This case study is a model chapter of how we understand our mission and our role in the story of companies.

Most founders have a great idea, meet great people with whom they form a team, and embark on a journey together to discover and build something great.

Resources are limited, especially at the beginning of the journey, so they are first allocated to development, marketing, and sales. Logically, it is necessary to ensure first that there is something to sell. Then, to ensure that information about the product reaches those who need it. Subsequently, to ensure that money flows into the company and can be reinvested.

Accounting and financial data are set aside and treated as a necessary evil, something to be dragged along on the journey to success like excess baggage. Only later do they realize that accounting data can (and should) provide information that helps managers make better decisions and navigate obstacles along the way.

Unfortunately, this realization usually occurs when the company has been in existence for some time and the data are not in a form from which the necessary information can be extracted. Some companies give up and continue to make decisions based on intuition, while others decide to change. However, at that moment, they must expend many more resources and efforts than if they had devoted sufficient attention to it from the very beginning of the story.

Thus, not only time is lost as the most precious resource (because sub-optimal decisions were likely made at the beginning due to lack of data), but also money. Fixing it is always more financially demanding than doing it right from the start. And this effect is even more amplified in the case of Due Diligence during fundraising or company exit.

Therefore, we are always pleased when we talk to a founder who realizes this fact.

In the case of Stavario, we had the privilege of being able to set up reporting and management structure almost from the very beginning.

At the beginning of the construction process, it is necessary to understand how the company is organized and what are the key metrics for monitoring the direction the company is taking. Otherwise, the reporting structure for a SaaS company will look different than for a project-based company, and entirely different for an e-shop. However, after this first step, it is crucial not to generalize. Even among SaaS companies, there are differences. Even more significant differences will be among project-based companies. Setting up the right structure is very important. If done correctly, reading the company's story is very intuitive regardless of whether there are plot twists or not. On the contrary, if the management reporting is incorrectly set up, reading becomes much more difficult (almost like reading a novel by Umberto Eco - if you want to understand it well, you have to constantly refer to the footnotes).

Josef Beneš, founder of Stavaria, manages most of the company's activities himself. In such cases, it is necessary to identify a few accounting categories that will most clearly and comprehensively inform about what is happening with the company, when the genre could slip into horror. However, it is also necessary to think in a long-term context and set up reporting in a way that allows it to be adapted to potential scaling.

In the case of Stavaria, in collaboration with the company's accountant, we set up the timing of costs and revenues and began to capitalize assets. This allows us to track MRR growth and changes in gross margin.

The timing of costs and their categorization helped in adopting cost-saving measures. At the same time, we could start tracking customer acquisition costs and return on investment.

The sooner a company begins to allocate resources to the operations in which finances are involved, the sooner founders will have a peaceful sleep. They will know that accounting data is controlled and will have an overview of what is happening in their company.

We believe that our services will help Pepo navigate Stavaria in the current turbulent environment. Even though the story we read from the acquired data may not always be pleasant reading, it is better than living in uncertainty and helplessness, unable to prepare for any unpleasant reality.