Hi everyone, looking for opinions/advice here, but all comments are welcome! I'm going to start with the backstory. If you want to skip it, that's alright, I'll bold the questions I am asking!
I am graduating from college this May. My degree is not in accounting/finance; I was in the school of business in college. I have spent the last ~12 months in a food manufacturing start-up environment, but I will have to leave soon as they are going out of business. They just don't know it yet... or at least won't accept the fact they are.
I enjoyed being in food manufacturing and getting to tackle the challenges, both within finance and outside of it. I'm not sure how realistic my experience is with how finances should be run, as they were in shambles when I came aboard. I'm talking over 4 years of operation, and they didn't know their overhead, 100% custoemr concentartion where all 9 of the SKUs weren't even covering direct costs.
I caught onto these things quickly, within the first 6 weeks of working there, and did what I could to push them in the other direction. Through voicing potential solutions and running the numbers on what needed to be done. I covered everything from logistics receiving, verifying AP invoices, creating a spreadsheet/dashboard that reported daily profit/loss, and reconciliation.
There is an opportunity that may form within the next 9 months for me to join a brand new start-up that will be manufacturing the same food category. I would be the only one in the finance department. What are some major tips you can give me to succeed and help the company grow? The industry we are in is manufacturer scarce; we have a killer sales guy and an industry expert with ties to PE (who already have companies interested in manufacturing this food category), so finding customers won't be an issue.
My main concern is properly costing what it will take to operate these lines. I can lean on the industry expert and others with far more experience in this field, but I'm worried I'll miss an assumption, line item, or cost. What tips/tricks can you share that may help me notice when/if I am missing something?
I've rambled on long enough, so I'll cut myself off there, but I could yap about this for another 4 pages, single-spaced, 12-point, time new roman font!
TLDR: I have an opportunity to join a start-up, after seeing one in the same manufacturing space fail. I'll be the sole finance guy and don't want to fuck it up. What's your advice on how I don't fuck it up? Thanks!