Jerry is currently unavailable
Jerry Bellman
Verified Expert in Management Consulting
Management Consulting Expert
San Francisco, CA, United States
Toptal member since April 18, 2019
Bio
Jerry Bellman is a CFO and investor-advisor helping venture-backed companies scale with financial discipline. He grew TA3 Swim from around $80,000 to $20M+, building SKU-level profitability and LTV/CAC frameworks. He advises AI and edtech companies on runway, fundraising, and capital allocation, serves as a board observer, and is a recurring UC Berkeley guest lecturer on financial modeling, unit economics, and fundraising strategy.
Career Highlights
Fractional CFO
TA3 Swim
Director, Vetting
California Innovation Fund (UC Berkeley-affiliated)
CFO
Kartel.ai
Education Highlights
Master of Business Administration (MBA) Degree
University of Chicago
Bachelor's Degree
State University of New York at Albany
Certification Highlights
Case Studies
Equity Research Report | Initiation of France Telecom
Price AnalysisForecastingIndustry AnalysisWriting & Editing
Sprint to Escape Velocity
Strategic Planning & ExecutionFinancial ModelingBudgeting
LTV/CAC For Marketplaces
Unit EconomicsFinancial Planning & Analysis (FP&A)LTV:CAC
Industry Expertise
- Investment Banking
- Venture Capital & Private Equity
- Textiles & Apparel
- Software
- Financial Modeling
- Artificial Intelligence (AI)
Other Expertise
- Financial Forecasting
- Financial Modeling
- Financial Planning & Analysis (FP&A)
- France
- Growth Strategy
- Key Performance Indicators (KPIs)
- United States
Work Experience
Fractional CFO
2020 - PRESENT
TA3 Swim
- Scaled revenue from around $80,000 to $20M+ within around three years by implementing SKU-level profitability and LTV/CAC discipline. Member of the founding team of three, contributed to growing revenue and team.
- Built LTV/CAC and cohort-based models that guided marketing allocation and improved capital efficiency.
- Established financial reporting, dashboards, and cash management to support rapid growth and operating decisions.
Focus areas: Financial Planning & Analysis (FP&A), Financial Modeling, Accounting
Director, Vetting
2018 - PRESENT
California Innovation Fund (UC Berkeley-affiliated)
- Conducted financial diligence on Seed–Series C companies, including 3-statement model review, unit economics (LTV/CAC), and cohort-based revenue quality.
- Evaluated capital efficiency and scaling assumptions to assess readiness for institutional funding and follow-on rounds.
- Supported portfolio companies on financial modeling, pricing, and operating metrics to improve investor positioning and decision-making.
- Participated in investment discussions and portfolio reviews, providing an independent perspective on risk, runway, and capital allocation.
- Was a guest lecturer at a UC Berkeley entrepreneurship program (MBA 295A): fundraising strategy, financial modeling, and budgeting for early-stage companies.
Focus areas: Early-stage Venture Capital, Series B
CFO
2025 - 2025
Kartel.ai
- Built a 3-statement financial model (MRR, cohort revenue, cash flow) to quantify runway under multiple cost scenarios and support board and investor discussions.
- Implemented cash management discipline, including scenario-based budgeting and expense controls, to extend runway and align spending with funding constraints.
- Established financial reporting framework and dashboards to track MRR, burn, and key operating metrics for internal management and external stakeholders.
Focus areas: SaaS, Artificial Intelligence (AI), Advertising, Financial Planning & Analysis (FP&A), Financial Modeling, Scenario Analysis
Fractional CFO
2018 - 2022
Largo Films SA
- Recommended a strategic pivot from its weak B2C short film streaming service to a B2B model, using its artificial intelligence tool for enhancing returns on movie production.
- Prepared a KPI dashboard to track performance, based on my financial model's bottom-up channel strategy and top-down addressable market analysis.
- Prepared a pitch deck and business plan material for an upcoming funding round.
- Prepared the calculation of a client's ROI for marketing the AI tool and drafted a video demo storyboard.
- Prepared the financial model and analyzed 1) lower go-to-market financial requirements and 2) a more topical investment theme for early-stage investors, leveraging patents and its database.
Focus areas: Financial Modeling, Budgeting, Financial Planning & Analysis (FP&A)
Fractional CFO
2019 - 2021
The Movement Athlete
- Created LTV/CAC calculations by using aggregate accounting data in the absence of app and website analytics to secure additional funding.
- Built dashboard templates and worked with the CEO, data analyst, head of product, and head of marketing.
- Constructed a financial model for internal projections and external funding efforts.
- Provided a data-driven strategy review, which resulted in shifting the channel strategy away from content/blog marketing to more scalable CPC and referral-driven strategies.
- Worked closely with the CEO; based on the budgeting analysis, I chose to postpone specific development work to better manage cash burn.
