Perth Business Development Case Study
With Gerard McNamara, Founder & Managing Director – Autônomo
About Autônomo
Autônomo provides end-to-end technology solutions throughout Australia, from design through to installation, commissioning and ongoing maintenance. Their service specialisations include automation, wiring harnesses, instrumentation, electrical and telecommunications systems. They operate in the mining, oil and gas, transportation, utilities, healthcare, emergency services, security and construction industries. The company has grown rapidly since its inception in 2018 to just over 100 technicians Australia-wide.
Business Challenges
Gerard McNamara is the Founder and Managing Director of Autônomo. As Gerard explains, at the time Autônomo started working with Brentnalls in 2022, the company was experiencing rapid growth and increasing demand for their services. Gerard felt he had outgrown his natural capability in growing the business and he was looking for a strategic partner to help him manage that growth and to ensure that the business could sustain such rapid growth. He had reached out to independent consultants about business strategy, considered internal business consultants, he was looking at the business processes, and just searching for the right solution to give him that next level support.
After Brentnalls WA was recommended to him by several successful business owners, he chose to start the Brentnalls Quarterly Business Review process, to get the strategic partnership he was seeking as well as accounting services to help him better understand the numbers and financial position of the business.
Gerard says, “I’d previously worked with other accountants, and they would only tell me my balance sheet, which I’d already know. Whereas Brentnalls are more of a working partner, and they have helped guide that path for me.”
Working with Brentnalls WA
Brentnalls WA helped Gerard with managing the growth of the business, in particular managing cash flow and ensuring the growth was viable and sustainable. The Quarterly Business Review (QBR) process has provided a structure for the business to continue to grow and to continually evolve and improve its processes, as well as alignment and clarity for the management team.
Gerard says “Having Brentnalls run our QBRs and our 6-weekly catch ups and having my senior management team a part of those, creates an opportunity for education for the entire business and our leadership team. I can relate my business to my balance sheet now, where previously I never could. Now, I look around the business and look at the waste and where I can apply that to day-to-day operations and my balance sheet. It enables me to understand where those costs savings came from, where the business growth has come from and where my increased EBITDA has come from, which has always been a part of this growth phase.”
Gerard has also appreciated the proactive and direct service from Brentnalls WA. He says, “The level of service that Brentnalls provides has been outstanding. Not just from a business point of view, but from a friendship point of view, from a working relationship, and building a business. You really need an open and honest transparency. And the team at Brentnalls are more than happy to tell me how it is and tell me where I need to improve. They’re always proactively providing me an area of concern, but it’s also backed up with a solution or a viable network of resources supporting Brentnalls that I can tap into to support that as well.”
Results
Gerard claims that the business wouldn’t have been able to achieve its successful growth without Brentnalls’ support. The Brentnalls WA QBR process has provided the structure and rigour the business needed for successful growth.
“Working with Brentnalls has totally 360’d the business, in a nutshell. We have experienced year on year revenue growth of more than 40%.
Most importantly, we have the confidence that the business is growing well. Previously, we were growing rapidly, a bit adhoc, there wasn’t much structure. Now, after working with Brentnalls for a number of months, we have a clear strategy and path laid out to get there. We understand where we can improve, and we are holding people accountable for that moving forward.”
~Gerard McNamara, Founder and Managing Director – Autônomo
