I went from CFO to leading Sales, Marketing, Customer Success and Support at Catchbox. Now I help product and export companies connect what the numbers say with what is actually happening in the business.
A dashboard can tell you that margin is falling. It can’t tell you if the problem is pricing, positioning, stock, or the way your team sells.
I’ve had to work on all four, often in the same company. That’s where I’m most useful: when a finance question turns out to be a business question.
The useful question is rarely “which dashboard do we need?” It’s usually one of these.
When stock, sales and finance live in separate systems, “profitable” can be a surprisingly fragile answer. I trace the data back to the actual flow of products and cash.
Revenue by itself doesn’t settle a product, channel or market decision. We need to see contribution, working capital and what the commercial team can actually execute.
Pricing and margin only work if customers understand the value. I’ve led the uncomfortable work of changing who we sell to, how we explain a product, and how teams follow through.
CatchboxI built finance and reporting across Latvia, Finland and the US, joining accounting, warehouse and online-order data. I traced stock discrepancies back to the procedures behind them. Many of the reports and automations stayed in use after I handed over the CFO role.
Later, I led Sales, Marketing, Customer Success and Support. When COVID disrupted live events, I helped shift our focus to universities and hybrid classrooms, tested the pitch on customer visits and helped turn one-off sales into repeat business with university accounts.
I reviewed the finances and reworked the chart of accounts so costs landed in the right business categories. Then I built management reports - profit, cash flow and the balance sheet - populated automatically from monthly accounting data.
I identified errors in manufacturing and warehouse records and gave the team practical steps to improve stock accuracy. I also built a dashboard to track the company’s financial performance.
Product profitability, export markets and financing for factory expansion.
Board and finance work in a listed industrial group, including processes, workforce incentives and factory financing.
I work best with founders and leadership teams in product, manufacturing and export businesses where the complexity has outrun the view from the numbers.
We agree one question: cash, margins, stock, pricing or sales. I follow the data and talk to the people doing the work, then sit down with you to discuss what I found.
You get: Findings, gaps in the numbers and a short list of changes to make first.
We fix what gets in the way: a cash view, product-margin reporting, a data flow or a management routine. I work through it with your team so they can keep using it.
You get: Reporting or a process that works in the day-to-day business.
If you need someone involved regularly, I work alongside the founder and team. We agree the time and responsibilities, then get on with the decisions, reporting and follow-through the business needs.
You get: Regular finance leadership, with clear responsibilities.
If a short conversation suggests I’m not the right person for the problem, I’ll say so.
Forecasts, price changes and positioning weren’t recommendations I left behind. I had to live with the results and make the next call. I like following a question until it reaches the real process: who logs a stock movement, how a price is explained, why a lead gets followed up, and what a manager actually reviews on Monday.
Before Catchbox, I worked in manufacturing and export as a CFO and served on the management board of a listed industrial group. I’m now independent, working with companies that want someone who can get into the details and still see the whole business.
Tell me what is happening, what you can’t yet see clearly, and what needs to change. We can start with a 20-minute conversation. I’ll tell you honestly whether I can help.
akolpakovs@gmail.com