The Challenge

A start-up consumer goods company required a detailed strategic plan, which could be presented for investor pitchbook presentation purposes. It needed to leverage the base forecasting undertaken by the CFO. It had to facilitate multiple scenarios of the company’s commercial roll-out planning. In essence, Strategize was called upon by the client to provide financial, commercial and accounting support to the CFO and CEO.

The Strategize strategic plan had to validate the existing forecasts, present the financials in a high-level form that could be presented to potential investors; complemented with relevant graphs and KPI tables.

Strategize had to rapidly learn the operational, financial and industry-specific dynamics that the company faced. A strong attention to detail, commercial insight and thorough accounting knowledge were required, in order to successfully execute on this mandate.

The Strategize Value Proposition

Strategic thinking
Strategize demonstrated alternative viable strategies and business models, via the generation of financial models under various scenarios, which helped the client to further articulate the value proposition to potential investors.

Financial Expertise
Strategize demonstrated thorough financial knowledge and modelling expertise, via the strategic plan, in order to better assist the client’s executive decision making and enhance the investor pitchbook presentations to potential investors.

Leadership
Strategize understood rapidly the client’s overall business, leveraged off its existing forecasted numbers and built a sophisticated financial model, which could be leveraged for internal review and utilised in investor pitchbook or roadshow presentations. Thought leadership was needed during the strategic planning, in order to push critical thinking and articulate the revenue and cost drivers of the client’s business.

Further, the ability of Strategize to undertake strategic financial analysis and planning, and articulate this to the client via written summaries, PowerPoint presentations and verbally in executive meetings was greatly valued.

Communication
Strategize displayed expert verbal and written communication appropriate for the various internal (client’s executives) and external (prospective business partners and investors) stakeholders during the mandate; especially for the modelling of the client’s financial projects under various scenarios, whilst displaying emotional intelligence.

Practical Application 1 – Internal Review

Strategize delivered an integrated, detailed and best practice financial model to executives, which was complemented with executive dashboard summaries and graphs. The executive dashboards enabled the client’s executives to rapidly understand the strategic plan under different scenarios, thanks to the high-level financial summaries, KPIs and graphs.

Practical Application 1 – Investor Pitchbook

Strategize greatly enhanced the strategic planning and analysis of the client’s forecast in its investor pitchbook for its various roadshows to potential investors. The best practice financial modelling of the Strategize model, in terms of the model’s ability to compute and summarise the client’s financials via dashboards and graphs.

Closing Words on the Mandate

Strategize executed successfully on this mandate for the client, by producing a strategic plan and financial model, which could cater to the client’s various strategic initiatives in pitching the company to private equity investors. Strong strategic thinking and analytical skills, both quantitative and qualitative, were required to successfully deliver on the strategic planning process for the client.