An accounting cleanup and insight. Michael needed to know all their expenses, which were recurring, and how that spend was changing across vendors.
Greater confidence in the numbers. That way, he could give confidence to their investors.
A strong portal with dashboards. SWARM's team needed answers immediately, while on calls, and couldn't wait days for a response like they had to with their prior accounting firm.
“I have far more confidence in our books than I used to.”
After serving as a board member and investor in SWARM, Michael decided it was time to do something different—join as an operator. When SWARM’s COO departed, Michael stepped in. He had always been interested in tech as it applied to food and agriculture, and SWARM’s focus on the AgriFood business was an exciting chance to participate closely.
It wouldn’t be an easy transition, though. The company was ramping up for its next fundraise, and Michael had to both assess and understand all the operations while pushing them back on track.
There was a lot to get done. SWARM’s CEO had been juggling all of the operations and accounting functions alongside the rest of his work, despite being a self-described creative at heart. Michael needed to incrementally free their CEO to be CEO again, which would be paramount in terms of moral support and the company’s overall vision.
If people don’t really understand where the ship is going, nobody’s going to stay on board.”
Another pressing issue was their SOC 2 compliance, a crucial certification for enterprise software. It had been on the roadmap for over a year but still wasn’t complete. Michael needed SWARM to be SOC 2 compliant in six months. At the same time, there was a lot of operational ambiguity he needed to parse: what vendors SWARM was using, who owned those relationships, where the contracts were at, and how they were managing all those vendor permissions.
Because SWARM was preparing to fundraise, he also needed to rebuild its operating model from scratch. Their old bookkeepers had helped prepare a lightweight model, but the company had decidedly outgrown it.
As you start to bring on more employees and investors, you’re going to get a lot more scrutiny, and you need processes in place that protect you.”
One of Michael’s early findings was that SWARM’s legacy accounting firm hadn’t been able to keep pace. SWARM’s team was growing, and their accounting was becoming more complex. As a remote company selling software, they also paid for a lot of software, and had grown to have about 50 vendors. Michael needed to know which costs were recurring, what plans they were on, and to not have to wait for days for an answer via email. And then there was the whole compliance aspect of finance.
“As you grow you need processes and systems in place that protect you, from a fiduciary standpoint,” says Michael. “For example, having good HR systems that can manage your taxes, payroll, and benefits to comply with state and federal laws. You also need your financial records to accurately reflect the business so you're never caught in a situation where you could be sued by an investor for misrepresenting the business.”
But SWARM’s existing accounting firm was reactive. Michael kept having to send them updates. What he needed were numbers he could trust so he could convey confidence to SWARM’s investors, stakeholders, and staff—faster. Further, the bookkeeping contractors were making mistakes, and annoyingly, the same mistakes month after month.
Michael began looking for a new bookkeeping team for SWARM, and ideally, one finance team that could manage it all. After many conversations and demos, he found Pilot. Pilot intrigued him because they had worked with literally thousands of startups and software companies and intuitively understood SWARM’s challenges, revenue cycles, and intricacies. And unlike the others, it didn’t feel like Pilot was trying to sell them anything they didn’t need. Other companies Michael looked at were either overriding it with restrictive automation or bundling in redundant services.
He evaluated three options in total, and was left with these takeaways:
Pilot intrigued him because they had worked with literally thousands of startups and software companies."
This past year has been their cleanest accounting year on record. Any issues that crop up get flagged and, importantly, do not reoccur. Each month, Michael gets to work with a bookkeeping expert who deeply understands his business and who is supported by AI-based automation, which they then check and verify. Michael gets a dashboard to answer pressing questions, and unlike other software, he can trust those readouts enough to use them in board meetings. If his regular bookkeeper is out of office, there’s always a backup point of contact who already knows their account.
In order to keep SWARM’s operations tied to the overall vision, Michael is also able to give his CEO a top-down view of their business without him having to figure out QuickBooks. Crucially, SWARM’s airtight bookkeeping has helped Michael feel confident in their books as they continue to fundraise. Given how smoothly everything has gone, Michael imagines that, without Pilot, they’d “probably be in a more challenging spot.”
