Matt Turner is a seasoned financial professional with over 20 years of experience. He joined Propeller in 2014 with a background in SaaS and CPG, with a focus on food and beverage. In his current role, Matt serves as a CFO for a portfolio of food and beverage clients and is the head of the CPG Practice Area. Matt has worked with many early-stage founders and serial entrepreneurs and likes to meet them where they are to drive a successful business. He enjoys coaching founders on growing and has been a part of raising $700M in funding throughout multiple companies.
Matt finds that there are three basic types of clients who sign on with Propeller. There are the “uh-oh” clients, who are growing fast and know they need help starting yesterday. Next are companies that have gone through some growth as their internal financial team learned on the fly—and kept things running relatively well—but who might profit from some outside expertise and mentoring. Finally, more established startups need fractional support that involves long-term strategizing and capitalization.
While at Propeller, Matt worked with a client in the first category, an education company with an unusual business model. The pre-revenue company’s model was so unique that Matt had to invent an entirely new approach to budgeting and forecasting. He set expectations with the client that the model would be a work in progress until they saw some sales and he could understand the revenue drivers. The more experience Matt got with the company, the better the projections became over time, and today the business is thriving.
Matt began his career as a Financial Analyst and moved into Senior Accountant and Controller roles as he advanced. He began his career at a law firm, and then worked for a wide range of startups, including Fab.com and KickApps. Most recently at Fab.com, a hyper-growth, unicorn company, Matt served as a VP and Controller. Prior to Fab.com, Matt was a Controller at KickApps, a marketplace for mobile apps and social networks. Between Fab and KickApps, Matt supported over $300M in fundraising.
Matt received a BBA in Accounting & Finance from Texas Christian University. He has been strongly involved in Naturally LA for over two years and was the founding Treasurer. Matt spends most of his spare time outdoors in Santa Monica with his wife and their son. He enjoys surfing, running, mountain biking, and all things active.
