Christine Donnelly
Verified Expert in Finance
Finance Expert
New York, NY, United States
Toptal member since May 17, 2017
Christine is a Stanford MBA with 12+ years of experience who previously led a tech startup's capital raising and investor-relations function. She has experience in finance, private equity, venture capital investment banking, and business strategy at companies such as Uber, Crestview Partners, and Deutsche Bank.
Career Highlights
Education Highlights
Case Studies
Software Expertise
- Microsoft Excel
Other Expertise
- Financial Modeling
- Fundraising
- Interim CFO
- Investor Presentations
- Investor Relations Consultant
- Pitch Deck Consultant
- Startups
Work Experience
Interim Director of Finance
ChargeLab
- Ran the finance department of a Series A startup on an interim basis following the departure of their only internal finance person.
- Managed day-to-day financial operations, including closing the books each month, billing, collections, reporting, finalizing the FY 2022 audit, sending 1099s and T4As, and paying quarterly sales tax in applicable states and provinces.
- Managed an external accounting firm, an external financial advisory firm, external tax lawyers, and integrated internal tools, including Brex, Float, Plooto, QuickBooks, Sequoia, Wagepoint, Avalara, and HubSpot.
Pitch Deck Specialist
Fintech Lender in the Automotive Space
- Created a pitch deck for a fintech lender looking to raise funding to fund loans.
- Worked on the 26-slide pitch deck that included an auto refinancing market overview, company value prop, historical underwriting model performance, portfolio snapshot, company history, volume potential analysis, management team, and investment opportunity terms.
- Performed the analysis of a historical lender loan original volume relative to Treasury yields to demonstrate volume potential even in an elevated rate environment.
Business Plan Consultant
Gov Tech Startup
- Advised the CEO on the business model, pitch deck, financial model, cap table, and fundraising for a business-to-government (B2G) startup in the federal appropriations space.
- Worked with the CEO to define and iterate on the pitch deck narrative and built out the pitch deck slides in Figma. Advised on which areas of the business model the focus of the pitch deck should be.
- Reviewed, audited, and rebuilt the financial model in Excel. Created a revenue buildup tab, adjusted cost detail for a correct categorization of expenses between COGS and SG&A, and worked with the co-founders to revise the hiring plan for actual business needs.
Financial Modeling Expert
Augmented Reality Sports Startup
- Created Seed Round pitch deck from scratch. Started by working together with the founders to define the narrative and the storyline and build out the full deck contents.
- Figured out how to put together a target investor list, startup investors' priorities, and data room contents.
- Advised client on the overall fundraising process, including what should be in the pitch deck and how much money to raise in the first funding round.
- Performed strategic analysis on several areas of the business, including TAM estimation, pricing analysis, and budget required to launch.
Pitch Deck Expert
Gig Work Benefits Space Startup
- Created storyline of company narrative and prepared 25 slide pitch deck for $5-$10mm equity fundraising.
- Helped the client explain his business model more clearly and express his ideas in a more visual slide-friendly format.
- Reviewed and edited qualitative materials requested by the valuation provider, defining growth levers and completing a SWOT analysis.
Fundraising/Modeling Consultant
Psychedelic Therapy Startup
- Built out a detailed three-statement model to help the CEO determine the right structure for the business and how large of a seed round to raise.
- Created detailed revenue and cost projections for multiple business units, including rental of licensed space to therapists, dispensing medicine to patients, and subscription service for administrative services offered to therapists.
- Built out a dynamic structure for different approaches to real estate, including leasing, creating a separate real estate entity, and partnering with a REIT.
Investor Multi-industry Relations Expert
Multi-industry
- Reviewed various company fundraising pitch decks, including a roll-up pharmacy company in Canada and a fintech social network startup in APAC.
- Provided feedback on overall impressions from an investor perspective, investment merits, pitch deck structure, storytelling, and adjusting the content to the audience.
- Created a long-term relationship with a client who has returned to get support on additional projects.
Fundraising Consultant
Toptal Client - Media & Data Archiving
- Created a three-statement model for a pre-revenue startup with full revenue buildup, deferred revenue waterfall, and functionality for multiple scenarios.
- Allowed the client to see potential revenue and cash flow scenarios with a user-friendly format that made it easy to change assumptions before their first fundraiser.
- Built out a detailed deferred revenue waterfall to reflect revenue recognition for upfront payment over the period that services will be provided.
