took six months to break even, and the growth plan assumed scale would fix it.
Root cause
Gross margin was read off the platform, so acquisition targets were set against a number that had never carried freight, processing, packaging or returns. Several hero SKUs were being acquired at a loss that scale made worse.
What we built
Contribution margin by SKU after ad spend, returns and freight. True acquisition cost by cohort. Pricing and acquisition targets rebuilt off the real number.
Result
First-order profitability achieved. SKU-level margin optimised. Repeat purchase economics fixed rather than hoped for.
08
Outdoor recreation gear, $8.5M
Problem
A sale process fell over. The buyer looked at the balance sheet and walked.
Root cause
Duplicate purchase orders had been entering the system for years, inflating both inventory and liabilities. The balance sheet showed a business carrying debt it did not have against stock it did not hold, and no buyer will underwrite that.
What we built
Untangled the inventory system, corrected the balance sheet, and put purchase order controls in so it cannot recur.
Result
$340K of balance sheet error corrected. Clean inventory system. Financials at a standard due diligence will pass.
Eight brands. One pattern.
Not one of these businesses had a revenue problem. Every one had a visibility problem that had been compounding quietly, usually for years, usually while someone competent was doing the bookkeeping.
A finance system built for a smaller business does not fail loudly. It quietly stops telling you the truth.
You keep making good decisions against bad numbers until the gap gets big enough to hurt.
The fix is the same sequence every time. Get the numbers to a standard you can trust. Find where the money actually goes. Build the architecture that holds it.
Do that and you own a brand a buyer would pay a premium for, whether you sell or not.
Your numbers can tell you the truth too
Bring your P&L and your current inventory position, and you will leave the call knowing where the money goes and what fixing it is worth to your business.
Former Certified Profit First Professional. A2X integration expert. A US LLC, working with founders across the United States, the United Kingdom and Australia.