Intrapreneurship: A Win-Win For Firms and Their Employees; a 3-Part Series
While everyone is familiar with 'entrepreneurship' we are talking about something different here. This three-article series outlines how firms are pursuing new lines of business by looking internally within existing ranks to pursue 'intrapreneurship' to find a new avenue that can benefit the firm while offering its employees new opportunities for success.
The series specifically highlights two firms, EisnerAmper and WEST, who have done just this and share their insight and tips on how to do this successfully. Last time, in Part 1 we looked at a Discussion with John Delalio of EisnerAmper. Today's article focuses on WEST.
Part 2 - A Case Study in Intrapreneurship: How WEST Growth from Wiss & Company Is Helping Early Stage Businesses Find Their Footing
Accounting firms have a long, respected history building success on traditional accounting services. And in an era when technology continues to make advances that simplify and automate work, these same firms are taking advantage and branching out into client accounting services (CAS). What is one path to offering CAS or advisory services? Simply add to your firm’s current offerings, such as bill pay. But another path, and perhaps a more ambitious one, is to create a whole new CAS business through intrapreneurism – the concept of building an innovative new venture within an existing company.
Accounting firm Wiss & Company LLP did just that when it worked with an intrapreneur and his partner as they created WEST Growth, a tech-enabled accounting and strategic growth platform designed to help young companies navigate the difficult early days and emerge as profitable businesses. The WEST story provides a useful blueprint for other intrapreneurs at accounting firms looking to offer CAS or other products and services outside the realm of traditional accounting.
How WEST Growth Began
WEST was the brainchild of an intrapreneur and a serial entrepreneur who shared a single vision but came at it from different perspectives. Matt Barbieri, a CPA, and partner at Wiss had a front-row seat for the bookkeeping and accounting struggles that many early-stage companies face. Mark Brenner, a venture capitalist, and CEO coach, likewise saw day in and day out the business challenges that were keeping early-stage companies from getting off the ground. As the two continued to cross paths at conferences and networking events, it became clear that they shared a desire to find a solution for the problems of early-stage companies. Barbieri had an accounting and tax background, and Brenner had the investment and entrepreneurial experience. Together they envisioned a product that could make a real difference.
The result was WEST, a sophisticated platform designed to provide early-stage companies with both the accounting guidance and strategic growth advice they need to succeed. The mission statement was simple but profound: to help the founders of early-stage companies generate a meaningful return on sacrifice. Entrepreneurs and founders of early-stage companies are often good at technology or have a brilliant idea or possess experience in a certain domain, but many don’t have experience running a business. As a result, all too often these companies are doing very little in the way of bookkeeping or accounting, and the lack of organized financial records inhibits them from attracting investors and moving to the next level. The founders of WEST set out to build a business designed to help those companies solve this problem.
Building a Business
The very important first step in getting WEST up and running was to get Wiss to buy into the idea. Any new venture requires money and resources if it’s going to succeed. Wiss is highly supportive of intrapreneurism and regularly nurtures these kinds of innovations and ambitious ventures. The company started its advisory services practice nearly 10 years ago after being founded 50 years ago by a group of partners who serve as informal advisors to clients. Because of its history, Wiss has an appetite and predisposition for supporting intrapreneurship.
Once Barbieri and Brenner had Wiss support, they assembled an initial team of individuals with varied expertise and conducted countless brainstorming sessions over six months to figure out how to make their passion a reality. They laid out a plan and began reaching out to early-stage companies the co-founders personally knew and brought them on as beta clients. As a startup itself, WEST and its founders could relate to the new clients – they understood firsthand the importance of focusing on milestones and having their accounting in order. WEST had a solid business plan and financial backing and set about taking its beta clients to the next level.
Support from the top was crucial, and not only in a monetary sense. WEST and Wiss maintain an integrated relationship that’s critical to success. WEST account managers work within Wiss, which means they have at their disposal the industry and practice expertise of the nearly 300 Wiss employees.
WEST signed on its first beta client in 2017. It started with the goal of offering its clients a combination of buttoned-up accounting, accounting-based planning, and a strategic growth plan that includes having clear milestones and check-ins. From there, the team built a proprietary technology platform including Bill.com and other software systems that sends trigger alerts designed to help early-stage companies identify situations where they might want to take additional action, be it seeking additional accounting services, bringing in legal help, or looking to take out a loan on inventory once they’ve amassed enough.
WEST today has 100 clients and continues to grow. Its unique combination of proactive accounting and business advisory services has helped early-stage companies by setting clear goals, instilling discipline, and providing resources and strategic contacts. Technology is the foundation of the WEST platform, including Bill.com – an important strategic partner from the beginning because of its ease of use in both on-boarding clients and maintaining clean books as a day-to-day part of doing business. WEST helps set companies up with a Bill.com account, trains them on basic bookkeeping, gets their accounting in order, and assists them in setting strategic milestones for making their business a success. With the guidance of WEST, clients go from fledgling companies to long-term, successful businesses.
WEST continues to expand its client base, helping early-stage companies in a wide range of industries to implement the buttoned-up accounting they need to attract investors and the strategic planning necessary to grow and succeed.
Advice for Other Intrapreneurs
The WEST story draws a great blueprint for other accounting firms looking to find and grow intrapreneurial ventures within their existing practices. Every intrapreneur might not be fortunate enough to have the backing of a top firm as an investor, but that doesn’t mean building a successful intrapreneurial venture is impossible.
Even before they had a name for WEST, Barbieri, and Brenner were spending their time networking with early-stage companies and attending events and conferences where they could make even more connections. They quickly learned that the early-stage companies they were meeting with could not afford a midsize firm like Wiss, so they were able to plan to offer them a solution that would be a fit for what they needed and their price point.
If there’s a particular niche you’re interested in, start by going where the people in that niche are. Network and mingle to get a good understanding of the problems that need to be solved. Once you understand those problems, figure out how you’re going to take care of them.
As with any business, an intrapreneurial venture evolves one step at a time. Draw up a business plan, get input from others, and determine your budget and priorities. When you’ve pinned down your solution, look for talented individuals to join your team and help you execute it. As you continue to gain momentum, identify more potential future customers and the best ways to connect with them. Reach out to strategic partners who may be able to help with generating leads or identifying potential clients. Get clear on your go-to-market strategy and prove the value of your product or service to potential investors.
The WEST founders were driven by their vision of helping take early-stage companies to the next level, and they figured out the strategic steps necessary to execute on that vision at every stage. As WEST advises its clients, having buttoned-up accounting and a clear business plan are crucial to attracting investors, which will take your intrapreneurial venture from a passion to reality.
Jeannie Ruesch, Director of Marketing at Bill.com
Bill-com_Intrapreneur_Author_JeannieRuesch
About the Author
Jeannie Ruesch works as the Director of Marketing at Bill.com and has worked in the accounting industry for more than seven years. She previously worked at Xero and at The Sleeter Group.
Jeannie has more than 20 years in brand creation and strategy, design, social media development, demand gen and customer marketing. She’s a tech geek at heart, loves finding ways to help customers solve problems, an author and an award-winning graphic designer.