Alen Avdic
Verified Expert in Finance
Finance Expert
Sarajevo, Bosnia and Herzegovina
Toptal member since November 9, 2022
Alen's career began at Morgan Stanley, and he has worked for bulge-bracket and boutique investment banks in London, Johannesburg, Amsterdam, and Sarajevo. He's executed over 20 M&A, equity, debt, and restructuring transactions and has evaluated over 100 more with a strong focus on fintech, eCommerce, and SaaS. Freelancing enables Alen to leverage his expertise to help clients solve complex challenges and meet remarkable individuals whose diverse knowledge helps him become a better consultant.
Career Highlights
Education Highlights
Case Studies
Expertise
Work Experience
Consultant
Freelance Clients
- Produced a complete fundraising presentation for a UK-based crypto startup that aims to raise €10 million.
- Developed a detailed financial model and contributed to a successful refinancing of $50 million for a US-based adult wellness business.
- Created a comprehensive investor deck and secured €800,000 in growth capital for a Balkan-based smart parking startup.
- Produced a complete pitch deck and helped raise €1 million in venture capital for a Balkan-based fintech loyalty startup.
- Conducted several market research studies and analyzed European digital identity, payments, and money transfer industries.
Managing Director and External Advisor
Olympia Capital Partners
- Helped launch a new advisory and investment firm as its first employee and recruited, trained, and managed a team of analysts.
- Managed a $100+ million refinancing transaction for a SaaS client and produced all financial analyses and required marketing materials, including complete CIM.
- Developed a comprehensive operating model with detailed profit and loss, balance sheet, and cash flow projections to quantify the effects of multiple COVID-19 scenarios, contributing to the successful restructuring of $130 million.
- Created a detailed private equity fundraising presentation and helped secure €15 million in pre-commitments.
Strategic Analyst
Trilogy
- Joined a newly-formed team requiring exceptional problem-solving skills with a CCAT score of over 45, 99th percentile. Tasked with deep diving into different functions, including operations, CS, finance, HR, and M&A, to analyze operational gaps.
- Diagnosed inefficiencies' root causes by utilizing tools like NetSuite, Salesforce, AWS, Jira, and Zendesk and synthesized data into actionable insights.
- Cooperated cross-functionally to dissect thousands of software vendor payments, leading to more than $10 million in annual savings.
Founder and Chief Executive Officer (CEO)
Movida
- Founded an eCommerce startup and directed 11 employees, efficiently growing the business to 100 daily orders within six months.
- Developed highly effective advertising campaigns and grew the fanbase to 110,000 loyal followers with a 4.9-5.0 rating, becoming one of the country's largest eCommerce platforms.
- Secured €100,000 in seed capital and successfully applied for USAID Grant, receiving expert consultancy services and €12,500 in funding.
Country Manager and Chief Executive Officer (CEO)
Rocket Internet
- Launched the Sarajevo office for one of Rocket internet's ventures in Bosnia and Herzegovina and assumed full country responsibility.
- Spearheaded the setup of operations in sales, marketing, content, logistics, distribution, and customer service and oversaw 12 employees at two different locations.
- Collaborated with functional and regional leaders and developed performance objectives, contributing to strategic direction and overall growth.
Chief Financial Officer (CFO)
Symphony
- Leveraged strategic finance experience to help the founders through various business inflection points, including high-growth periods, resource allocation, investments, and ownership changes.
- Initiated the launch of the finance function and built reporting infrastructure by establishing internal data analytics, policies, processes, and systems best practices.
- Defined and implemented business performance metrics and created a KPI dashboard to help track, measure, and report relevant KPIs.
Associate
Kempen
- Joined as a financial institutions valuation expert to help launch a new industry coverage team in the Corporate Finance division.
- Mapped the entire banking and insurance market, including life, health, and non-life, and created and maintained segment-focused valuation models and marketing materials.
- Managed E2E transaction planning and execution, including target sourcing, business case creation, and roadshow coordination, helping execute two financial institutions and six life sciences transactions, including one initial public offering (IPO).
