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Chris Schwalbach

Entrepreneur | Founder | Board Director | Advisor

I am a serial startup CFO and the founder and former CEO of AVL Growth Partners. Today, I leverage my 20+ years as a CFO and CEO by working with a handful of early-stage growth companies as a board director or advisor.

I am passionate about the intersection of business strategy, financial strategy, execution, and conscious leadership. I love helping leaders • Define and know their strategy • Identify and mitigate risks • Understand cash and capital • Remain focused, and • Help them connect more deeply and authentically with themselves and with their teams to create uncommon results.

I love Colorado. We have been here for over 20 years, and our family takes full advantage of the mountains, slopes, trails, streams, and sunshine.

Highlights

May 13 · linkedin

𝘽𝙧𝙖𝙠𝙚𝙨 𝘼𝙡𝙡𝙤𝙬 𝙔𝙤𝙪 𝙏𝙤 𝙂𝙤 𝙁𝙖𝙨𝙩𝙚𝙧 Whether racing or driving around town, most of us simply "know" that the purpose of brakes is to slow down the car. And that's why I love this quote. It's actually quite counterintuitive. Brakes actually allow you to drive FASTER!

I also love this quote because it applies so well to running growing companies. As CFOs, some key areas of our role are leveraging systems, ensuring process adherence, and establishing and enforcing controls.

And after so many years in the #fractionalCFO space, I know that CFOs regularly face resistance via statements like, "Why are you putting all these hurdles in our way? You are slowing us down!"

However, like the misunderstood function of brakes in racing, these are not obstacles but enablers of speed and efficiency. Done well, they ensure that a company's operations are effective and efficient (and ready for scale), its financial reporting is accurate, and so much more.

Done well, this allows the organization's energy to focus on GOING FASTER because they know the proverbial brakes are there to support them as they are speeding crazily around the track!

#AVLGrowth #entrepreneurship #LFGrow

Feb 26 · linkedin

I'd like to contribute to the many notes of sadness around the end of the Techstars #Boulder program and its HQ move to NYC. I am reflecting today on Techstars' impact on me and AVL Growth Partners. I founded AVL shortly after Techstars' launch, and many of my earliest clients came from Techstars and many more through the years since.

I also received so much guidance, support, and encouragement from the entrepreneurs themselves, not only as clients but also as colleagues, friends, and fellow entrepreneurs.

I remember when: Cliff Shaw encouraged me to be crafty and stay to work out of the Techstars offices because "there are 10 other companies here who need to get their 'numerical narrative' ready for Demo Day!"

David Mandell gave me some very pointed feedback and helped me up my game as a CFO.

Yoav Lurie & Justin Segall connected me to my first CFO hire way back in 2010 and encouraged me to "be the CFO of the CFOs" and scale AVL!

Taylor McLemore referred me to so many entrepreneurs with his kind words.

There are so many people & stories through the years. So, thank you, Techstars, for making such a great #givefirst community here in Boulder!

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Chris Schwalbach
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Experience

Founder, Chairman of the Board at AVL Growth Partners
Strategic Advisor at Preservation Systems Inc.

Education

MBA, Strategy & Entrepreneurial Studies, University of Michigan - Stephen M. Ross School of Business
BBA, Accounting and Finance, University of Wisconsin-Madison

Location

Lafayette, CO, United States