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Christopher M Collins, Finance Expert in New York, NY, United States
Christopher M Collins

Finance Expert in New York, NY, United States

Member since November 22, 2019
Christopher possesses 10+ years of financial and investing experience across public markets, private equity, credit, and venture capital. He has recently focused on working with startups, helping them identify critical growth and profitability levers. He brings his financial and operational skillset to the Toptal network, where he helps emerging companies deliver capital-efficient expansion and raise the funds they need to accelerate growth.
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Career Highlights

Education

Select Certifications

Industry Expertise

  • Finance
  • Investment Banking
  • Venture Capital & Private Equity
  • Hospitality
  • Health & Nutrition Products
  • Freight & Logistics Services
  • Financial Modeling
  • Startups

Other Expertise

Employment

  • Co-founder

    2019 - PRESENT
    Funday
    • Built the company's first financial model to help with internal projections and fundraising efforts.
    • Created market sizing analysis through a bottoms-up approach, including research relevant to Funday's business model.
    • Leading fundraising efforts for Funday's initial round.
    • Built Funday's website, including eCommerce functionality.
    • Helped create a regulatory playbook to introduce business models to city officials and launch pilots.
    Focus areas: Startups, Fundraising, Budgeting, Financial Modeling, Regulatory Compliance, Logistics, Operations Analytics

  • Principal

    2017 - 2019
    Human Ventures
    • Supported Trove Social, a hospitality startup focused on the elderly, with market research that resulted in a business model pivot and the company raising a $2.5 million seed round led by a top-tier VC.
    • Helped to launch Human Ventures Fund I, a $50 million venture capital fund, driving portfolio construction, creating the investor deck, and selecting third-party vendors for the fund's operations.
    • Developed critical fund processes, including investment process, sourcing strategy, and evaluation criteria.
    • Helped to refine the company building process, including ideation, validation, and creation stages. Helped build 10+ companies from scratch, three of which have raised institutional seed rounds thus far.
    • Supported Clark, a leading education technology company supporting tutors, by building a new financial model for their business model pivot from consumer to B2B. This helped them increase revenue by over 300% and led them to get acquired by Noodle, a large player in the space.
    Focus areas: Company Building, Startups, Venture Capital

  • Associate

    2016 - 2017
    Flat World Partners
    • Sourced and evaluated impact investments into startups across all sectors and geographies while helping create the due diligence process for companies and funds from scratch.
    • Evaluated and executed investments in Andela, OpenInvest, and Nowsta, two of whom have gone on to raise multiple rounds of follow-on funding.
    • Created relationships with impact investing funds across asset classes and conduct due diligence; attended events and conferences to promote Flat World’s presence in the impact investing landscape.
    • Assisted in the development of Flat World’s proprietary impact measurement tool to score fund managers and startups. The project has since spun out into its own company.
    • Served as the interim CFO, assisted with the creation of the pitch deck, and facilitated investor introductions for Root, an AgTech startup.
    Focus areas: Fund of Funds, Venture Capital

  • MBA Summer Intern

    2015 - 2015
    Trilinc Global
    • Analyzed credit structure and performed due diligence of trade finance and term loan deals in Africa and Latin America.
    • Led the deal process for investments in a rice distributor in Kenya and a sardine exporter in Ecuador.
    • Created investment memos and presented recommendations to the investment committee.
    • Monitored financial performance of portfolio companies based on loan term conditions and covenants.
    • Sourced investment partners in Asia and Africa.
    Focus areas: Impact Investing

  • MBA Investment Analyst

    2015 - 2015
    Tau Investment Management
    • Created the financial model, including capabilities for scenario analysis as well as various industry-related performance metrics, which was used to value garment factories in multiple countries in Southeast Asia.
    • Conducted research focused on potential financial inclusion partner organizations for factory workers in Bangladesh, Indonesia, and Vietnam.
    • Produced report outlining challenges and alternatives to implementing effective partnerships.
    • Identified potential cost-cutting measures for factories in Southeast Asia.
    Focus areas: Impact Investing

  • MBA Summer Analyst

    2014 - 2014
    Impact Investment Group
    • Created a sector map for the Australian education industry, identifying key investment opportunities in early childhood/continuing education companies.
    • Modeled returns sensitivity under various scenarios for a $16 million wind farm trust in response to investor inquiries, resulting in $100,000 in new investments.
    • Created pitch deck materials for fundraising purposes and helped organized events for potential investors.
    • Evaluated early-stage investments in the recycling sector.
    Focus areas: Impact Investing

  • Investment Officer

    2010 - 2013
    Netplus Capital
    • Hired as the first full-time outside employee at a multi-family office focused on high net worth clients based in Latin America.
    • Helped the firm scale from less than $50 million in assets under management to $450+ million.
    • Researched equities and bonds, assisted with portfolio allocation, and created internal investment processes.
    • Created pitch decks and annual and ad-hoc portfolio reports for clients, saving the company $100,000 by bringing design in-house.
    • Evaluated vendors and learned design skills to improve website and pitch deck material.
    Focus areas: Portfolio Management, Investing

  • Portfolio Administration Analyst

    2008 - 2010
    AllianceBernstein
    • Worked closely with sales and portfolio management teams to ensure the efficiency of accounts through openings, closings, contributions, and subscriptions.
    • Led the initiative to streamline portfolio management by reducing outstanding foreign trading requests by 50%+ and adding missing trading details for 20+ international markets.
    • Represented the New York City operations department as the main point of contact with critical stakeholders.
    • Reconciled institutional investment accounts with custodians.
    • Promoted to the account transitions team.
    Focus areas: Asset Management

Education

  • Master of Business Administration (MBA) in Finance & Entrepreneurial Management
    2013 - 2015
    University of Pennsylvania - The Wharton School - Philadelphia
  • Bachelor's Degree in Economics
    2005 - 2007
    University of Virginia - Charlottesville

Certifications

  • Chartered Financial Analyst (CFA)
    OCTOBER 2015 - PRESENT
    CFA Institute

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