Investors and Funding

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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.

12 minute readContinue Reading
Sean Heberling

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.

11 minute readContinue Reading
Carolyn Deng, CFA

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.

15 minute readContinue Reading
Nathan Krishnan S

Nathan Krishnan S

During his two-decade career in Asia and the US, Nathan has consulted in strategy, valuations, corporate finance and financial planning.

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.

11 minute readContinue Reading
Carolyn Deng, CFA

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.

10 minute readContinue Reading
Ellen Su

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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Representations and Warranty Insurance: An M&A Tool Every Seller Should Know About

Relatively unknown until recently, representation and warranty insurance is an interesting—and often extremely effective—tool for helping M&A deals cross the finishing line. By shifting the financial risk for breaches of representation and warranties to an insurance firm, these arrangements can enable sellers to receive all the purchase price proceeds at closing as opposed to being exposed to liquidity risk post deal close.

16 minute readContinue Reading
Javier Enrile

Javier Enrile

Javier has 16 years of experience in mid-market M&A and VC, with 35 completed transactions and hundreds of others evaluated and negotiated.

How to Build a Budget That Lasts the Full Year

Budgeting can be a drawn-out process, yet oftentimes once the year starts and results diverge, they become forgotten. Instead of budgeting just with qualitative methods, managers should combine them with quantitative tools. Comparing regressed historic trends with future expectations can be more accurate and ultimately ensure the budget survives the year.

14 minute readContinue Reading
Erik Warren

Erik Warren

Erik’s built and managed finance functions for global companies, with responsibilities ranging from reporting to managing capital raises.

Toptal Finance Expert

Neil Portus | CFA, CMA

Neil is a CFO for growth companies and a former equity analyst at Goldman Sachs in NY where he helped lead numerous transactions including Zipcar's $1.1 billion IPO. He was also an equity analyst at Barclays Capital & Lehman Brothers and began his career at a boutique investment bank (M&A, restructuring, debt financings). He's built his operational skills both as a startup founder and as the CFO of an East Africa-focused impact investment firm.
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