Establishing Vuori’s Finance and Accounting Team
THE CLIENT
Founded in 2015, Vuori Clothing is a premium performance apparel company inspired by the active, coastal California lifestyle. In a 2021 Fast Company profile, Vuori was singled out for its bottom-line success in an industry where ‘‘direct-to-consumer rivals are still bleeding red.” Vuori has been profitable since 2017, its second year in business, and secured a $400 million investment from SoftBank Vision Fund 2 based on a valuation of $4 billion.
THE CHALLENGE
Vuori founder and CEO, Joe Kudla, reached out to Sayva for finance and accounting support in 2018. Vuori had entered high-growth mode but was still operating with a small leadership team. Without an internal finance department, Kudla was balancing his CEO role with all the added work of a CFO. As the company’s accounting needs expanded, Kudla began looking for a full service finance and accounting solutions partner that understood the challenges and opportunities of the startup journey.
“I originally brought in Sayva’s Managed Services team to elevate and manage our finance and accounting functions. By taking those essential functions off my plate, it allowed me to focus on Vuori’s vision and growth strategy.”
—Joe Kudla, Founder & CEO
THE SOLUTION
Kudla chose Sayva Managed Services to support essential day-to-day finance and accounting duties. The Sayva team took over all finance and accounting responsibilities including:
Accounts Payable/Receivable
Inventory Cost Management
Reporting and Financial Statements
Payroll
Financial Controls
Audit Prep
Budgeting
Financial Planning & Analysis
For two years, Sayva Managed Services experts oversaw the financial operations while Kudla and the growing Vuori team focused on executing an ambitious growth strategy that included growing retail partnerships and opening retail stores. ‘‘I originally brought in Sayva’s Managed Services team to elevate and manage our finance and accounting functions. By taking those essential functions off my plate, it allowed me to focus on Vuori’s vision and growth strategy,” said Kudla. As the company expanded, Vuori added more full-time executive leaders including the CFO, who joined the company in January of 2020. Sayva continued to handle the majority of the company’s accounting and finance workload while also helping to recruit and fill key positions including the company Controller. Over the next eight months, Sayva was a managed services provider, a professional recruitment partner, and a strategic consultant working to establish and transition critical processes to the growing internal finance and accounting team.
‘‘As the business grew exponentially, Sayva continued to be instrumental in helping us fill key leadership roles and support critical project initiatives. Vuori has grown from a start-up to an established and well-respected brand in the performance apparel industry and Sayva has been a trusted partner at every stage of growth.”
—Joe Kudla, Founder & CEO
RESULTS & ONGOING SUPPORT
By the end of 2020, Vuori had a fully staffed a high-performing finance and accounting department. Sayva’s Managed Services transferred all processes, systems, work papers, and accounting duties to the new group, marking a key milestone in Vuori’s evolution into an established, national performance apparel firm. Savya remains a strategic consulting partner to Vuori, supporting a range of finance, accounting, and technology needs, such as achieving GAAP compliance, managing audit-readiness, and supporting systems implementations and upgrades. Vuori also relies on Sayva’s recruiting expertise to place key roles across the organization.
