The Financial CoPilot opens growth infrastructure to more entrepreneurs

Along the way, he became fascinated with how companies grow and thrive, more so than the actual product.

With The Financial CoPilot, Stewart provides other owners a way to avoid learning mistakes the hard way.

"I've become convinced that it is the financial rituals that one creates to provide an accurate picture of where you stand at any given time which are most critical," said the University of Miami engineering alumnus.

Despite gaining a masters degree in engineering by taking graduate courses as early as his sophomore year, Stewart spent only a couple years working in his specialty of nuclear engineering for a Fortune 500 firm.

As an Civil Air Patrol cadet, one of his mentors had urged him to look beyond just working for someone else, urging him to read books about entrepreneurship.

Yet at age 32, he can testify that business ownership is no crystal stair.  "I've made every mistake you can imagine," he quipped over dinner at San Francisco's Farmer Brown restaurant while visiting one of his holdings in Silicon Valley. "My objective is to let other people learn from my mistakes."

The Financial CoPilot uses the business infrastructure Stewart set up to run a growing array of businesses and provides other firms with an option of training; one-time consultation to set up financial practices or complete outsourcing of financial and operations.

Stewart found himself being asked to partner with startups in order to provide back office experience to founders whose expertise in the product was disproportionate with their business experience.

With an eye towards his original goal of becoming a test pilot, Stewart's firm offers a 90-day assessment called Financial Control Tower, which sets up a regimen of operational procedures.

He's also prepared a series of classes, one on preventing theft, loss and waste, drawn from the personal experience of losing $130,000 due to misbehavior; another called "How I Beat Walmart" on being competitive in retailing and customer service and a course on the lifecycle of partnerships.

Despite the track record, Stewart admits not every venture is guaranteed success. But in the next ten years, he feel confident that he'll reach at least 100 companies that he's had a hand in.