Dan McEldowney
Verified Expert in Management Consulting
Management Consulting Expert
Western Springs, IL, United States
Toptal member since January 19, 2021
Dan is a finance, operations, and advisory leader with 15+ years of experience spanning FP&A, valuation, transaction advisory, and CFO support. he combines engineering-trained problem-solving with corporate finance, strategy, and tech-enabled process improvement to build reporting infrastructure, operating processes, and financial models for startups, SMBs, and Fortune 500 companies. Dan enjoys freelancing as it allows providing high-quality work on a variety of interesting projects.
Career Highlights
Education Highlights
Case Studies
FP&A and Business Enterprise Valuation for Construction Safety Startup
Pitch Materials for Agricultural Robotics Company Capital Raise
Expertise
- DCF Valuation
- Finance
- Financial Analysis
- Financial Modeling
- Intellectual Property
- Investments
- Microsoft Power BI
- Valuation
Work Experience
Director of Finance, Operations, and Tech Advancement
Third Road Management
- Built internal FP&A and operating reporting infrastructure in Power BI, replacing ad hoc reporting with recurring leadership visibility into MRR, revenue per employee, gross margin, NOI, utilization, churn, and client profitability.
- Supported operational scaling during an estimated 150% MRR growth period and headcount increase from 22 to 52 employees by enabling technology infrastructure, access controls, and onboarding/offboarding workflows.
- Served as interim CFO/fractional finance lead for regulated CPG and ResTech startup clients, supporting budgets, forecasts, board reporting, monthly close, pricing/margin analysis, and fundraising.
- Developed rolling forecast, budget, margin/utilization, and capacity planning tools to inform hiring decisions, pod staffing, client prioritization, and burnout/capacity risk.
- Managed Microsoft 365 administration, SharePoint permissions, cybersecurity tools (LastPass, Defender phishing simulations), and onboarding/offboarding access procedures.
- Built recurring Power BI reporting and KPI package for a multi-state convenience store wholesaler, tracking customer retention, revenue per customer, SKU rationalization, inventory management, and variance analysis.
Director
Peak Value IP LLC
- Assisted with the in-wheel motor automotive company valued at $100M+ with Series A fundraising efforts, including the creation of financial forecasts and pitch material.
- Assessed an intellectual property portfolio of the 2nd generation bioethanol manufacturer in advance of anticipated nine-figure IPO.
- Created business enterprise valuation for an implantable medical device technology company for an anticipated spin-off of cortical stimulation division.
Director
HighTech-Solutions
- Managed and contributed to engagements within a newly formed financial advisory division responsible for assisting intellectual property-rich companies in assessing and monetizing intangible assets.
- Assisted clients with strategic initiatives, including debt and equity capital raise efforts, intellectual property valuation, licensing, diligence, M&A, and divestiture.
- Created pitch material for potential venture capital and private equity investors by efficiently synthesizing technical and financial information to identify market opportunity, highlighted product superiority, and conveyed value proposition.
- Coordinated teams of subject matter experts in the role of project manager, delivering clients a variety of patent review services to assess utilization and detectability of patent claims in commercialized technology.
Manager
B. Riley Financial
- Provided advisory services for assignments, including intellectual property valuations, business enterprise valuations, purchase price allocations, business unit and asset impairment valuations, and equity and debt securities valuations.
- Consulted clients with business activities, including mergers and acquisitions (M&A), financial reporting, asset-backed lending, and internal strategy and planning across various industries.
- Appraised the value of business enterprises and intangible assets exceeding $2 billion.
Analyst, Associate, and Director
Ocean Tomo, LLC.
- Provided financial research, modeling, and analysis for over 50 valuation engagements pertaining to intellectual property-related transactions.
- Organized analysis into reports and other deliverables to assist clients with M&A, financial reporting, asset-backed lending, monetization of IP, and internal strategy and planning across industries with a technology focus.
- Represented the firm as a speaker at industry events and career fairs, as well as a contributing author in a valuation textbook and multiple company publications.
