About Finale Inventory
Finale is proud to celebrate its 10-year anniversary in 2024.
Finale's history
Finale Inventory was founded in the heart of Silicon Valley in 2014
After serving the fireworks industry for several years, co-founders Will Harvey, Chris Hondl, and Chinh Nguyen transitioned to the ecommerce industry as a way to help more people with their business. To this day, Finale continues to be a bootstrapped company. Never taking on any VC funding, we have been growing and profitable since day one.
Finale's core values
Collaboration is at the core of our company
Beyond core values for the company, our Mission Statement and Core Values reflect who we are as people. As new team members have been hired and new projects have rolled out over the years, we are always living out that which our company was founded on. That has translated to a culture of excellence and learning, teamwork and independence, collaboration and ownership.
Delight ourselves and our customers with true value and quality
Be honest and transparent to ourselves and customers
Learn and innovate with customers as part of the team
Never stop improving
Working at Finale
How the acclaimed Finale team became the acclaimed Finale team
With the same dedication that has gone into building a product that helps teams all over the country, we have built a company that seeks to highlight the best in our global team.
Since Day 1, Finale has had a remote work culture.
We believe in hiring the right people and trusting them to do their jobs. We believe - not in a “start up grind” culture - but that of working smart and hard…and kindly. Finale’s employees span 10 countries and come from a wide variety of backgrounds. That diversity makes us better as a company and has translated to us approaching challenges in a more creative, flexible way as a company.
Finale's annual trip
Collaboration starts with strong team camaraderie
As productive as we are being a global team, there is no getting around the importance of human connection. And so, to foster closer working relationships, Team Finale takes an annual trip to spend time together. On the agenda are team discussions, product updates, team activities, exploring field trips and delicious dinners. But the real takeaways and value of the trip come in the connections made between team members.
Giving back
"Helping others" is more than a company mantra
Everyone at Finale sincerely wants to help other people. It's another reason why Finale is here: because we knew ecommerce sellers have problems with managing their inventory and we wanted to help them figure it out.
Surrounding our offering, the Finale team strives to help sellers with whatever task is asked of them.
But even beyond our ecommerce industry, we also look for ways to help other people. Our team volunteers in their communities...as well as together. In our last company trip, we had the opportunity to tour a local school in Mérida for children with disabilities, create a painting with them, and make a donation towards a new dining facility at the school. It was fulfilling for us but it was world-changing for them. We realize we are in a place of advantage and want to share that with others.
Company milestones
It all started with a bang...
Did you know that Finale started as a fireworks company?
From a small fireworks convention hall in Mason City, IA, Finale's legacy of helping SMBs manage their inventory began. Why start with fireworks? Because it's a highly regulated industry that depends on accurate inventory records.
Here's a highlighted history of how "Finale Inventory" became the company you know today:
Finale leadership team
Will Harvey
Co-founder and CEO
Will has founded multiple companies, including Sandcastle (acquired by Adobe Systems), There.com, and IMVU. Earning his BA, MA and PhD from Stanford in Computer Science, Will got his professional start as a software engineer in high school, writing Gold and Platinum selling video games Zany Golf, Immortal, Marble Madness, and Music Construction Set at age 15.
Chris Hondl
Co-founder and CTO
Chris Hondl leads the engineering team at Finale. With over 30 years of industry experience, Chris was previously the VP of Engineering for Core Mobility where he had responsibility for systems serving hundreds of thousands of mobile phone customers. Chris earned his BS in Mathematics and MS in Computer Science from Stanford University.
Chinh Nguyen
Co-founder and VP, Revenue
Chinh leads Finale's revenue and sales for Finale. He has over twenty years of software experience, most recently as SVP of Product Management and User Acquisition at IMVU. Chinh earned a B.S. in Electrical Engineering from Kettering University, an M.S. in Electrical Engineering from the University of Dayton, and an M.B.A. from Carnegie Mellon University. Chinh enjoys growing heirloom tomatoes (often unsuccessfully), riding his road bike, watching his daughters play competitive soccer on the weekends, and following his beloved Buckeyes. Go Bucks!
Pauline Shiu
VP, Marketing
Pauline leads the marketing, business development and partnership initiatives at Finale. She has spent nearly twenty years in the SaaS and ecommerce industries, having previously worked at Macy's, WeddingWire, and for a 7-figure DTC brand. Pauline earned her BA from Purdue University and enjoys traveling, paddleboarding, and cheering her children on from the baseball and softball sidelines.