The Partner: THRIVE Coworking
THRIVE Coworking is a community-first coworking brand serving entrepreneurs, freelancers, remote professionals, hybrid teams, and growing companies across 18 locations and counting. The company offers flexible coworking memberships, private offices, and meeting rooms, with a vibrant local community anchoring each space.
Beyond its retail coworking footprint, THRIVE also serves enterprise workspace clients through THRIVE Commercial Real Estate, extending its reach into large-format solutions.
South has partnered with THRIVE across multiple hires over the years. As the company continued expanding its location footprint, THRIVE came back to South for the financial leadership and operational support needed to run a multi-location business at scale.
The Challenge: Build the Financial Backbone of a Multi-Location Business
Operating 18+ locations creates a level of financial complexity that most small finance teams aren’t built to handle: multi-entity reporting, cash flow across sites, budgeting by location, vendor management, and forecasting for continued expansion.
THRIVE needed to build a lean but capable finance and admin team that could:
- Own financial strategy, forecasting, and reporting across multiple locations
- Ensure compliance, internal controls, and clean books at scale
- Manage day-to-day accounting rigor, AP/AR, and reporting cadence
- Handle administrative operations to keep leadership focused on growth
Hiring three roles of this caliber in the U.S. would have added over $20K/month in payroll, a cost structure that’s hard to justify for a growing multi-location operator. THRIVE turned to South to build the team from LATAM instead.
The Roles & Responsibilities
Controller
The strategic financial leader of the team, responsible for:
- Financial Strategy & Forecasting: developing and executing financial strategies to support scalability and profitability across locations; leading forecasting, scenario modeling, and risk analysis for growth initiatives.
- Financial Reporting & Compliance: optimizing reporting cadence, ensuring compliance with regulations, tax laws, and business licenses; overseeing external reporting per GAAP; maintaining robust internal controls.
- Budgeting & Cost Management: leading annual budgeting, identifying operational efficiencies, and ensuring budgets align with business goals.
- Cash Flow & Liquidity Management: managing cash flow forecasting and liquidity planning across locations; flagging risks and recommending corrective actions.
- Financial Systems & Technology: leveraging financial tech (QuickBooks Online, Excel, Monday.com) to streamline reporting, forecasting, and automation.
- Risk Management & Internal Controls: developing and monitoring controls to safeguard assets; conducting audits and compliance reviews.
Profile: 7+ years in senior financial roles (preferably as Controller in multi-location companies), experience scaling high-growth businesses, strong financial forecasting/P&L/balance sheet/cash flow skills, proficient in QuickBooks Online and advanced Excel, MBA and/or CPA preferred, PE- or VC-backed experience a plus.
Senior Accountant
The rigor layer beneath the Controller, responsible for:
- Owning day-to-day accounting operations across multiple entities/locations
- Monthly close, journal entries, reconciliations, and financial reporting support
- AP/AR management and vendor payment cycles
- Supporting audits, tax filings, and compliance workflows
- Ensuring clean, timely, and accurate books that the Controller can build strategy on top of
Administrative Assistant
The operational glue, responsible for:
- Executive and team administrative support
- Calendar, communication, and workflow coordination across locations
- Vendor and stakeholder communications
- Ad-hoc operational support that keeps leadership focused on growth
The South Solution: A Full Finance & Admin Team Sourced End-to-End
South managed the entire process across all three roles:
- LATAM talent sourcing for finance and executive support
- Technical vetting (accounting, financial modeling, reporting, systems proficiency)
- English proficiency assessment for U.S.-facing roles
- Interview coordination with THRIVE leadership
- Compliance, contracting, and payroll setup
The three hires gave THRIVE a complete, layered structure: strategic leadership (Controller), accounting rigor (Sr. Accountant), and operational support (Admin Assistant), without any of the U.S. hiring overhead.
The Results: A Full Finance & Admin Team at ~43% Below U.S. Cost
Cost Structure That Makes Multi-Location Growth Sustainable
That translates to approximately $104,400 in annual savings, a ~43% reduction in payroll costs for the full finance and admin function, with no compromise on capability.
A Financial Foundation Built for Continued Expansion
With a Controller owning strategy, a Senior Accountant owning rigor, and an Administrative Assistant owning operational support, THRIVE now has the financial and administrative backbone to keep expanding its location footprint without the leadership team getting pulled into day-to-day finance and ops work.
A Long-Term Hiring Partnership
This engagement is one of several THRIVE has run with South over the years, evidence that when the hiring model works, companies scale it across roles and departments rather than treating it as a one-off.
THRIVE built a full 3-person finance and admin team at ~43% below U.S. cost. Schedule a free call with South and see how we can build your team.