Minotaur Financial works with companies having problems creating and presenting financial forecasts. I help startups raise venture capital by explaining financials to investors. In larger companies, I work with groups where huge spreadsheet models are not working for them anymore and where they are struggling with budgeting and financial reporting.

Below are the four most common area where I am called in. On the following pages are more details about each area.

Startups Raising Venture Capital

Do you want to speed up the difficult VC fund raising process? Perhaps you don't feel confident presenting and supporting your financial forecasts with potential investors. Or do potential investors not believe your revenue forecasts are achievable or that the company will scale to profitability? On the other hand, investors may not feel you have a high financial IQ or have lack of faith in your management team.

We work with companies raising venture capital from top tier firms. (In Colorado, that means fund size $100M or greater. In California, the VCs expand from the Kleiner Perkins caliber down a level or two.) Our typical client seeks at least $5M, and its executives have previously raised venture rounds of this size.

Frequently, the company is raising its Series B round. If the company is raising Series A then management has seed funding or a term sheet from one VC. Our direct client is usually the Founder, CEO, CFO, or VP Business Development. Minotaur Financial has extensive experience with software and telecom services companies, and has worked in a wide range of industries.

For detailed information on how we speed up the difficult VC fund raising process click here.

Large and Complicated Financial Models

Are your huge spreadsheets just not working for you? Are you-or worse, others-finding errors in the forecasts you present? You want to have higher confidence in the numbers you present but you're finding it difficult to run multiple scenarios or difficult to compare results from two scenarios. You also may be finding that spreadsheet links are crippling the process. And on top of everything else, international issues my be causing problems.

We work with Corporate Development, Strategy, Planning, and Treasury groups of Fortune 1000 and fast-growing midcap ($500M market cap) companies. Our direct client is typically CFO, Treasurer, VP Business Development, VP Corporate Development, VP Corporate Strategy, or VP Financial Planning & Analysis.

Minotaur Financial has worked in a wide range of industries, and has extensive telecom experience. Our clients answer questions which are dependent upon very complicated models. Our clients regularly present forecasts of business performance. Sometimes it is for bank syndicates seeking comfort that the company will meet its covenants. Other times the presentations are to internal boards for investment approvals or setting strategic direction. Often our clients are involved in creating new joint ventures and engaging in opportunistic M&A.

For detailed information on how we can help you make your large financial models work for you, click here.

Budgeting

Is your budgeting process hamstrung by software problems? Is it difficult to roll up results and update reports when one department or region changes? You want to compare a budget submission to one previously received but you are spending so much time on the mechanics of compiling results that there is insufficient time to analyze the submissions.

The major budgeting packages are unable to meet your company's unique needs, although you may find it hard to modify the templates as requirements change or seethe as users modify your templates.

We work with the executive in charge of budgeting. Our direct client is typically CFO, Controller, or VP Financial Planning & Analysis. The company is often a high-growth technology company with dozens of budget centers, financial analysts in at least six remote offices, and complex forecasting challenges.

Typically, our budgeting clients budget with Excel. Sometimes they have tried a packaged budgeting solution and, finding it inadequate, are back to Excel again or searching for a better solution.

For detailed information on how we can improve your software to support the budgeting process, click here.

Financial Reporting

Do you have financial reporting problems? Are you re-keying numbers into spreadsheets to create the monthly reporting package? There may be critical reports you cannot get out of your GL, making your monthly report generation process too labor intensive and error-prone.

Some finance groups lack full access to the GL/database for creating new reports or find the GL's report writer inadequate for producing the reports they need. Other companies need more detailed breakdowns than they can get from the existing system or use spreadsheets to consolidate multiple GLs?

Your company may be implementing a new ERP but you can't wait 9-18 months to get reports which are needed now. With some GLs it hard to understand which products/customers are truly profitable or which regions are outperforming and why.

We work with spreadsheet-centric Finance groups which are struggling to efficiently produce critical reports each month. Our direct client is typically CFO, Controller, or VP Financial Planning & Analysis who feels the department needs automated processes to realize its potential. Often the staff is very strong financially, but lack software development skills.

For detailed information on how we can improve your financial reporting, click here.