Whit Richards

About Whit Richards

Growth-stage companies succeed when financial discipline, operating rhythm, and monetization strategy move in sync.For more than three decades, I have built and led high-performance finance and operations teams inside venture-backed technology, digital media and consumer subscription-focused companies. I partner with CEOs, Boards and investors to translate business plans into attractive revenue growth, recurring revenue expansion, margin improvement, and sustainable cash generation.At Hatch, I have been helping over six years reposition the company from a hardware-centric ecommerce business into a subscription-driven, LTV-based model, grew revenue 33% annually, scaled ARR from 0 to 20% of total revenue, and restored profitability on plan. That transformation required building and integrating unit economics visibility, LTV modeling, CAC discipline, pricing analytics, accurate forecasting including connectivity between demand forecasting and inventory planning, and working capital and cash management discipline into our decision making and day-to-day operations.Before this, at Fullscreen, GIPHY, ShoeDazzle and DailyCandy I helped scale those early-stage, high-growth businesses by building and leading high-performance finance and operations teams that delivered strategic financial planning and decision support. In these roles, I have led equity and debt capital strategy across multiple raises, convertible note financing, and credit facility restructuring with a focus on disciplined margin expansion and path-to-profitability execution.Leadership matters just as much as modeling. I build cross-functional teams spanning FP & A, accounting, BI, supply chain, sourcing, demand forecasting, inventory planning, ad operations, legal and people leadership. I operate hands-on in high-growth environments while maintaining strategic altitude with CEOs, Boards and investors.Earlier in my career, after earning my MBA from Duke University, I worked for seven years in Prague, Czech Republic. I became fluent and worked across venture-backed technology, investment, and transactional finance roles, including funding joint ventures with Western partners and leading a division of an IT services provider. That international foundation shaped my operating perspective and later led to global FP & A leadership roles at Overture and Yahoo.

Experience

1. Chief Financial Officer

   Hatch

   Oct 2020 — Present

   Hatch is all about helping families get good sleep. We have grown total revenue on a 33% CAGR during my tenure to date; ARR on a 230% CAGR. I lead a 45 person organization in finance and operations: I built accounting, FP & A, sourcing, supply chain, and inventory planning; responsible for customer service and legal. As CFO, I am a strategic business partner to the CEO, founders, executive team, Board and investors. I lead a Finance team that supports continuous business model iteration and evolution, using analytics and modeling to provide strategic planning and decision support. This includes supporting the multi-year internal start-up of our now-profitable adult business, and the evolution of all Hatch products to include a subscription-based premium experience. I am responsible for capital strategy, capital allocation and cash management. I co-led two capital raises to support the adult business ramp-up and reset our working capital facility to expand availability.

Education

• Bucknell University

  BS, Business Administration

  1982 — 1986

• Duke University - The Fuqua School of Business

  MBA, Finance

  1990 — 1992

Skills

• Strategic Partnerships
• Strategy
• E-Commerce
• Financial Modeling
• Financial Analysis
• Advertising
• Product Management
• Leadership
• Budgeting
• Business Intelligence
• Management
• Team Building
• Marketing
• Executive Management
• Business Planning
• Operations Management
• Acquisition Integration
• Budgets
• Finance
• Corporate Development
• Turn Around Management
• Digital Media
• Analytics
• Business Strategy
• Cross-Functional Team Leadership
• Mergers & Acquisitions
• Entrepreneurship
• Forecasting
• Business Development
• Mergers
• Competitive Analysis
• Start-Ups
• Venture Capital
• P&L Management