Matt Putra

Fractional CFO | Helping eCom Brands Find Their 8 or 9 Figure Exit | Helping ventures from Seed to Series B

Your CFO/Coach/Board Member is wrong. Profitability isn't math problem. 

It's an alignment and communication problem.

Most CFOs try to fix profitability by staring at spreadsheets. I fix profitability by breaking down silos.

For $10M–$200M eCom & CPG brands, profit leaks rarely happen because of "bad math." They happen because Demand, Supply, and Finance are operating in different realities.

When these three teams aren't in lock-step, you get:
- Inventory Bloat: Buying stock you can’t sell.
- Margin Compression: Selling stock you can’t afford to discount.
- Opex Creep: people need tools, more people, more subscriptions...
- Cash Crunches: Surprises that kill growth. POs that shouldn't have been cut. 
- and more

How We Fix It:
I install a proprietary operating system called X&OP™ (Cross-Functional Execution and Ops Planning).

We don't simply forecast; we engineer synchronization. We deploy the Cash-Validated Procurement Gate™, ensuring that every operational decision—from ad spend to inventory POs—is vetted against a unified cash and margin model.

The Outcomes (Real Client Data):
- Optimization: $2MM cash freed up in inventory (10% reduction)
- Efficiency: From -$7MM profit to +$3.5MM, gross margin up 10%
- Precision: 94% forecast accuracy over 14 months
- *Valuation: Client acquired for 25x ebitda (yes, really). Another for 3x revenue.

My Promise:
I am so confident in the power of alignment that I guarantee results. 

🎙️ Host of "How Do I?" — interviewing CEOs scaling from operators to architects.

* Both were omni-channel brands.

Co Owner, CFO/COO

Jason Andrew

Hey, it's Jason

I’m a chartered accountant and have spent over a decade of my working life as a business and corporate advisor. I help my clients on a range of areas including M&A, financial strategy and performance improvement.  I also know just enough about Australian tax to be dangerous... 

My passion is helping business owners extract value from their numbers and financial data. My personal mission is to improve the financial literacy of entrepreneurs and change the current worldview of the accounting profession. 

My business partners and I are building a holding company, with the mission to be great custodians great Australian SMEs.

Thanks for listening. 

Now, here's how I might be able to help you:

👉If you're looking for a growth and future focused accountant to help you get on top of your numbers and taxes, check out SBO.Financial

👉If you're looking to buy a business and need help with financial due diligence, check out assurety.co

👉If you're looking to sell your business, please check out https://arborpermanentowners.co/

👉If you're looking to improve your financial literacy in a safe and self-paced learning environment, check out starknakednumbers.com

----

You can also:

 - Connect with me here
 - Sign up to our free newsletter for weekly emails on finance, business and wealth creation: https://sbo.financial/newsletter/
 - Check out my book, Stark Naked Numbers: https://www.amazon.com/dp/0648424006

cheers

Author

Whether you're a startup or scale up, traditional accounting is way too confusing. Most CPAs either needlessly dress up your financials or are just focused on preparing you for tax season.
In this groundbreaking book, accountant and entrepreneur Jason Andrew shows you a radical new method of accounting. By stripping your financials down to the bare essentials, you can see your numbers stark naked and identify the facts that really matter. His simple techniques reveal the game-changing insights you need to turn your company into a profitable, cash flow machine.

In Stark Naked Numbers, you'll learn loads of counter-intuitive wisdom, financial truths you can start using immediately to accelerate you light years ahead of the competition. Lessons like:

- Why the profit your CPA reports to you is fake
- Why selling more of your product or service will not make you more profitable
- Why you should fire 80% of your customers

Complete with practical examples, you will gain tactical knowledge about critical questions, such as:

- How do I unlock the cash in my business?
- When can I afford to hire my next employee?
- When can I give myself a raise?

After spending over a decade as a Chartered Accountant at a global firm, author Jason Andrew started his own company, SBO - helping high growth businesses improve their cash flow, profitability and be accountable to their financial goals. With a wry sense of humour, he conveys the practical secrets the world's best CFOs and revered investors know about building a business that lasts.

