SmartShoot Scales Nearly 40x with Finance Operations

When my CEO comes to me with a new project, he doesn’t want to hear, ‘Oh, I need to process payments.’ Tipalti has completely automated this for us, so I now have time for all the other strategic initiatives that help us grow.

John Pfeister

Head of Finance, SmartShoot

Download

SmartShoot Overview

Industry

Marketplaces

Company Size

Sub 100

Current ERP

Sage

Region

United States

Tipalti Products Used

Mass Payments

Challenge

Manual payouts and freelancer communications to creative talent took two full days each month.

Solution

SmartShoot implemented Tipalti Mass Payments to automate payouts and streamline freelancer onboarding.

Results

SmartShoot eliminated 24 days per year in payout processing time, removed US and global tax penalty risks, and freed up finance to lead strategic corporate development.

The Challenge

Inefficient Manual Payout Processes Hindered Scalability

SmartShoot, collaborating with premier brands like Yelp, Google, YouTube, and Zillow, sources and assigns professional photographers and videographers from a network of over 4,000 freelancers worldwide to deliver custom photo and video content. This equates to making thousands of payments for client projects every month. The manual payment process hindered the entire finance ecosystem, taking two full days each month to pay creative talent and manually sending out payment notification emails. This inefficiency impeded the company’s ability to scale operations effectively.

The first iteration of the company was managing 500 video projects a month with 70 people in the office. We revamped and scaled everything we could, and today, we’re doing over 5,000 jobs a month with 18 people. I’m the only finance person here.

John Pfeister

Head of Finance, SmartShoot

The Solution

Automated Freelancer Payouts With Tipalti Mass Payments

SmartShoot implemented Tipalti Mass Payments to automate everything that once slowed down operations while being as lean as possible. Tipalti had the answer to every single part of their payout process, from onboarding to collecting and validating tax information to automating payouts. This technology streamlined SmartShoot’s operations, reduced manual workloads, and enabled the company to grow efficiently.

Every single part of our process, from onboarding filmmakers and collecting and validating their tax information to paying them had to be global and scalable. Implementing Tipalti was the answer, it was a win-win-win for us.

John Pfeister

Head of Finance, SmartShoot

The Result

Significant Efficiency Gains and Operational Scaling

By automating payment processes with Tipalti, SmartShoot reduced payment processing time from two full days each month to just minutes. This efficiency gain allowed the company to scale operations nearly 40 times, increasing from managing 500 video projects a month with 70 people to over 5,000 jobs with just 18 people, including only one finance person. The streamlined processes also improved relationships with freelancers by ensuring timely and accurate payments.

When my CEO comes to me with a new project, he doesn’t want to hear, ‘Oh, I need to process payments.’ Tipalti has completely automated this for us, so I now have time for all the other strategic initiatives that help us grow.

John Pfeister

Head of Finance, SmartShoot