Monthly Archives: February 2016

Falling in Love with a Unicorn

Sunday began the week with the Holiday of Love – St. Valentine’s Day. How do love and emotions influence our decisions about business and investing?

 

Many people have used the services or read about a Unicorn or a Unicorn “wanna be” without even knowing it. Fortune.com defines a Unicorn as a once mythical, now reality, start-up business valued at more than $1 billion and includes Uber ($62.5 billion), Airbnb ($25.5 billion) and Snapchat ($12 billion)*.

JacLoveAUnicornksonville-based Fanatics is a local Unicorn valued in excess of $3 billion that is putting Jacksonville on the start-up map according to a First Coast News report (http://fcnews.tv/1om5Exd)

 

Speed to market for a unique new idea is critical for start-ups. The exuberance of growing a company fast can generate more endorphins than the Boston marathon, while the adrenaline rush can lead an enthusiastic business owner to burn through huge amounts of cash in an attempt to gain market share. This cash burn must show traction – is the cash you are investing to gain market share paying off? Are the dogs eating the dog food or, in other words, are you acquiring as much of your target market as you project or need to justify continuing to increase the value of the Company and command the incredible valuations such as in the previous examples?

 

The basic principles of running a business, i.e. the eventual need to generate enough revenue to create a profit remain a core value of building a business. For example, if the cost of production plus acquiring market share is more than what you are selling the item for, that’s a no-win situation down the road. Using metrics and projections, founders and owners must continue to evaluate building enterprise value in order to provide a return on the investment to shareholders.

 

My experience serving as the Principal of a Private Equity Firm and as a CFO of small and large entities provides a depth of experience that can help with the analysis your business needs to understand if you are on the right track for building enterprise value. Please contact me to discuss your unique situation.

 

* http://fortune.com/unicorns/. Note these are estimates of the companies’ enterprise value based on the latest rounds of private financings. These companies are private and it is difficult to find the exact valuation.

Streamlined Month-End Reporting is an Investment in Your Business

Each month end, financial reporting packages are prepared in companies across the nation and promptly filed…somewhere. In most cases, the accounting team has prepared these analyses and turned them over to a senior leadership team who really does not understand how to use them to run the business. Reams of paper reports stand in piles, creating more of an environmental concern due to the use of paper, than the financial concern needed to effectively run the business.

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Even though the accounting department has included a tremendous amount of information that may help them prepare for the annual audit, have they contributed information relevant to the management of the business?

 

By implementing accounting best practices, such as streamlined processes and standard, relevant reporting, work effort can shift from processing to high value activities that invest in the business, such as special projects and guidance on improving the bottom line.

 

Time is money, and time spent to prepare irrelevant information is wasted. Month end packages should be concise and provide information about the relevant Key Performance Indicators identified by Management. Contact Mindy Barker & Associates to find out how we can guide your leadership team to discover, report and track monthly Key Performance Indicators that help you make timely and informed decisions in running your business.