G Squared Partners

Case Study

More Than a Decade as the Finance Partner for a Fast-Growing Agriculture Company

How G-Squared Partners has supported an AgTech company through every stage of its growth, from the earliest days of the business to a period of rapid expansion.

Services

  • Outsourced CFO
  • Board Support
  • Financial Modeling & FP&A
  • Capital Raising & Debt Financing
  • Audit Management
  • Acquisition & Entity Structuring Support

Overview

Every firm has a first client. For G-Squared Partners, it was an AgTech company that became a client in December 2012, when the firm consisted of one person, Founder and CEO Gene Godick.

The company had a finance leader and a small bookkeeping team when we arrived. Within days of a leadership change, G-Squared Partners stepped in to run finance, with a one-week handoff from the outgoing team. More than a decade later, we are still working with the company. The business has changed enormously in that time, and so has our role.

Our role has flexed with the company's needs. In some years we served as the company’s CFO. In others, we were a trusted resource the CEO could call on when a specific question came up. Today, with the company generating revenue well beyond what it did just a few years ago, our team focuses on forecasting, financing, and strategy while a growing internal finance team manages day-to-day operations.

The Challenge

A Finance Function That Had to Keep Pace With a Changing Business

Over more than a decade, this company changed its product focus, its customers, and its scale. Each shift put different demands on the finance function:

  • Early-stage Finance Leadership

    A young company with a small team needed an experienced CFO to manage cash, report to the board, and raise the capital required to fund its growth.

  • A Business in Transition

    As the company moved into new markets and invested in research and product development, its finances needed to stay clear enough to support decisions and conversations with lenders.

  • Complexity at Scale

    Rapid growth brought acquisitions, new facilities, an outside audit, a change in legal structure, and a board that expected more sophisticated reporting.

No single hire could have covered all of that at the right moment. The company needed a finance partner whose involvement could grow, shrink, and change shape as the business did.

Our Approach

Matching Our Role to the Stage of the Business

Our work with this company has moved through several distinct phases, and in each one we adjusted what we did to what the business needed.

The Early Years

After the initial transition, G-Squared Partners ran finance for the company as it grew and raised capital. Gene has attended every board meeting since 2012, which has given the company a consistent finance voice in the room across a long period of change.

The Pivot Years

As the company shifted its strategy, our role became lighter. We stayed available for the questions that mattered, including introducing a factoring partner and helping the company access government-backed loan programs.

When the business began to gain traction and leadership was ready to look ahead strategically, G-Squared Partners returned in a bigger role. We brought several years of financial records current, and the company went on to raise a growth round.

The Growth Years

As revenue climbed, our work expanded to cover:

  • Monthly Close and Reporting

    Supporting the close alongside the company’s internal team.

  • FP&A and Financial Modeling

    Building the forecasting and analysis the company needed to plan, report to its board, and evaluate major initiatives.

  • Financing

    Helping the company secure millions of dollars in debt financing, including funding for a new production facility and the equipment to run it.

  • Audit Management

    Bringing in a large audit firm and running the process on the company’s behalf.

  • Entity Conversion

    Guiding the company through a conversion from an LLC to a C corporation, working alongside its legal and tax advisors.

  • Acquisition Support

    Supporting the company’s finance team through several acquisitions.

  • Finance Hiring

    Running the search for the company’s first internal VP of Finance, working with a recruiter and managing the process, and later helping interview the controller who joined the team.

The company we started with in 2012 looks nothing like the one we support today, and what they needed from us kept changing. Sometimes that meant running finance. Sometimes it meant a phone call about a factoring firm. The job is figuring out what the moment requires.

Gene Godick Gene Godick Founder and CEO, G-Squared Partners

The Results

Supporting a Company Through a Period of Rapid Growth

The company’s growth over the past few years has been extraordinary. Revenue grew from under $5 million in 2022 to a projected figure of over $150 million this year, and the finance function has kept pace with it.

Along the way, the company:

  • Raised outside capital and secured debt financing

  • Restructured from an LLC to a C corporation

  • Built a finance team of its own, including a VP of Finance and a controller

  • Expanded its footprint with a new production facility and several acquisitions

Each of those milestones needed finance support that matched its scale, and G-Squared Partners provided it at each stage. Our team has also supported the company’s board for more than a decade, bringing continuity through changes in leadership, strategy, and market conditions.

Toward the Future

A Growing Company Building Its Own Team

Today, the company has the internal finance resources of a much larger business. G-Squared Partners continues to support its FP&A and financing work as more responsibilities are gradually transitioned to the company’s in-house team.

For a firm like ours, that is a good outcome. Our job is to give a company what it needs for the stage it is in, and sometimes that means helping it grow past us.

The best outcome for a client like this is that they outgrow us. They become so big and successful that they need internal resources, and if anything, we’re the ones nudging them out of the nest.

Daniel Barley Daniel Barley Director, G-Squared Partners

Is your company growing faster than its finance function?

At G-Squared Partners, we serve as an extension of your leadership team, adjusting our role as your business changes and building the forecasts, reporting, and processes your board and investors need to make decisions with confidence. Contact us today to learn how we can support your growth.

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