Case Study

Poppy Gains Time, Clarity, and Operational Stability With Scalability

Company Overview

Poppy is a fully remote company focused on improving ventilation efficiency, indoor air quality, and building sustainability. Founded in 2020, the company emerged during the early days of the pandemic with a mission to detect viral pathogens in indoor air.

Today, Poppy helps organizations understand and improve how their indoor spaces move air, reduce transmission risk, save energy, and operate more sustainably. With a dispersed team across Canada and the United States, the business continues to grow its impact in the built-environment space.

The Challenge
As a startup with no in-house finance team, Poppy’s early operations placed a heavy burden on its founders. Managing two entities (U.S. and Canada), multi-state payroll, complex requirements, vendor management, and financial operations quickly became overwhelming.

“Our founder was doing it all herself,” recalls Chief of Staff, Madeleine Buckles. “We didn’t have anyone dedicated to finance, and we weren’t experts in accounting, sales tax, or payroll - especially across multiple states and countries.”

The administrative load made it difficult to focus on growth-driving work. What Poppy needed wasn’t just bookkeeping - it was a reliable financial operations partner that could take ownership, think proactively, and create real capacity for the team.

The Solution
Poppy partnered with Scalability to take over its financial operations and act as an ongoing thought partner.

Over the years, Scalability has owned:

✅ End-to-end payroll across Canada and multiple U.S. states

✅ Accounts payable and receivable for both entities

✅ Support with sales taxes

✅ Consistent bookkeeping and reporting

✅ Cross-border financial operations

✅ Consultation on new financial systems, such as setting up a U.S. 401(k) program

“They were helping us with everything… because we are in Canada and the United States, we have two entities. If we have a new employee start in a new state… it’s a big process. They stepped in to do basically everything.”

What stood out was Scalability’s responsiveness and willingness to solve unfamiliar challenges:

“Sometimes… we’re saying okay, we need to do a new thing and they’re like, ‘Oh, okay, we’re not sure but we’ll look into it and get back to you.’”

That ability to problem solve combined with strong fundamentals in bookkeeping and controllership, allows Scalability to be a helpful and proactive partner.

The Results

Significant Time Savings

Madeleine consistently saved hours each month thanks to Scalability stepping in.

“[The team] will just be like ‘I’m on it,’ and then they’re figuring it out… you’ve saved me hours in the day.”

Operational Continuity

No need to hire temporary support or retrain team members during absences.

“We don’t have redundancy… but they could just step in and take over for an interim period [while someone is on leave].” 

Financial Operations Professionals

Scalability ensured nothing slipped through the cracks.

“It’s helpful to have professionals who know what they’re doing… we want to make sure we’re not missing anything.”

A Partner That Feels Like Part of the Team

With an internal company email, communicating directly in their Slack channels, and rapid responsiveness, Scalability became embedded in Poppy’s operations.

“It’s kind of funny - it’s like, oh yeah, you guys have other clients. I kind of forgot. They’re very available, I just know I can rely on them.”

Final Thoughts
For founders who hesitate to invest in financial operations early, Madeleine emphasizes the long-term payoff:

“It’s easy to write it off… the ROI is maybe hard to see at first, then as your company starts to move smoother… you realize how valuable it is.”

“Your business operations running smoothly is such an important aspect of your company being successful.”

Scalability didn’t just support Poppy - they enabled it to focus on what the company was built to do.

Ready to get financial operations off your plate? Contact us to learn how we can support your growth.