WHY WE CHANGED OUR LOOK— The Next Chapter of AVL
By Kevin Kinghorn, Marketing Lead, AVL Growth Partners
Change can be intimidating— even for a company that’s been around for over a decade. But sometimes, change isn’t about reinvention; it’s about clarity. That’s the story behind AVL’s rebrand and website relaunch: a moment to articulate who we’ve become, what we truly offer, and how we guide our clients to grow with confidence.
When I joined AVL as the company’s first in-house marketing hire, it quickly became clear that AVL had evolved into something unique — a way of working and thinking that deserved to be shared in richer detail. Change wasn’t about reinventing the brand; it was about clarity. We wanted to add color and context to how we document and share our experiences, making our approach and the value we deliver more visible to the world.
Chris Schwalbach (AVL Founder, President) felt it from day one: AVL is unlike any other finance partner. To capture that distinction, we needed to bring storytelling in-house. That meant developing a new website, refining our brand look, and telling the story ourselves. And that’s exactly what we set out to do.
Now part of the Amplēo group, we’re able to extend our reach and resources while continuing to refine the experiences we share with clients and the market.
(Previous AVL Website)
(New 2025 AVL website)
MINDFUL GROWTH | Our Guiding Philosophy
At the heart of AVL is Mindful Growth. It’s more than a tagline — it’s a way of thinking about how financial strategy can be applied with clarity, intention, and confidence.
Mindful Growth is about slowing down to see the full picture, even when the stakes are high. It’s about balancing precision and empathy, combining actionable insight with measured reflection. And it’s about ensuring every financial decision aligns with the long-term vision of the business.
This philosophy isn’t theoretical — it’s proven in practice.
Take LeadGenius, a global B2B sales intelligence platform. When an M&A deal fell through at the 11th hour, it was a moment that could have derailed the company. But because AVL was already embedded as their full-stack finance team — providing CFO strategy, accounting, and real-time scenario planning — the leadership could act instead of reacting. As LeadGenius CEO Mark Godley recalled:
“One of the most critical things we did together was assume revenue 20% below even a worst-case scenario — and model in cash collection delays. Not because we were pessimistic, but to give ourselves breathing room. That discipline gave us the ability to survive and recover.”
Or consider a direct-to-consumer health tech brand that scaled from a $2M college startup to a $150M enterprise opportunity. Growth was rapid, and they needed senior expertise to match the pace at which they were accelerating success. AVL rebuilt their financial foundation, installed scalable systems, and partnered with their internal CFO to ensure they could operate like a mature, enterprise-level organization. As David Maytubby, AVL CFO leadership on the engagement, summarized:
“They went from college-hustle to operating like a mature, $150M enterprise — all while keeping momentum.”
These examples show what Mindful Growth looks like in action: intentional, actionable, and designed to support leadership, even in the face of rapid change or unexpected challenges.
OUR SOLUTION STAGES | Mindful Growth in Motion
Mindful Growth isn’t just a philosophy; it’s also actionable. We’ve codified it into four solution stages that guide every client engagement:
EVALUATE: Position & Hygiene
We start by understanding where a business truly stands. Through business evaluations, financial modeling, and M&A readiness assessments, we establish a clear baseline for decisions and strategy.
ENGINEER: Systems & Reporting Process
Next, we build or enable scalable systems and operational processes. Reporting becomes reliable, repeatable, and aligned with leadership’s strategic goals — a foundation for confident growth.
EXECUTE: Insights, Reporting & Results
Here is where the insights drive action. Fractional CFO leadership and the AVL Team translate data into decisions, helping clients prioritize, forecast, and plan with confidence.
ENDGAME: Maximizing Outcomes
Finally, we focus on outcomes — preparing for liquidity events, optimizing valuation, and maximizing strategic results. It’s the culmination of clarity, structure, and insight working in tandem.
LeadGenius’ response to crisis exemplifies Evaluate → Engineer, while the Health Tech brand illustrates Execute → Endgame in building operational readiness for growth.
THE EVOLUTION OF THE BRAND | Translating Philosophy into Design
As we refined our philosophy and services, it was equally important that our brand visually reflected AVL’s identity. Working closely with Bethany Kicz, whose original brand book laid the foundation, we developed the new AVL brand look and feel:
Monokier pattern logo — retained but reinterpreted across collateral, decks, the website, and emails. Solid shapes over nature imagery give a sense of sophisticated breath and structure.
Visual storytelling — wide-open landscape photography of forests, mountains, and untouched terrain conveys scale, clarity, and the quiet strength of growth. Our backgrounds subtly echo topographical lines, nodding to the dynamic contours of markets and businesses.
Evolved color palette — four core neutrals retained, with attention-grabbing accent colors updated to reflect natural themes, maintaining the concept of “elevated neutrals, pops of color.”
As we state in our brand guide about the site:
“Financial landscapes are always changing — and that change can be beautiful when you navigate it well. Together, these elements express our core message: just like the natural world, financial landscapes are dynamic. With AVL, change isn’t something to fear — it’s something to explore and shape.”
THE RESULT | A Brand That Matches the Work We Do
The rebrand isn’t just a fresh coat of paint. It’s AVL stepping fully into our identity — a company that approaches finance with intention, discipline, and empathy. Our visual and verbal identity now mirrors the work we do with clients every day: clarity, confidence, and the ability to navigate change successfully.
Through Mindful Growth, our four solution stages, and the recalibrated brand, AVL is better positioned than ever to deliver on our promise: helping founders and leadership teams scale with confidence, precision, and purpose.
“Growth can be done differently — with intention. This rebrand is our way of showing that we live by it, too.”