From Insolvent to Institutional: Scaling an Oil & Gas company to $130MM
Client
- Size: $10 MM revenue
- Ownership: Angel-backed, founder-led
- Type of Engagement: Fractional CFO + Fractional Controller (4+ years, ongoing)
The Situation
When we engaged, the company was undercapitalized and operationally exposed.
- No CFO
- Disorganized finance function
- No budget or forward-looking forecast
- Reporting limited to raw statements from the accounting system
- Reliance on A/R factoring at 18%+ APR
- Negative $3MM working capital
- 2021 EBITDA: –$400K
The business had growth opportunity — but no financial structure to support it.
The Intervention
We treated it as both a turnaround and a scale opportunity.
Institutionalized Financial Discipline
- Built structured monthly reporting decks with KPI dashboards
- Implemented formal budgeting and rolling forecasts
- Conducted cost-driver analysis to identify margin compression
- Instituted pricing discipline tied to material inflation
- Established reporting cadence within 20 days of month-end
Restructured Capital
-
Transitioned from high-cost factoring
→ to regional banking
→ to traditional bank line of credit (<7%)
De-Leveraged the Balance Sheet
- Installed cash flow discipline
- Repaid debt
- Repaid original investor capital
- Strengthened working capital position
Results
- Revenue: $9.2MM → $130MM
- EBITDA: –$400K → $7.9MM
- Eliminated 18%+ factoring dependency
- Secured institutional bank financing
- Stabilized working capital
- Reporting cadence improved to <20 days
The company moved from financially fragile to institutionally credible — while scaling more than 14x.
Why It Matters
High-growth founder-led companies often outgrow their finance function.
This engagement:
- Reduced cost of capital
- Strengthened the balance sheet
- Installed investor-level reporting
- Enabled hyper-growth
- Positioned the business for potential exit
This was not advisory from the sidelines.
The finance function was rebuilt, capital structure re-engineered, and performance institutionalized — backed by a full team, not a single operator.
Anyone can step in as a fractional CFO. Few can stabilize a distressed balance sheet, restructure capital, and scale a business 14x.
Financial Impact Snapshot
-
Revenue Growth
$9.2MM → $130MM -
EBITDA Turnaround
–$400K → $7.9MM -
Cost of Capital
18%+ Factoring → <7% LOC -
Working Capital
–$3MM → Stabilized -
Capital Returned
Debt Repaid + Investor Capital Returned
The company moved from financially fragile to institutionally credible — while scaling more than 14x.