I have far more confidence in our books than I used to.”
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After serving as a board member and investor in SWARM, Michael decided it was time to do something different—join as an operator. When SWARM’s COO departed, Michael stepped in. He had always been interested in tech as it applied to food and agriculture, and SWARM’s focus on the AgriFood business was an exciting chance to participate closely.
It wouldn’t be an easy transition, though. The company was ramping up for its next fundraise, and Michael had to both assess and understand all the operations while pushing them back on track.
There was a lot to get done. SWARM’s CEO had been juggling all of the operations and accounting functions alongside the rest of his work, despite being a self-described creative at heart. Michael needed to incrementally free their CEO to be CEO again, which would be paramount in terms of moral support and the company’s overall vision.
If people don’t really understand where the ship is going, nobody’s going to stay on board.”
Another pressing issue was their SOC 2 compliance, a crucial certification for enterprise software. It had been on the roadmap for over a year but still wasn’t complete. Michael needed SWARM to be SOC 2 compliant in six months. At the same time, there was a lot of operational ambiguity he needed to parse: what vendors SWARM was using, who owned those relationships, where the contracts were at, and how they were managing all those vendor permissions.
Because SWARM was preparing to fundraise, he also needed to rebuild its operating model from scratch. Their old bookkeepers had helped prepare a lightweight model, but the company had decidedly outgrown it.
As you start to bring on more employees and investors, you’re going to get a lot more scrutiny, and you need processes in place that protect you.”
One of Michael’s early findings was that SWARM’s legacy accounting firm hadn’t been able to keep pace. SWARM’s team was growing, and their accounting was becoming more complex. As a remote company selling software, they also paid for a lot of software, and had grown to have about 50 vendors. Michael needed to know which costs were recurring, what plans they were on, and to not have to wait for days for an answer via email. And then there was the whole compliance aspect of finance.
“As you grow you need processes and systems in place that protect you, from a fiduciary standpoint,” says Michael. “For example, having good HR systems that can manage your taxes, payroll, and benefits to comply with state and federal laws. You also need your financial records to accurately reflect the business so you're never caught in a situation where you could be sued by an investor for misrepresenting the business.”
But SWARM’s existing accounting firm was reactive. Michael kept having to send them updates. What he needed were numbers he could trust so he could convey confidence to SWARM’s investors, stakeholders, and staff—faster. Further, the bookkeeping contractors were making mistakes, and annoyingly, the same mistakes month after month.
Michael began looking for a new bookkeeping team for SWARM, and ideally, one finance team that could manage it all. After many conversations and demos, he found Pilot. Pilot intrigued him because they had worked with literally thousands of startups and software companies and intuitively understood SWARM’s challenges, revenue cycles, and intricacies. And unlike the others, it didn’t feel like Pilot was trying to sell them anything they didn’t need. Other companies Michael looked at were either overriding it with restrictive automation or bundling in redundant services.
He evaluated three options in total, and was left with these takeaways:
Pilot intrigued him because they had worked with literally thousands of startups and software companies."
This past year has been their cleanest accounting year on record. Any issues that crop up get flagged and, importantly, do not reoccur. Each month, Michael gets to work with a bookkeeping expert who deeply understands his business and who is supported by AI-based automation, which they then check and verify. Michael gets a dashboard to answer pressing questions, and unlike other software, he can trust those readouts enough to use them in board meetings. If his regular bookkeeper is out of office, there’s always a backup point of contact who already knows their account.
In order to keep SWARM’s operations tied to the overall vision, Michael is also able to give his CEO a top-down view of their business without him having to figure out QuickBooks. Crucially, SWARM’s airtight bookkeeping has helped Michael feel confident in their books as they continue to fundraise. Given how smoothly everything has gone, Michael imagines that, without Pilot, they’d “probably be in a more challenging spot.”
I have far more confidence in our books than I used to.”
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