Gross margin vs. contribution margin

In this episode of the Startup CPG Podcast, host Hannah Dittman sits down with Ryan Williams, founder of Northhall, to demystify CPG finance and accounting for early-stage consumer brands. The conversation covers everything from the bare minimum financial foundations a founder needs to get right, to the metrics investors care about most—and the hard-earned lessons Ryan has picked up from years of working hands-on with hundreds of brands across stages.

Ryan shares his path from investment banking at Houlihan Lokey (advising on the sell-side of Snack Factory/Pretzel Crisps) to CFO of a venture-backed coffee brand, to building Northhall—a full-cycle accounting and finance partner exclusively focused on CPG companies. Northhall serves brands from pre-revenue through approaching nine figures of revenue, acting as a one-stop shop for bookkeeping, controller functions, financial modeling, FP&A, and fundraising readiness.

Throughout the episode, Ryan breaks down critical concepts founders often hear but don't fully understand: gross-to-net revenue, chart of accounts and the general ledger, gross margin vs. contribution margin, and how to think about channel-level economics. He explains the three-stage accounting lifecycle of a CPG brand, why connecting the GL directly to your financial model speeds up decision-making, and why adding software too early can do more harm than good.

Ryan also offers a framework for fundraising readiness—including why optimizing for valuation while your bank account is declining is one of the most common and dangerous traps founders fall into, why capital efficiency (revenue divided by capital burned) is one of the clearest signals of value creation, and why early-stage brands should prioritize 3x growth over near-term profitability.

Whether you're a founder picking up QuickBooks for the first time, preparing for your first institutional raise, or just trying to understand what investors are actually looking at when they review your financials, this episode offers clear, grounded, and immediately actionable guidance.

Listen in as they discuss:

• Ryan's path: Houlihan Lokey investment banking → CFO of a venture-backed coffee brand → founding Northhall
• Northhall's focus: full-cycle accounting + finance for CPG brands from $3M–$100M+ in revenue
• Why CPG finance is different: inventory, sell-in vs. sell-through, gross-to-net spreads, accruals, trade deductions
• The three-stage accounting lifecycle: family bookkeeper → QuickBooks + quality spreadsheets → full enterprise reporting
• Gross-to-net revenue: why booking your Shopify or Amazon payout as revenue understates your true sales
• Chart of accounts / GL 101: what it is, why it matters, and how to structure it
• Gross margin vs. contribution margin: a clear, step-by-step breakdown with examples
• Channel-level economics: why understanding margin by channel (DTC, Amazon, distributor, retail) is the right level of detail for sub-$10M brands
• Offline deductions: UNFI/KeHE chargebacks, trade rates, and how to peel back the layers over time
• The "what happened to my $1" framework for conceptualizing unit economics
• Fundraising traps: anchoring to outlier deal terms, optimizing valuation while burning cash
• Key investor KPIs: capital efficiency ratio (revenue ÷ capital burned), growth rate, and why 3x early beats near-term profitability
• Advice for founders: find real product-market fit, take bigger pivots instead of incremental tweaks
• How to break into CPG finance: the "give first" philosophy and building the Food and Beverage Investor Database

Episode Links:

Ryan Williams — Founder, Northhall
🔗 LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ryanstuartwill/

🌐 Website: https://www.northhall.com/

https://www.linkedin.com/company/northhall/

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Show Links:

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• Questions or comments about the episode? Email Daniel at podcast@startupcpg.com
• Episode music by Super Fantastics