Toptal Finance Expert
The Rules of Motivation: A Story About Correcting Failed Sales Incentive Schemes
Rewards programs and sales incentive schemes are necessary for any business that operates outbound customer acquisition channels. They encourage certain behavior and that, if poorly constructed, can lead to perverse results and conflicting interests. Creating a holistic plan that stimulates positive company-wide behavior is an art that has huge benefits.
Kresimir Profaca
Kresimir is an entrepreneur and CFO with more than two decades of experience in growth-stage startups and large corporations.
Aligned for Success: A Guide to What Investors Look for in a Startup
Startup investors are not benevolent creatures, they’re looking for certain signals that help to persuade them to part with their money. This guide, written from an investor’s perspective, intends to help startups understand the key areas to focus on and emphasize when raising money.
David Bradshaw
David is a financial expert who has assisted startups and companies in various growth stages to secure funding, involving deals of up to $100 million. He specializes in cash flow management and financial planning, and modeling, with a focus on real estate, consumer, and financial sectors.
The Undeniable Importance of a Business Plan
We often hear about business plans in the context of early-stage companies; however, constructing excellent business plans is difficult and time-consuming, so many entrepreneurs avoid them. But, is this a mistake?
While most people may be aware of the “soft” arguments for and against writing a business plan, in this article, a Toptal Finance Expert takes a data-driven approach to addressing the debate. In it, he finds strong evidence to support the notion that writing an excellent business plan is time well spent.
Sean Heberling
Sean has analyzed 10,000+ companies, built complex models, and helped facilitate $1+ billion in investment transactions.
AI Investment Primer: A Practical Guide to Appraising Artificial Intelligence Dealflow (Part II)
In part I of this two-part series, Toptal Finance Expert Carolyn Deng provided an overview of the world of AI aimed at investors, with a focus on understanding what factors make for a great AI company. In this follow-up post, she outlines five practical steps investors should follow when diligencing a potential AI investment.
Carolyn Deng, CFA
A Wharton MBA and CFA, Carolyn has executed 20+ VC/PE deals, managed a $700M portfolio and is a fundraising, growth and M&A specialist.
Getting to the Greeks: The Comprehensive Guide to Option Pricing
Stock options are widely used in public and private markets, both as malleable trading tools and for employee compensation. Yet many do not understand the components behind how they are priced. This guide discusses what drives the behavior of call and put options and how they can be deployed within portfolio management.
Nathan Krishnan S
During his two-decade career in Asia and the US, Nathan has consulted in strategy, valuations, corporate finance and financial planning.
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AI Investment Primer: Laying the Groundwork (Part I)
Over the last few years, the world has witnessed an explosion of interest surrounding Artificial Intelligence. Nevertheless, there still exists a significant gap in understanding and knowledge about AI applications, particularly amongst the investor community. This article, the first of a two-part series on the topic, is a collection of thoughts and advice by Toptal Finance Expert Carolyn Deng, based on her experience having founded an AI startup as well as having worked as VC Investor.
Carolyn Deng, CFA
A Wharton MBA and CFA, Carolyn has executed 20+ VC/PE deals, managed a $700M portfolio and is a fundraising, growth and M&A specialist.
Exploring Excel’s Get & Transform Functionality
Hidden in Excel and Power BI is a powerful data analysis pack named Get & Transform (previously known as Power Query). It is an ETL pack for cleaning and sorting raw data from a range of input sources, such as CSV and text files. This tutorial demonstrates how to–quite literally– get and transform data in Excel, in ways that can help the data analyst save time and uncover more insight.
Ellen Su
Ellen’s extensive experience in fixed income trading and portfolio management make her an unparalleled expert in analytics and modeling.
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