Greetings 👋. It's our July edition of No Half Sends. We’re in the thick of summer - kids are at camps, vacations are in full swing, and venture capitalists are taking some time to let the markets stabilize before coming back in late August.

To frame our update: we help growth companies elevate their financial and operational data through tech-forward accounting, finance, and data services.

We received these two notes from clients over the last few weeks:

From building data solutions that elevate SMB’s to building trust with our clients to look after their finances, we love making our clients happy!

Let’s Dive In 👇.

💥 TL;DR

1. Our Trailblazing Clients

2. The Price of Custom AI is Wild

3. SBA vs Alternative Financing

4. Is it Denver or Quantum Valley?

5. New Team Members & Conference Speaking

☝️ Massive Client W’s.

We love supporting and celebrating our client’s wins. Over the last month, we’ve seen some massive steps forward. Here are a few:

Medly Wine launched their organic, zero-sugar, Mediterranean, and direct-to-consumer wines. So far, we’ve ordered several of their wine varieties and enjoyed them for a team event, taken them camping (the pouch does great in a cooler with ice 🍷), and shared the wine with friends. Huge congrats to the team at Medly for their hard work in getting their product to market!

Supertramp Campers was honored as a 2024 Colorado Companies to Watch winner and opened up reservations for their latest custom-designed product - the Megatron. Their ethos, ambitious, and love of nature fits right in with our team here at Full Send.

After months and months of hard work, Anthem Branding, a custom promotional product company, launched their website. With 34 5-star reviews on Google, an unlimited amount of products that you can put your brand on, and a rock-solid team - Anthem is positioned to step into their next phase of growth. Check them out for any corporate swag ideas you may have!

Our clients are constantly innovating, pushing boundaries, and creating impact on those they work with. We’re excited to walk alongside each of every client on their journey forward.

🚀 Need to know: Startups

> Limited Capital Availability is Driving Startup M&A. There’s no hiding the fact that venture funding has stagnated in 2024. In any functioning market, peaks and valleys present various forms of opportunity. In this case, the market is seeing startups consolidate in order to drive higher likelihoods of success and in some instances, survive. (Startups Merge in Spaces Where Funding Has Fallen)

> Will Over 50% of Custom AI Initiatives be Abandoned? AI is supposed to be the rising tide that is lifting all boats, right? Before we fall head over heels and dig into building custom applications, we must be aware of the true costs. This is where we believe that focusing on data infrastructure today will yield a far more efficient outcome when the cost of custom AI solutions comes down in the future. (The Price of Progress (psst - It’s $$$))

Are you fundraising/hiring? Know someone who is? We want to feature those in our network who are seeking capital, connections, or resources. Reach out to us at [email protected] for more information!

🤔 Two hot questions we got in June:

Should I apply for an SBA loan or seek alternative financing?

Financing options can be tough to navigate for companies in growth-mode. In this particular instance, a client was trying to understand their capital options and pros/cons of each type of financing.

Here were our primary considerations in assisting with a path forward:

• How quickly are you seeking to have financing approved / funded?

• What is the current health of the balance sheet (collateral) and primary cash flow constraints in the next 3 months?

• Would a revolving credit line or term loan provide the most flexibility?

• What is the cost of capital?

• What options do our existing banking relationships offer to expedite the underwriting process?

Of course, there were additional items beyond this list of questions, but it helped us narrow the scope as to what type of financing option worked best. Ultimately, we decided that the 8+ week SBA process and personal guarantee was not the best solution for the company given the timeliness to fund growth.

Within a week, we were able to secure a revolving line of credit with no origination or draw fees. The flexibility and speed offered an opportunity to put that capital to work today rather than having to wait several months. We exchanged a lower interest rate with speed and flexibility to deploy capital more quickly, but with a quality CAC & ROAS, we anticipate the investment to achieve a lower cost of capital over time.

Can you educate our team on data?

We’d be happy to! In June, our Intelligence team conducted a formal ‘Art of the Possible’ training for 50 individuals of a finance team from a Fortune 500 company. The training encompassed basic data principles in order to begin to build a picture of what possibilities could come to life if data was a priority for the department.

Needless to say, the training opened the aperture for the team to envision how their lives could improve by implementing the right data environment.

Data literacy is a massive component of our foray into Intelligence services. Simply put, we seek to assist others in their ability to explore, understand, and communicate with data in a meaningful way.

Give us feedback on what’s working, what could use improvement, and how we can better serve our clients, community, and industry - [email protected].

🏗️ Colorado Startups: Our Backyard

> Submit Your Community Event for Denver Startup Week. Our very own Head of Intelligence, Meghan Villard, is the chair for this years’ Denver Startup Week Operate track. This year, DSW is September 17-19th and is streamlining the schedule with simpler tracks and has put the call out to the community to organize community-driven events. (DSW is Back! Host Your Own Community Event)

> Will Colorado be the Silicon Valley of Quantum? Quantum Valley? A newly signed state law designated $74M to support quantum research and quantum companies in the state. Now the funding is looking for a place to live with an expectation of 10,000+ jobs and 50+ new quantum startups over the next decade. ($41M of Federal Funds to Develop Quantum Information Technology is a Good Start)

Help share No Half Sends 🙏

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👉 If you’d like to be featured or have a message that would be helpful for our community, please let us know

🏔️ Sending it in the Wild

> Two new team members have joined Full Send in the last month - Josefina and Brenda joined our finance team 🤘. We’re a strong team of 10 and continuing to grow!

> In June, I had the chance to speak at an industry conference - AICPA Engage 2024. The topic was on driving innovation within the accounting landscape. Later this month, I’ll be speaking at a conference on the topics of ‘Building a Next Generation Culture’ and ‘EOS for Accounting Firms’. We’re passionate about elevating our industry and are digging in with every chance we get.

Clickbait: What happens when a driverless taxi gets pulled over by the police? Who is getting the ticket for a software malfunction that puts other drivers at risk? Driverless vehicle drives into oncoming traffic in Phoenix.

✌️ Roman @ Full Send

Why No Half Sends? We’re on a mission to elevate financial data through high quality accounting and finance services, building more knowledgeable and engaged team members, and engaging in our industry to move accounting and finance forward.

Send us your feedback at [email protected] and help us stay as sendy as humanly possible. We’re ready to listen.