Cliff Merchant, founder and owner, began his career as a Sr Financial Analyst at Hewlett Packard in Mountain View, California. As a member of the FP&A (Financial Planning & Analysis) team, his initial responsibilities included annual and semi-annual budget preparation. Then, on at least a monthly basis, he prepared business reasons explaining why actual revenue and expenses deviated (positively or negatively) from the budget.  These monthly financial narratives Through detailed analyses, he would also prepare recommendations for business corrective actions to the management team. While at HP, he also volunteered as the initial treasurer for Foundation for a College Education, a non-profit dedicated to preparing students and their guardians to successfully complete a higher education decree.

During a professional career spanning over 20 years, Cliff has focused on clearly communicating finance and accounting principles and was a valued manager at a variety of companies including: BEA Software (acquired by Oracle), Wilson Sonsini law firm, Redback Networks (acquired by Ericsson), Ericsson, and Forescout Technologies (acquired by Private Equity firm). He was also an associate faculty member of the University of Phoenix for 15 years and taught both undergraduate and graduate level finance courses. His last corporate role, before transitioning to a business owner, was Sr Director of Finance at Amplitude, a data analytics company.

He graduated with honors from Alabama A&M University with a BS degree in Finance and earned an MBA in Finance from the University of Wisconsin-Madison.