Ken Pulido, Finance Expert in Burlington, VT, United States
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Ken Pulido

Verified Expert  in Finance

Finance Expert

Location
Burlington, VT, United States
Toptal Member Since
January 24, 2018

Ken has 20 years of finance and operations experience working for early-stage firms and large corporations where he led transactions totaling more than $1 billion in aggregate deal value. As the CFO at his last startup, Ken helped drive more than 200% year-over-year revenue growth and raised $46 million of equity. He freelances to leverage his CFO experience to help companies manage growth and scale profitably.

Financial ModelingFinancial Planning & Analysis (FP&A)

Career Highlights

Contract CFO
eLearning Innovation
CFO
NG Advantage
General Manager
Gestamp Biomass

Education Highlights

Master of Business Administration (MBA) Degree
Stanford Graduate School of Business | Stanford University
Bachelor's Degree
University of California, Irvine

Case Studies

Work Experience

Contract CFO

2016 - 2018
eLearning Innovation
  • Partnered with the CEO of an education technology company to develop and execute a complete strategic, financial and operational restructuring of the company.
  • Increased the year-over-year net income by 700%; I did this by fully utilizing the staff with the introduction of new project management software and developing a new product offering for the higher margin corporate market.
  • Conducted a competitor-and-customer-needs analysis that resulted in the elimination of a non-strategic legacy business line and shifted the company's target market to the faster growing and higher margin corporate segment.
  • Integrated two complementary business segments which increased the number of cross-selling opportunities as well as the recurring revenue. Worked with the operations team to combine the services into a bundled offering—improving gross margins by 15% and increasing customer retention.
  • Completed a top-down cost analysis and partnered with operations to develop a new workflow to lower production costs.
  • Created new pricing models based on the revised cost structure and introduced new corporate service offerings with increased price points that helped drive a 700% year-over-year improvement in the net income.
Focus areas: Cash Management, Cash Flow Modeling, Taxation, Budget Controls, Pricing, Financial Planning & Analysis (FP&A)

CFO

2014 - 2015
NG Advantage
  • Oversaw all the financial aspects of the firm, including capital raising, budgeting, financial planning and analysis, creating pricing models, and managing investor relations.
  • Hired the finance and accounting team to manage year-over-year revenue growth of over 200%.
  • Executed the successful recapitalization of the firm, including a $46 million equity capital raise and a $20 million debt restructuring. Built the cash flow and waterfall distribution model to evaluate various proposals, created investor presentations, managed the due diligence process, and negotiated term sheets and other key deal documents.
  • Transitioned the sales team from a cost-plus pricing model to a value-based pricing model based on customer analysis that demonstrated the product's value was driven by its positioning relative to a competing substitute product. Revised the strategy to price at a discount relative to the competitor which increased gross margins by 10%.
  • Managed the first company audit performed by KPMG which earned an unqualified opinion with no material internal control weaknesses.
Focus areas: Cash Management, Cash Flow Modeling, Capital Budgeting, Taxation, Financial Planning & Analysis (FP&A), Finance Strategy, Budget Controls, Capital Raising

General Manager

2010 - 2013
Gestamp Biomass
  • Held the overall responsibility for the strategic, financial and operational aspects of Gestamp's US business.
  • Recruited and hired the core management team and oversaw the design and implementation of the business infrastructure.
  • Sourced and structured Gestamp's first US equity investment in a $275 million biomass power plant. Led the due diligence which included engaging third-party specialists for technical and regulatory reviews.
  • Developed and maintained strategic partnerships that led to a development pipeline of projects that resulted in $500 million of equity investment.
  • Managed the marketing and sale of Gestamp's project development portfolio with responsibilities that included retaining financial advisors to understand current market conditions as well as to value the tax assets associated with the projects, delivering investor presentations, and working with in-house counsel to draft deal documentation.
Focus areas: Business Planning, Taxation, Financial Planning & Analysis (FP&A), Risk Analysis, Tax Credits, Equity Financing

Director

2006 - 2010
New Star Financial
  • Held the P&L responsibility for a $300 million investment portfolio, and sourced and structured financings that supported middle market leveraged buyouts.
  • Structured senior, second lien, and mezzanine debt as well as equity co-investment capital to support acquisition, recapitalization and refinancing transactions.
  • Created detailed financial models and led the in-depth company, industry, and regulatory due diligence, underwriting, and the negotiation and execution of terms sheets and deal documentation for multiple transactions.
  • Sourced deals via direct calling of targeted private equity firms and financial intermediaries.
  • Partnered with the credit team to manage and restructure distressed investments.
Focus areas: Credit Risk, Credit Investing, Private Credit, Lease Accounting, Corporate Finance
1993 - 1995

Master of Business Administration (MBA) Degree in Finance

Stanford Graduate School of Business | Stanford University - Palo Alto, CA, USA

1985 - 1990

Bachelor's Degree in Mechanical Engineering

University of California, Irvine - Irvine, CA, USA

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