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Customer Case Study with Hari Raghavan (Co-Founder and CEO of AbstractOps)

“If you aren’t paying attention to your treasury strategy and your yields on corporate cash, you aren’t being the best possible fiduciary to your shareholders.”

Chris Hladczuk

Dec 28, 2022

3 minute read

AbstractOps automates the operations and compliance infrastructure needed to scale your business. This includes state registrations, hiring paperwork, annual filings, corporate records, contracts, and much more.

Outside of being the CEO of AbstractOps, Hari is an active startup investor in 100+ companies including Notion, Rippling, OnDeck, AngelList and Pulley. He’s also a limited partner in early-stage VC firms like SignalFire, Ravikant Capital and South Park Commons.

What were the most important factors you focused on before making a decision on your treasury? And how did Meow fit that criteria?

First: trustworthiness. I’ve spent hours on the phone with the Meow team at this point, and felt comfortable that they take the safety of client assets seriously.

BNY Mellon is one of the best in the business, and that was another important driver of comfort.

Finally, the team has been proactive -- any time there are major market movements, I’ve gotten a call or email from the team that they’re on it.

Second: being able to balance risk & reward. We’ve been able to “ladder” different tranches of capital which gives us a good sense of control of our treasury & cash strategy.

How do you currently use Meow and how do you plan to use Meow in the future?

Meow is a key component of our cash management strategy. It’s not the only place where we maintain cash, but it’s a valuable tool in our arsenal. Over time, as we raise more capital (or, better -- make more money from our sales / cash efficiency!) I expect we’ll seriously expand the scope of our balances with Meow (in reasonable proportion and appropriately manage risk across different accounts and assets/maturities).

How has the general startup ecosystem changed recently in regards to treasury management and capital efficiency?

Rising interest rates are a double edged sword. On the one hand, capital markets / fundraising are tighter; but on the other hand, companies with a lot of cash in the bank can use it to meaningfully extend runway.

Take an extreme example: a company with 6 employees that showed enough traction to raise a $20M Series A -- but hadn’t ramped up burn -- yet could theoretically cover their entire headcount cost just with the interest on that $20M!

If you aren’t paying attention to your treasury strategy and your yields on corporate cash, you aren’t being the best possible fiduciary to your shareholders.

Terms & Disclosures:

The information provided is illustrative or for educational purposes only and does not constitute investment, legal or tax advice, or an offer to buy, sell or hold any security. The information is as of the date indicated and may change at any time without notice. Forecasts or projections of investment outcomes are estimates only and as such they are imprecise and hypothetical in nature, do not reflect actual investment results, and are not guarantees of future investment results. Meow is not an investment adviser; however, we've partnered with Helium Advisors LLC (“Helium”), an SEC-registered investment adviser, to bring you certain investing features. All investment advisory services are provided by Helium. We are not affiliated with Helium however we receive compensation as a percentage of assets managed by Helium for promoting Helium’s investment advisory services. Our partnership with Helium gives us an incentive to refer you to Helium instead of another investment adviser that is not a partner of ours. This conflict of interest affects our ability to provide you with unbiased, objective information about the services of Helium. This could mean that the services of another investment adviser with whom we are not partnered may be more appropriate for you than those of Helium. Investing involves risk, including the possible loss of principal, and there is no assurance that the investment will provide positive performance over any period of time. Helium accounts are not bank guaranteed or FDIC insured.

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