Ken Gordon, Finance Expert in Washington, DC, United States
Ken is available for hire
Hire Ken

Ken Gordon

Verified Expert  in Finance

Finance Expert

Location
Washington, DC, United States
Toptal Member Since
May 9, 2018

Ken is a finance expert with 25+ years of leadership experience at startups and Fortune 100 companies. He has supported a $2.5 billion Raytheon division and advised CEOs, private equity investors, Members of Congress, and senior DoD officials on finance and operating strategy. Ken enjoys freelancing as he seeks to leverage his decades of finance and advisory experience on new and exciting challenges.

Fundraising ConsultantGrowth StrategyBusiness DevelopmentBusiness Plan ConsultingPitch Deck ConsultantComparable Company AnalysisRevenue & Expense ProjectionsFinancial Planning & Analysis (FP&A)Financial ModelingFundraisingValuationStartup FundingBusiness ResearchExit StrategyCorporate FinanceSearch Funds

Career Highlights

Founder and President
The Granada Group
Chief Operating Officer
CSSI
President
Antelum Capital Partners

Education Highlights

Master of Business Administration (MBA) Degree
University of Pennsylvania Wharton School of Business
Master's Degree
University of Southern California
Master's Degree
University of Michigan

Case Studies

Work Experience

Founder and President

2014 - PRESENT
The Granada Group
  • Identified, measured, and tracked critical financial metrics driving performance, valuation, and operational efficiency. Helped a client grow operating margins by over 100% by defining, implementing and monitoring profit improvement initiatives including developing a lifetime analysis to isolate unprofitable customers as well as benchmarking overhead spending against peers to identify opportunities for cost rationalization.
  • Built financial models to support internal projections and external fundraising activities. Provided a sell-side client with financial projections that helped to crystallize that the company was worth 60% more than the value reflected in a Letter of Intent under consideration.
  • Supported client fundraising, built pitch decks, compiled financial projections, made introductions to investors, participated in negotiations and advised on term sheet submissions helping to raise $20+ million of capital for early-stage companies.
  • Assisted companies and private equity firms in the identification of acquisition targets in targeted industries for five completed transactions; led outreach efforts to potential acquisition candidates to assess their interest; negotiated deal terms; developed the investment memorandum with comprehensive market analysis, operational assessment, financial projections, and post-close investment thesis execution.
Focus areas: Valuation Analysis, Growth Capital Raising, Operational Finance, Finance Strategy, Fundraising, Financial Management, Financial Planning & Analysis (FP&A), Mergers & Acquisitions (M&A), Pitch Decks, Pitch Deck Consultant, Business Models, Business Strategy, United States, Business Model Strategy, Operating Models, Small Business, Small & Medium-sized Enterprises (SME), Comparable Company Analysis, Growth, Forecasting, Revenue & Expense Projections, Fundraising Consultant, Early-stage Startups

Co-founder and CEO

2014 - 2023
VALR
  • Co-founded this tech startup to use AI-driven algorithms in support of fitness training for endurance athletes. Developed an operating plan, competitive and go-to-market strategies, cost model, and developed relationships with key strategic partners.
  • Completed three-statement financial projections, including a detailed expense model and bottoms-up revenue projections, as well as a capitalization table to support investor discussions.
  • Led fundraising efforts resulting in more than $2 million raised from individual and institutional investors.
  • Built the company to 11 employees, developing and executing against operational goals, leading and directing activities in support of critical milestones, and allocating resources to support execution.
  • Co-authored two patents awarded on the use of a particular type of data to support athletic training.
Focus areas: Cost Management, Budgeting, Strategic Planning & Execution, Finance Strategy, Fundraising, Pitch Decks, Business Models, Business Strategy, United States, Business Model Strategy, Operating Models, Small Business, Small & Medium-sized Enterprises (SME), Comparable Company Analysis, Growth, Forecasting, Revenue & Expense Projections, Fundraising Consultant, Early-stage Startups

Academic Dean and Adjunct Professor

2013 - 2018
California University of Management and Sciences
  • Oversaw the academic curriculum across CalUMS's degree programs. Led the 32 members of the faculty teaching more than 800 students.
  • Taught classes in operations, strategy, marketing, and management as part of the school's MBA curriculum.
  • Directed the academic team certification process during a critical period, resulting in the University's recertification by both its accreditation authority and the State Council of Higher Education.
Focus areas: Economics, Process Economics, Unit Economics, Economic Analysis, Economic Cost, Marketing, Marketing Mix, Strategy, Business Model Strategy, Management, Communications Management, Marketing Communications (MarCom), Communication Management, Statistics, Organizational Design, Digital Marketing, Digital Marketing Strategy, International Development & Economics, Sales & Operations Planning (S&OP), Leadership, Business Strategy, United States, Small & Medium-sized Enterprises (SME), Education, Growth

