“If you don't have good finances and financial management, you actually don't have a business.”

Welcome to the first episode of Greater than the Sum. We were honored to have Christine Pilkington, serial entrepreneur and founder and CEO of Crisp, as our first guest.

During this episode, Christine reflects on the early days of Crisp – a business helping entrepreneurs thrive with the support of fractional marketing services – plus how the company has evolved and the lessons she has learned along the way. Our host, Mark Assini from Plooto’s marketing team, quizzes Christine on the financial aspects of running your own business and how that has changed as the company has expanded. Christine reflects on the early misconceptions she had about financial operations and how addressing them catapulted the success of her business. Finally, Christine and Mark discuss the lightbulb moment for achieving financial control of the business and what was needed to get there.

This episode focuses on:

• How Crisp is helping start-ups scale
• The early pitfalls of financial management as an entrepreneur
• The importance of taking financial management seriously
• How technology can take the weight off a founder’s shoulders
• The biggest entrepreneurial lessons Christine has picked up during her career

Greater than the Sum helps small business owners and operators remove the guesswork from their business finances and gain back the time to focus on what really matters.

Chapter Markers

[1:01] Introduction to Crisp: Scaling start-ups with fractional marketing leadership

[2:54] Advice for My Past Self: The importance of acquiring financial business acumen

[4:05] Biggest Marketing Misconceptions: Cutting through noise to do what is best for your business

[6:21] The Journey of a Serial Entrepreneur: How Crisp has evolved

[10:01] Approaches to Start-up Financial management: Finding your footing as a start-up

[12:55] Technology Adoption: Selecting software that serves your business needs

[15:11] Achieving Financial Control: The turning points for the business

[18:25] Learning from Business Failures: The difficulty of being undercapitalized

[22:41] It takes a (financial) village: The importance of hiring the right people

[25:44] Quickfire Advice: Streamlining payment support processes

About Plooto

You can check out more about Plooto on Plooto.com for resources, tips, and advice on how to get control over your cash flow.