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Your first week with Ventura
You don't need to configure everything before you get value. This is a five-day path that stands the firm up in order — people, then rates, then clients, then the daily habit, then the review that ties it together.
Day 0 — Create your firm
The first person signs up and is prompted to create the firm: give it a name and pick its type — Finance / advisory or Marketing agency. Ventura makes you the partner and loads a starter pack matched to that type: service lines, a set of Playbooks, and a Library of templates. Everything is editable later in Settings.
Before you start
Connect the integrations you'll rely on — Google or Microsoft for calendar and email capture, and Xero if you bill from it. See Integrations for what each one syncs.
Day 1 — Invite your team and assign roles
From Settings → Team, invite each person by email and pick a role. Ventura has seven roles; the role plus what someone is assigned to governs everything they can see. Start with the partners, then add managers and staff.
Not sure who should see what? Read Roles & access — economics stay partner/finance-only no matter how you assign the rest.
Day 2 — Set rate tiers and internal engagements
- In Settings → Rate card, enter a billable and cost rate for each tier (Partner / Manager / Senior / Staff).
- In Settings → Team, assign each person a rate tier.
- In Settings → Firm settings, set your target rate, breakeven rate, and utilization target.
- Confirm your internal engagements exist — Admin, Internal Meetings, BD Discovery, Team Leadership — so non-billable time has a home.
This is the one-time setup that turns logged hours into dollars later. Team members never touch it.
Day 3 — Add key clients and engagements
Add your active clients and the engagements (files) under them. Set each engagement's kind — Project, Retainer, or Internal — and, for retainers, the monthly hours allotment. See Engagements for the details. You don't need every client on day three — the ones with live work are enough.
Day 4 — Log time
Have the team open Time and log a day. This is the habit everything else depends on. The Time tracking & profitability page has the 60-second version — type hours into the grid, use Copy last week, submit when the week's done.
Day 5 — Review Time, Clients, and Firm
- Time → Labour analysis (partner/senior-manager): utilization, client profitability, and signals for the week.
- Clients: walk the exposed files — what has no next action, what's slipping on recovery, what's ready to bill.
- Firm (partner): the cockpit — financials, unbilled time (WIP), realization, and the monthly review.
The habit that makes it work
After week one, Ventura runs on a simple rhythm: everyone logs time daily and works their Top 2; partners walk the files weekly and the firm monthly. Capture once, let the system surface the next action, keep a short list you actually finish.