How findhelp Grows 50% YoY with Consero

Chad Denton, CFO of findhelp, shared how the social–impact SaaS scaled from startup to 30 million+ users without letting finance become a bottleneck.

Gain a firsthand account of how the company combines a unique mission, rapid growth, and strategic financial management to make a tangible difference in people’s lives.

findhelp’s Origin and Mission

findhelp’s core mission is to connect individuals in need with essential programs and services, driven by the founder’s struggles to navigate the U.S. social-service safety net for his mother.

Platform

• Modeled after Indeed, lists community-based organizations offering help in every U.S. zip code, covering everything from housing and food to addiction assistance and healthcare.
• Initially envisioned as a case management tool for community organizations, the model pivoted when it became clear these organizations lacked funding for software.

The breakthrough came when health plans and hospital systems, already heavy users, expressed interest in a white-labeled solution, recognizing the platform’s unparalleled network of 600,000 community-based organizations.

• Allowed findhelp to continue offering free services to individuals and community organizations while payers and providers became the paying clients, driving service and value.
• The network includes healthcare, national nonprofits, K-12 schools, universities, state and local governments, and large self-funded employers who want to provide discreet social service resources to their employees.

“Our mission is quite simply to connect people in need with the programs that serve them with dignity and ease.”

The CFO’s Journey to Consero

Denton first encountered Consero in the mid-2000s while working for an early-stage software company in Austin, utilizing outsourced accounting and FP&A support.

Since that initial experience, he’s vowed never to rebuild a full accounting staff again, and sought Consero when he joined findhelp.

Denton credits Consero’s Finance as a Service (FaaS) model as integral to findhelp’s success:

• He recognized that as findhelp grew substantially, an outsourced accounting solution would be more efficient than building an in-house team from scratch.
• Consero’s expanded services and maturity since the initial engagement further solidified the partnership, proving to be a highly effective solution for findhelp’s evolving financial needs.

Advantages of Finance as a Service: Fast Implementation & Strategic Focus

Within 60-90 days, Consero’s FaaS implementation was up and running with all financial processes transitioned, enabling Chad and his team to focus on strategic growth rather than operational finance.

“I click a link, have a report, and spend time on strategy – not on installing accounting software.”

• Eliminates worrying about purchasing accounting software, managing systems, or integrating various reporting tools.
• Instant access to financial reports and dashboards, providing real-time insights into cash flow, receivables, and other critical financial metrics.
• Outsourcing the close process ensures a predictable monthly schedule, with Consero’s team preparing variance analyses and data for informed discussions.

Excelling as an Investor-Backed CFO: Narrative-driven Reporting

Chad emphasizes the importance of clear, narrative-driven financial reporting to effectively collaborate with investors and operating partners.

He recommends:

• Simplifying reports, moving beyond numbers to provide a narrative that contextualizes financial performance.
• A high-level dashboard with a summary view, followed by a narrative explaining key events (like bookings), revenue drivers, and future outlook.

This method transforms investor meetings into interactive discussions, allowing Chad to proactively highlight areas needing support and drive a teamwork approach.

The goal is to provide investors with comprehensive data and context upfront, enabling more productive conversations rather than simply responding to questions about raw financial dumps.

“Have a real narrative of ‘What are the important things that happened?’ so you’re not just giving somebody numbers, you’re giving them the color and the description around what happened.”

Rapid Growth Through Downturns

findhelp’s business model and services are counter-cyclical, experiencing explosive organic growth during times of economic uncertainty and increased demand for social safety nets:

• Growth is almost entirely organic, driven by new customer acquisition and expanding relationships with existing clients.
• The platform currently serves well over 30 million, approaching 40 million users.

Gaining Efficiency With Third-Party Partnerships

Leveraging third-party partners like Consero has been crucial for findhelp to sustain its rapid growth and optimize internal resource allocation.

Partnership Benefits

Outsourcing accounting and bookkeeping functions to Consero:

• Allows findhelp’s internal teams to focus on strategic initiatives rather than routine tasks.
• Ensures timely and accurate financial reporting, with scheduled monthly closes and prepared variance analyses for internal reviews.
• Empowers internal teams to understand their impact on financial metrics beyond simple budget variances, driving better decision-making around KPIs like the rule of 40, net burn, or revenue per headcount.
• Offloading the significant time commitment of financial closes lets Chad’s team dedicate more effort to understanding and driving the business’s core metrics.

“Accounting, closing the books, you have to do those things. If I can do that in a much more efficient manner, where we outsource that to you guys, I have a schedule that every month, this is the day it’s going to be done by.”

Staffing and Time Savings with Consero

Consero’s model addresses key challenges in finance staffing, offering significant time savings and enabling strategic hiring for findhelp:

• 50% year-over-year growth for the past four to five years, with an in-house finance team (excluding Chad) of only two people: an FP&A individual and an in-house accountant.
• Lean structure is possible because Consero manages the bulk of the accounting functions, eliminating the need to staff a large internal accounting team.
• findhelp can hire highly skilled individuals for specific strategic roles, letting their FP&A professional focus purely on forecasting, modeling, and strategic finance.

Denton also praised the consistency and low turnover of Consero’s team, in contrast to common outsourcing challenges where frequent personnel changes disrupt relationships and workflows.

• The current staffing model is expected to support continued growth for at least another year, with future additions likely focusing on the strategic FP&A side rather than day-to-day accounting.

Market Opportunity and Path to Profitability

Operating in a vast market with significant opportunities, findhelp’s strategic financial management, supported by Consero, is paving a clear path to profitability.

Consero’s support in managing financial data enables findhelp to maintain focus on both growth and profitability without getting bogged down in the weeds of detailed accounting.

Clean Books in Due Diligence & Faster Deals

As a seasoned investor-backed CFO, Denton stressed the need to maintain meticulous and transparent financial records for investor scrutiny or potential acquisition.

• Potential investors (VC or PE) or acquirers want clean and easily accessible financial data.
• Speed in turning around requested financial reports and links to data removes indecision and ambiguity from the due diligence process.
• Clean books foster confidence among external parties, allowing discussions to shift from data validation to more strategic topics like potential synergies, investment opportunities, and growth areas.

Consero’s assistance with audits and financial reporting significantly contributes to this transparency and trustworthiness, providing a strong foundation for findhelp.

Board & Investor Collaboration Best Practices

Chad offers practical advice for executives on fostering strong, value-additive relationships with their investors.

“If there’s an issue, I want to bring it up and I want to be the one controlling the conversation. I want to be able to help direct that, I don’t want to be playing defense in that situation.”

Fueling Growth and Impact with Consero

findhelp’s remarkable journey underscores the transformative power of strategic financial partnership. Working with Consero, findhelp:

Is your company poised for rapid growth but bogged down by complex financial operations? Consero’s tailored solutions can free your team to focus on what truly matters. 

Partner with Consero to transform your financial function into a powerful engine for scalable success.