Fundraising Mentor
Toptal Client - Restaurant Tech
- Advised CEO on overall fundraising processes and strategy, revising investor pitch deck, how much and when to raise funds, thinking about investor targeting, and approaching the competitive environment.
- Mentored CEO on adjusting startup pitch, resulting in him closing at $25k Angel Investor within the first few weeks of our engagement.
- Coached the CEO on his brand, leadership style, and approach to marketing himself to investors.
Pitch Deck Expert
Toptal Client - Battery Metals Startup
- Revamped content and formatting of a fundraising pitch deck to create a clear storyline with well-articulated investment merits.
- Refined overly-detailed text-heavy deck into a streamlined 17-slide deck with a clear narrative, visually appealing slides, leveraging graphs and diagrams, and unified formatting that aligned with the brand.
- Advised client on which content to highlight to investors and which content was unnecessary and diluted the overall storyline to focus the materials on the key information investors look for.
Fundraising Expert
Reliafy
- Created the seed-round investor pitch deck from scratch.
- Helped the founder articulate the narrative, including problem statement, solution, product, value proposition, positioning relative to competitors, GTM plan, current business traction, and team expertise.
- Advised this first-time founder on the overall fundraising process.
- Generated impact on the client's business, who received verbal commitments from several investors after sharing the pitch deck.
Head of Investor Relations and People Strategy
Minu
- Served as head of IR. Led monthly investor reporting, developed content for quarterly board meetings, and worked on a Series B fundraising process. Owned the financial model, pitch deck, and due diligence data room for $20mm Series B.
- Grew the company from 70 to 110 people in eight months as head of talent acquisition. Designed and implemented the recruiting process, including sourcing, interviewing, compensation and offer, and onboarding.
- Created people strategy from scratch, designing and executing talent and culture strategy.
Head of Corporate Strategy
Uber
- Led business strategy, corporate strategy, growth strategy, competition strategy, and annual planning for Uber's LatAm Rides business.
- Developed content for and led Latin American leadership offsites on planning, long-term strategy, and people topics. Developed people strategy for 2020 and 2021.
- Included special projects like business cases and building the payments team in Latin America, Mexico's fintech license application, and conducted development, implementation, and refinement of CRM workflows.
Venture Capital Associate | MBA Intern
Unitus Impact (now called Patamar Capital)
- Reviewed company pitches of potential investments, mostly series A, and made investment recommendations to partners.
- Assisted with ongoing investor relations strategy and investor communications.
- Helped with the portfolio company strategy and review.
Interim CFO | Development Finance Fellow
Instiglio
- Oversaw the internal financial management, financial controls, compensation, strategies for growth, pricing, and sustainability.
- Built and maintained a detailed monthly financial model for internal projections and cash burn analysis.
- Made recommendations on the organization's ability to hire or add resources based on financial projections.
- Analyzed the pricing of the organization's services relative to costs and competitors. Recommended and implemented a new pricing structure. Declined the offer to join the team full-time as CFO to pursue an MBA.
Investor Relations and Marketing
Crestview Partners
- Selected as part of a three-member team and exceeded the goal of raising a $3 billion private equity fund.
- Managed relationships with more than 75 family and endowment investors.
- Led due diligence effort for public pensions, sovereign wealth funds, and private investors, including drafting 15 to 50-page written diligence documents for a client review.
- Prepared marketing materials, responded to diligence questionnaires and data requests, maintained data room of diligence information, and analyzed the portfolio company and returns data.
- Drafted quarterly letters to investors, wrote updates to private placement memoranda, drafted updates to the website, and assisted with preparing annual meeting materials.
Investment Associate
Crestview Partners
- Conducted investment recommendations, integrating qualitative analysis with detailed cash flow models of over 30 potential investments in the healthcare, industrials, and financial services industries.
- Reviewed company materials, prepared due diligence question lists, interviewed management teams, and performed in-depth, on-site, and analytical due diligence for potential equity investments of up to $200 million.
- Wrote 20-page investment memos describing transaction structure and financing, business and industry overview, valuation, model projections, returns, and investment risks and merits for five potential investments.
- Assisted with financial analysis and sell-side transaction execution of three portfolio companies (Insight Communications - sold to Time Warner; OneLink Communications - sold to Liberty Global; and ValueOptions - sold to Beacon Health).
- Executed the sale of OneLink, a Puerto Rican cable company, to Liberty Global for $585 million as the only investment professional below partner level. Created a working capital adjustment mechanism generating favorable around $8 million adjustments.
