Creating profitable growth through focus and collaboration

If 2022 was a wild ride, then 2023 will be nothing short of a rollercoaster.  Profitable growth continues to be a focal point for organizations at all stages.  However, for businesses to execute, not only do they need strong fundamentals in place, the Finance team must continuously drive focus and collaboration organization-wide. 

While we still have progress to make at Rhino, from year-end 2021 through the first quarter of 2023, focus and collaboration has allowed us to increase our gross margin profile by more than 40 percentage points (not percent, percentage points).  Similarly, during that time, our measure of bottom-line profitability (adjusted EBITDA) has improved by over 50% and net revenue has more than doubled (when annualizing first quarter 2023 performance for both metrics).

We’ve also continued to deliver meaningfully for our renters and property managers/owners.  Since the start of 2022, we’ve written more than 250,000 policies.  Rhino’s products have streamlined the move-in journey offering a more affordable way for renters to rent and a more efficient way for property managers/owners to operate.  

At the top, I mentioned focus.  Rhino operates in a tri-party environment (Rhino, the renter, and the property manager/owners).  Therefore finding a healthy balance for each party in the transaction is important.  As a business, we are constantly striving to strike that right balance and have built the tools organically and inorganically over the last year plus to manage those dynamics.  

I also mentioned collaboration. The Finance organization needs to not only help a business create focus but also ensure cross-departmental and external collaboration in order to maintain momentum.  That collaboration is enhanced when the metrics/outputs used in support of dialogue with all parties is validated against what the aforementioned focus produces.  Equally as important is course correcting when a metric / output suggests the opposite.  

As I said in a previous blog post, disrupting an antiquated industry and building a greenfield market category will never be easy. What I didn’t say is that the Finance organization can play a major role in making that journey as efficient and impactful as any other company stakeholder.   

Timothy Gurba

Timothy Gurba is the Chief Financial Officer at Rhino.