Purchase a copy:

DTC: starknakednumbers.com
Via Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/dp/0648424006

2 neighbourhood kids knocked on my door

Asked to mow my lawn

"How much?" I asked

$25

Great deal

Plus I love to support kids starting a business

I told them yes

"But I won't pay you just $25," I hinted 😉

They finished the work in about an hour (they didn't do the edges and missed a few spots, but they tried their best)

When they finished, they knocked on the door

But I didn't answer

After 20 minutes, they left (one of them began crying)

I taught them a lesson that will set them for the rest of their career

Every young entrepreneur needs to learn how to credit the "Provision for Bad Debts" account on their balance sheet

Welcome to the business world, kids

I acquire exceptional SMEs. Follow me to learn more.

we have our first intern at Arbor Permanent Owners starting next week. 

I'm developing an onboarding packing, which includes a recommended reading list to get them up to speed on our model, operating philosophy and task.

here it is...

undefined undefined

Arbor Permanent Owners

not now kitten, Daddy is increasing shareholder value

My friend makes $500k as an investment banker in Melbourne

After paying income tax, rent for a unit in Sth Yarra, personal trainer, personal chef, leases on his 3x sports cars, credit card debt, pet insurance, private health insurance, doggy daycare, clothes, groceries, creatine gummies, hair transplants and daily TRT injections, he's left with negative $12,000 every month

He's going into massive debt just to survive

Crying on the phone, he asked me how he could move to SE QLD and live a simpler life

Thousands of Victorians are waking up and having the same realisation every day

Listen, accounting is the language of business. 

If you're a business owner, leader or executive and you can't adequately interpret and act on your company's financial statements - you’re not an operator - you’re a passenger.

Passengers don’t build serious wealth.

Get educated.

When I started my career in accounting, it took me a few years to realise I’d misunderstood what I was signing up for.

I thought accounting would be closer to investment banking - M&A, investing in businesses, capital allocation. That was the long-term game I had in mind.

Instead, I found myself preparing tax returns based on historical data. Important work, but very different to what I’d imagined. 

What I really wanted was to work in investing and small business ownership - what most people would broadly call "private equity".

But that term intimidated me.

It conjured images of pinstripe suits, billion-dollar deals, and people who were far smarter and far more qualified than I was.

But here’s the truth I’ve learned after years working in real businesses:

Private equity is just owning equity in private businesses. That’s it.

The industry loves jargon because jargon creates distance.

Distance creates mystique.  Mystique makes people think “this isn’t for me" or "that's way out of my league". 

The more I've been the trenches, the more I've realised this "exclusive club" is entirely accessible for ordinary business owners.

Let’s translate a few of the “scary” terms:

➡️Leveraged buyout = buying assets with debt (literally every person with a mortgage already does this)
➡️EBITDA = profit (a more useful version, but still profit)
➡️Mezzanine finance = expensive, third-tier debt because finance bros can't get better debt 😅 
➡️ Cost of capital = how much it costs to use someone else’s money

That’s not elite finance.
That’s just plain English business.

There are brilliant people in private equity - no doubt.

But there are just as many business owners who are private equity… difference being they built the equity themselves!

This is why I care so much about financial literacy.

Because once you strip away the buzzwords,  you realise you can think like a business owner, an investor, a capital allocator.

These skills creates you more wealth.

If that’s something you want to get better at this year - without the jargon - I wrote a book exactly for that.

It's called Stark Naked Numbers. I wrote it like 5 years ago and I still sell heaps of copies every week.  It's because the principles are evergreen.

Plain-English money, business, and investing.

If finance has ever felt “not for you”, this book is.

You can buy a copy via the link in the comments. If you do it today I'll add in a special bonus extra (I ship them directly from my home office).

I'm kickstarting the APO newsletter again. It'll give you a BTS peek into how we're building our holding company. 

Given the potentially commercially sensitive information I'll be openly sharing, I will not be publishing this via our blog (it'll be via email only). You can subscribe via the link in the comments.

Here's a sneak peek into the first one...

