CASE STUDY | SPECIALTY MANUFACTURING
From Stagnation to Scalable Profitability
How a $40M+ Executive Coaching Firm Increased EBITDA 25% Year Over Year
| Industry | Executive Coaching and Leadership Development |
| Business Model | Recurring Revenue | Subscription and Retainer-Based Engagements |
| Company Size | $40M+ Annual Recurring Revenue |
| Engagement Type | Foundational Operating Model, Monthly FP&A, Strategic Projects |
| Relationship Duration | 3+ Years |
The Challenge
For many growing businesses, there comes a point where momentum quietly stalls — not because the product isn't working, but because the financial infrastructure underneath it can't keep pace.
That was the reality facing this lower middle market executive coaching firm. With a loyal client base and a strong recurring revenue model, the business had built something real. But growth had plateaued, and leadership couldn't pinpoint why. Revenue felt stable on the surface, but margins were quietly compressing. Expenses were climbing without a clear picture of where the money was going or whether it was generating a return.
There was no dynamic financial model to stress-test decisions, plan investments, or understand the true drivers of profitability. Budgets were being built on assumptions rather than data. And when leadership sat down to make strategic decisions — where to invest, what to cut, how to grow — the numbers didn't give them the answers they needed.
The result was a business running on instinct at a stage that demanded precision.
The Solution
MyExec began by building the Foundational Operating Model — a fully integrated, dynamic financial system that connected every key driver of the business directly to the P&L. For the first time, leadership had a single source of truth that made the relationship between revenue, expenses, and profitability visible and actionable.
From there, MyExec established a monthly FP&A cadence anchored by structured Executive Review meetings. Each month, actuals were loaded into the model, variances were analyzed, and the leadership team gathered around a shared set of numbers to make decisions, not debate them.
Through this process, several critical insights emerged:
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Customer Acquisition Cost Visibility
The firm's customer acquisition costs were higher than they needed to be, driven by inefficient spend allocation that hadn't been visible before the model was in place. With clearer data, leadership was able to redirect marketing and sales investment toward the channels and strategies delivering the strongest return.
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Churn Root Cause Analysis
Churn within the existing customer base was quietly eroding revenue retention. Root cause analysis conducted through the monthly review process identified the patterns behind client departures and gave the business the insight needed to address them proactively.
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Expense Optimization
Frivolous and underperforming expenses were identified and eliminated, freeing up margin that had been obscured by the complexity of the business. These weren't dramatic cuts, they were the kind of quiet, data-driven decisions that compound significantly over time.
Throughout the engagement, MyExec also took on targeted strategic projects, providing ad hoc analysis and scenario modeling to support the firm's most important growth and investment decisions.
The Results
Three years into the engagement, the impact is measurable and sustained.
| EBITDA +25% YoY | Improved year over year across 2024 and 2025 — a direct result of tighter cost discipline, smarter capital allocation, and a leadership team operating from a shared financial model. |
| LTV:CAC Improved | Customer acquisition costs decreased as investment was redirected toward higher-performing channels, making each new client relationship more profitable from the start. |
| Churn Reduced | Churn in the existing customer base declined, strengthening net revenue retention and improving the overall health and predictability of the recurring revenue model |
| Engagement Type | Foundational Operating Model, Monthly FP&A, Strategic Projects |
| Leadership Aligned | Strategic meetings shifted from debating the numbers to acting on them with every major decision now grounded in a model that shows not just what happened, but what comes next. |
What This Means for Your Business
Every business hits a point where instinct alone isn't enough. The gap between where you are and where you want to be is often a finance problem in disguise — and the businesses that close that gap fastest are the ones that build the right financial infrastructure before the problem gets louder.
If any part of this story sounds familiar, the next step is simple
Start with our free 5-minute FP&A Assessment and get instant clarity on where your financial function stands today — and what it would take to close the gap.