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Rich Wood provides accounting and finance consulting services to small- and medium-sized companies in the SF Bay Area, including numerous tech startups.

 

Services include Consulting CFO services that support accounting, financial modeling, analysis, fundraising, and financial and strategic planning.  In addition, more focused accounting services and other projects can be arranged.

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A particular focus is helping business owners achieve success by improving timeliness, reliability and relevance of financial information; implementing effective planning processes; improving cashflow; and clarifying the path to strategic goals such as growth, financial stability and a successful exit when it's time for the owner to realize the value they have built and move on to other endeavors.

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Rich has more than 25 years experience in CFO, Controller and other financial roles. Experience includes companies of different sizes, from startups, through various stages of growth and complexity, up to nearly $1 billion in annual sales. 

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Most experience has been in software and internet businesses, including enterprise software, SaaS (software-as-a-service), mobile apps, online marketplaces, online advertising, custom software development and e-commerce. Other industry experience includes construction, banking, professional services, manufacturing, wholesale distribution, retail, commercial real estate and transportation. 
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He is a Certified Public Accountant who began his career at Deloitte, a "Big 4" global CPA firm.  Education includes a UC Berkeley MBA and a UC Santa Barbara BA in Business Economics.  

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Some example accomplishments:

•   Built accounting, legal, HR and administration processes and teams from scratch

•   Helped secure more than $120M venture capital and debt financing

•   Created policies, controls and contracts that are effective without being burdensome

•   Wrote several investor slide presentations and business plans

•   Assisted M&A exits (pricing, agreement, due diligence and/or post-deal integration) 

•   Negotiated dozens of complex licensing, distribution and strategic partnership agreements​

•   Helped structure sales and distribution deals to optimize revenue recognition and cashflow

•   Solved contentious deal-threatening standoff to complete a company-making partnership agreement

•   Overhauled and rationalized complicated pricing strategy for a software and services company

•   Created an elegant monetization strategy to solve a difficult "chicken and egg" marketplace problem

•   Identified a risky labor law problem and created an innovative employment model to solve it

•   Built and optimized e-commerce systems; and minimized processing costs

•   Cleaned up some very impressive accounting messes

•   Navigated legal and tax requirements for multi-state business expansion

•   Helped establish and manage international distribution and subsidiaries

•   Managed customer service, IT and tech support functions, in addition to traditional finance areas

•   Modified processes and systems for business pivots - hardware to software and B2C to B2B

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How to Start?

Send me a message and we can schedule a quick call. If it makes sense, we can discuss a possible project in more detail. I love learning about new businesses and look forward to hearing from you.