“Partnering with FocusCFO created for me an opportunity to be mentored by people with a wealth of knowledge and experience. I get the benefit of all that experience, and I don’t have to commit to bringing them on as an employee. I think it's an underutilized service offering in small, closely held companies.”
– Chris Massetti, President, Donwil
Forecasting Challenges in an Unpredictable Industry
Chris Massetti was employee #5 at Donwil, a business that sells and services critical business process power and cooling products for enterprises located in Western Pennsylvania, Western Virginia, and Eastern Ohio. He joined the company in 1996 and, by 2000, was running the entire business. He’s been there ever since.
In all his years at Donwil, Massetti has been an ambitious leader, driving the business forward to achieve significant success. At the same time, he was experiencing challenges, particularly those related to the financial intricacies of the business.
“Primarily, I needed to build a better forecasting model,” Massetti recalled. “We’re in a volatile business that is very unpredictable, and we wanted a better line of sight around responsible growth. We wanted to know when we would have cash to invest in our growth without having to go to outside funding sources, and we wanted to smooth out our planning models.”
Massetti also wanted to create a disciplined practice of distributing proceeds to shareholders, understanding that years of bootstrapping have meant those shareholders have not yet maximized their returns. And he wanted to expand the business into tangential markets across the U.S. and increase its real estate and assets.
Finding the Right Financial Partner for Business Growth
Through his vast network in the region, Massetti connected with Tom Bartos, an Area President with FocusCFO in Pennsylvania. A few weeks later, he met John Busshaus, a CFO with FocusCFO with more than 30 years of diverse business, finance, administration, and accounting experience and expertise. Massetti knew immediately hiring FocusCFO was the right choice for his business and his needs.
“When you’re having these deep discussions about my needs, the needs of the business, the market conditions, you want someone you have a personal connection with who understands what you’re trying to do. I consider these guys not just consultants to me, but friends,” Massetti said.
Their work together began with a thorough onboarding to bring Busshaus up to speed on the state of Donwil and the market. “He got it right away,” Massetti said. “He understood why we were doing things the way we were doing them.”
From there, Busshaus got to work, providing never-before-seen financial statements to the Donwil leadership team (and working with them to ensure a thorough understanding of them); building an annual forecast; conducting monthly analyses of financial results that allowed for better financial decision making; and restructuring compensation packages for members of the sales team.
“Finance is a much better game when played without emotion in it, and these guys are unemotional about the finances,” Massetti said. “They’re very clinical, and I like that.”
Achieving Financial Stability and Driving Business Growth with FocusCFO
The results of these efforts were profound: “Now, our month-end closes five days after the end of the month – for the first time since I started with the business,” Massetti said. “If you can do that, you just won. You could stop writing the article right now.”
2024 was also the first year when the last week of the year will not be a mad scramble to figure out how the company finished. In fact, Massetti was able to take off the week between Christmas and New Year’s for the first time ever.
In addition, the changes to the compensation structure have resulted in tangible changes across the team. “All of my variable comp employees who get paid on the performance of their divisions know what they’re getting paid quicker, and everyone is moving forward in a more confident direction,” Massetti said.
Heading into 2025, Massetti has a new list of goals, including establishing greater discipline around budgeting, investing heavily in Donwil’s service business, and potentially expanding to other geographic markets. Once again, Busshaus will play a critical role in achieving them.
“Originally we brought FocusCFO on board to do tactical things, and it turned into a strategic relationship,” Massetti said. “We now make decisions with more confidence and have a lot of foresight into what we’re doing. When it’s too close to you, you just don’t see some of the pitfalls, whereas a third party – a second set of eyes – can point out some glaring issues.”
The benefit of that second set of eyes extends to all aspects of the business, Massetti added.
“In closely held businesses, oftentimes you don’t have a board of directors. You don’t have people supporting or questioning your decisions who have more experience than you,” he said. “Partnering with FocusCFO created for me an opportunity to be mentored by people with a wealth of knowledge and experience. I get the benefit of all that experience, and I don’t have to commit to bringing them on as an employee. I think it's an underutilized service offering in small, closely held companies.”
