$5M → $20M
Revenue growth over 30 months
$1.2M
Tax savings identified in year one
22 days
Reduction in cash conversion cycle
8 → 4 days
Monthly close time

The Situation

Growing Fast, Flying Blind

The company was a founder-led consumer brand doing roughly $5M in annual revenue across Shopify, Amazon, and a small wholesale program. Growth was strong but visibility was not: net deposits landed in a single revenue account, inventory sat at zero on the balance sheet, and the founder could not answer contribution margin questions in a board setting.

Sales tax had never been reviewed. Inventory buys were made on gut feel and stock-outs were absorbing marketing spend. A previous bookkeeper was competent but had no runway to operate above the transactional layer.

What Sataurius Did

Rebuilt the Finance Function in Four Phases

  1. Reset the accounting layer. Redesigned the chart of accounts, moved inventory onto the balance sheet with landed cost, and set up channel-level revenue reconciliation across Shopify, Amazon, and wholesale. See ecommerce accounting.
  2. Closed the sales tax exposure. Ran a nexus study, quantified prior exposure, negotiated voluntary disclosure in seven states, and set up ongoing filings. See ecommerce sales tax.
  3. Installed CFO leadership. A fractional CFO took ownership of the rolling 13-week cash forecast, inventory buy plan, contribution margin dashboard, and monthly board package. See ecommerce fractional CFO.
  4. Upgraded the systems stack. Migrated the brand from QuickBooks plus manual spreadsheets to a NetSuite-anchored stack with Celigo middleware to Shopify and Amazon, and a 3PL integration for real-time inventory. See ecommerce finance systems and ERP.

The Outcome

4x Revenue, a Real Finance Function, and a Successful Raise

Over 30 months, the brand scaled from $5M to $20M in revenue. Monthly close time dropped from eight days to four. The cash conversion cycle tightened by 22 days after inventory buys were re-tied to demand and lead times. R&D and state credit reviews identified $1.2M in tax savings across the first year.

When the founder chose to bring in growth capital, the diligence process moved cleanly because the numbers, the sales tax posture, and the systems were already investor-ready. The company closed a minority private-equity investment without a repricing or a delayed timeline.