Project Details
- CLIENT: UpwardFi
- SCOPE: Website Copy
- WEBSITE DESIGN: Ivan Willenberg
Meet Kendra: Founder of UpwardFi, CPA, MBA, and Fractional Controller.
See also: self-proclaimed Type A planner, recovering perfectionist, and the kind of person that makes you feel like you have your shit together simply because you’re in their presence.
Kendra and her team step in as the finance department founder-led companies haven’t built yet, helping them do things like:
- Trust their numbers (instead of just having them “done”)
- See cash flow coming instead of guessing
- Prep for audits, fundraising, and acquisitions without the late-night scramble
- Build financial systems that scale right along with them
When Kendra came to me, she was speaking my love language: she was planning a rebrand and new name (from The Blk Report to UpwardFi), she knew what her company was good at but not how to talk about it, and she wanted help getting it all across on her website.
“Before working with you, I felt like I was outgrowing my old brand but didn’t yet have the language to articulate who I was becoming.” – her actual words
And because Kendra’s industry operates on a HIGH level of trust and competency, copy wasn’t optional (I mean, it never is. But still!). Kendra’s entire job is helping founders trust what their numbers are telling them. She walks into messy, scrappy companies and makes everything make sense. But when it came to her own brand, the story on her website didn’t add up (LOL, math!) to what her team is actually capable of.
How To Know Your Business Has Outgrown Its Copy
Kendra would be the first to tell you that books that are technically “done” aren’t the same as numbers you can trust. They can be accurate to the penny and still tell you absolutely nothing about where you’re headed.
Website copy works the same way. Hers was complete, but it wasn’t converting or conveying her team’s personality.
Before we worked together, her old messaging left her:
- Feeling like her website didn’t match the level of clients she was serving
- Spending discovery calls proving her credibility instead of talking strategy
- Speaking to an audience she’d since moved past
- Relying on referrals and a third-party marketplace to bring in clients, because her site wasn’t pulling its weight
Here’s what I told her (and what I’d tell you, if given the chance!):
When your clients trust you with their audits and acquisitions, but your website still has people asking “so…what exactly do you do?” — it’s time for a copywriter.
YOU CANNOT READ THE LABEL FROM INSIDE THE JAR, okay? Kendra knew her business inside and out, which is exactly why it was so hard to see it the way a brand-new founder would.
Building Credibility Before Getting On A Call
Kendra’s clients are busy founders. They’re tech-savvy, allergic to busywork, and don’t have time to wade through accounting jargon to figure out whether she can help them; they need a lot of technical information and they need it NOW.
So her goals for the project were crystal clear:
- A website that establishes her credibility before she ever gets on a call
- A brand voice that feels confident, modern, and approachable
- Copy that makes founders think “yes, that’s me” and “that’s exactly what I need”
Letting Her Clients Do The Talking
As with every project, I did a little past-client-stalking before writing any of Kendra’s site — and let me just say, I have NEVER had someone’s past clients reply with such enthusiasm, insist on getting on a call because emailing about Kendra’s brilliance felt inadequate, and wax poetic about the entire situation.
What came out of those conversations was pure gold:
- One client shared that every company he’d seen Kendra work with had tried to hire her full time.
- Another told me the bankers on his acquisition called it the smoothest process they’d ever seen.
- Over and over, the word that came up wasn’t “accurate” or “organized” (though she’s both). It was trust.
(This was also one of Kendra’s favorite parts of the project — she later told me “I also really appreciated that you interviewed past clients and used what they said to inform the copy.”)
Clear And Clever Messaging = The Sweet Spot
The biggest issue with Kendra’s old messaging was the giant gap between what people assumed she did, and what she actually does.
Here’s Why Industry Research Is Essential:
When most founders hear “accountant,” they picture someone balancing the books and filing taxes. When I dug into the fractional finance space, I found a lot of polished, tech-forward firms and big marketplaces, but very few explaining what a controller actually does for a growing company.
This is why clarity is absolutely invaluable: Kendra is more strategic than a bookkeeper, more hands-on than a CFO, and she’s proactive about what’s coming instead of just recording what already happened. We needed readers to get that immediately, so we led with headlines that name the problem founders already feel:
- “Projections and plans don’t matter if you can’t trust the underlying numbers.”
- “If your company’s cashflow feels unpredictable, you don’t have a revenue problem: you have an accounting one.”
- “Most accountants for startups think their job is recording what already happened. My team is here to help you create what’s next.”
UpwardFi’s Positioning Statement:
UpwardFi provides fractional controller and accounting services for startups, non-profits, and lean finance teams ready to grow smarter. We combine corporate-level accuracy with startup-style agility to give you the structure, systems, and strategy you need to move upward.
This statement is perfect for UpwardFi, because it…
- Names exactly who she serves, so the right founders see themselves right away
- Owns her real differentiator: big-company discipline plus startup grit (a rare combo, and the reason her clients keep trying to hire her)
- Works in the brand name naturally, so “moving upward” becomes the thread that ties the whole site together
- Speaks as a team, positioning UpwardFi as the finance department founders don’t have to build from scratch
Offers That (Literally) Move Upward
Kendra was on the cusp of a name change before we started her project (The Blk Report → UpwardFi) and wanted package names that fit loosely with the “momentum”/”upward” vibes, without being cheesy. And while I normally leave the naming to Katie, I actually DID tackle these packages for Kendra so every single detail felt on brand:
- Launchpad – Controller-level oversight for founders who already have a bookkeeper, but need someone making sure the numbers are accurate and the systems can scale.
- Ascent – Full-suite accounting plus controller oversight, for companies without an in-house finance team who need someone to step in and handle it all.
- Summit – Audit and transaction readiness, for companies prepping for an audit, Quality of Earnings review, or acquisition, when every number needs to stand up to scrutiny.
From there, I wrote a services page that reads founders’ minds and pre-answers questions like…
- “Is this worth it compared to just keeping a bookkeeper?” Every tier spells out what founders get beyond compliance, like 13-week cash flow forecasts, policy documentation, and monthly leadership reviews, AND why those deliverables and details are important and beneficial.
- “Will I have to switch all my systems?” I left a note for her designer to feature logos for all her preferred softwares, so even skimmers can get a quick picture.
- “Which package is right for me?” A side-by-side comparison chart makes the differences clear at a glance.
- “What does this cost?” Transparent “starting at” pricing, with a note on what affects the final number. Trust = built.
Even the offer she wasn’t sure how to frame (short-term coverage when lean finance teams have someone out on leave) found a home as a simple note beneath the comparison chart.
Proof That “No-Nonsense” Doesn’t Have To Mean Boring
Kendra told me on our kickoff call that her brand voice was professional, bold, elevated, and no-nonsense. All true! But…finance websites as a whole are about as interesting as a tax form, so I wanted to make sure her entire personality came through.
My personal favorite headline:
It’s polished enough for the boardroom AND human enough that founders actually want to keep reading. In Kendra’s words, the copy “doesn’t feel stuffy and actually makes people want to stop and read the words on your website.”
Kendra’s Thoughts
“Amy didn’t just help me refine my messaging — she helped me step into the next level of my brand. The clarity and confidence I now have in how UpwardFi shows up is a direct result of her thoughtful process and strategic approach. She transformed my ideas into copy that feels elevated, aligned, and built for where my business is heading. I’m truly grateful for her partnership and would recommend her in a heartbeat.”
– Kendra Dancy, Founder of UpwardFi
Design Credit: Ivan Willenberg
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