About
Nelis Parts
Founder, Kyro CFO and Kyro Strategies. 20+ years in finance, private equity, and operations. Two sell-side exits. One firm that does both financial leadership and custom analytics platforms, because they're expressions of the same work.
Career
Goldman Sachs Investment Banking Division
New York & London, 2005–2008
Started in the Financial Institutions Group, moved to the Financial Sponsors Group. LBO modeling, M&A execution, and transaction structuring with PE firms as counterparties. Ranked top 10% of the global M&A analyst class in both 2007 and 2008. This is where the financial modeling rigor became second nature.
Stockbridge Investors (Berkshire Partners)
Boston, 2008–2011
One of the first members of a 10-person investment team at a research-driven public equity fund within Berkshire Partners. Concentrated portfolio, 3–5 year investment horizon, 80+ companies analyzed independently. The fund grew from $30M to $1.4B in AUM during this period. This is where the business evaluation framework was built.
Wharton School, University of Pennsylvania
MBA with Honors, 2011–2013
Majors in Entrepreneurial Management, Marketing, and Operations Management. Director's List both years (top 10% academically). Joseph Wharton Fellowship and Sweden-America Foundation Fellowship.
Arist Education System (Bertelsmann)
M&A and Investment Advisor, 2014–2015
Led diligence and closed the acquisition of Alliant International University, the first conversion of a nonprofit university to a benefit corporation in the United States. Then joined Alliant as VP of Finance and Administration to lead the post-acquisition integration and turnaround. The pattern of doing the diligence, closing the deal, and then fixing what the diligence found is the foundation of how this M&A work operates.
Fullstack Academy
CFO 2018–2023, CEO 2023–2024
Six years spanning CFO and CEO roles at a 300-person education company. Revenue grew from $10M to $40M. EBITDA went from -25% to positive. Two exits: the 2019 sale to Zovio (publicly traded) and the 2022 sale to Simplilearn (Blackstone portfolio company). $7–10M in annual P&L impact from five quantified operational levers. Five years of board reporting to a Blackstone-led board of directors.
Scope
The CFO role at Fullstack was not just finance. IT and Engineering reported directly for 3+ years. Legal, Real Estate, and Academic operations were all within scope. That cross-functional reach is why the CFO practice and the platform practice are one firm, not two.
A CFO who managed the internal engineering team, led SSO integrations, selected and managed MSPs, and made all major back-office engineering decisions is not a stranger to technology evaluation. That's where the ability to build custom analytics platforms and do financial advisory from the same firm comes from.
Education
Wharton MBA with Honors
LSE B.Sc. Mathematics & Economics (2:1)
Languages
Swedish, Estonian (native), English (fluent)
Based in
Brooklyn, NY
Why Kyro exists
Companies in the $5M to $100M range don't lack smart people. They lack someone whose job is to find where money is leaking, build the model that shows the magnitude, and push the organization to fix it. A controller who closes the books every month isn't that person. Neither is an outside advisor who sends a report and moves on.
The companies in the $5M–$100M range face a specific gap. They have real complexity. Investors or boards with expectations. Operational decisions with significant financial consequences. But a $250,000 full-time CFO hire is hard to justify, and a controller who closes the books every month isn't the same thing.
Kyro fills that gap with the same quality of financial leadership that larger companies access full-time, applied precisely where it matters, without the overhead. When an inflection point arrives (a fundraise, a potential exit, an operational crisis, a board that starts asking harder questions), the work is already in place.
The name
Kyro has roots in Greek and Middle Eastern culture. It roughly translates to "victorious one," "master," or "lord." The interpretation that matters here: Kyro succeeds only when the client does. There's no version of this working where we look good and the engagement doesn't produce a result.
How this work operates
The operating principle is honesty before comfort. If the financial model says the plan won't work, the plan won't work. If a vendor contract is structured in a way that's quietly unfavorable, that conversation happens. If a business isn't ready for the exit timeline the board wants, the board needs to hear that.
That's not how every advisor operates. Many will tell you what you want to hear because the relationship is easier that way. A CFO who pushes back when the model is wrong is more valuable than one who doesn't, even if the conversation is harder.
Practical outcomes matter more than theoretical frameworks. A 100-page report that sits in a drawer is not a deliverable. A change to the collections process that recovers $2M annually is.
The platform practice
Kyro Strategies builds custom analytics platforms for mid-market companies. The analytical frameworks in those platforms (bridge analysis, variance decomposition, accountability tagging) come from the same 20 years of finance and PE experience. The CFO practice and the platform practice are one firm because they're one expertise applied in two different directions.
See Kyro Strategies→Let's talk about what you're working on.
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