How 8VC resolved accounting coding challenges, increased spend visibility, and cut time to close with Ramp

As a 65-people strong venture capital firm with hundreds of investments, 8VC hosts numerous startup community events every month to support networking and cross-pollination of ideas. Nichole Horton, the firm's controller, and her team were spending a lot of time each month reconciling expenses for these events and closing the books.

With their legacy expense management system, Nichole’s team had to wait for the firm’s partners to submit their credit card statements at the end of each month before they could close their books. This meant financial reports weren't ready until several weeks into the following month. "We couldn't be sure that we had captured all our expenses until the statements were received. This significantly slowed down the reporting process," says Nichole.

8VC's finance team also found themselves spending a lot of time correcting coding errors each month. This inefficiency trickled down into other teams and delayed reimbursements. Nichole notes, "The finance team had to make so many corrections as part of their review. Whole reports were being sent back to teammates for updates, corrections, and then resubmission. Administratively, it was a really inefficient process."

For a dynamic and fast-growing organization that prides itself in supporting innovative businesses, this situation was far from ideal. Team members had to block hours each month just to submit their expenses and correct reports. Coupled with unreliable data feeds between their legacy system and QuickBooks, this challenge forced 8VC to find a better spend management solution.

Nichole and her team started using Ramp and not only found their solution to expense coding issues, but also gained unprecedented visibility into company spend. She observes, "With Ramp's real-time reporting, we can now review expenses throughout the month and follow up instantly if something's missing, something doesn't match up, or the description memo isn’t sufficient. With the old system, we had to wait for monthly statements before we could start the review process."

Nichole also highlights the dynamic nature of using Ramp, noting the platform's continual updates. "Every time I log in, there's something new and interesting, which really keeps things engaging," she comments. This adaptability has empowered her team to experiment and fine-tune their financial strategies extensively, from modifying spending programs to revising approval processes, significantly improving workflow efficiency and aiding in cost management.

With Ramp, the 8VC’s finance team is now able to close the company's books in real time, four weeks faster than with their legacy system. This enables their team to focus their attention on more impactful work. This is particularly significant for Nichole, who handles multiple responsibilities at the company, including HR and IR functions. With Ramp, she can execute her Controller duties with greater efficiency, benefiting from improved visibility and control over company-wide spending.

"One of our partners recently asked me how much we spend on airfare each year and which airline we spend the most with," Nichole shares. "It was easy to get that data by running a quick report on Ramp."

8VC also uses Ramp’s spend programs and virtual cards to power their internship and networking activities. Bela Becerra, a Principal at 8VC, explains, "We leverage Ramp for our emerging builder network—students, young founders and operators at top tech companies. For example, we can give our campus associates a fixed budget per month so they can facilitate dinners, coffee chats, and whiteboarding sessions with exceptional engineers and bring them in network.” 

Nichole’s team uses card controls to ensure compliance. "It was so nice last year to be able to create a spend program and issue cards for a set period only," Nichole tells us. "I could restrict the categories and the vendors. It was much smoother than manually setting up their out-of-pocket expenses. I didn't have to field a million questions."

For 8VC, it's paramount to be able to efficiently manage spend around community-building efforts and networking. "Historically, it was a nightmare to manage in terms of issuing monthly stipends and tracking expenses around offsites. This problem was solved when we adopted Ramp as our internal finance automation tool," says Bela.

When asked about her own expense submissions, she adds, “Despite tackling such a menial task such as doing expenses, Ramp has designed a best-in-class consumer experience that inspires a sense of magic and delight for the end-user.”

8VC is also a valued Ramp Partner—read more about the partnership here.