Associate
ACHMEA
- Advised executive board on strategic initiatives and led transaction-related valuation processes, including the €200 million loan portfolio sale.
- Created standardized asset valuation and impairment test models and actively interacted with senior management by supporting financial reporting, financial planning and analysis (FP&A), and accounting processes in 10 countries.
- Designed and developed a financial model and quantified the economic damages of seven Slovak law changes that adversely affected the company, helping obtain a favorable ruling of €22 million.
Analyst
Morgan Stanley
- Joined the Central Eastern Europe team in London and supported deal origination and execution, including the NWR IPO of $2.5 billion.
- Rotated into the Sub-Saharan Africa team in Johannesburg and supported the execution of Telkom's Vodacom share sale of $2.7 billion and Standard Bank's Liberty Holdings minority buy-out of $500 million.
- Co-developed financial models and effectively rationed South Africa's electricity shortage, contributing to stable commodity prices.
Education
Master's Degree in Business Administration (Cum Laude)
Amsterdam Business School - Amsterdam, Netherlands
Master's Degree in Business Economics (Cum Laude)
University of Amsterdam - Amsterdam, Netherlands
Certifications
Mergers & Acquisitions
The Wharton School Executive Education
Skills
Finance
Corporate Finance, M&A, Fundraising, Valuations, Financial Modeling, Market Research Analyst, FP&A, Three-statement Modeling, Forecasting, Seed Fundraising, Revenue & Expense Projections, Profitability Analysis, Total Addressable Market (TAM), Private Equity, Interim CFOs, Funding Strategy, M&A, Due Diligence, Valuations, Finance Strategy, Equity Capital, Debt Raises, DCF Valuation, Discounted Cash Flow (DCF), Budgeting Consulting, Investment Return Scenario Analysis, Cash Flow Modeling
Output Software
Excel Development, Microsoft PowerPoint, Google Sheets Development, Google Slides, Google Docs Development, Microsoft Word
Industry Expertise
Financial Services, Banking Consulting, Financial Markets, Fashion, Confidential Information Memorandum (CIM), Foreign Subsidiaries, Venture Capital, Real Estate, Technology, Healthcare App Design
Data & Analysis Software
Capital IQ
Geographic Expertise
Serbia, Bosnia & Herzegovina, Croatia, Albania, Macedonia, Latin America (LATAM), Spain
Other
Emerging Markets, Business Planning, Investor Presentations, Presentation Design, Market Research & Analysis, Pitch Deck Consulting, Startup Development, Business Modeling, Business Strategy, Design Strategy, Client Presentations, Reporting, Data Science, Digital Banking, Financing, Financial Products, Pitch Books, Pitch Preparation, Investments, Financial Analysis, Strategic Planning & Execution, Fundraising Strategy, E-commerce marketing, Direct to Consumer (D2C), Marketplace Platforms, Brand Strategists, Entrepreneurship, SaaS, Market Research Analyst, Fractional CFOs, Interim CFOs, Platforms, Grants, Grant Proposals, Carve-out Analysis, Restructuring, Early-stage Venture Capital, Market Sizing, Virtual Coaching, Process Improvement, Data, Logistics & Supply Chain, Logistics & Warehousing, Procurement, Social Media Marketing, Operations, E-commerce Development, Board Reporting, Sales Growth, Business Intelligence Development, Financial Reporting Dashboards, Key Performance Indicators (KPIs), Financial Presentations, Financial Controls & Processes, Initial Public Offerings, Benchmarking, DCF Modeling, Precedent Transaction Analysis, Budget Modeling, Private Capital Markets, Transaction Comparables, Key Performance Metrics, Information Memoranda, Scenario Analysis, Cash Flow Analysis, Sensitivity Analysis, Loyalty Programs, Loyalty Management
How to Work with Toptal
Toptal matches you directly with global industry experts from our network in hours—not weeks or months.
Share your needs
Choose your talent
Start your risk-free talent trial
Top talent is in high demand.
Start hiring