By Randy Werder, CEO of Black Diamond Advisory
Becoming a public company is a huge milestone, one that only a handful of software companies have achieved in the last two years. Today OneStream joined that list with its initial public offering (IPO) on the NASDAQ under the ticker symbol OS.
The company and its modern platform for AI-enabled finance transformation, has gained a fair amount of attention from the Office of the CFO in the past decade. As a dedicated OneStream Diamond partner, we’ve seen this journey unfold in real time, and it has been a privilege to hold a front-row seat to their evolution.
What does OneStream do?
OneStream is a Corporate Performance Management (CPM) platform that unifies financial and operational data. Bringing these together helps C-suite and finance leaders to plan faster, forecast with greater accuracy and optimize business performance.
Unlike point solutions, OneStream’s software takes decentralized processes, technology, data, and people spread across an organization, and brings them together under one management platform for a comprehensive view of the business.
For years OneStream has embedded AI throughout its platform, driving applied AI within the office of the CFO well ahead of most. For instance, their Sensible ML software boosts productivity and accuracy of financial planning and analysis (FP&A). In a world looking for practical and tangible applications of AI, this is an instance where the reality lives up to the AI hype.
From Main Street to Wall Street: A brief history of OneStream
OneStream was founded by CEO Tom Shea, CTO Bob Powers and President Craig Colby. Like many tech startups, their original Rochester, Michigan office had humble beginnings and was even located above a sporting goods store on Main Street.
They bootstrapped the company, believing in slow and steady growth (unlike many of the other high flying SaaS companies at that time). The team concentrated on building a sustainable business that was hyper-focused on solving their customers’ needs, and that bet paid off.
By 2016, they had acquired their 100th customer and expanded into the UK. In 2019, they took an investment from well-known private equity firm KKR, achieving the coveted unicorn status—a valuation of over $1 billion.
During the pandemic in 2020, OneStream’s business accelerated even faster as organizations got a wake-up call: if they hadn’t already digitally transformed their finance processes, they needed to get started. This momentum contributed to another fundraising round in 2021, led by D1 Capital Partners, that valued the company at $6B.
OneStream now operates across 45 different countries, with more than 1,400 customers – some of the top manufacturing, public sector, financial services and healthcare clients in the world.
Why Black Diamond Advisory bet big on OneStream
Black Diamond Advisory has been all in on OneStream from day one. While other consulting firms hedged their bets by being technology agnostic, we planted our flag with what we believed was the best modern finance platform on the market.
We pride ourselves on being true experts in this field, which is why we named the company Black Diamond – a place for experts only. This expertise has been recognized by OneStream, who welcomed us wholeheartedly. In just a few years, we’ve risen to become a Diamond-level partner, and are now the largest global partner in the OneStream community.
We were all in on OneStream, and they were all in on us.
As founder of Black Diamond Advisory, I found inspiration in OneStream’s business. Their thoughtful and forward-looking marketing strategies, coupled with their clear vision of success set them apart in the industry. This philosophy continues to inspire our own culture and practices at Black Diamond Advisory by pushing innovation that directly aligns with the vision to take finance further.
What’s next for OneStream after the IPO?
As the dust begins to settle and we look to the next step on this journey, we can’t help but feel excited about what’s to come.
It’s the beginning of a new era at OneStream. We firmly believe the capital and market attention they will receive through this IPO will infuse even more innovation into the business. And based on those humble beginnings, we also know some things will remain steadfast: OneStream’s commitment to 100% customer satisfaction and ensuring customers and partners see value every step of the way.
That’s what makes a winning company, and a winning partnership.
