I started HellerHighWater because I understand the struggles that come with starting your own business and growing a lean operation. I learned firsthand the importance of having a solid foundation to build on.
My story started with a three-person tech startup: each with unique and complementary expertise for designing and selling their vision. But they learned quickly that vision alone wasn’t enough — they still had to run a business while building on their ideas. That’s where I entered the picture. Having worked with two of the founders previously, they already knew my skill sets and my ability to deliver results.
My first order of business was getting them off spreadsheets and building real accounting and inventory systems. Shortly followed by establishing and fine-tuning production processes and workflows. As the company grew, I helped create their HR and benefits infrastructure. All of that set the stage to grow this small team into a thriving business that was eventually acquired by a much larger, publicly traded company. After the acquisition I served as Controller for the Boulder division, then Director of Operations — working closely with the Corporate Controller, CFO, and COO — learning what it meant to run a business at scale.
But I missed those early days... the comradery of a small team where there was a real sense of pride in accomplishing something together — that scrappy, build-the-plane-while-flying-it phase that every founder knows. That's what I love. So instead of dedicating those skills to just one company, I decided to bring them to many.
That's HellerHighWater.