Zeni’s fractional CFO services have been super helpful for us. Natalia helped us immensely in putting together a budget for 2023 and posing some challenging but really good questions and new ways of thinking about how we frame our finances and spending for the year to continue with our growth. – Adam Stoffel, Co-Founder & Head of Operations, Caravel Labs
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The Challenge
Complex Finances For A Tech-Focused Founding Team
Caravel Labs came to Zeni a year after starting their business. As Head of Operations, Adam was managing the company’s finances at the time.
Since their finances started relatively simply as a new business, Caravel Labs initially only outsourced an accounting firm to do their annual taxes.
But the team and business grew quickly.
With a tech-minded leadership team with zero finance or business background, they quickly realized their need for a financial partner that could:
- Manage more complex books and high transaction volumes
- Create accurate and GAAP-compliant financial reports on demand
- Replace manual data entry
- Provide a breadth of financial services that could grow with the company
- Could integrate with existing finance and tech stack
“Having GAAP-compliant financials that were readily accessible, all in one place, and that we felt confident were prepared correctly was useful to us and enabled us to get through our first valuation process much faster.” – Adam Stoffel, Co-Founder & Head of Operations, Caravel Labs
The Solution
A Do-It-All Financial Operations Platform
Zeni quickly got Caravel Labs up and running on their Zeni Dashboard where they could:
- See data from their entire tech stack in a single place
- Download financial reports on demand
- See the state of their finances in real-time with zero manual data entry required
Not long after initial onboarding, Caravel Labs also began taking advantage of Zeni’s additional financial services so that their entire financial operations could live under one roof.
This included:
- Annual tax support and filing
- Fractional CFO Services
- Strategic support and financial report building for their upcoming valuation
- Creating an annual budget and advising on spending strategies
“The idea of using the AI technology that Zeni has to assist with our finances was intriguing to us because we see the value in power and technology ourselves.” – Adam Stoffel, Co-Founder & Head of Operations, Caravel Labs
The Impact
AI And Human Experts Combine To Fuel Financial Growth
- Speedy Valuation Process – Caravel Labs had GAAP-compliant financial reports ready to go even before the valuation process, giving the team confidence to move forward quickly with accurate results.
- Reduced Manual Processes – Instead of spending hours in Quickbooks daily, Caravel Lab’s now had time to concentrate on operations and growing the business.
- Trusted Human Connection – Behind the technology, Caravel Labs found a readily available, strategic partner to help them tackle financial tasks outside of just daily bookkeeping.
- A New Financial Outlook – Caravel Labs’ fractional CFO challenged them to think about what was driving the connection between their spending and their budget to grow more strategically.
- Real-Time Reporting – Financial reports or a quick view into operating expenses were always up-to-date and easy to grab and go from the dashboard when needed.
- Simple, Quick Communication – Caravel Labs found it easy to email the Zeni team whenever needed. They had peace of mind that they’d receive a prompt response; no customer service, chatbot, or form submission/request.
“If we hadn't started working with Zeni, I would still be spending a lot of my time on accounting and learning how to manage our financials from scratch. But now that we have Zeni, I've been able to focus on a lot of other operations things that have helped us grow more efficiently.” – Adam Stoffel, Co-Founder & Head of Operations, Caravel Labs
You too can have get real-time visibility and fractional CFO support that you need to grow. Talk with a financial advisor here.