Investment Banking Analyst
Deutsche Bank
- Performed company valuations, created client presentations analyzing strategic and capital markets options, participated in client meetings and worked with management teams to develop securities offering materials.
- Advised General Motors on the $500 million sale of the Nexteer steering business, which included building a full operating model, determining the valuation range, and drafting confidential information memorandum.
- Built a financial model, prepared investor materials, and participated in the investor roadshow for International Automotive Components (IAC) of $300 million senior secured notes (closed May 2011).
- Collaborated with an equity-linked team on a $240 million bond offering for DryShips Inc., working directly with CFO and COO of DryShips during the launch and pricing of the offering.
Education
Master of Business Administration (MBA) in General Management
Stanford University - Palo Alto, CA, USA
Bachelor's Degree in Economics
Dartmouth College - Hanover, NH, USA
Skills
Finance
Financial Modeling, Financial Planning & Analysis (FP&A), Fundraising, Private Equity, Leveraged Buyout Modeling, Cash Flow Modeling, Capital Raising, Transaction Structuring, Investment Memoranda, Due Diligence, Forecasting, Capital Structure Analysis, Three-statement Modeling, Valuation, Comparable Company Analysis, Financial Reporting, Revenue & Expense Projections, Series A, Startup Funding, Funding Strategy, Seed Fundraising, Market Research, Cash Flow, RiskMetrics, Valuation Analysis, Budgeting, CFO, Price Analysis, Cash Flow Forecasting, Mergers & Acquisitions (M&A), Series B, Venture Funding, Total Addressable Market (TAM), Angel/Seed Funding, Pricing, Project Finance, Credit Underwriting, Refinancing, Debt Raises
Output Software
Microsoft Excel, Google Docs, Microsoft Word, Google Sheets, Microsoft PowerPoint, Excel 2016, Google Slides
Data & Analysis Software
Capital IQ, R, FactSet, Bloomberg, SQL, QuickBooks Online
Geographic Expertise
United States, Latin America (LATAM), Australia, Canada
Industry Expertise
Venture Capital, Early-stage Startups, Technology, Industrials, Automotive, Consumer Products, Healthcare, Capital Markets, Software, Real Estate, Restaurants & Dining, Mining, Insurance Technology (Insurtech), Food & Beverage
Other
Financial Statements, Startups, Pitch Decks, Investment Banking, Financial Reporting Dashboards, Private Equity Consultant, Investor Relations Consultant, Organization Building, Pitch Deck Consultant, Investments, Investment Cases, Business Planning, Storytelling, Investment Presentations, Financial Forecasting, Rideshare Services, Food Delivery Services, Apps, Cash Flow Analysis, Emerging Markets, Startup Consulting, Investor Presentations, Investor Reporting, Board Presentations, DCF Modeling, Precedent Transaction Analysis, Investment Modeling, Company Analysis, Investor Relations, Industry Analysis, Dashboards, Hiring Process Development, Talent Strategy, Business Strategy, Program Management, Project Management Office (PMO), Business Models, Recruiting, Fundraising Strategy, Business Validation, Early-stage Venture Capital, Fundraising Consultant, Interim CFO, Mobility, Revenue Projections, Competition Research, Artificial Intelligence (AI), Business to Business (B2B), Data Rooms, Scenario Analysis, Startup Growth Strategy Development, Go-to-market Strategy, Incentive Plan Design, Performance Improvement, Business Consulting, Business to Consumer (B2C), Business to Business to Consumer (B2B2C), B2C, Board Decks, Stock Analysis, Private Capital Markets, Client Presentations, Deal Structuring, Private Placement Memoranda, Budget Modeling, Market Research & Analysis, Key Performance Indicators (KPIs), Planning, Strategy, Organizational Design, Chief of Staff, Hiring, Fintech, Human Resources (HR), Economics, Statistics, STATA, Investing, Early-stage Funding, Marketplaces, Marketplace Platforms, Platforms, Fintech Consultant, Business Plan Consulting, Angel Investing, SaaS, Machine Learning, Software as a Service (SaaS), Financing, Restaurant Operations, Foodtech, Transportation & Logistics, Logistics & Supply Chain, Presentation Design, Real Estate Investment Trust (REIT), Healthtech, Term Sheet Advisory, B2B, Business to Government (B2G), Enterprise SaaS, Loans, Loans & Lending, Health IT, Healthcare IT, Interim Controller, Fractional CFO
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