Supporting startups and growth companies

Building growth is a team sport

Start-up company faces many challenges in early years related to the availability of financing, staff resourcing, and streamlining the processes. It is impossible to know everything by yourself. Greenstep has supported many growth companies on their journey to success.

With our professionalism and lessons learned along the way, we don’t have to reinvent the wheel but help your company find the best practices for you. This allows you to focus on your core competencies and we will back you up.

Five steps to success

1. First impression to the investor can be made only once. Many of our clients succeeded with bootstrapping, but the lack of funding was already starting to be an obstacle to growth. If you are considering raising finance, be it at the a seed, series A, B stage or a more established company, the ground work should always be in order for potential investors. When the runways are short and the average investor is only interested in about every tenth target company presented to him, charming at first glance is extremely important. Using an outside expert in negotiations with investors will improve your chances of success, as an experienced negotiator will help ensure you the best contacts as well as ensure that nothing essential is left out of the negotiations. Together we can find the best start-up and growth financing opportunities to support the growth of your company.
   
   We have experience in several Independent Business Review reporting projects, which provide the company with an overview of possible financing models using data from company’s internal and external resources. The report gives financiers a clear view of the company’s status as well as potential, making it easier to get a positive financing decision.
   In addition to private financing, the company should plan to apply for public financing. Because the public funding channels are fragmented and partially overlapping, knowing the alternatives is very helpful from a company perspective. We support the growth of our customers with our expertise in selecting and applying for suitable public funding sources.
   
   
2. Growth is made in the core processes – we support you with a reliable back office. Many growth companies have experienced board, in addition to which investors expect the company's operational management to focus on business development. The pressure is hard and the runways are short. However, it is not always possible for companies, especially in the early stages, to hire a competent CFO or controller to handle the company's finances. Greenstep offers you a competent and experienced CFO or controller part-time, tailored to your situation. Our financial management services can also be utilized from time to time in the event of an unexpected situation.
   
   
3. Personnel as a growth driver.
   In the early stages of start-ups, a lack of resources and brand awareness creates a situation where risks must be taken in order to compete. The culture of a small team is automatically built on key personal chemistry. However, it is crucial to HR evolve hand in hand with the company. As the company grows, the functionality of personal chemistry alone is not enough. To retain the best experts and increase new human capital through recruitment, more attention must be paid to personnel management and employee experience.
   
   Company can get started with an employment contract template found online, but surprises can be avoided once the HR processes have been reviewed with a professional. For example, the consistency of employment contracts, vacation policies, records, and post-employment practices can come as a surprise if they have not been thought about in advance. However, in the growth phase, a company does not always need an in-house, full-time HR expert. In this case, a more suitable and cost-effective solution can be found in the services of an HR kick-off workshop and a part-time HR professional.
   
   
4. Grow sustainably – take sustainability into account from the very beginning. Taking sustainability into account from the start creates a solid foundation for sustainable growth, and also gives you a competitive advantage in the eyes of investors when seeking funding.
   
   For mid-sized growth companies, the need to measure and report on sustainability usually arises when they are part of the supply chain of large companies. Customers of large companies require sustainability information from suppliers as part of the large companies’ own sustainability work and reporting. In addition, fast-growing companies need to consider EU sustainability reporting requirements. Greenstep's sustainability services will help you to develop your sustainability work and to measure and report on the impact of your activities.
   
   
5. Ensure scalability, in order to conquer the world. When aiming for future growth, the scalability of the company's internal processes must be taken into account. No one wants to drift into a situation where, as activities develop, they find themselves in a situation where the current system is no longer suitable for their own needs. Often, however, this issue is encountered as activity increases. Greenstep's services are built to scale to domestic conquest as well as international markets. For example, HR as well as payroll, business management (eg. NetSuite) and the development of internal processes will be much easier in the future as well, as they are already taken into account during the company's growth phase.