Jon Blair previously held the roles of COO and CFO at Guardian Bikes, a company that received an investment from Mark Cuban on the ABC show Shark Tank. There, he was a pivotal member of the founding team and instrumental in driving the DTC kid's bike brand's revenue from inception to multi-million dollar status over four years while also securing over $15 million in funding. Following his tenure at Guardian Bikes, Jon established Free to Grow CFO. This venture is Jon's way of extending his financial expertise to burgeoning DTC brands, offering them the strategic benefits of CFO services on a part-time, outsourced basis.
What can take your business from a few orders a day to a growing company that makes a deal on Shark Tank? In this episode of Ops Unfiltered, Luminous CEO and co-founder Jared Ward asks Free to Grow CFO co-founder Jon Blair about his experience working in early-stage, high-growth companies, including Guardian Bikes, a business that struck a deal with Shark Tank investor Mark Cuban. His experience in accounting for e-commerce start-ups helped to inform how he handled operations, matching costs with revenue, and managing inventory.
Blair also gave some insight into when companies should consider adopting ERP systems and the potential pitfalls of premature implementation. The two further discussed technology's changes to e-commerce financial operations, automating and processing data. Blair advised that founders and CFOs rely on strategic timing before investing in advanced financial systems.
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