
Ron is available for hire
Hire RonRon Rich
Verified Expert in Finance
Finance Expert
Location
New York, NY, United States
Toptal Member Since
September 27, 2016
Ron has spent his career helping management teams leverage finance to strategically plan and drive operational improvement. With clients that have ranged from startups to billion dollar PE-backed companies, he has developed a deep expertise through his roles as an investment banker, management consultant, venture capitalist, and entrepreneur. Freelancing allows him to work with a wide variety of clients and to address pressing, relevant issues.
Career Highlights
Debt Investor | Restructuring Advisor
New York Life Investments
Venture Capitalist
SG Cowen Securities
Investment Banker
Bear Stearns & Co.
Education Highlights
Master's Degree
University of Michigan
Master's Degree
University of Michigan
Bachelor's Degree
University of Pennsylvania
Case Studies
Expertise
Work Experience
Corporate Finance Advisor
2011 - PRESENT
Lucent Advisors
- Advised the management team of a SaaS provider on their business model. Helped the CEO and CFO mine, aggregate, and analyze data in order to evaluate marketing channels, and quantify customer acquisition cost and lifetime value of the customer.
- Negotiated and raised over $200 million of private debt to finance mergers, as well as client working capital requirements.
- Helped management teams think through the relationship among business drivers to construct projections that would be deemed reasonable by lenders and prospective buyers.
- Coded software to automate the financial analysis of corporate clients—reducing modeling time from two weeks to two days.
- Constructed financial models that were used to value client companies, raise capital, and negotiate company pricing with corporate buyers.
Focus areas: Three-statement Modeling, Valuation Multiples, Valuation Modeling, Customer Lifetime Value, Revenue & Expense Projections, Data Analysis, Due Diligence, Discounted Cash Flow (DCF), Debt Capital Markets, Comparable Company Analysis, Financial Engineering, Capital Structure Analysis, Capital Raising, Financial Planning & Analysis (FP&A), Mergers & Acquisitions (M&A)
Debt Investor | Restructuring Advisor
2007 - 2011
New York Life Investments
- Restructured debt instruments in order to provide debtors breathing room to turn business around and service debt. Negotiated economic and legal parameters of governing documents.
- Built financial models to analyze debtor fundamentals, accounting for macro trends, markets, competitors and end-markets.
- Conducted valuation analyses to value debtor as well as its equity and debt securities.
- Invested in secured bank debt and unsecured bonds of distressed companies.
- Served on unofficial credit committees of distressed companies to facilitate out-of-court restructuring.
Focus areas: Valuation, Capital Structure Analysis, Private Credit, Valuation Multiples, Valuation Modeling, Three-statement Modeling, Investor Relations, Financial Modeling, Revenue & Expense Projections, Debtor & Creditor Management, Discounted Cash Flow (DCF), Due Diligence, Debt Capital Markets, Credit Analysis, Business Intelligence (BI), Analysis of Variance (ANOVA), Data Analysis, Financial Planning & Analysis (FP&A)
Management Consultant
1999 - 2003
Phoenix Consulting
- Worked on-site with management teams to identify and correct root cause of profitability degradation and cash burn.
- Negotiated with lenders to provide sufficient time to create and execute turnaround plan.
- Led an accounting and finance function to establish infrastructure required to support accurate cash flow forecasts. Built financial models that aggregated divisional projections to forecast cash flow and debt service.
- Coded a program to mine and analyze accounts receivable database in order to understand timing and magnitude of customer collections, which led to customer restructuring and vastly improved profitability.
- Audited budgeting processes and controls to identify fraud in the C-suite.
Focus areas: Capital Structure Analysis, Revenue & Expense Projections, Profitability Analysis, Cost Reduction & Optimization, Working Capital Management, Three-statement Modeling, Investor Relations, Financial Modeling, Financial Engineering, Debtor & Creditor Management, Due Diligence, Financial Benchmarking, Budgeting, Analysis of Variance (ANOVA), Financial Planning & Analysis (FP&A)
Founder | CEO
1992 - 2002
Campus Contacts
- Founded a direct marketer of contact lenses.
- Created the infrastructure to collect the data necessary to analyze the business model.
- Mined and analyzed database to calculate customer acquisition cost and customer lifetime value.
- Created and executed marketing plans to grow the business.
- Hired and trained customer service and an in-field marketing sales force.
- Built financial models to determine an unprecedented business model.
- Installed information systems that addressed customer relationship management, marketing force compensation, and shipping and receiving.
Focus areas: Financial Risk Assessment, Profitability Analysis, Cost Reduction & Optimization, Working Capital Management, Three-statement Modeling, Market Research, Customer Lifetime Value, Financial Reporting, Financial Modeling, Revenue & Expense Projections, Due Diligence, Financial Benchmarking, Business Planning, Business Intelligence (BI), Budgeting, Analysis of Variance (ANOVA), Price Analysis, Data Analysis, Financial Planning & Analysis (FP&A)
Venture Capitalist
1997 - 1999
SG Cowen Securities
- Invested equity capital in Series A and B fundraising rounds.
- Partnered with startup management teams to construct business plans and projections for fundraising rounds.
- Built granular financial models to due diligence prospective investments.
- Conducted market and competitor research as well as pricing and go-to-market analyses.
- Invested industries included social media, telecommunications, healthcare, and security.
Focus areas: Valuation, Financial Risk Assessment, Profitability Analysis, Valuation Multiples, Valuation Modeling, Three-statement Modeling, Market Research, Venture Funding, Financial Modeling, Revenue & Expense Projections, Discounted Cash Flow (DCF), Due Diligence, Capital Raising, Comparable Company Analysis, Financial Benchmarking, Business Planning, Analysis of Variance (ANOVA), Financial Planning & Analysis (FP&A)
Investment Banker
1988 - 1990
Bear Stearns & Co.
- Built financial models for private placements, leveraged buyouts, and financial restructurings.
- Constructed new business development pitches.
- Conducted valuation analyses.
Focus areas: Valuation, Capital Structure Analysis, Capital Raising, Fairness Opinion Reports, Valuation Modeling, Valuation Multiples, Three-statement Modeling, Financial Modeling, Revenue & Expense Projections, Discounted Cash Flow (DCF), Due Diligence, Comparable Company Analysis, Financial Planning & Analysis (FP&A)
Education
2002 - 2004
Master's Degree in Real Estate
New York University - New York, NY, USA
1990 - 1992
Master's Degree in Engineering
University of Michigan - Ann Arbor, MI, USA
1990 - 1992
Master's Degree in Business Administration
University of Michigan - Ann Arbor, MI, USA
1984 - 1988
Bachelor's Degree in Finance
University of Pennsylvania - Philadelphia, PA, USA