ScaleFactor: Online Business Solutions For You

Accounting can be a tedious combination of mind-numbing tasks that are better left to accounting professionals. But not everybody can hire professionals to undertake these tasks. Small business owners usually tackle the accounting tasks themselves. These tasks though can be quite much more than a hassle for these business owners. ScaleFactor is the solution to tackle these bookkeeping woes.

Addressing Accounting Challenges

There are many accounting or bookkeeping software that help accounting professionals with their bookkeeping but accounting problems are encountered by everybody in the business world. Being the CFO of KNS Communications in 2013, the Founder and CEO of ScaleFactor, Kurt Rathmann faced the same problems. He felt that there was a need for a solution for the accounting problems he was facing at the time. But these tasks are usually painful and time-consuming for even teams of people.

To address this challenge of bookkeeping, Kurt founded ScaleFactor in 2014. The company began with just one employee and the team grew to four employees by the year’s end. Today, the company is the leading intuitive software-maker for accounting, tax, and finance tasks and helps save businesses time and money. The company’s sole focus lies in empowering business owners in making the best strategic and financial decisions through its team of finance, software development, marketing, and sales professionals.

The company’s very first product was launched in 2017. It was a bookkeeping orchestration software that was built on top of QuickBooks and Xero. It made managing books less time-consuming. The platform was created with features to help with integrated bill pay, payroll processing and expense management. It quickly became the go-to one stop shop for businesses to manage their financials.

ScaleFactor truly became the first company to solve SMB accounting challenges at scale. Its efforts were validated throughout 2018 and 2019 as it validated demand, attracted customers and brought investors and funds. The company has raised a total of $100 million including $60 million in Series C round that was led by Coatue. Its other investors include the likes of Bessemer Venture Partners, Canaan, Broadhaven Ventures, Firebrand Ventures, Vulcan, Stripes Group, NextPlay Capital, Citi Ventures, and Flyover Capital.

A Tough 2020

But the fantastic growth has not been without learnings. The company came to understand that the technology created by the company was not going to the lone thing responsible for its growth. As we all know, human support needs to go hand-in-hand with technology for growth. Failure to acknowledge this had affected the company in a big way.

The company’s CEO laid down a plan for 2020 called ScaleFactor 2.020 plan, to change the company’s approach. The plan re-evaluated the relationship between the ScaleFactor’s platform, software, and the product support. The CEO’s intent was to accelerate growth with a marketplace model which needed the business to restructure. But as the company started gaining traction and showed positive results the COVID-19 pandemic dealt a blow to its business.

The bad market conditions have affected the small business landscape severely, which forms a large portion of the company’s client base. The losses encountered by these businesses have forced the company to undertake a complete restructuring to adapt. The company has had to shut a lot of its operations and lay off employees. But the company has done it with poise by providing its outgoing employees with a minimum of 12 weeks’ severance pay to help with the transition along with ensuring COBRA health insurance payments through the end of the year. The company is further providing them with recruiting support and outplacement services to find new opportunities.

The Road Ahead

While the pandemic has dealt a huge blow to businesses all over the globe, ScaleFactor in its lean structure stays focused on its objective of building solutions to serve small business owners and make them more successful. Historically, strong businesses with a great vision have always bounced back after facing adversities. We acknowledge the company’s vision and expect ScaleFactor to do this and more in the near future.

The Leader

Kurt Rathmann, Founder and CEO

A natural entrepreneur, Kurt is an innovative leader with a background in measuring and growing businesses. ScaleFactor considers him to be the Chief Everything Officer. He is responsible for the company’s growing revenue, refining operations, and developing the workforce. He has served as the CFO of KNS Communications. He has also worked with KPMG as a Senior Audit Professional. He is a news and tech enthusiast and loves to travel.

He has a Master’s in Professional Accounting and a BBA from The University of Texas at Austin.

“ScaleFactor keeps things accurate, reliable, and secure. Our certified accounting experts are always at the ready for efficient, helpful, support.”

“With ScaleFactor, we’re trimming your daily financial to-do list down to a few quick tasks so you can go to sleep without anything important left unchecked.”

“In addition to bookkeeping, ScaleFactor handles those activities often saved for weekends, like paying bills, double checking payroll, and reviewing your team’s expenses.”