Focus areas: Seed Fundraising, Budgeting, Financial Modeling, Financial Planning & Analysis (FP&A)
Advisor to The CEO
2016 - 2021
CareLinx
- Built a financial model for internal projections and external fundraising efforts, including the sale of the company to a trade buyer.
- Drew up a churn analysis using SQL downloads to Excel and Salesforce.com data to better understand sources of churn, resulting in new sales procedures and selection of AdWords.
- Presented a financial model and calculations for unit economics and budget to prospective investors.
- Prepared a management discussion and analysis for the board.
Focus areas: Financial Planning & Analysis (FP&A), Mergers & Acquisitions (M&A), Series B, Financial Modeling
Institutional Sales
2016 - 2018
Stifel Bank
- Doubled the commissions at all key accounts and for the territory overall. Repaired relations with Denver's major institutional investment funds (Janus, Thornburg, Arrowmark, etc.) and was successful in introducing the product, nurturing relationships, and increased banking and brokerage income by 100%.
- Generated numerous non-deal roadshows (a key metric for broker votes and commissions) by reaching out to public company CFOs in my own professional network through outreach and networking at Stifel conferences.
- Improved the IPO and secondary deal flow orders in Denver by 500%.
Focus areas: Equity Research Analysis
European Equity Institutional Sales
2010 - 2015
Jefferies
- Drove annual revenue generation from ~$1 million to $5+ million for European research content to institutional investment funds from the West Coast, Denver and Texas.
- Generated numerous non-deal roadshows by reaching out to public company CFOs within own professional network through outreach and networking at Jefferies conferences.
Focus areas: Equity Research Analysis
Equity Analyst
2008 - 2010
Bellman Walter Capital
- Outperformed peer group for Market Neutral Long/Short investments: +0.5% vs -15.7% for 2008 and +15% vs +8.2% for 2009 (Peer data from Hennessee Group and seekingalpha.com).
- Marketed new fund creation and analysis with a successful raise of $883 million for fund inception in 2008.
Focus areas: Asset Management
Publishing Sellside Analyst
2004 - 2008
Kepler Equities
- Built out large cap telecommunications industry coverage.
- Created a SMID TMT research team and provided coverage.
- Was asked to be a frequent interviewee on CNBC Europe, Bloomberg (TV and News Service) and other financial press outlets.
Focus areas: Equity Research Analysis
Director, TMT
1991 - 2004
SG Cowen/Société Générale
- Executed over $10 billion in client M&A transactions and supervised teams of 3-12 professionals per transaction.
- Marketed and originated $1-6 million per year in commissions as an industry M&A Director.
- Worked with a variety of clients including Warner Bros., Telecom Italia, Canal+, Vivendi, Havas, Jet Multimedia, Bouygues, Canal Digital Norway, Airbus, and the French State.
- Trained junior personnel (analysts and associates) from execution pool.
- Built a TMT team with a business partner.
Focus areas: Mergers & Acquisitions (M&A)
Audit Senior
1985 - 1989
Price Waterhouse
- Qualified as a certified public accountant.
- Was promoted to the position of audit senior and was the youngest transfer from PW NY office to PW London, after two years.
- Focused on financial services (banking, brokerage, and asset management).
- Prepared special studies on portfolio insurance and client VAT.
Focus areas: Audits
Education
1989 - 1991
Master of Business Administration (MBA) Degree in Finance
University of Chicago - Chicago, IL, USA
1981 - 1985
Bachelor's Degree in Accounting and Economics
State University of New York at Albany - Albany, NY, USA
Certifications
MARCH 1988 - MARCH 1990
Certified Public Accountant (CPA)
AICPA
Skills
Finance
Forecasting, Financial Modeling, Financial Planning & Analysis (FP&A), Revenue & Expense Projections, Equity Research Analysis, Capital Raising, Mergers & Acquisitions (M&A), Private Company Valuation, Market Research, Budgeting, Seed Fundraising, Series B, Price Analysis, Accounting
Output Software
Microsoft Excel, Microsoft PowerPoint, Microsoft Word, Google Sheets
Data & Analysis Software
Bloomberg, Tableau, Salesforce
Industry Expertise
Financial Services, Entertainment & Leisure, Software, Asset Management, Healthcare
Geographic Expertise
France, United Kingdom, United States, Italy, Switzerland, Canada
Other
Financial Forecasting, Key Performance Indicators (KPIs), Writing & Editing, Excel Modeling, Investment Banking, Direct to Consumer (D2C), LTV:CAC, Cash Flow Management, Financial Reporting Dashboards, Startup Growth Strategy Development, Growth Strategy, Product Development, Product-market Fit, Business Development, Audits, Industry Analysis, Strategic Planning & Execution, Unit Economics, Dashboards, Business Process Analysis, Data Analytics, Auditing, Personal Care, Cosmetics, Beauty Products, Claude, SaaS, Artificial Intelligence (AI), Advertising, Scenario Analysis, Early-stage Venture Capital
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