Polaris Laboratories, LLC is a proven leader in the oil analysis industry. For three consecutive years, Polaris has been named one of Indianapolis’ twenty-five fastest growing, privately owned companies by the Indianapolis Business Journal, and was also a finalist for Ernst & Young’s 2003 and 2004 Entrepreneur of the Year Award. These are grand achievements for a company that started as a group of five people with vast industry experience who wanted to create an organization focused on results for its customers.
In 1999 Polaris started its journey as a small laboratory on the south side of Indianapolis. Five years later, the company now has three locations throughout the country and over 85 employees. This astounding growth is due in great part to the vision and perseverance of the company’s management team.
To assist management in this journey, Milestone Advisors was hired to compliment and add capacity to Polaris’ executive team. Initially, Milestone’s primary role was to help the company develop a suitable capital structure to position the company for growth and to create a favorable banking relationship in order to execute the company’s financing strategy. This initial success, however, soon led to another need.
With the necessary capital in place to help grow the business, the company was soon faced with the need for additional assistance in managing their finances. Originally, Polaris’ CEO had been in charge of managing the company’s finances and, as they grew, this needed to change. According to CEO Bryan Debshaw, he needed to “focus more time on the business and its growth, and not on producing numbers.” In addition, Mr. Debshaw noted that his company “needed someone to take our accounting systems to the next level.”
Without the need or desire to hire a full-time Chief Financial Officer, the company began to utilize Milestone’s controllership and CFO services. As Mr. Debshaw commented recently, this decision was an “efficient way for us to handle our financial needs. Milestone has given us a high degree of confidence in the numbers that are prepared, added maturity to the accounting system and provided the ability to generate better forecasts and budgets for the company” – vital tools when considering the amount of growth this company has experienced recently.
What’s even better for a CEO like Mr. Debshaw, who is constantly focused on strategic decisions and achieving growth for his company, is that Milestone keeps him continuously abreast of his company’s financial standing. “Milestone’s staff does a great job of alerting me to issues before they become a concern. I don’t have to call them. Their staff is always thinking about my company and does a great job of anticipating different events.” But as Mr. Debshaw noted, this is what he anticipated based on the experience of Milestone’s staff in working with numerous high-growth companies.
To learn more about Milestone Advisor’s services and ways that Milestone can help you grow your business, contact Donna Dwyer Pitz at 317-581-1820 x704.