Financial Modeling for Business Owners and Entrepreneurs

Description

Financial Modeling for Business Owners and Entrepreneurs : Developing Excel Models to Raise Capital, Increase Cash Flow, Improve Operations, Plan Projects, and Make Decisions may be one of the most important books any entrepreneur or manager in a small or medium-sized enterprise will read. It combines logical business principles and strategies with a step-by-step methodology for planning and modeling a company and solving specific business problems. You’ll learn to create operational and financial models in Excel that describe the workings of your company in quantitative terms and that make it far more likely you will avoid the traps and dead ends many businesses fall into. Serial entrepreneur and financial expert Tom Y. Sawyer shows how to break your company down into basic functional and operational components that can be modeled. The result is a financial model that, for example, you can literally take to the bank or bring tolocal angel investors to receive the funding you need to launch your business or a new product. Or it might be a model that shows with startling clarity that your new product development effort is a likely winner—or loser. Even better, you’ll learn to create models that will serve as guideposts for ongoing operations. You’ll always know just where you are financially, and where you need to be. The models you will learn to build in Financial Modeling for Business Owners and Entrepreneurs can be used to: Raise capital for startup or any stage of growth Plan projects and new initiatives Make astute business decisions, including go/no-go assessments Analyze ROI on your product development and marketing expenditures Streamline operations, manage budgets, improve efficiency, and reduce costs Value the business when it is time to cash out or merge In addition to many valuable exercisesand tips for using Excel to model your business, this book contains a combination of practical advice born of hard-won lessons, advanced strategic thought, and the insightful use of hard skills. With a basic knowledge of Excel assumed, it will help you learn to think like an experienced business person who expects to make money on the products or services offered to the public. You’ll discover that the financial model is a key management tool that, if built correctly, provides invaluable assistance every step of the entrepreneurial journey. Tom Y. Sawyer has used the principles this book contains to create financial models of numerous startup and early-stage companies, assisting them in planning for and raising the capital that they needed to grow their businesses and ultimately exit with multiples of their initial investment. Financial Modeling for Business Owners and Entrepreneurs , a mini-MBA in entrepreneurship and finance, will show you how you can dothe same. Note: This book is an updated version of Sawyer's 2009 title, Pro Excel Financial Modeling . Review: A beautiful Road Map for creating an Entrepreneurial, Innovation Based Economy for Start-ups. - "Using lean methods across a portfolio of start-ups will result in fewer failures than using traditional methods." -- Steve Blank." I love this book! This review is dedicated to my father. Like my father, Mr. Tom Y. Sawyer outlines brilliant start-up strategies in functional and operational components. Don't jump the gun. He implores you to switch from strategy (overindulgence) to ACTION. He applies Microsoft Excel as a device to develop financial models before writing a formal business plan. Don't buy expensive dashboard applications. Plus, they have a learning curve that wastes time! Customize them from scratch using Excel to better suit your unique business model. Learn Excel! Why? "There is a high probability that you will need to borrow or raise money at some point in the life cycle of your early-stage venture. One day, you will find yourself making a pitch to a relative, a banker, and angel investor, or venture capitalist seeking the funding you need to build or grow your business." Once you have painstakingly completed his "what if" scenarios (at the same time you are "growing up" from your plan written on a napkin) towards MVP with a Start-Up Team - as a founder, this book will give you a HUGE moving-forward-progress advantage - writing a formal business plan (after MVP) will be much easier, AND your team will survive the overwhelming odds against you and arrive at MVP! "You must be able to explain the logic, rationale, and workings of your venture with enough clarity to enable investors, lenders or potential partners to make a determination of value. They must be able to arrive at an understanding of your company’s value if you are to attract the resources you need at different scales." The perceived value of the early-stage venture is the primary determinant of its ability to attract the resources needed to grow a startup. Don’t underestimate the value equation in attracting top-tier investors, talent, and employees. High-quality stakeholders make similar calculations of value to determine if they are willing to invest their time, energy, and reputations by coming to work for your venture (or sell to you), always a risky proposition. (modified) HOMEWORK: Dive into how Mr. Sawyer explains "Value Events." Brilliant! Time is money. More importantly, time is our most valuable commodity. Put skin in the game. GRAB THIS BOOK and JUST DO IT. Review: Five Stars - Great!!