Case study: How Share Local Media scales with confidence

Client: Share Local Media (SLM)
Industry: Direct mail marketing
Furey client since: 2017

Modernizing direct mail 

When Share Local Media (SLM) launched in 2017, the goal was to bring performance marketing into the offline world. As former e-commerce marketers, the founders recognized an opportunity to make direct mail a measurable, data-driven growth channel for digitally native brands.

That bet paid off. Today, SLM runs direct mail campaigns for leading tech and consumer brands like Instacart, HelloFresh, Lyft, and Fly by Jing. But turning an idea into a scalable business meant solving a bigger challenge behind the scenes: building operational and financial systems that could handle growth, complexity, and investor scrutiny. That’s where Furey came in.

Laying the foundation for growth

When Furey first partnered with SLM, the focus was on creating a scalable accounting and finance infrastructure that could support early growth. Like many startups, SLM didn’t have the internal headcount to manage financial operations at the scale they were moving. They needed accurate books, reliable reporting, and someone to own the close process.

We began with developing custom workflows for accounts payable and receivable to handle their growing volume. Using bulk spreadsheet uploads, we automated invoicing for their shared mail program, cutting time spent on billing by over 50%.

We also took over the monthly close process, syncing data from QuickBooks and other internal systems to ensure consistency and accuracy. Today, hundreds of invoices and bills are processed monthly, accurately and on time, minimizing errors and improving cash flow visibility. 

“Furey is very good at ensuring that our month-end close process happens quickly, looping in each team member after cross-referencing QuickBooks with our internal tracking. In a great sense, they lead the close process, which relieves our teams of a lot of the burden.

They’ve also worked with us across multiple platforms, adjusting and growing as our business grows.”

‍— Angela Wall, General Manager, SLM

‍

Evolving with the business: From operations to strategic support

As SLM grew, so did the complexity of their operations. New service lines, more clients, and increasing investor expectations required a more sophisticated approach to forecasting, visibility, and decision-making. Furey’s role evolved with those needs.

We introduced additional proprietary Furey Tools—custom-built spreadsheets loaded with advanced automations—to help SLM track revenue, COGS, and gross margin across multiple lines of business. These tools translate raw financial data into clear insights for pricing, planning, and growth decisions. 

With clean data and stable operations in place, Furey focused on turning insights into action. We built dynamic forecasting models that integrated actuals monthly and rolled forward automatically. These forecasting tools became essential to SLM’s planning process, helping the team prepare for board meetings, make hiring decisions, and allocate resources with clarity and confidence. Leadership could now track performance against board-approved budgets and react to changes in real time. 
‍

"The Furey team has helped us create an ongoing forecasting system that combines inputs across all business units to create a living, constantly updating tracker across all major KPIs. This has allowed us to more quickly identify and adapt to changes in the business."

‍— Angela Wall, General Manager, SLM

‍

The right support for strategic growth

As SLM introduced new service lines, we helped implement scalable systems like structured expense approval workflows and adaptive reporting tools. We continuously updated forecasts, financial models, and dashboards to match business needs, whether for a pricing change, new hire plan, or infrastructure investment.

While their business kept growing, their accounting and finance headcount didn’t need to. Furey was their team behind the scenes: strategic, proactive, and always a Slack message away.

‍

Real results: A finance function built to scale

Over seven years, SLM has built a lean, strategic, and scalable finance function with Furey’s support. Our team has become an extension of theirs, combining financial structure, startup expertise, and the flexibility to adapt as they grow. Highlights include:

• 50%+ reduction in invoicing time
• Accurate, investor-ready reporting every month
• Forecasts used by leadership to make faster, smarter decisions

‍
What’s next: Expanding to new channels

In Spring 2025, SLM is launching a new division focused on out-of-home advertising, including billboards, transit ads, and other large-format placements. Furey is already working behind the scenes to refine financial models, assess the investment needed, and build the financial systems that will support this next chapter.

Why it matters 

When SLM brought Furey on, they gained a long-term partner capable of meeting their changing needs. By starting with the fundamentals and then evolving our support as the business grew, Furey delivered exactly what a high-growth company needs: scalable and efficient processes, insight, and flexibility.

‍

Get ready for what’s next

If you're scaling and need a flexible, strategic partner to support your accounting and finance operations, Furey can help. Let’s talk. 

‍