Chief Operating Officer

2011 - 2013
CSSI
  • Held management role with responsibility for a $70 million revenue division and 300 employees.
  • Grew revenues at a 22% annual rate with significantly higher increases to operating margin.
  • Redesigned processes and IT infrastructure supporting business development, financial management, business operations, and human resources to successfully scale accelerating growth and establish a more competitive strategic position.
  • Restructured the employee accounting framework after a significant decrease in spending from a large customer nearly resulted in a reduction of 5% of the company's workforce. The new framework enabled the company to avoid salary reductions and limited the number of employees impacted by this event by 66%.
  • Identified and engaged with a significant, dissatisfied customer and implemented corrective actions successfully reestablishing and growing relationship, preserving 30% of divisional revenue.
Focus areas: Corporate Finance, Cost Management, Cost Estimation, Financial Management, Finance Operation Improvements, Operational Finance, Finance Strategy, Investments, Aerospace & Defense, Business Strategy, United States, Business Model Strategy, Operating Models, Small & Medium-sized Enterprises (SME), Comparable Company Analysis, Growth, Revenue & Expense Projections

President

2007 - 2011
Antelum Capital Partners
  • Founded and raised capital for Antelum, a search fund focused on leverage buyout opportunities. Developed the investment memorandum, investor presentation, and financial projections, and sourced and built a pipeline of potential investors.
  • Instituted a strategy consulting practice as an additional service, advising early-stage startups and small companies on fundraising, finance strategy, and capital structure.
  • Created and managed a buy-side deal pipeline that identified 795 acquisition opportunities in 30 months.
  • Completed financial analyses of potential target companies to assess ROI for contemplated transactions.
  • Built and managed a business development pipeline process for a consulting practice, bringing on nearly five new clients per year.
Focus areas: Valuation Modeling, Valuation, Leveraged Buyout Modeling, Financial Planning & Analysis (FP&A), Financial Statements, Finance Strategy, Mergers & Acquisitions (M&A), Fundraising, Business Models, Business Strategy, United States, Business Model Strategy, Operating Models, Small Business, Small & Medium-sized Enterprises (SME), Comparable Company Analysis, Growth, Forecasting, Revenue & Expense Projections, Fundraising Consultant, Early-stage Startups

Director of Strategic Accounts

2003 - 2006
Raytheon
  • Managed the strategic planning process for a $700 million portfolio of information systems.
  • Led teams in building and executing strategies to pursue opportunities in targeted industries and improving business development efforts by implementing a disciplined and quantitative approach to growth. These efforts led to 14% annual growth and a 9% increase in operating margin.
  • Contributed to several successful multi-billion dollar business development opportunities, applying an understanding of the customer environment to help shape proposals and performing competitive analysis to evaluate the efficacy of Raytheon's differentiation relative to competing proposals.
  • Supported the evaluation of acquisition candidates to assess their strategic fit with the Raytheon business unit. Assessed target company product offerings and mapped them to Raytheon product lines to determine strategic fit, the technological innovation opportunities from target company intellectual property, and the strategic value of the target company's customer base.
  • Integrated acquired companies into Raytheon operations, enabling established product lines to incorporate the innovative technologies of acquired firms.
Focus areas: Business Planning, P&L Forecasting, Financial Planning & Analysis (FP&A), Mergers & Acquisitions (M&A), Aerospace & Defense, Business Strategy, United States, Business Model Strategy, Comparable Company Analysis, Growth, Revenue & Expense Projections

Special Assistant to the Under Secretary of Defense (AT&L)

2001 - 2003
U.S. Department of Defense
  • Served as Chief of Staff acting on the Under Secretary's behalf to oversee $140 billion of the Department of Defense's budget as well as 237,000 personnel.
  • Participated in the Defense Acquisition Board oversight of multi-billion dollar defense systems to incorporate private sector best practices.
  • Oversaw strategies to engage Capitol Hill, the White House, and the media on major defense program procurement decisions, resulting in broader acceptance of major Department actions.
  • Implemented the creation of an oversight board to address the Department of Defense's anti-terror data mining policies after international publicity surrounding these activities and was appointed as the board's first Executive Director helping to significantly reduce criticism for these efforts from Congress and the media.
  • Appointed to this employment position by the President of the United States to serve as a member of the Senior Executive Service.
Focus areas: External Financial Reporting, Budget Controls, Budgeting, United States

Professional Staff Member

1997 - 2000
U.S. House of Representatives Committee on Science
  • Drafted legislation and contributed to Congressional oversight of science and technology programs to improve management of these initiatives.
  • Negotiated with senior agency officials to balance Congressional and Executive Branch priorities.
  • Built an issue coalition to pressure NASA to enact significant changes in acquisition policy resulting in $674 million of revenue being made available to commercial providers.
  • Intervened on behalf of a company disputing the unfair award of a $29.2 million contract, leading to a reversal of the decision and a final award in their favor.
Focus areas: Cost Management, Cost Benchmarking, Capital Budgeting, Budgeting, United States
2004 - 2006

Master of Business Administration (MBA) Degree in Finance

University of Pennsylvania Wharton School of Business - Philadelphia, PA

1990 - 1991

Master's Degree in Aerospace Engineering

University of Southern California - Los Angeles, CA

1985 - 1989

Master's Degree in Aerospace Engineering

University of Michigan - Ann Arbor, MI

Collaboration That Works

How to Work with Toptal

Toptal matches you directly with global industry experts from our network in hours—not weeks or months.

1

Share your needs

Discuss your requirements and refine your scope in a call with a Toptal domain expert.
2

Choose your talent

Get a short list of expertly matched talent within 24 hours to review, interview, and choose from.
3

Start your risk-free talent trial

Work with your chosen talent on a trial basis for up to two weeks. Pay only if you decide to hire them.

Top talent is in high demand.

Start hiring