Wednesday, April 28, 2010

updated simple financial template

After 2 terms of using the simple financial template in my undergraduate class on entrepreneurship (STRE2010 at UNSW), I think I have ironed out all the wrinkles, removed unnecessary bells and whistles and kept only the good stuff. HERE IT IS: simple-template.xlsx

The "statements" tab have almost powerpoint-ready overviews of the income statement, balance sheet and cashflow statement. The comments on the margins help guide users through the necessary entries to customize the model.

The "reality check" tab provides some basic ratio analysis to breakdown where the major expenditures are and helps assess if areas of the forecasted growth make sense.

The "valuation" tab helps come up with a valuation that's better than one picked out of thin air. Nonetheless, for start-ups with no running history, this can be a major challenge and point of negotiation when dealing with more financial-return minded investors.

I'll leave it up to you to create visual charts that do a better job of emphasizing the numbers relevant to your opportunity.

Sunday, April 25, 2010

Meet the Entrepreneur

The Centre for Innovation and Entreprenuership (www.cie.unsw.edu.au) is running another Meet the Entrepreneur event, sponsored by Ernst & Young. The target audience includes people related to the start-up community in the greater Sydney area, including entrepreneurs, investors, government grant administrators, etc.

Topic: From concept to commercial reality
Are you interested in starting up a technology business? If you want it to be successful, learn from those who already are. Our panel members are leaders in this field and will provide guests an insight on their entrepreneurial approach and how to navigate through the commercialisation process, including securing funding and grants.
Learn about their experiences of commercialising early stage technology businesses and receive practical advice, followed by a facilitated question and answer session.
Meet the panel
The success story: Damian Kay, Founder, Telcoinabox. From a conversation in the lift, telcoinabox has become a leader in the telecommunications industry, with an annual growth rate of over 180%.
The technology commercialisation hub: Hamish Hawthorn, CEO, ATP Innovations. ATP is a collaboration between four of Australia’s top universities, providing value-added services to accelerate growth of early stage technology businesses.
Date: Thursday, 20th May 2010
Time: 5:30 for 6pm Start, Until 8pm
Location: 680 George Street, Ernst & Young Sydney City Offices
Register: Please click here to register by Thursday 13 May