---

When we started Arbor Permanent Owners in January 2024, we had zero acquisitions and zero dollars committed.

Eleven months later, we had both.

At the start, all we really had was:

A website;
A poorly formatted PowerPoint deck;
And a clear vision.

That vision was simple to build Australia’s first permanent-capital holding company for Australian lower-mid-market SMEs.

Turning that idea into reality required two things:

1) Find a high-quality business that fit our buy box
2) Raise ~$8-figures of capital to buy it

Simple on paper. Difficult in practice.

Eleven months later, we achieved exactly that.

Here’s how it played out:

𝗝𝗮𝗻𝘂𝗮𝗿𝘆-𝟮𝟰: Ground zero - deal sourcing begins
𝗠𝗮𝘆-𝟮𝟰: After reviewing 100+ opportunities, we found a business that truly fit - East West Engineering.
𝗝𝘂𝗻𝗲-𝟮𝟰: Navigated a rigorous process run by the corporate advisor Negotiated and signed a non-binding indicative offer (NBIO).
𝗝𝘂𝗹𝘆 𝘁𝗼 𝗢𝗰𝘁𝗼𝗯𝗲𝗿-𝟮𝟰:
Conducted financial and commercial due diligence internally
Project-managed tax and legal advisors through the SPA and holding company structure
Convinced 40+ investors to commit ~$20m of equity
Secured ~$10m of senior debt from a Tier-1 Australian bank
𝗡𝗼𝘃𝗲𝗺𝗯𝗲𝗿-𝟮𝟰: Completion. Funds wired. Ownership transferred.
𝗗𝗲𝗰𝗲𝗺𝗯𝗲𝗿-𝟮𝟰: The real work begins.

(Somewhere in the middle of all this, I also welcomed my second son into the world.)

𝗢𝘂𝗿 “𝗞𝗲𝗲𝗽 𝗜𝘁 𝗦𝗶𝗺𝗽𝗹𝗲” 𝗱𝗲𝗮𝗹 𝘀𝘁𝗿𝘂𝗰𝘁𝘂𝗿𝗲

Selling a business has a reputation for being long, complex, and painful.
Worse still, most deals never complete.
In my experience, roughly two out of every three transactions fail.

Why?

There are many reasons - but almost all of them come back to one thing:

.....

[subscribers can access the full article - shipping this Friday]

The new East West Engineering website went live yesterday. Plenty to iterate on, but a vast improvement from the last one. 

It does a great job to showcase our breadth and depth of materials handling products.

PS: in case you're wondering - no we don't addback "website development" costs to normalised EBITDA.

As we kick off a new year - many of you have set resolutions to make more money.

Ask for a pay rise. Earn more commission. Start a side hustle.

Here’s a different option 👇

Make $100,000 by making one introduction.

At Arbor Permanent Owners, we acquire great Australian SMEs from retiring founders - quietly and long-term.

So we’ve built a Scout Program.

How it works:

 ✅ You introduce us directly to a founder or key decision-maker considering a sale 
 ✅ The business is off-market (no broker, no advisor, no auction)
 ✅ If we acquire the business, you get paid 0.5% of upfront invested capital up to $100k.

That’s $100,000 for a single introduction. Life changing money.

You can learn more about our Scout program via the link in the comments.

You can be smart, talented and work relentlessly.

But you can’t escape shitty unit economics or a structurally bad market.

Most problems you’ll face in business aren’t unique. Someone, somewhere, has already solved them.
The fastest way to level up isn’t reinventing the wheel - it’s finding the person who’s been there before and understanding how they solved it.
Unless you’re Elon Musk, your problems have already been solved. Go learn how. 
Copy the playbook.

Listen kiddos - if you want to buy a home, you’ve got two options:

work hard and get a 7-figure mortgage that you can't service; or get some early inheritance from your parents.

Don’t wait for house prices to fall. No government has any real incentive to make that happen.

Arbor Permanent Owners is an Australian permanent-capital vehicle built to acquire exceptional SMEs and hold them for the long-term.

