Cultivator founders can ‘count’ on MNP
As the tech industry continues to flourish in Saskatchewan, MNP continues to be a constant support system to founders in Cultivator programming. MNP’s involvement with Cultivator entered a formal partnership in February 2020. The accounting firm has been instrumental in the support of tech startups in the prairies by ensuring founders are equipped with the right accounting tools to GROW and SCALE their company. Tait Nystuen, CPA and senior manager of MNP, reminisces that “in the early stages of Cultivator, the tech incubator sought the need for financial expertise, and MNP was happy to partner with Cultivator to provide support to local entrepreneurs and help grow the #SKtech business community.” Accounting is at the root of every successful business, and it was integral for Cultivator to ensure that startups had a good understanding of their numbers.
What services do you provide to Cultivator startups in GROW and SCALE programming?
“MNP provides a complimentary CFO suite of services such as T2Corporate tax return and financial statements (with the first year free) and 1:1 in-person meetings, as well as virtual access to MNP CFO in-residence. The suite of services includes:
- Bookkeeping
- Corporate and personal tax
- Investor pitches: what financial data do investors care about?
- Financial projections
- Pricing/cost analysis
- Shareholder structure review
- Scientific research and experimental development (SR&ED) tax advisement
- Doing business outside of Canada
- Due diligence
MNP also provides exclusive technical presentations for founders to learn new skills and gain insight into industry trends or tax updates.”
What do you enjoy most about being a Cultivator partner and working with founders?
“Working with founders gives us an inside look at some of the great tech innovations coming out of Saskatchewan. Watching each of these game-changing ideas ‘boom or bust’ in a short period of time is a lot of fun for us as a team who are all passionate about small businesses. More often than not the ‘busts’ allow those founders to pursue other passion projects or join other startups that could use their experience to progress.
Cultivator’s team, led by Jordan, is a well-oiled machine! Working with them directly on a regular basis has been a privilege!”
What have you learned most from the startup community?
“Tech startups, even at an early stage, can operate and provide services to customers all over the world. This translates to challenges in a 5-10 person company that can rival the complexity of very large businesses.”
Who focuses their time with Cultivator founders?
“Our team stretches across the country as a broad network of various expertise. However locally in Regina, we have some key team members that work with Cultivator regularly…”
- Regan Exner (Regional Manager Partner)
- Sean Kosior and Danielle Walker (Tax Return/Financial Statement Expertise Partners)
- Tait Nystuen and Owen Kot (CFOs In Residence)
Concluding Tait’s personal reflection on MNP’s partnership with Cultivator, he shared the following testament…
“The resiliency and drive of Cultivator founders & team are astounding. Starting a new company is always a difficult task, and tech startups have unique challenges of their own. Helping these early-stage companies navigate complex challenges in a high-growth environment has been a very rewarding experience and we look forward to many more success stories to come.”
From Cultivator, we can not say THANK YOU enough to MNP for their continued partnership and support of our founders. You have helped us navigate the (sometimes) murky waters of finances and taxes, and your guidance has been influential in helping our startups make informed decisions for their businesses. Plus, you’ve managed to make accounting seem FUN (which, in all honesty, we never thought possible!). We are grateful to have you a part of our #SKtech ecosystem, and can always ‘count’ on you as one of our biggest cheerleaders for our startups at events or during in- residence meetings!
