Revenue first, then planning, then the listing, then the CFO's chair

Mandate

Turn a fast-growing, cash-consuming software company into one that funds its own growth, and bring stock compensation and dilution under the board's control.

Outcomes

• Moved free cash flow from minus 6 per cent of revenue in 2021 to plus 19 per cent in 2025 while revenue grew from $295M to $612M.
• Cut stock compensation from 19 to 10 per cent of revenue and net dilution from 4.6 to 1.1 per cent a year.
• Repriced the AI notes assistant; cost per note fell from $0.31 to $0.11 and subscription gross margin recovered to 80.4 per cent.
• Repaid $287M of convertible notes in cash at maturity in March 2026, after funding a $64M acquisition and a $120M buyback authorisation.
• Brought the quarterly close down to six working days, from eleven.

Decisions in context

I joined Brindlewood in March 2021, eighteen months after its listing, as its second CFO. The company was growing by a third each year, its software was well regarded by veterinarians and it was spending more cash than it earned, with stock awards worth almost a fifth of revenue. Hannah Rourke, our co-founder and chief executive, asked me to make growth self-funding without stalling it. The share price collapse of 2022 reordered the work: the share budget came first, then the measures that let the board see free cash flow after stock compensation, then the contract and commission reforms. The AI notes assistant, the capital allocation paper and the repayment of our convertible notes followed between 2024 and 2026. Revenue reached $612 million in 2025, with a free-cash-flow margin of 19 per cent, or 9 per cent after stock compensation.

Reason for the move

Current role. Not seeking an executive move; considering one independent directorship with the board's approval.

Mandate

Run the accounting of a newly listed company without a late filing, a restatement or a material weakness.

Outcomes

• Filed every quarterly and annual report on time from the first quarter after the listing.
• Delivered a first required management assessment of internal control with no material weakness.
• Cut the quarterly close to seven working days, down from twelve.
• Led the accounting for two acquisitions with a combined price of $96M.

Decisions in context

After the listing I became chief accounting officer, responsible for everything a newly public company files and every control behind it. The first year was about routine done reliably: quarterly reports filed on time, earnings releases reconciled to the filings, and a close that fell from twelve working days to seven. The second was about proving that the remediation had lasted. Our first required management assessment of internal control over financial reporting found no material weakness, and our revenue controls, the source of our difficulty before the listing, were tested without exception. I also led the accounting for two acquisitions with a combined price of $96 million, including the allocation of the purchase price to customer relationships and technology. I presented to the Audit Committee every quarter and learnt how directors read a technical paper when they have twenty minutes for it.

Reason for the move

Recruited as CFO of a listed software company, with responsibility for strategy and capital allocation as well as reporting.

Mandate

Build the controls, reporting and team a listed company needs within about three years.

Outcomes

• Built documented controls over revenue, stock compensation and the close ahead of the listing.
• Reviewed 2,600 multi-year contracts, found 38 side letters and corrected revenue timing on 11 before filing.
• Adopted the new US revenue standard in the year of the listing.
• Completed the listing in June 2018, raising $172M at $16 a share.

Decisions in context

Veyrholt hired me in September 2014 to turn a finance team of twelve into one that could support a listing. Revenue was $38 million and growing fast, the close took three weeks, and controls over revenue existed mostly in the heads of two people. Over three years we documented the controls a public company needs, built a dedicated revenue team, introduced a monthly reconciliation of billings to contracts and prepared three years of financial statements for audit. The audit in 2017 uncovered the side letters that became the defining episode of my time there. I recommended delaying the listing to remediate the weakness, and the board agreed after Joanna Brannagh supported the recommendation. We reviewed every multi-year contract, set up a deal desk and adopted the new revenue standard. The company listed in June 2018 with its history corrected.

Reason for the move

Promoted to chief accounting officer when the company listed.

Mandate

Give the board a credible plan for moving from licence and hardware sales to subscriptions.

Outcomes

• Built the transition model the board used to approve the move to subscriptions in 2011.
• Forecast the 2012 revenue decline of 9 per cent to within one percentage point.
• Introduced recurring revenue, churn and payback measures to the monthly board pack.
• Recurring revenue grew from $60M in 2010 to $310M in 2014.

Decisions in context

In 2009 I moved from revenue accounting into planning, leading a team of fourteen that grew to twenty-two. Ledgerwick sold terminals and perpetual software licences to restaurant chains, and its revenue swung with the number of new restaurants opened each year. The board wanted steadier revenue and approved a move to subscriptions in 2011 on a model my team built. The model's central promise was uncomfortable: revenue would fall before it recovered. It fell 9 per cent in 2012, within a point of our forecast, and recurring revenue grew from $60 million in 2010 to $310 million in 2014. I also brought recurring-revenue, churn and payback measures into the monthly board pack, which taught me how a board learns to read an unfamiliar set of numbers. I left to help build finance for a company preparing to list.

Reason for the move

Wanted to build finance for a company preparing to list, which an already listed Ledgerwick could not offer.

Mandate

Bring consistent revenue accounting to multi-year restaurant agreements that bundled hardware, software and support.

Outcomes

• Built a contract review that allocated revenue across hardware, software, installation and support for every agreement above $250,000.
• Reduced late revenue adjustments raised by the auditors from 14 in 2003 to none by 2007.
• Completed a part-time MBA alongside the role, in 2007.

Decisions in context

I came to Atlanta in July 2002 as revenue accounting manager for a company whose typical customer was a restaurant chain signing a five-year agreement for terminals, software, installation and support. Each agreement had to be divided into its elements and the revenue allocated across years under the software revenue rules of the time, which demanded evidence of value for each element. My team of four reviewed contracts after signature and often discovered terms that changed the answer. I persuaded the controller to let us review every agreement above $250,000 before signature, and late adjustments raised by our auditors fell from fourteen in 2003 to none by 2007. I became director in 2005, leading fourteen people, and completed a part-time MBA at Kenmare Graduate School of Business in 2007. I moved into planning because I wanted to shape decisions before they became contracts.

Reason for the move

Moved into financial planning to work on decisions before they became contracts.

Mandate

Plan and run audit fieldwork for technology and distribution clients.

Outcomes

• Qualified as a certified public accountant in 1999.
• Led fieldwork on about ten audits a year as a senior from 2000.
• Wrote the firm's first checklist for testing software revenue against contract terms.

Decisions in context

I joined Pembury Ashcroft in September 1997, straight from university, and qualified as a certified public accountant in 1999. The firm audited mid-sized companies across Ohio and Indiana, and as a senior from 2000 I ran fieldwork on about ten audits a year. Three clients were software companies, and they shaped my career. Software revenue then depended on proving what had been delivered and what was still owed, and I learnt to read contracts, correspondence and release notes together. One client restated a year of revenue after we found that its sales staff had promised future features in letters the contract never mentioned. I wrote the firm's first checklist for testing software revenue against contract terms. I left in 2002 because I wanted to make revenue decisions inside a company rather than examine them after the fact.

Reason for the move

Wanted to make revenue decisions inside a company rather than test them afterwards.