Building a great company is no easy feat. From developing a business idea to securing funding and managing day-to-day operations, there are endless difficulties entrepreneurs are faced with. But one all-too-common challenge for companies at every stage is effectively managing corporate finances. From understanding cash flow to selecting the right tools and vendors, it can be difficult to know how to maximize every dollar saved and spent. That’s because finance has gotten a lot more complicated. Today, even a seemingly simple concept like deciding where to store your cash now demands due diligence.
Money is losing value, fast
Most companies keep their cash in a traditional business checking or savings account. But here’s the unfortunate reality: the cash you have in checking accounts is likely losing it's value. With the average checking account rate in the US sitting at near zero levels and sky-high inflation, idle cash is losing value faster than almost ever before. Large enterprises dedicate entire teams to this problem and invest strategically into stable assets like Treasury Bills and Money Market Funds to maximize liquidity and yield. But most startups and small businesses don’t have this luxury, and don’t have access either.
I learned this the hard way when I built my first business in 2019. We asked our bank about corporate treasury offerings and were immediately turned away for being a startup. With no other option, we set out to build our own internal treasury product and quickly discovered just how resource-intensive this can be especially for a small business.
This was the initial spark of inspiration for Vesto. With rising interest rates and soaring inflation in 2022, we saw the opportunity to extend access to treasury services to businesses of all sizes and officially launched. But after interviewing hundreds of founders and business owners, I realized this was just the tip of the iceberg. Most struggled to get a basic picture of their financial health.
Financial data is scattered
Financial data is scattered across systems like bank portals, accounting software, and planning tools. Many times business owners are forced to play analyst just to answer basic questions about what happened last month. In larger organizations, executives can wait weeks for finance teams to consolidate monthly financials and share reports and dashboards that quickly become stale. But the second order questions are far more important and also the toughest to answer.
“How much cash do I actually have on hand?”
“How do I best use this portion of the budget?”
“Is this really the best financial decision?”
The tides have changed after a decade of near-zero interest rates and a growth-at-all-costs mindset. Today, financial discipline and profitability have emerged as the new measures of enterprise value. The best companies are using finance as their strategic advantage to help them operate more efficiently, make better decisions faster, and ultimately become more profitable.
But few businesses are operating at their full potential. Traditional financial services and software providers have burdened small businesses for too long with clunky interfaces, disparate data, and manual cash management that make it near impossible to get a clear picture of financial health. The early team at Vesto saw an incredible opportunity to bridge the divide between software and services and build something truly disruptive for modern businesses.
Earn more and burn less with Vesto
Vesto is the cash management platform that helps you earn more and burn less. Today, companies that use Vesto can earn yields on their idle cash, and extend their runway.
At Vesto, we recognize the importance of choice and expertise. Vesto goes above and beyond just offering a basic cash sweep account – we help companies access custom Treasury ladder strategies, along with institutional-grade Money Market Funds and a wide range of other fixed-income investment products. Every new business that signs up for Vesto gets access to our investment team that will understand their goals, risk profile, and build a custom investment portfolio unique to their business. Once invested, Vesto handles the rest with intuitive performance reporting and software that’s easy for anyone to use.
Beyond treasury management, Vesto is building all-in-one software that will empower finance teams to operate more efficiently and enable clear financial decisions.
The financial control center for businesses
Vesto is more than just a home for idle cash. To help businesses make better financial decisions, we’re building a first-of-its-kind platform centered around automation and insights. It starts with connecting disparate financial data from best of breed systems. Banking, payments, expenses, and accounting are typically siloed across multiple applications and vendors. By building real-time integrations and intelligently combining data into a single view, we’re giving businesses unprecedented visibility into their financial health.
But data is nothing without action. We’re designing a powerful insights engine to help business leaders gain clarity and recommend next best actions. Analyze financial performance, model any scenario, and get predictive treasury forecasts that guide how you put your cash to work. Whether you’re a marketing leader looking to stretch your advertising budget or an IT leader trying to reduce SaaS subscription costs, Vesto is building intuitive software that enables you to maximize opportunity and manage your finances more efficiently.
Automation that saves for you
AI is revolutionizing how humans work across every industry. At Vesto, we’re also investing in automation that augments how founders and finance teams operate and automatically takes the next best action.
Dozens of modern startups across industries have partnered with us to bring this vision to life. We’re proud to also work with legendary investors like Contrary, SV Angel and Susa Ventures who have invested in generational software companies like Stripe, Robinhood, and Ramp.
Even though it’s still early, we’re excited to share our vision with the world. We’re starting by building the digital treasury management team for companies, and bridging the gap between financial services and software providers to also give businesses a complete picture of their financial health without the need to wrangle spreadsheets. More than anything, we envision a future where it’s easy to start, build, and scale a great business without needing to be a financial analyst.
The information provided in this blog post is for informational purposes only and should not be considered personalized investment advice or a recommendation to engage in specific investment strategies. It is important to consult with a qualified financial professional and consider individual circumstances before making any investment decisions. Investments involve risk, and past performance is not indicative of future results. The investment advisor may have positions in securities mentioned and could engage in transactions that conflict with the information provided. The accuracy and completeness of the information are not guaranteed, and external links are provided for convenience without endorsement. Regulatory compliance and changes in laws or regulations may affect the information. Consult with professionals for specific advice related to tax, legal, or financial matters. Please review the investment advisor's disclosure documents for more information about their services and fees.
