Ben Blieden, Finance Expert in Boston, United States
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Ben Blieden

Verified Expert  in Finance

Finance Expert

Location
Boston, United States
Toptal Member Since
March 29, 2022

Ben is the co-founder and CFO of a venture-backed fintech company that is pioneering how SMBs access funding and repay investors. He is an expert in capital raising, financial modeling, valuation, and data analysis. Before founding a fintech company, he spent 6+ years performing valuation analysis on complex financial instruments for companies ranging from startups to Fortune 500 public companies. Ben is a CFA-charter holder focusing on producing high-quality deliverables.

Fractional CFOInterim CFOFinancial ModelingRevenue & Expense ProjectionsMergers & Acquisitions (M&A)ComplianceFinancial Planning & Analysis (FP&A)FundraisingValuation

Certification Highlights

CFA
CFA Institute

Case Studies

Image of SaaS Company Unit Economics project
SaaS Company Unit Economics
Unit EconomicsLTVCustomer Acquisition Cost (CAC)Contribution Margin AnalysisDiscounted Cash Flow (DCF)
Image of DCF Valuation of Proposed Merger project
DCF Valuation of Proposed Merger
Discounted Cash Flow (DCF)Financial AnalysisM&A Modeling
Image of Pitch Deck for Series A Raise project
Pitch Deck for Series A Raise
Pitch DecksSeries AFintech

Work Experience

Chief Financial Officer

2018 - PRESENT
MainVest
  • Oversaw the development of an innovative method to fund and grow SMBs using revenue-based financing debt instruments. Since its inception, tens of millions of USD have been funded to hundreds of SMBs using these nascent financial vehicles.
  • Raised over $6 million in capital from institutional venture capital firms, including Lerer Hippeau, Expa, and Rucker Park VC.
  • Led the accounting, finance, regulatory, legal, and HR departments of a venture-backed fintech company.
  • Managed a policy initiative to improve Title III of the JOBS Act, including submitting policy proposals to the SEC, which ultimately contributed to the vast improvement of the regulatory framework behind SMB capital formation.
  • Constructed financial models used in various applications throughout the business, including debt pricing models, discounted cash flow models, LTV models, etc. The models were used with hundreds of clients and VC pitches.
Focus areas: Financial Planning & Analysis (FP&A), Fundraising, Client Relations, Compliance, Legal, Human Resources (HR), Data Analysis, Platforms, Forecasting, Marketplaces, B2B, CFO, Fractional CFO, Interim CFO

Manager

2014 - 2018
Grant Thornton
  • Led auditing efforts of valuation-related accounting entries for various public and private clients.
  • Managed dozens of client-facing engagements related to the valuation of complex financial instruments and equity and debt valuation.
  • Developed financial models for a wide array of clients for financial analysis, valuation, mergers and acquisitions, and tax and accounting purposes.
Focus areas: Valuation, Valuation of Financial Instruments, Mergers & Acquisitions (M&A), Leveraged Buyout (LBO)
2007 - 2011

Bachelor of Business Administration in Finance

University of Massachusetts Amherst, Isenberg Business School - Amherst, MA, USA

AUGUST 2017 - PRESENT

CFA

CFA Institute