Case Study – Circles
Circles was a thriving startup generating $55 million in revenue—but still operating at a loss. As the company prepared for acquisition, leadership set an ambitious goal: scale to $70 million in revenue while achieving a 10% net margin.
To meet that target, we overhauled the company’s management and reporting infrastructure, building a comprehensive Management Operating System that brought new visibility and control to the key drivers of contact center performance.
Over the next two years:
Repeat usage increased by 15%
Customer satisfaction (NPS) rose by 22%
Volume and incentive-based revenue grew significantly
At the same time, productivity improved by 16%, and reductions in indirect costs helped push net margin to 14%—$10 million in profit ON $70 million in revenue.
Shortly thereafter, Circles was successfully acquired by Sodexo, becoming the cornerstone of its new human services division.
“Duncan is quite possibly the most talented quantitative thinker I have ever worked with . . . To put it in a nutshell, he helps leaders make good decisions. Even better, Duncan is a joy to work with. He has a quick wit, and his integrity runs deep— and in an era when it is too easy to ignore a disturbing trend in favor of a more pleasing graph, Duncan will help you and your team keep a steady focus on the real levers that drive the success of the business.”
Case Study — Gibson&Dehn
Gibson & Dehn, a fast-growing consumer goods company, was scaling rapidly—but the pace of growth was pulling the company’s CFO into day-to-day operations, leaving a critical gap in forward-looking financial strategy.
Forecasting had become essential. Deal sizes were increasing, working capital needs were rising, and the CEO was personally funding the expansion—without clear visibility into whether cashflow would stabilize or demands would continue to grow. He brought in Seahorse to provide clarity, restore confidence, and regain a sense of control.
We started small—just a few hours a week—to implement a rolling forecast. That simple discipline became the foundation for better budgeting, a new management dashboard, profitability insights, and more confident strategic planning.
Over the next three years, the company scaled more than tenfold and was acquired by Colorworks in 2022. The analytics infrastructure we built helped leadership make faster, more informed decisions all the way through the sale process.
"I have never come across another financial consultant with such strategic business insight. Recommendations always had a specific purpose and were focused on delivering measurable business results.”
Case Study – Kinto
Sometimes, creating commercial value means stepping away from spreadsheets and focusing on human outcomes.
Kinto had developed a deeply engaging social service model to support families affected by dementia. To unlock commercial adoption, the company needed to prove clinical efficacy through a rigorous randomized controlled trial.
We partnered with researchers from Cleveland State University and the Alzheimer’s Association to design a comprehensive measurement and evaluation plan for submission to the National Institutes of Health, which awarded a $2.8 million SBIR grant to fund the study.
Thanks to Kinto’s strong engagement model, the study was able to collect detailed data across multiple touchpoints—both before and after intervention. The results were compelling:
9% reduction in the incidence of Behavioral and Psychological Symptoms of Dementia (BPSD)
13% reduction in distress associated with those symptoms
Significant benefits for family caregivers, including:
6% reduction in anxiety
11% reduction in emotional strain
The success of the study led to Kinto’s first commercial implementation, and shortly after this the company was acquired by Rippl in 2024.
“Duncan brings a special combination of deep expertise across disciplines as well as curiosity and humility. His sharp strategic thinking is matched by his dedication to building mission-driven ventures that create real impact.”