Our Story
Fine Tune was born in a Bloomington, Indiana basement on February 1st, 2002, when co-founders Rich Ham and Matt Smith incorporated the firm. From these humble “two guys in a basement” origins, Fine Tune has evolved through 20 years to its position as the nation’s preeminent consultancy relative to a handful of the most complex and burdensome indirect service categories. The road we’ve traveled has strengthened our offerings, our team, and our culture.
About Us
Origins
Fine Tune’s beginnings were humble — starting from the basement. Literally, our co-founder’s basement. It took us 100 days to land a client and a full year to land 10, all with small Midwestern companies. But those early clients helped us expand from a team of two to a team of six in 2003. We were off and running.
During those formative months, it became clear that Fine Tune’s first offering — the management of uniform rental services programs — was addressing a real need. By 2005, we landed our first true national accounts and had begun to really hit our stride.
Adolescence
In 2009, with a steadily growing list of increasingly large clients, we decided it was time to begin diversifying our services. In response to client demand, we added a secondary category offering targeting the waste and recycling industry. This offering quickly helped us expand our relationships with existing national accounts and add a stream of new ones. For the next decade, Fine Tune would steadily grow its position in the marketplace as the nation’s leading experts in these two complex expense categories.
In 2019, in response to demand from multiple Fortune 500 clients, Fine Tune added a 3rd category offering targeting the pest control industry, and a fourth shortly thereafter, targeting the security and guard services arena. And in 2020, Fine Tune took on its first European clients, adding to its North American stronghold.
Adulthood
Now managing dozens of Fortune 1000 (and numerous Fortune 100) accounts, Fine Tune has emerged as an unparalleled solution for the most complex indirect expenses. At the same time, Fine Tune has increasingly focused on sustainability, becoming a Certified B-Corporation ™ and a member of the United States Business Council for Sustainable Development. Our support of Atmosfair’s Efficient Cookstoves Nigeria project has helped Fine Tune become a carbon-negative enterprise.
Fine Tune remains very active in the Bloomington community where we originated. We are the largest employer of interns from the IU Kelley School of business and a lead sponsor for the school’s Global Sales Workshop. We also support Riley Children’s Hospital’s IU Dance Marathon, Eco Heroes, and the Lotus World Music Festival.