Our structure and operating philosophy are genuinely unique in Australia. 
We are not a fund, not private equity, and not a roll-up. We are 1 of 1.

We are actively looking to acquire and invest in Australian SMEs - EBITDA between $2m and 8m.

If you have any opportunities that you think might fit, please get in touch - I will look at anything and everything that is B2B and physical products in the industrial sector.

A safe haven for Great Australian SMEs

Selling a business has a reputation for being a long and drawn out, painful process.

Even worse - most deals never get to the finish line. 

2 out of 3 deals fail to complete.

Why is the failure rate so high?

2 reasons:

𝟭) 𝗠𝗮𝗻𝘆 𝗯𝘂𝘆𝗲𝗿𝘀 𝗱𝗼𝗻’𝘁 𝗮𝗰𝘁𝘂𝗮𝗹𝗹𝘆 𝗵𝗮𝘃𝗲 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗺𝗼𝗻𝗲𝘆 𝗿𝗲𝗮𝗱𝘆.
They make an offer first, and only then start trying to raise money from investors. If the funding doesn’t come through, the deal collapses.

𝟮) 𝗠𝗮𝗻𝘆 𝗯𝘂𝘆𝗲𝗿𝘀 𝗮𝗹𝘀𝗼 ‘𝗿𝗲-𝘁𝗿𝗮𝗱𝗲’ 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗱𝗲𝗮𝗹 𝗵𝗮𝗹𝗳𝘄𝗮𝘆 𝘁𝗵𝗿𝗼𝘂𝗴𝗵 - 𝗹𝗼𝘄𝗲𝗿𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗽𝗿𝗶𝗰𝗲
or changing the terms after you’re already deep into the process.
Sometimes this happens because something unexpected turns up in due
diligence.
But more often, it’s because the buyer threw out a high number early on just to secure exclusivity - knowing that once you’re committed, they can change the terms because “you’re already on the hook.”

When this happens, you are left with:
▶️ Destroyed trust
▶️ Large bills from accountants and lawyers
▶️ Months of your life you’ll never get back
▶️ Stress and disruption to the business
▶️ No clear path forward.

If you’ve experienced a broken deal before, you will know it’s exhausting and can feel unfair.

And it is avoidable.

We built Arbor Permanent Owners to vastly increase the odds of getting to the finish line.

Here’s how we are structured differently:

𝟭. 𝗪𝗲 𝗵𝗮𝘃𝗲 𝗽𝗲𝗿𝗺𝗮𝗻𝗲𝗻𝘁 𝗰𝗮𝗽𝗶𝘁𝗮𝗹 𝗮𝗹𝗿𝗲𝗮𝗱𝘆 𝗰𝗼𝗺𝗺𝗶𝘁𝘁𝗲𝗱.
▶️ Because our capital is already committed, we don’t need to raise funds after making an offer. We don’t rely on banks or investors suddenly changing their minds.
▶️ That means certainty for you, right from the start.

𝟮. 𝗪𝗲 𝗱𝗼 𝗼𝘂𝗿 𝗱𝘂𝗲 𝗱𝗶𝗹𝗶𝗴𝗲𝗻𝗰𝗲 𝗶𝗻-𝗵𝗼𝘂𝘀𝗲.
We are a mighty and nimble team that rolls up our sleeves to do the hard work of conducting our due diligence. We do everything inhouse. 

This means:
▶️ We don’t deploy an army of 20-something-year old “consultants” to ask
questions “for the sake of it”.
▶️ We don’t drown you in endless lists of requests.
▶️ We focus on the things that actually determine whether the business will
thrive long term.

This makes the process faster, less intrusive and less stressful for everyone involved.

Our aim is to Complete deals in 90 days - from NBIO to Signing. 

No games. No fluff. 

Just a straightforward, transparent and targeted process.

If you're interested to learn more about selling your business, send me a DM.

alright, in our first financial teardown for 2026 we unpack the insane business model of Labubus - those ugly furry dolls that people are frothing over.

Is it a real, durable business? Let’s break it down.

Link in the comments

my desk this morning after selling some financial literacy books yesterday.

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The Battle

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Jason Andrew

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