CFO Intelligence Magazine – Spring 2023
Ned Mavrommatis
Halo Collar CFO
Woodcliff Lake, N.J.-headquartered Halo Collar is a company with a mission: making the world safer for canines by letting their human partners easily create an “invisible fence” without a wire, which can help keep dogs safe regardless of where they are — whether at home or on the go. More than 10 million pets are lost each year and Halo’s goal is to reduce or eliminate that statistic. Halo CFO Ned Mavrommatis and his team have been sinking their teeth into the company’s finances since Q1 2022, helping to turbocharge revenue while cutting costs. It’s the kind of success story that should make CFOs’ ears perk up with interest.
Co-founded by celebrity “dog whisperer” Cesar Millan, Halo was launched in 2020 during the COVID pandemic as pet sales were going through the roof. “I have a long working history with Halo founders Ken and Michael Ehrman, who are both Internet of Things pioneers, and they asked me to come on board in Q1 2022 as the company’s first-ever CFO,” recounts Mavrommatis. “We realized that, due to the nature of our product, it would be best to keep investing in R&D while structuring production on an asset-light basis. For example, we do not have to maintain inventory, since Halo contracts with third-party manufacturers who use our designs and build products as orders come in, and then ship directly to consumers. This also lets us reduce our capex while giving us the ability to quickly scale production up or down as needed.
AVOIDING A “ONE-SIZE-FITS-ALL” APPROACH DRIVES SUCCESS
The heart of Halo’s offering is a flexible, no-slip adjustable lightweight collar that fits dogs weighing more than 20 lbs. — with plans to add capabilities for smaller dogs, too — with a neck size between 11 and 30 and-a-half inches. It uses a combination of GPS positioning, cellular and app technology to communicate with an owner’s mobile device, letting them establish a customizable and mobile virtual “fence” that sets boundaries for a dog, with sound, vibration, and optional static prompts that warn the animal to turn around when he or she is near a boundary.
The company’s product line was recently awarded honors by three industry organizations: Men’s Health Tech Award, which deemed Halo Collar the Best Smart Dog Collar; the 2023 BIG Innovation Awards named Halo a winner in the Consumer Goods category; and the brand was granted the IoT Breakthrough Awards for Connected Pet Care Solution of the Year.
“World-renowned dog behaviorist and partner Cesar Millan worked with Michael Ehrman, our CTO, to develop Halo’s holistic approach to boundary training,” adds Mavrommatis. “Through videos, Cesar and other expert trainers such as Heather Mickelson walk Halo Collar owners through every step of the process.