Real Results.
From Rapid Growing Pains to an 88% Profit Increase and Successful Exit: The Finance Team Behind Salesurf Growth
Salesurf Growth is a full-service Amazon agency founded by Anthony Marsilio in June 2022, handling everything brands need to launch or scale on Amazon: design, SEO and keyword research, inventory management, catalog management, and advertising. What started as a solo operation in 2022 grew to a team of 10-12 freelancers by 2023, then into a 21-22 person, five-country team by 2025, followed by a successful clean exit.
“If you have no idea where the money's going, you should speak to Joey & Elyse. They'll help you understand where the money is going and where it should go.”
“Just having somebody under the hood of the agency monitoring all of the finances is something I think every agency, once you hit a specific point… they should have that.”
Challenge
Scaling decisions made on instinct
with no capacity planning or forecasting in place, Anthony grew headcount by 50% in a single month, based on momentum rather than data, assuming growth would keep climbing indefinitely.
A rough two-month stretch
the pace of hiring, combined with ad spend, pushed cash flow negative for two months, a wake-up call that Anthony couldn't keep making financial decisions off gut feel.
Founder was the whole finance department
managing bank accounts, credit cards, paid ads, sales, marketing, and client fulfillment all at once, with visibility based on rough mental math and no dedicated finance function.
Limited visibility as complexity grew
by the time AgenCFO came on board, the agency had 18 team members and was running 27 different software tools alongside ad spend, professional services, and multiple outside agencies, with no system to track it end-to-end.
Solution
Installed a fractional finance team
took full ownership of bookkeeping, cash flow monitoring, and financial projections, taking Anthony out of the spreadsheets entirely.
Brought granularity to spend decisions
replaced rough mental math on payroll-to-revenue ratios with real answers on marketing spend and team pay relative to topline revenue.
Supported compensation strategy
built out compensation review frameworks and "blue sky" projections to align team pay structures with company performance.
Guided the acquisition process
supported churn-rate analysis and deal-relevant financial modeling once Anthony began exploring a sale.
Kept the books acquisition-ready at all times
clean, current, and well-documented financials let the agency move from LOI to closed sale in just 90 days.
“I could go to you guys with any finance question, whether it was bookkeeping, projections, cash flow monitoring… I didn't do any of that. I could lean on you guys through the acquisition, through the monthly growth... any finance question, I could just go to you guys.”