Polimorphic

“What sold me was Rho understanding my priorities coming from a venture-backed company, where we have a lot of growing that we need to do and not a lot of attention to go around. Once we started looking at accounts payable, expense reimbursements, and corporate cards, I began to see the vision of having things consolidated.”—Nick Paulson, Chief of Staff at Polimorphic

What is Polimorphic?

Polimorphic is on a mission to create technology that lets governments of all sizes deliver for the people. Polimorphic’s CRM & Workflows, AI Seach & Chat, and Voice AI solutions empower service-first local governments to provide residents with the highest-quality communication and engagement.  

Its products handle constituent concerns and CRM automation so local governments can serve more effectively and efficiently, aiming to restore the public's trust in their government and help people who have dedicated their lives to serving their communities. 

Challenge

A disparate financial stack that created 40+ hours a month of inefficiency

As the Chief of Staff at Polimorphic, Nick Paulson’s responsibilities change by the day, but one thing remains constant: his role as a problem-solver. 

“It’s a very tactical role in that it’s about taking the company strategy and trying to put rubber on the road and make it happen,” said Nick. “It's very action-oriented. It's very boots on the ground, like, ‘Okay, how are we going to actually do this thing?’”  

For a startup like Polimorphic, whose services play a crucial role in local government, maximizing efficiency can have a real-world downstream effect. One aspect of keeping things running smoothly is ensuring that financial processes are up-to-par and enabling growth—not getting in the way. 

However, when he joined the Polimorphic team nearly a year ago, Nick immediately noticed that the finance stack in place was not consolidated and was creating more issues than it was solving. 

“We had a few disparate systems that were not talking to each other," said Nick.

"It was really evident that this setup was not scalable and not something that, as the company grew, we were going to be able to maintain without significantly increasing headcount in a really inefficient way." 

Combining a fintech for corporate cards and a legacy bank for day-to-day financial operations, the Polimorphic team struggled to create a consolidated view of spend and cash flow and have those synced back automatically into their accounting systems. 

This reality created a challenging, manual month-end close process. 

“It was something to the tune of five or ten hours a week that was wasted effort on my part. This was a combination of jumping around between tools, working inefficiently, and having to think about things that I shouldn't be thinking about,” said Nick. 

“My attention was divided in places I shouldn't have been worried about at all.”

Solution

An all-in-one platform that brings a founder’s perspective to financial operations 

With Rho, Nick and his team at Polimorphic have been able to consolidate all of their financial processes under a single roof, saving dozens of hours and eliminating manual effort.

“Having everything live under the same roof has been important. That piece stuck out to us most clearly: our legacy bank was not communicating well with our fintech or the other services we were using. Getting around this required a lot of manual effort on my part.”

And while their team is using Rho Corporate Cards and Treasury, the biggest boon has come from streamlining banking—with a fresh perspective.  

“Rho approached banking from a founder's perspective, coming from a place of, ‘Hey, this is something that should be simple.’”

But where Rho really started to pull away from the pack was in positioning itself as not only a banking partner, but a true growth partner, too.

“What sold me was Rho understanding my priorities coming from a venture-backed company where we have a lot of growing that we need to do and not a lot of attention to go around. Once we started looking at accounts payable, expense reimbursements, and corporate cards, I began to see the vision of having things consolidated.”

Solution

Simplified processes and a wholly improved banking experience 

Now fully onboarded onto Rho, Nick and the Polimorphic team have been able to address their biggest pain point: consolidating their banking experience and eliminating manual processes. 

But their foundations for success started with a tailored onboarding experience.

“When I joined our previous fintech, I didn't have a dedicated CSM for onboarding. There wasn't someone there guiding you. Two days after we signed our agreement with Rho, someone walked me through the platform and answered my questions. They were super responsive and proactive in setting me up on other features."

On the banking side, the process improvements have not only saved time, but have given Nick and his team peace of mind, too. 

“Previously, if I wanted to do a sweep from treasury to checking, I'd have to call a banker, fill out a form, sign the form, and fax it over to them. That realization of, ‘Hey, I don't have to do that anymore. I can do this on my own.’ That was very liberating. Now, I can put my head towards other important tasks,” said Nick.

Beyond that, quality of life improvements such as having all their accounts in one place eliminated one of the biggest time wasters for Polimorphic: jumping around disparate financial tools. 

“As someone who has an informal finance background, I'm able to fully manage our finance operation and have that not take up too much of my attention. That speaks to the efficiency point of having everything under one roof, making it very easy for me to check in and out.”

Rho & Aprio: A winning combination

While Polimorphic chose Rho to manage its day-to-day finances, Nick remained on the hunt for a trusted partner to help streamline accounting processes.

"When you are working in a startup, frequently, decisions come down to a tradeoff between growth and preserving cash. It's crucial that the information and data we are using to make those decisions is 100% accurate," said Nick.

Above all, they were looking for an advisor who'd be able to help manage their books effectively and without unforced errors. During the discovery process, the Polimorphic team narrowed their "must-have's" down to a few critical points:

• A partner with the ability to fully take bookkeeping off of their plate
• A high bar for quality
• Familiarity with companies of a similar stage and size

Ultimately, they landed on Rho partner, Aprio.

"We felt that Aprio had ample experience of working with startups and tech companies. It's clear they know the ambiguous world that we operate in, and are comfortable with the uncertainty of it. They are committed to service and making sure that our information is 100% correct. We felt confident in bringing them on as a partner that can scale alongside our business."

Testimonials reflect individual customer experiences and opinions and are provided for illustrative purposes. There is no guarantee that your Rho experience will be the same and results may vary.

Rho is a fintech company, not a bank. Checking account and card services provided by Webster Bank, N.A., member FDIC; savings account services provided by American Deposit Management Co. and its partner banks.

Investment management and advisory services provided by RBB Treasury LLC dba Rho Treasury, an SEC-registered investment adviser. RBB Treasury LLC facilitates investments in securities: investments are not deposits and are not FDIC-insured. Investments are not bank guaranteed, and may lose value. Investment products involve risk and past performance does not guarantee future results. Registration with the SEC does not imply a certain level of skill or training. Treasury and custodial services provided through Apex Clearing Corp. Treasury and custodial services provided through Interactive Brokers LLC for clients with accounts opened prior to July 2024; IBKR rates may vary from Apex rate shown above. The yield may change at any time and without prior notice. Please see the ADV Wrap Fee Brochure for further information regarding fees and Rho Treasury.

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