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Dave Sellick is not your typical finance professional. While he started out as an auditor for PwC, his passion for DJing has led him to carve out his own distinctive career path. This has led him to seek out the best finance technology tools on the market and to learn coding, enabling him to provide his clients with a genuinely innovative service.
He’s now documenting these learnings and sharing them with the broader finance community to inspire others and help raise accounting standards.
Ordinary Beginnings in Extraordinary Times
Nick Levine: Can you tell me about when you first got into finance?
Dave Sellick: I originally trained at PwC and joined in 2008, on the day Lehman Brothers crashed. I was in the department auditing banks and didn’t enjoy it. We had a difficult time because half the team went over to work on Lehman’s.
Nick Levine: As a former auditor myself, I know that many people who start their careers in audit don’t love it. What in particular didn’t resonate with you?
Dave Sellick: There was a big clash between my creative mindset and the world of audit, particularly in the banking world. I considered moving out of accounting completely before realising it’s probably worth trying it in different contexts.
DJing and the Creative Mindset
Nick Levine: From previous chats, I know how important DJing is to you and how it is a key part of your creative mindset, right?
Dave Sellick: I like DJing because it’s a creative expression of myself. I advocate for everyone to find ways to express themselves creatively. We think of creativity as painting, making music, or dancing. Creativity is everything. Find the things that you love and double down on them.
Nick Levine: So, how does DJing influence your accounting and finance work?
Dave Sellick: DJing influences the way I approach accounting through the creative mindset. When you’re behind a set of DJ decks, you’re trying to connect with the people in front of you. When I’m speaking to accounting clients, I’m trying to make a connection with them, too.
Saved by Startups
Nick Levine: Before starting your own practice, you worked in finance for a range of startups. How did these experiences come about and resonate more with your creativity?
Dave Sellick: I got a call from a founder-owned business that was rejuvenating itself, almost like a startup. That got me hooked on what I do now. [Then] for six years, I worked with founders at the early stage using cloud technology like Xero. And was the head of finance or “number one” of various businesses. I saw for the first time an industry and a future for myself that I had the right profile for, and that the creative mindset and the human-led approach were the right thing.
Running Sidgrove
Nick Levine: You then pivoted to start Sidgrove, your own boutique accounting practice. What was your motivation for doing this?
Dave Sellick: I was disappointed with what I was seeing from accounting firms as a customer and also from speaking to many early-stage businesses. They couldn’t afford to pay [my day rate], so I sought to create a service they could pay for.
Nick Levine: Where does the name Sidgrove come from?
Dave Sellick: Sidgrove is named after my DJ name that I have used for over 20 years. When I started the practice, it signified a move into a different lifestyle and a journey to create a new model for doing accounting.
Nick Levine: What type of client base does Sidgrove focus on, and what is your service offering?
Dave Sellick: I’m based in and around the London region. However, I’m fully remote, so they could be based anywhere. I work predominantly with earlier-stage owner-managed businesses and tech startups. I also do consulting across all sorts of businesses. I would refer to the firm as more of a portfolio “Head of Finance” or a “Head of Finance” at scale offering. Compliance is incidental [to this Head of Finance model]. I focus on outsourced delivery, and I’m currently on my own.
Using Financial Technology to Turbo Charge a One-Person Head of Finance Portfolio
Nick Levine: How do you use technology to support being a one-person operation?
Dave Sellick: I have all this technology that I can leverage to not employ people. I use things like Stream Decks to automate workflows. This acts as glue between all these different automations and products. I also make sure I’m using the most progressive cloud technology with open APIs to connect data from different places and automate it. I’m also in and out ot ChatGPT all the time and run my practice from Slack.
Nick Levine: As well as keeping the hiring costs down, this must save significant time. Do you see any other benefits from this approach?
Dave Sellick: My curiosity for technology helps me find more joy in my work and to do it in a more automated way. Especially for the things I don’t love doing. This creates the space to be more creative. It enables me to connect to my clients and help them think strategically.
Paying It Forward with Circle
Nick Levine: Alongside Sidgrove, you recently started building a new project to share your journey and learnings with others. Tell me a bit more about this.
Dave Sellick: Circle is a way for me to share all the things I’ve been creating and that inspire me by providing cutting-edge practices that other firms and employees could benefit from. I have this natural drive where I want to help other people in the profession.
Nick Levine: What motivates you to want to pay it forward?
Dave Sellick: I was completely uninspired by my work. I have found a way to feel love in it, and this has given me a real desire to help others.
Nick Levine: Where can people find out more about Circle?
Dave Sellick: I haven’t opened the community where it will sit yet, but it will happen very shortly. It will sit on a community platform, and I will be sharing all of the tools I use in my practice. This will include every single tool I use, such as getting information for bookkeeping, VAT reviews for year-end, month-end reporting tools, and cash flow forecasting.
Dave’s ability to channel his passion for DJing into a fulfilling career in finance is just one example of the unique paths we’re highlighting. Discover more stories in our Next Gen Finance Leaders series.
