Silver Therapeutics Automates AP Processes and Optimizes Working Capital
How Silver Therapeutics simplified AP workflows and maximized cash flow by taking advantage of net terms, virtual cards, and BNPL with Order.co.
Silver Therapeutics at a Glance
products centralized
vendors managed in 1 platform
The Challenge
Time-consuming AP processes: The controller and COO manually managed countless monthly vendor invoices.
Capital-intensive growth: High upfront construction costs for new stores strained cash flow.
Limited financial visibility: Teams had no way to track spend across stores, hindering forecasting efforts.
Since co-founding Silver Therapeutics in 2017, Brendan McKee has worn many hats – transitioning from CFO to his current role as COO, where he oversees operations, marketing, and expansion strategies. By 2023, the company had built a strong foundation with multiple locations across the Northeast. “It's a lot of responsibilities, and it became more and more complex as we grew,” Brendan explained.
Managing accounts payable across a growing network of stores, vendors, and employees meant significant hands-on effort. “Accounts payable was just run through our controller and myself, and it was hefty,” Brendan shared. With 2-4 stores opening annually, coordinating payments across a wide range of vendors – including product suppliers, lawyers, licensing fees, contractors, and utilities – created a massive AP workload.
New build construction projects led to large expenses that added up quickly – and suppliers expected payment on traditional terms. Brendan shared, “It’s incredibly capital-intensive. More cash was leaving our bank account.” Without access to a line of credit or extended payment terms, the Silver Therapeutics team faced a persistent challenge: how to fund expansion while maintaining healthy cash reserves for ongoing operations.
Tracking spend also became more complex as the business grew. What did it cost to open one location versus another? Were certain expense categories running over budget? Without automated systems to track and categorize transactions, answering these questions required hours of manual data analysis.
Spend Analysis Toolkit
The Solution
Once Brendan and his team partnered with Order.co in the summer of 2023, implementation was seamless. He shared, “The platform itself is easy to use. It's straightforward. It's not a massive learning curve.” For a team focused on rapid growth and executing the wide range of tasks that come with it, a simple and non-disruptive software integration process was critical for successful adoption.
As a multi-entity business operating across nine locations, a critical aspect of configuring Order.co was setting up unique codes to accurately and automatically track spend patterns at each Silver Therapeutics store. “From an accounting perspective, being able to delineate between entities and locations is huge for us,” Brendan discussed. This configuration eliminates the need for manual transaction categorization and allocation across entities, streamlining month-end close processes and enabling real-time visibility into location-specific spending.
Anticipating spend trends is particularly important when Silver Therapeutics plans to build a new brick-and-mortar location. Instead of paying for related expenses out of pocket, their team can leverage B2B Buy Now, Pay Later through Order.co to access the capital they need without facing excessive fees or lengthy credit approval processes.
The Outcome
Centralized reporting and forecasting
Brendan and the finance team leverage the platform’s granular reporting capabilities to make data-driven decisions about future store openings and quickly identify areas for improvement. “Order.co allows us to understand spend and forecast future growth accurately,” Brendan discussed. “What did it cost us to open this particular location vs. that location? Are we seeing good trends? Are we seeing bad trends? Where were we heavy on some things and or light on some things?”
The Silver Therapeutics team also leverages virtual cards to pay for a wide range of expenses, from commercial printing services and trash removal to fire prevention systems and software subscriptions. As Brendan explained, marketing alone can cost “anywhere between $50,000 to $100,000 per month. Being able to flow that through Order.co is huge for us as we’re building out our budgets and forecasts.”
Once their team creates a virtual card for a supplier, all transactions – including those made on products directly in the Order.co platform – are included in their consolidated invoice, delivering an accurately coded and line-level view of spend on products and services across locations.
Streamlined vendor payments
After onboarding their vendors onto Order.co, Silver Therapeutics gained access to universal net payment terms. When their team makes a purchase, Order.co pays suppliers immediately in their preferred payment method, while Silver Therapeutics gains up to 37 days to pay. Brendan shared, “Prior to Order.co, frankly, we were burning more cash.” All transactions automatically sync to QuickBooks with proper entity and location coding, helping the team eliminate manual data entry and keep their books up to date.
Since the platform consistently makes Net 1 payments to all suppliers, Silver Therapeutics has “built a really solid reputation [with our vendors],” Brendan highlighted. “Order.co has facilitated our ability to maintain these relationships and our credibility.” This streamlined vendor management is critical for securing better pricing, negotiating deals, and lowering overall procurement costs.
Increased working capital
Access to a flexible line of credit has been instrumental for funding Silver Therapeutics’ growth strategy without straining their cash reserves. “Having Order.co and being able to tap into credit, especially during phases of growth, has been critical for us,” Brendan highlighted. “We can lean on Order.co as we scale.”
Brendan and his team have taken full advantage of B2B Buy Now, Pay Later across multiple store openings to fund large expenses, including: construction, HVAC installation, architectural services, custom packaging, landscaping, promotional signage, and licensing fees. With B2B Buy Now, Pay Later, Silver Therapeutics can access the funds they need immediately while spreading repayment across four equal installments at Net 30, 60, 90, and 120 days, preventing large expenses from straining monthly cash flow.
As Silver Therapeutics continues to expand, Brendan sees Order.co as a long-term partner. “Order.co is providing a tool to allow businesses to thrive,” Brendan emphasized. “I'm excited to continue to tap on it the rest of this year and well into the future.”