CARL JOHNSON
Mr. Johnson has spent over 25 years helping entrepreneurs with their financial objectives, through strategic consulting, providing CFO+ services, introductions to financing sources, partners, executive hires, and customers, and value-added professional services such as developing business plans, financial models, and investor presentations. He is a former CPA, CFO, and registered representative.
In 2001, Mr. Johnson founded NBI Advisors, Inc. to assist startup and early-stage companies with high growth potential.
Summarized Employment History
Over his career, Mr. Johnson has been self-employed, a registered representative, a consultant, and an employee. He has worked for businesses that specialized in equity investing, M&A, for-profit, and served as president of a non-profit. He has helped clients and employers raise venture capital, angel investments, subordinated debt, commercial debt, government incentive financing, and other forms of financing. He has managed accounting and finance while also making material contributions to Sales, Channels, Marketing, and other areas, such as contributing product ideas that were commercialized.
Mr. Johnson’s interest in entrepreneurship began through his self-employment through high school and college. He was a founding member of the JMU chapter of the Association of Collegiate Entrepreneurs (ACE) and published a satire of the JMU school paper, The Breeze, which he named The Passing Wind.
In 1988, He graduated and moved to Richmond where he was the first college graduate hired directly into the Richmond office’s Entrepreneurial Services Group. Mr. Johnson later spent five years with Virginia Ventures Corporation, a strategic consulting firm advising startups and early-stage companies. He also assisted the founding of Richmond Ventures Magazine. Mr. Johnson left Virginia Ventures to join a client, the Database Solutions Company, where as CFO he assisted the company in raising $8 million in venture capital over three rounds. He also led the consulting division to its highest revenue quarter ever and contributed two product ideas that were commercialized.
At Smither & Company, Mr. Johnson gained experience with mergers and acquisitions while developing business plans, financial projections, and performing due diligence functions. He was later recruited to join ideas2inc, Richmond’s first business accelerator which invested in early-stage businesses. Mr. Johnson reviewed investment opportunities, conducted market research, and provided services to clients.
In June 2001, Mr. Johnson formed NBI Advisors, Inc., a consulting firm providing capital acquisition, CFO, and strategic and business planning services to entrepreneurs. Despite a difficult funding environment for seed and early-stage businesses, NBI assisted many clients which received financing, in many instances without suffering equity dilution. Several of NBI’s pre-revenue clients progressed to become top employers in the Richmond area or had successful exit transactions.
Most recently, Mr. Johnson served as the CFO of a former client. In addition to accounting and finance management responsibilities, he made contributions to the closing of its three largest sales during the period, conceived a marketing message that was adopted and is still used, conceived and managed a marketing event, developed an innovative equity compensation plan, introduced its second-largest revenue-producing partner, and handled vendor negotiations that saved hundreds of thousands of dollars.