- Prepared an expert report for an international bankruptcy dispute over $4.5 billion in proceeds generated from the sale of Nortel’s IP portfolio, consisting of over 7,000 patents assets primarily covering telecommunications and data networking.
- Advised a global satellite communications provider during negotiations involving the proposed sale of non-core entertainment and home automation patent portfolios to a patent licensing entity.
- Constructed multivariate Monte Carlo simulation for a valuation analysis used to support capital raising efforts of an early stage Internet-of-Things platform provider as they prepared to initiate a licensing program.
Investment Analyst Intern
Barrington Research Associates, Inc.
- Assisted experienced equity analyst in coverage of cloud, internet, and SaaS companies.
- Updated financial models and company coverage reports in a timely and accurate manner.
- Gathered and analyzed forward-looking industry statistics from various research outlets and company reports.
Engineer and Project Manager
Superior Mechanical Systems, Inc.
- Created competitive bid packages which generated $11 million in annual revenue during the Great Recession.
- Managed multiple ongoing projects by integrating owner expectations with construction achievability while maintaining budgeted profit margins.
- Engineered code compliant, hydraulically sound, and cost-efficient fire protection systems by integrating design and project timelines to minimize the material, labor, and overhead associated with the project.
Education
Master's Degree in Finance
DePaul University Kellstadt Graduate School of Business - Chicago, Illinois, USA
Master of Business Administration Degree (MBA) in Financial Analysis
DePaul University Kellstadt Graduate School of Business - Chicago, Illinois, USA
Bachelor's Degree in Engineering
University of Illinois College of Engineering - Champaign, Illinois, USA
Certifications
Data Analyst Nanodegree
Udacity
Skills
Finance
Debt, Intellectual Property Valuation, Valuation, Equity Research Analysis, DCF Valuation, Due Diligence, Market Opportunity Analysis, Financial Planning & Analysis (FP&A), Balance Sheets, Discounted Cash Flow (DCF), Financial Modeling, Fundraising, Three-statement Modeling, Valuation Modeling, Seed Fundraising, Revenue Modeling, Revenue & Expense Projections, Capital Raising, Mergers & Acquisitions (M&A), Private Company Valuation, Forecasting, Market Research, Total Addressable Market (TAM), Corporate Finance, Statement of Cash Flows, Private Equity, Accounting, Cost Estimation, Growth Capital Raising
Output Software
Microsoft Excel, Microsoft Word, Microsoft PowerPoint
Industry Expertise
Technology, Construction, Confidential Information Memorandum (CIM), Venture Capital, Pharmaceuticals, Early-stage Startups, Chemistry, Building & Construction
Data & Analysis Software
SQL, Pandas, Financial Data
Other
Finance, Investments, Financial Statements, Financial Analysis, Financial Data Analytics, Equity, Intellectual Property, SaaS, Pitch Decks, Market Research & Analysis, Income Statements, Financing, Business Planning, Startups, Business Plan Consulting, Fundraising Consultant, Data Visualization, Statistics, Statistical Analysis, Pitch Deck Consultant, Market Sizing, Market Research Analyst, Market Segmentation, Business Models, Business, Economics, Quantitative Finance, Alternative Investments, Intellectual Property Licensing, Mechanical Engineering, Project Estimation, Monte Carlo Simulations, Manufacturing, Fintech, Early-stage Venture Capital, Biotechnology, Investment Banking, Licensing, Microsoft Power BI, Physics, Engineering, Mathematics, Information Technology, Human Resources (HR), Ethics, Derivatives, Python, NumPy, Seaborn, Matplotlib, GitHub, Jupyter, Patents, Patent Applications, US Patent Process, Cloud, Market Assessment, Technology Trends, Product Line Analysis, Teasers, Precedent Transaction Analysis, Guidelines, Agricultural Robots, Brokerage, Life Science, Metals & Mining, Operations, BI Reporting
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