25 Years of Peer Group Stories: Phil Gottula and Nate Poppema
This article's content originated on Peer Talk podcast ep. 47 from November of 2023
Building Profit in Tents and Numbers – Data-Driven Strategy in Event Rentals
“I needed more than just taxes filed. I needed someone to help me understand why our net was strong in 2019—and how to get back there.”
For Phil Gottula, founder and CEO of Flex Productions in Northern Colorado, that question changed the way he ran his event rental company. It also led him to rethink not only his financial systems—but his entire business structure.
Phil’s journey from a startup in a garage to a multi-entity regional leader in tents and event rentals mirrors what many owners face: fast growth, increasing complexity, and the need for deeper financial insight. Along the way, he found a critical partner in Nate Poppema, CPA and data strategist at Brock & Company CPAs, who helped him implement a new system of business intelligence (BI) that turned disjointed numbers into strategic clarity.
This chapter explores how they did it, what tools they used, and how their approach to Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) is reshaping their company’s path forward.
From Garage to Growth: A DIY Start with Big Vision
Phil’s story began in the '90s at Butler Rents in Denver. After studying Computer Information Systems, he returned to the rental world and ultimately co-founded Flex Productions in 2003 with little capital, just a few popup tents and a garage.
Since then, the company has grown to 40+ employees in season, covering Colorado and Wyoming with full-scale event services. But growth brought a new challenge: understanding where the money was going—and why profitability was fluctuating.
“I was bouncing between CPAs every couple year. They filed the taxes but couldn’t tell me how to control my tax exposure or improve margins.”
That changed in 2019, when Phil connected with Brock & Company CPAs. It wasn’t just the tax structure that evolved—it was the entire way he viewed financial decision-making.
A Smarter Structure: The Three-Entity Model
Working with Brock, Phil implemented a tri-entity corporate structure:
Operating Company – Handles payroll, expenses, and day-to-day operations.
Asset-Holding Company – Owns and leases assets to the operating entity, shielding capital from liability.
Management Company – Pays ownership and further separates liability and control.
This approach protected assets and unlocked tax planning opportunities, but it also created complexity: three balance sheets, three P&Ls, and a confusing web of intercompany transactions.
“Nothing lined up. My P&Ls didn’t make sense. I had no clear picture of what the whole company was doing.”
That’s when Nate Poppema entered the picture.
Introducing Power BI: Turning Data into Direction
With a background in both public accounting and as a former CFO of a software company, Nate had the right blend of skills to make data talk.
He built a unified dashboard in Power BI—a Microsoft business intelligence platform—that pulled in data from all three companies. Now Phil could:
Slice performance by year, region, service line, or team
Compare labor costs over time
Pinpoint dips in margin or revenue
Drill down into overhead, asset utilization, and contract labor ratios
“I could go back to 2019 in a few clicks and ask, ‘What were we doing right?’ It was like having night-vision goggles for my numbers.”
Instead of exporting spreadsheets and manually creating pivot tables, Phil could make data-informed decisions on the fly.
The KPIs That Matter in Event Rentals
With the new BI system in place, Phil and Nate began focusing on key performance indicators (KPIs) relevant to the realities of seasonal, labor-intensive businesses like event rentals.
Key metrics include:
Gross Profit Margin overtime
Labor Cost as a % of Revenue
Contract vs. Full-Time Labor Ratios
Revenue per Labor Hour
Equipment Utilization Rates
Off-Season Labor Efficiency
They also began integrating non-financial data—such as paid hours versus worked hours—to better assess productivity and identify waste.
“Labor is everything in our business. If you can’t control labor costs, especially in a market like Colorado, you’re in trouble.”
Pricing, People, and Pressure: Planning for the Future
One of Phil’s biggest takeaways from the data? Pricing needs to rise—again.
“We bumped prices 20–40% during COVID, but we’re still not back to 2019 margins. The cost of living, wages, and inflation have reshaped everything.”
With minimum wage in Colorado jumping significantly, the company is now paying $18–20/hour for entry-level roles that used to cost $12–13/hour. More experienced employees are costing $25–30/hour.
The data helped Phil justify pricing decisions, manage cash flow during off-season, and model what future staffing costs will mean for profitability.
Key Takeaways for Owners and Operators
Phil and Nate’s story offers several lessons for event and equipment rental businesses:
✅ Structure matters. A smart legal and tax entity structure can protect your business and save you money—but it must be supported by integrated financial systems.
✅ Data drives clarity. Business intelligence tools like Power BI turn chaos into clarity. They allow for trend analysis, real-time decision-making, and better budgeting.
✅ Focus on labor metrics. In the event of rental, your biggest cost is often people. Track their productivity, cost ratios, and scheduling closely.
✅ compared to your best year. Benchmarks like 2019 offer a powerful tool for evaluating current performance—and identifying how to get back on track.
✅ Find the right partners. A CPA who understands both tax and operations can unlock massive value and bring your financial systems into alignment with your growth goals.
Final Thoughts: It's a Challenging Industry—But It's Worth It
“Why do we do this? Because it’s fun. Because no other industry is like this. You can call up another rental company—even a competitor—and they’ll help you.”
That spirit of collaboration and community, especially through peer groups, is what makes the rental industry special.
For Phil and Flex Productions, the road ahead is clearer than ever—not because it’s easy, but because they now have the tools to see where they’re going.