Delivered:
$2,000,000 in working capital raised.
GAAP accounting and 75% reduction in monthly close time.
Improved operating model outlining path to sustainable top-line growth.
Client
Three years after COVID, a well-regarded live entertainment brand with a global presence was struggling to recover pre-pandemic profitability and raise funds needed to expand its popular multi-day, destination events.
Challenge
While popular with affluent tastemakers, the brand was struggling with a multi-year turnaround plan. Finance staff turnover, lack of clear metrics and goals, poor cash flow management and unexpected cost overruns had damaged the company’s ability to offer investors clarity, leading to a high cost for badly needed working capital.
Engagement
MSA partner Peter Beller moved into the interim CFO role on three days’ notice and immediately rectified a two-month lag in financial reporting and reoriented and rallied the small, struggling finance team. Over the next six months, we rebuilt the finance staff, implemented a rapid but repeatable monthly close process and refined the company’s outdated operating model to highlight the business’s most important drivers of success.
Impact
With a renewed sense of focus, monthly closes became a matter of days instead of weeks and the company was able to produce GAAP results for the first time. We led preparation of due diligence materials and talking points for potential funders that ultimately resulted in a successful debt raise of $2M, giving the firm the cash it needed to move from crisis mode to growth and, just several months later, a successful sale to a strategic acquirer.