Cory Azzalino
Verified Expert in Finance
Finance Expert
Los Angeles, CA, United States
Toptal member since January 31, 2017
Cory is a CPA with over a decade of experience in accounting and private equity, where he invested over $1 billion across 20+ transactions as well as raising $20 million on behalf of startups. He left private equity to start a venture-backed IoT company while freelancing for family offices, private equity funds, and public companies. He's worked in various fields such as business and tech development, capital raising, and transaction execution.
Career Highlights
Education Highlights
Certification Highlights
Case Studies
Financial Model
Pitch Deck to Raise Venture Capital
Project Green Teaser
Industry Expertise
- Finance
- Venture Capital & Private Equity
- Manufacturing
- Aerospace & Defense
- Security Software
- eCommerce
- Financial Modeling
- Project Management
Software Expertise
- Capital IQ
- Microsoft Excel
- Microsoft PowerPoint
Other Expertise
- Debt Raises
- Mergers & Acquisitions (M&A)
- Private Equity
- Three-statement Modeling
Work Experience
Senior Vice President, Finance
Eaze
- Raised $90 million in Series D funding from current and new investors.
- Built a financial forecast model used for budgeting and capital raising.
- Created a pitch deck for investor presentations and closed Series D.
CEO
Rally Networks
- Established and executed a company strategy for technology development, manufacturing, operations, hiring, and sales.
- Hired and managed seven employees, including mechanical and electrical engineers, software programmers, and a sales team.
- Prepared investment material, negotiated term sheets, and closed a $750,000 seed round from investors including Techstars, Liberty Global, Virgin Media, and Tomorrow Lab.
- Signed critical business development partnerships with customers managing over 8,000 retail locations and established relationships with seven mobile app companies leading to over $250,000 in contracts.
CEO and Interim CFO
DionyMed Brands, Inc.
- Raised over $100 million in seed, Series A, Series B capital, and a go-public transaction.
- Closed four acquisitions totaling more than $45 million in the purchase price.
- Scaled a team to more than 425 people prior to exiting via an acquisition.
- Built financial and projection models to manage the cash flow.
Director of Corporate Development
JH Capital
- Led the diligence and investment research on seven early-stage and growth opportunities across several verticals, including technology, business services, specialty finance, manufacturing, cybersecurity, and aerospace.
- Created the business case for a debt settlement and consumer lending company that led to an increase in revenue from $3.7 million in 2014 to $10.2 million in 2015 and $23 million in 2016.
- Developed a critical operating model and investment material to secure $100 million in credit facilities for the continued expansion of lending and purchasing activity.
- Raised $75 million in equity investment from leading private equity firms.
- Acted as a board observer.
Senior Financial Analyst
Prudential Capital Group
- Worked as a member of a three-person investment team with one direct report that managed over $1.7 billion of senior debt, mezzanine and equity investments in fifteen portfolio companies; including three control equity investments.
- Screened deals, performed extensive diligence, created LBO models, formulated investment theses, presented recommendations to the investment committee, and aided the structuring and negotiation of over $1 billion of investments across seventeen transactions.
- Was awarded the highest-ranking classification (five out of five) among a 50+ person international analyst class each year.
- Generated prospective deals by identifying potential investment targets, cold-calling to set up meetings, and presenting the financing capabilities to the senior management.
- Reviewed and negotiated term sheets, examined closing documents, and completed over fifteen legal modifications.
Audit Assistant
Deloitte
- Received certified public accounting certification after only a year.
- Audited public and private companies across several industries, including enterprise software, real estate, manufacturing, and engineering.
- Developed financial models and detailed reports to analyze revenue and expenses line items.
- Analyzed financial statements for inaccuracies and suggested changes before the release of public filings.
- Created variance reports to statistically recognize material changes that were anomalous.
Education
Certified Public Accountant License in Accounting
CalCPA | California Society of Certified Public Accountants - Los Angeles, CA, USA
Bachelor's Degree in Accounting
University of Southern California - Los Angeles, CA, USA
Bachelor's Degree in Finance
University of Southern California - Los Angeles, CA, USA
Certifications
Certified Public Accountant (CPA)
California Board of Accountancy
Skills
Finance
Forecasting, Discounted Cash Flow (DCF), Private Equity, Mezzanine, Bank Debt Raises, Debt Raises, Financial Planning & Analysis (FP&A), Three-statement Modeling, Mergers & Acquisitions (M&A), Budgeting, Financial Modeling, Five-year Projections, Revenue & Expense Projections, Fundraising, Angel/Seed Funding, Venture Funding, Financial Reporting, Private Credit, Capital Structure Analysis, Capital Raising, Growth Capital Raising, Financial Benchmarking, Capital Budgeting, Equity Research, Credit/Debt
Output Software
Apple Keynote, Microsoft PowerPoint, Microsoft Excel
Data & Analysis Software
Capital IQ, Tableau
Industry Expertise
Debt Capital Markets, Venture Capital, Technology, Financial Services, Aerospace & Defense, Capital Markets
Geographic Expertise
United States, United Kingdom
Other
Startups, eCommerce, Private Placement Memoranda, Equity, Private Capital Markets, Private Placements, Debt Issuance, Debt Financing, Private Equity Consultant, Modeling, Manufacturing, Cybersecurity, Equity Investment, SaaS, Project Management, Pitch Decks, Presentation Design, Presentations
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