Jake Goldstein, Finance Expert in Chicago, IL, United States
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Jake Goldstein

Verified Expert  in Finance

Finance Expert

Location
Chicago, IL, United States
Toptal Member Since
February 2, 2020

Jake sourced and raised BOLD's (a fitness startup) venture funding to become the Founder/CEO, launching three sites in Chicago. Before BOLD, he was Head of Finance, Operations, and Biz Dev for the healthcare IT company, NowPow, where he led all operational endeavors: fundraising, strategic finance, FP&A, and investor reporting. Jake was a hedge fund analyst with Melvin Capital and an investment banker with BofA Merrill Lynch, advising banks on strategic M&A and capital-raising initiatives.

Career Highlights

Founder | Chief Executive Officer
Bold Numbers, Inc. ("BOLD")
Investment Banker
Bank of America Merrill Lynch

Education Highlights

Bachelor's Degree
Yale University

Certification Highlights

Series 63
FINRA | Financial Industry Regulatory Authority
Series 79
FINRA | Financial Industry Regulatory Authority

Case Studies

Work Experience

Founder | Chief Executive Officer

2020 - PRESENT
Bold Numbers, Inc. ("BOLD")
  • Successfully created and launched BOLD in Chicago as a multi-faceted, venture-backed fitness conglomerate focused on building, managing, automating, and operating non-traditional real estate spaces as high-end, personalized fitness centers.
  • Raised $500,000 in seed funding from a consortium of institutional capital sources (Motivate Venture Capital) and a network of high net worth angel investors; led corporate fundraising efforts, including prep of pitch materials and legal deal structuring.
  • Designed, implemented, and managed three 320-square foot micro fitness centers built from shipping containers installed on outdoor surface lots in Chicago’s prominent West Loop neighborhood for commercial use.
  • BOLD’s Gym Pods are run as independent fitness centers booked by personal trainers and everyday gym-goers in 60-minute workout increments via a “pay-as-you-go” model.
  • Designed, implemented, and managed BOLD’s back-end business management platform in collaboration with Mindbody. This includes coordinating the launch of BOLD’s iOS/Android mobile app for seamless hourly bookings at BOLD’s Chicago Gym Pod locations.
  • Designed, built, and implemented BOLD’s in-pod tech platform, allowing Gym Pod users to interact with previously recorded fitness content from top trainers in the U.S. and stream content/music from personal devices to BOLD’s monitors and speakers.
  • Grew hourly bookings at BOLD’s Chicago Gym Pods by 10x within three months of launch. Achieved over 3,000 pod bookings, over $20,000 in annualized run-rate adjusted EBITDA, and nearly $100,000 in annualized revenue within the first eight months of operations.
Focus areas: Startups, Fundraising, Investor Reporting, QuickBooks Online, Commercial Real Estate Finance (CREF), Fitness, Events, Early-stage Funding, Early-stage Venture Capital, Accounting

Head of Finance, Operations, and Business Development

2018 - 2020
NowPow
  • Led NowPow’s finance, operations, and business development departments, reporting directly to the company’s CEO, overseeing a double-digit team of direct reports, supporting fundraising, finance, accounting, partnerships, IT, investor relations, and FP&A.
  • Successfully designed and implemented companywide standard operating procedures, including automated AR/AP management, FP&A modeling, KPI dashboarding, and customer contract management.
  • Successfully designed and implemented investor/strategic partnership evaluations, sales commission design and administration, customer pricing automation, employee benefits administration, etc.
  • Led the company to double the monthly recurring revenue (MRR) and user growth while scaling internally from 50 to 100+ employees.
  • Oversaw month-end financial close process in accordance with U.S. GAAP-based accrual accounting standards.
  • Led the company’s fundraising and investor relations activities, serving as a point of contact for investors representing dilutive and non-dilutive capital. Successfully raised $5 million of external capital, maintaining banking and lender relationships.
  • Oversaw facilities, IT, and FF&E management, asset tracking, commercial leases, enterprise contract negotiations, etc.
  • Successfully led the company through two external audits, with 100% positive feedback and no material accounting deficiencies.
Focus areas: Real Estate, Investor Reporting, Cash Management, Fundraising, Capital Raising, Pricing, Business Development, Partnerships, Operations Analytics, Financial Planning & Analysis (FP&A), Forecasting, Modeling, Operational Finance

Hedge Fund Analyst/Investor

2017 - 2018
Melvin Capital
  • Generated original equity investment theses and memoranda via comprehensive three-statement financial modeling and rigorous due diligence on prospective opportunities, primarily in the consumer staples sectors (food and beverage).
  • Was highly proficient in tracking, analyzing, and reporting weekly consumer-level IRI and 1010 scanner data.
  • Skilled in corporate finance and financial modeling, including three-statement forecasting, M&A modeling, LBO analyses, etc. Also had a high degree of competency with GAAP and Non-GAAP financial statements/accounting methodologies.
  • Had extensive experience with numerous financial tools and platforms, including Bloomberg, BamSEC, FactSet, and Macabacus.
  • Interviewed C-suite executives/managers of large-cap, publicly traded companies to perform more robust financial due diligence on strategic business, financial forecast, and so on.
Focus areas: Accounting, Forecasting, Investment Memoranda, Management Discussion & Analysis (MD&A), Due Diligence, IFRS Financial Reporting, GAAP, Financial Modeling

Investment Banker

2016 - 2017
Bank of America Merrill Lynch
  • Specialized early in covering banks and specialty finance sectors within BofA’s Financial Institutions Investment Banking Group.
  • Had significant experience with transactional and intrinsic valuation methodologies, including M&A, leveraged buyout, discounted cash flow, and dividend discounted modeling.
  • Was proficient in creating and analyzing trading, operating, and precedent transaction comparables customized for banks and specialty finance companies of all asset sizes and ranges.
  • Experienced directly the full suite of financial products, including debt and equity offering execution, M&A advisory services, associated legal and administrative duties (i.e., creating investor presentations, drafting regulatory and legal memoranda, etc.).
  • Involved heavily in BofA’s Yale campus recruiting effort; Appointed “Junior Captain” of Yale’s recruiting team and organized/led over 30 student-office visits for prospective investment banking candidates.
  • Was the joint bookrunner for First Bancorp’s $116 Million follow-on equity offering: the sole analyst who worked with management on the company’s follow-on public equity offering, analyzing pro-forma impact on key regulatory capital ratios and valuation multiples.
  • Acted as the financial advisor to SMBC Rail Services on a $3.4 billion acquisition of American Railcar Leasing from Icahn Enterprises: constructed 40,000 railcar appraisal model for prospective purchase, evaluating the impact of cash flow scenarios on fleet value.
Focus areas: Distressed/Special Situations, Finance, Financial Modeling, Due Diligence, Due Diligence Consultant, DCF Modeling, Discounted Cash Flow (DCF), Leveraged Buyout (LBO), Comparable Company Analysis, Key Performance Indicators (KPIs)
2012 - 2016

Bachelor's Degree in Economics

Yale University - New Haven, CT, USA

JULY 2016 - AUGUST 2017

Series 63

FINRA | Financial Industry Regulatory Authority

JULY 2016 - AUGUST 2017

Series 79

FINRA | Financial Industry Regulatory Authority

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