Meet the Company
WithMe Health was a venture-backed health tech company operating in the healthcare and pharmacy space. The company had raised $70 million in funding and was attempting to bring a new paradigm to their vertical.
"At its height we had about 60 employees," explains Kent Elmer, who served as the company's fractional CFO through his role as Managing Partner at TechCXO.
The company operated across multiple states, maintaining pharmacy and healthcare licenses in 39 different jurisdictions. They had active customers and a complex operational structure that included employees spread across 19-20 states.
The Challenge
In his role as a fractional CFO, Kent was supporting a venture-backed health tech company that had raised $70 million and employed 60 people at its peak. After several years working with the company, it became clear they would not achieve the success envisioned.
"We were trying to bring a new paradigm to that space. And as typically happens, those big players pretty much blocked us out," Kent recalls. In late 2023, the board made the decision to perform an orderly wind down rather than declare bankruptcy.
As part of this process, Kent became "the last man standing" when all employees were laid off. He was asked to step in as president of the company for the purpose of the wind down.
This particular dissolution was exceptionally complex, involving 39 different jurisdictions, pharmacy licenses, healthcare licenses, and employees across 19-20 states.
The Solution
One of the company's board members had previous experience with SimpleClosure through another portfolio company and made the introduction.
Kent's initial reaction was relief: "My first response was, oh, thank goodness, these guys are going to be a lifesaver."
The solution SimpleClosure provided went beyond just handling paperwork. "Having the resources to reach out to all of the agencies, all the governmental organizations, and having a streamlined programmatic process for doing that really, really helped," Kent shares.
"But even maybe more than that was the knowledge that your team brought with what needed to be done. We were able to game plan right at the very beginning. Knowing what to do is half the battle."
The SimpleClosure platform also provided ongoing visibility: "The platform that you have to monitor and check progress throughout the course of the dissolution was very valuable."
The Outcome
After more than a year of working through the wind down process, Kent is unequivocal about the value SimpleClosure delivered: "I just don't think that I could have done it without SimpleClosure."
The complexity of handling pharmacy licenses, payroll registrations, and jurisdictional requirements would have been overwhelming and costly to manage internally.
"It probably saved the company $150,000-$200,000 using SimpleClosure versus having me do all of that stuff individually," Kent estimates. "My bill rate's too high to really justify doing all that stuff."
The experience has shaped his advice to other executives facing similar situations: "I would make the decision early enough to where you have enough money to actually do it properly. People wait until the very end and then they realize that they don't have enough money to do a proper wind down."
His second piece of advice: "Absolutely work with someone like SimpleClosure. It is their business to do these things. Rely on them for the guideposts and the game plan. It makes all the difference in the world."