Case Studies
Real Businesses.
Real Transformations.
These are not success stories with tidy endings. They are stories of founders who got stuck, made hard choices, and rebuilt what wasn't working—without losing themselves in the process. Each engagement is different. The common thread: clarity replaced confusion, structure replaced chaos, and the founder regained agency over their own business.
Not a crisis. A transition.
The Challenge
A nonprofit organization arrived overwhelmed, financially foggy, and emotionally depleted. Cash was tightening despite revenue from programs and retail. Leadership feared they had "broken something" but couldn't identify what. The weight felt crushing.
What Was Really Happening
The organization hadn't broken anything—it had outgrown its systems. In 20 years of operation, they'd never built program-level financials. The chart of accounts hid costs. Retail's contribution was unknown. Payroll wasn't "too high"—it simply wasn't allocated correctly. The constraint was structural opacity, not financial failure.
The Work
We rebuilt their financial foundation from scratch: reconstructed three years of actuals, mapped programs for the first time, introduced margin-type tagging, allocated payroll correctly, and created the organization's first-ever program-level P&L. We also built three budget scenarios and stabilized leadership so decisions could be made from clarity instead of panic.
The Shift
The entire leadership posture changed. Once they could see clearly, fear shifted to strategy. Programs were identified as engines or drains. Staff engagement increased. Donor stewardship became consistent. Leadership regained emotional margin.
"This isn't a crisis. It's a transition." With visibility restored, the organization finally had the tools to lead confidently into its next phase.
The Founder Who Had Everything Except Movement
The Challenge
An intelligent, technically skilled founder with clean financials, stable clients, and time capacity—yet completely stuck. No outreach. No visibility. No new business. Everything was in place for growth except the actual movement forward.
What Was Really Happening
The founder wasn't struggling with knowledge or systems. They were struggling with being visible. Underneath the endless research and preparation was a pattern of avoidance: visibility meant vulnerability meant judgment. Analysis had become a protective mechanism, not a path to action.
The Work
We focused on clarity, micro-execution, and accountability. One-sentence answers. Naming avoidance as it showed up. Interrupting spirals in real time. The goal wasn't to build a perfect strategy—it was to build an execution muscle through small, consistent actions.
The Shift
They began catching their own avoidance patterns. They admitted that "strategy" was often emotional safety. They took real visibility actions despite discomfort. Shame decreased as self-awareness increased. Execution finally became possible.
For the first time in years, they were moving—not perfectly, not without fear, but moving.
When the Books Tell a Story You Can't Trust Yet
Engagement Type: Financial Assessment & Cleanup → Stabilization CFO
Status: In Progress
The Challenge
This business came to us with complex co-packing agreements, split revenue models, and financial records that hadn't been maintained consistently. Before we could provide strategic guidance on pricing, partnerships, or growth, we needed to establish what was actually true.
The numbers existed, but they weren't telling a reliable story yet.
What Was Really Happening
The business had grown organically through relationships and opportunistic deals. That's how many cannabis businesses survive in a volatile regulatory environment. But the financial infrastructure hadn't kept pace with operational complexity.
Revenue was split between multiple entities. Cost allocation wasn't clear. Partnership agreements were verbal or loosely documented. The founder knew the business intimately but couldn't see the full financial picture.
The Work (In Progress)
We started with financial assessment and cleanup:
Rebuilding the chart of accounts to match the actual business model
Clarifying revenue streams and cost allocation between production, co-packing, and wholesale
Documenting partnership agreements and revenue splits
Establishing baseline metrics: true COGS, gross profit by product line, overhead burden
Once we have clean data, we'll move into stabilization work: stress-testing the pricing model, analyzing partnership viability, and building cash flow projections that account for cannabis industry realities (irregular payment cycles, cash-heavy operations, compliance costs).
What's Emerging
Even in the assessment phase, patterns are becoming visible. The founder is starting to see which partnerships are actually profitable versus which ones feel good but don't pencil out. Pricing assumptions are being challenged. The emotional weight of "not knowing for sure" is lifting.
The work isn't done yet. But the foundation is being built for decisions that can be made with confidence rather than hope.
Why This Matters
Not every engagement starts with strategy. Sometimes the most important work is establishing ground truth. You can't make good decisions with unreliable data. And for cannabis businesses navigating regulatory complexity, compliance requirements, and cash-intensive operations, clean financials aren't optional—they're survival infrastructure.
Our Clients
We've provided fractional CFO services, business coaching, and financial strategy to founder-led companies across industries including cannabis, nonprofits, professional services, consulting, and e-commerce.
*Client confidentiality matters. Some engagements are not publicly disclosed at client request.*