4. Discussion
• Financial Statements
• Forecasting, Business Planning & Cash Flow
• Capex and Depreciation
• Accounting Software and Charts of Accounts
• Other considerations
• Valuation and cost of capital
4
5. Broad Arcs
• You as the CEO are where Finance, Operations,
Planning/Forecasting, and Marketing converge
• All business plans are always wrong.
Per io d!
• Have some idea of your exit before hiring a CFO
• Be candid about your skills in these areas
• Plan top-down and bottom-up
• It’s about execution, not an idea - focus on the hard
stuff
6. Financial Statements
• Income Statement
• Balance Sheet
• Statement of Cash Flows
• Statement of Shareholder’s Equity
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16. Forecasting
• All forecasts are always wrong
• Tests fundamental
assumptions about the
business model
• Consider your revenue model
- if you are buying every
customer, you’re dead
• Balance Sheet Forecasts
essential, but painful
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17. Breakeven Analysis
• The break-even number is
less important than the
“minimum viable business”
• Manufacturing business often
think in terms of “cost plus”
and then attempt to minimize
costs / improve margin
• Cost base (fixed costs)
divided by gross margin =
break-even sales
• Caution: this is not = cash
flow positive
17
18. Capex
Capex = Capital Expenditure =
Fixed Asset
Depreciation = Cost of fixed
asset / life expectancy
Depreciation Expense = not a
cash outlay
Makerbot Replicator
Cost
$2,950
Life Expectancy (Useful
Life)
in Months
36
Monthly Depreciation
Expense
81.94
23. Pitfalls
• Don’t plan “downhill, with a tailwind”
• Growth is rarely exponential or even
linear after the “honeymoon”
• Beware step costs
• Manufacturing, service, software, and
distribution businesses all have
different growth drivers
• Selling more to your customers vs
selling to more customers
• Plan for availability of capital before
you need it
• Factoring = Bad
23
26. A Shameless Plug
Come spend the weekend with me
!
No, I didn’t mean it that way
!
Well, ok…if you really want to
!
@peterkosjr
pkos@netpositiveco.org
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