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Narative

How a start-up utilized SR&ED for predictable & scalable growth from day one

GROWTH STORY

Narative is an independent studio with a tight-knit team with senior product experience. They truly care about doing things right, and their biggest commitment is to building remarkable products for their clients, and no one else.
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2

Assistance with securing two additional sources of non-dilutive funding

300%

Increase in projects being able to take on 

100%

Claims accepted as filed

THE NARATIVE SR&ED STORY

Narative’s four co-founders had exposure to the SR&ED program at various startups, prior to starting Narative in 2018. Co-founder, Mack Mansouri recalls his past experience of SR&ED as a “tedious lengthy process. Oftentimes it was a distraction, especially for software engineering teams”.

As a self funded startup who hadn't taken any form of investment, time, which is directly linked to capital was their biggest challenge and was always the key element in their decision making process.

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"Needless to say that while we were excited as a team, knowing that we could claim SR&ED, the process felt daunting and complex for sure."

Mack Mansouri
CO-FOUNDER, NARATIVE

THEIR GOAL

When Narative Co-Founder Mack Mansouri met Flow Ventures Partner, Peter Bailey in 2018 as Narative was just starting out, their team was looking for guidance to help them grow and scale their start up,  as well as a reliable, predictable and non-dilutive growth funding solution.

OUR SOLUTION

Peter's extensive expertise in business development specializing in startups and high growth companies, helped the Narative team in many ways other than just the SR&ED program. Flow was able to help Narative get funding from other programs and partners such as IRAP (National Research Council Industrial Research Assistance Program), BDC (Business Development Bank of Canada), as well as introductions to key industry contacts, tools and partnerships.

"It wasn't just SR&ED, it was a whole variety of different help that we got. And personally as well, just him being available to discuss and ask him questions if I had any."

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We guided the Narative team to implement a proactive, ongoing documentation and data collection process to make it as easy and efficient as possible for everyone involved. Our easy integration with existing work flows ensured a high level of documentation compliance while also capturing the evidence needed to substantiate SR&ED claims.

"All we had to do was have a process internally of tracking what we were doing, and we would just meet with their team and he would ask us very specific questions, and our engineering team would answer and based on Flow's experience they would formulate and phrase it in a way that was optimized for SR&ED."

Our decades of combined experience have led us to a holistic approach that helped minimize risk and maximize eligible refunds for Narative. Our procedures also instilled confidence that the work that they were doing was properly documented and that it would optimize their chances of getting SR&ED at the end of the year, saving them a lot of time and headache. The SR&ED claims played an key aspect in their financial forecasts and decision making as a company, not just from a product roadmap perspective but especially for hiring resources to join their team.

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"It was really the difference between knowing, can we hire anybody and if it be a junior engineer or a senior engineer, and depending on that, how that would affect the various development development phases and timelines."

THEIR SUCCESS

Hear it from them.

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Mack Mansouri

CO-FOUNDER, NARATIVE

"If I knew somebody was starting a company and told them about SR&ED, but I left out Flow, I feel like I would be doing them a disservice."

A Road Map For Growth

"From a company forecasting standpoint, from a team’s mental health standpoint, knowing that we qualified for SR&ED and had the confidence that it was coming, reduced the anxiety and allowed us to make proper forecasted decisions in the future for purchases or hiring.”

Expediting The Product Development Cycle 

“It definitely helped with our product forecasts on what features we were going to develop. So if we didn't have SR&ED for example, we would feel a bit more constricted and would have to make really key decisions, and it would take us longer to make those decisions.” 

Fostering Innovation

"Flow plays such a crucial part in the development of a startup and helping them to focus on building products and not focusing on the things that distract them. That function that you are filling is invaluable."

Fuel your growth.
Mitigate your risk.

"Flow Consulting is an invaluable partner to CloudOps, helping us organize and plan our SR&ED and other R&D activities, navigate the intricacies of government programs, and ensure that our approach aligns perfectly with our business model while employing conservative risk management."

ian

Ian Rae, CEO
CloudOps

$3 Billion

a year available in funding for the SR&ED program.

Up to 69%

of eligible R&D expenses (depending on your province) may be refunded from CRA.

The Essential SR&ED Guide for Businesses

By Canada’s Scientific Research & Experimental Development (SR&ED) Tax Credit Experts.

Learn about eligibility, how much you can receive, documentation tips, case studies & more.

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