An internet provider in São Paulo had revenue of about R$ 400 thousand a month, but lived in the red. Every month, about R$ 150 thousand was missing from the cash. The numbers weren't organized, and the partners didn't know what the company was worth.
High revenue and negative cash at the same time is a classic sign of an operation that grew faster than its own structure.
The challenge
The R$ 150 thousand monthly cash gap had direct consequences: high interest to cover the hole and a constant need for the partners to put in money. The company was disorganized and didn't have its own numbers in detail, which made it impossible to know where to act.
The goal was clear: close the gap and make the operation profitable. But there was more to it. The problems weren't only operational. The relationship between the partners was also troubled, mixing equity and debt, banks, interest and overdraft.
How Vispe worked
The turning point was how the problem was viewed. Instead of just "cleaning up" the company, the work was guided by an exit and value-creation thesis. The question stopped being "how do we stop losing money" and became "how do we turn this business into an asset worth more."
With that view, the plan had three pillars. First, organizing the data, so decisions would be based on reliable numbers. Second, cutting costs and optimizing financing, reducing the cost of expensive money. Third, a strategic decision: selling the B2C customer portfolio and focusing the company on B2B.
Execution had its obstacles. Organizing the information was hard, and along the way the finance team and the ERP had to be replaced, changes that take time and adjustment across the whole company.
The results
- Revenue: from R$ 400 thousand to more than R$ 1 million a month.
- Profit margin: from negative to 20%.
- Cash: the R$ 150 thousand monthly gap was reversed into cash generation, which was reinvested.
- Company value: tripled.
The qualitative gains were just as significant: shareholder conflicts were resolved, management became professional, the company started focusing on equity and other M&A deals came out of this work. To get there, there were operational cuts and resizing in management, the sales team and the debt, and an inefficient business unit stopped consuming resources.
What changed
The company went from disorganized, unfocused and with a huge cash gap to structured, profitable and strategic. Above all, the partners started playing the equity game: making decisions with the value of the business in mind, not just the month's result.