Cora • Keeping pace with growth
Cora's Growth Skyrocketed With a New Financial Model
Building financial infrastructure for a health + wellness company
As business took off for the women’s personal care company Cora, leadership needed to update their financial models to keep pace with inventory management, determine COGS, and execute deferred revenue schedules.
Morgen Newman and Molly Hayward founded Cora to modernize period management with natural, healthy products. By 2016 the product had caught on and they were experiencing significant growth. Like many entrepreneurs, Morgen and Molly were moving quickly and doing as much internally as possible. However, as CEO, Morgen realized he was stretching himself too thin. There were areas of the business that needed better expertise and attention than he was able to provide.
Morgen had developed finance and accounting systems and models that had served Cora well. But over time they outgrew some of the company’s accounting and inventory systems. Morgen and the Cora team found it increasingly difficult to understand inventory, maintain account accuracy, pinpoint COGS, and ultimately create deferred revenue schedules.
He found himself in a bind and needed a finance and accounting team with specific experience with consumer packaged goods. However, it was too soon to bring that team in-house. Enter Propeller.
“I knew it would be premature to hire or build an internal finance or accounting team, but I also knew that it wasn't going to serve us best to do it entirely myself. I wanted a partner who could flex and scale with us, and who understood the complexities of physical goods.”
Morgen Newman
Co-founder and CEO, CORA
The right team
Propeller came highly recommended to Morgen, and he was confident Propeller had the chops and CPG experience he was looking for. At the outset, Propeller provided a team with the right skills and expertise to focus specifically on key areas to improve finance and accounting, as well as scale with Cora as they grew. Partner and CFO Jeff Gustafson and a Senior Director of Finance assembled a team that brought a wealth of experience in the health and beauty sector. As Cora grew and revenue increased, Propeller scaled with them, providing more advisory services, including fundraising support.
Actions and results
- Created a new financial model and streamlined accounting processes, freeing up the CEO to focus on areas of the business he could impact most, resulting in accelerated growth.
- Transitioned and migrated new accounting and inventory software systems (from Xero to QBO), expanding reporting abilities on a multiclass level and providing a more organized chart of accounts and margins spent trends.
- Adjusted inputs and reconciliation of the direct to consumer (DTC) business model, resulting in more cohesive inventory purchasing.
- Developed a detailed retailer revenue and COGS forecast
- Analyzed marketing KPIs and metrics and uncovered performance inefficiencies, which improved gross margin trending and identified cost savings opportunities.
- Transaction Advisory team provided comprehensive diligence process and created data rooms for capital raises, plus due diligence revealed missing data and KPIs that were key to understanding their business and made a positive impact on the day-to-day operations.
- Identified the need for a full-time in-house finance role and collaborated with Cora to integrate with existing systems and processes
“Because Propeller has operators who understand the fundamental elements for the category and business we're in, it means that they're a lot closer to being like internal team members. That’s why we’ve stayed with Propeller over a long period of time."
Morgen Newman
CEO, Cora
