Case Studies Creating Dynamic Financial Models for a Hyper Growth Company

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	Creating Dynamic Financial Models for a Hyper Growth Company

Creating Dynamic Financial Models for a Hyper Growth Company

Technology Category	Analytics & Modeling - Predictive Analytics Application Infrastructure & Middleware - Data Exchange & Integration Functional Applications - Enterprise Resource Planning Systems (ERP)
Applicable Industries	Finance & Insurance Software
Applicable Functions	Business Operation Sales & Marketing
Use Cases	Predictive Replenishment
Services	Software Design & Engineering Services System Integration
Challenge	Forecast OpEx and workforce investments at the speed of business growth. It’s easy for early finance hires at hyper growth companies to get locked into the role of data wrangler and spreadsheet manager. They end up spending so much time trying to keep last month’s, quarter’s, and year’s actuals organized that there’s little time left to focus on more strategic, forward-looking efforts. Tony Le and the small finance team at Pipe wanted to avoid that stereotype from the very start. Pipe launched publicly in June 2020, making its rapid rise to $316 million raised and $2 billion valuation almost unheard of in the tech world. That’s great for generating excitement among customers and investors—but it puts significant pressure on traditional finance workflows. Le and his early finance team couldn’t afford to spend days or weeks building models to plan out the business only to watch them go stale a week later. They wanted to embrace a more tech-forward approach to finance that enabled real-time visibility into the data and more dynamic, agile planning processes. The team wanted to start by modernizing its expense and headcount modeling to help ensure Pipe was properly allocating capital as it quickly scaled. They needed a software solution that could bypass traditional excel modeling while also helping them continue building a culture of strategic finance. Read More
About Customer	Pipe is a trading platform that provides direct access to the capital markets for companies of all sizes, ranging from early-stage all the way to publicly listed companies. In May 2021, Pipe became the fastest growing fintech to reach a $2 billion valuation. Pipe’s core mission is to help entrepreneurs scale without restrictive debt or dilution, so companies can grow on their terms. The company operates a trading platform for recurring revenue streams, connecting companies to institutional investors to trade their recurring revenue as an asset for up-front capital, offering more cash flow for scaling companies. Read More
Solution	Centralize modeling and planning in software, not spreadsheets. One of the main reasons Pipe wanted to avoid spreadsheet-based planning was because it doesn’t lend itself to collaboration with the rest of the business. Le and his team needed a software solution that would act as a central source of financial truth while also making the data digestible for non-finance users. But the landscape of modern strategic finance software—the kind that can support young, hyper growth companies in a way that Anaplan and Adaptive can’t—is still in its early days. Many vendors are promising the world and under-delivering as they try to build out features that matter most to companies like Pipe. Pipe implemented Mosaic after trialing a different solution and realizing it couldn’t support the finance team’s strategic needs. There were benefits that Le and his team realize value almost immediately: Data Aggregation and Centralization: Mosaic connects to Pipe’s source systems to consolidate financial data from across the business. The platform automates data aggregation, eliminating hours of manual work each month to organize actuals. Dynamic Financial Modeling: Mosaic enables Pipe to quickly adjust the assumptions in its models to test new scenarios and map out growth plans. The flexibility of Mosaic makes it easy for the finance team to keep pace with rapid business changes. Collaborative OpEx and Headcount Planning: Mosaic’s intelligent planning tools allow Le and his team to visualize key metrics by department and share with relevant business partners. They can quickly present things like marketing spend and headcount growth on a department level and focus more time on explaining the story behind the numbers. Read More Log in to view content
Contents

Technology Category

Analytics & Modeling - Predictive Analytics

Application Infrastructure & Middleware - Data Exchange & Integration

Functional Applications - Enterprise Resource Planning Systems (ERP)

Applicable Industries

Finance & Insurance

Software

Applicable Functions

Business Operation

Sales & Marketing

Use Cases

Predictive Replenishment

Services

Software Design & Engineering Services

System Integration

Challenge

Forecast OpEx and workforce investments at the speed of business growth. It’s easy for early finance hires at hyper growth companies to get locked into the role of data wrangler and spreadsheet manager. They end up spending so much time trying to keep last month’s, quarter’s, and year’s actuals organized that there’s little time left to focus on more strategic, forward-looking efforts. Tony Le and the small finance team at Pipe wanted to avoid that stereotype from the very start. Pipe launched publicly in June 2020, making its rapid rise to $316 million raised and $2 billion valuation almost unheard of in the tech world. That’s great for generating excitement among customers and investors—but it puts significant pressure on traditional finance workflows. Le and his early finance team couldn’t afford to spend days or weeks building models to plan out the business only to watch them go stale a week later. They wanted to embrace a more tech-forward approach to finance that enabled real-time visibility into the data and more dynamic, agile planning processes. The team wanted to start by modernizing its expense and headcount modeling to help ensure Pipe was properly allocating capital as it quickly scaled. They needed a software solution that could bypass traditional excel modeling while also helping them continue building a culture of strategic finance.

About Customer

Pipe is a trading platform that provides direct access to the capital markets for companies of all sizes, ranging from early-stage all the way to publicly listed companies. In May 2021, Pipe became the fastest growing fintech to reach a $2 billion valuation. Pipe’s core mission is to help entrepreneurs scale without restrictive debt or dilution, so companies can grow on their terms. The company operates a trading platform for recurring revenue streams, connecting companies to institutional investors to trade their recurring revenue as an asset for up-front capital, offering more cash flow for scaling companies.

Solution

Centralize modeling and planning in software, not spreadsheets. One of the main reasons Pipe wanted to avoid spreadsheet-based planning was because it doesn’t lend itself to collaboration with the rest of the business. Le and his team needed a software solution that would act as a central source of financial truth while also making the data digestible for non-finance users. But the landscape of modern strategic finance software—the kind that can support young, hyper growth companies in a way that Anaplan and Adaptive can’t—is still in its early days. Many vendors are promising the world and under-delivering as they try to build out features that matter most to companies like Pipe. Pipe implemented Mosaic after trialing a different solution and realizing it couldn’t support the finance team’s strategic needs. There were benefits that Le and his team realize value almost immediately: Data Aggregation and Centralization: Mosaic connects to Pipe’s source systems to consolidate financial data from across the business. The platform automates data aggregation, eliminating hours of manual work each month to organize actuals. Dynamic Financial Modeling: Mosaic enables Pipe to quickly adjust the assumptions in its models to test new scenarios and map out growth plans. The flexibility of Mosaic makes it easy for the finance team to keep pace with rapid business changes. Collaborative OpEx and Headcount Planning: Mosaic’s intelligent planning tools allow Le and his team to visualize key metrics by department and share with relevant business partners. They can quickly present things like marketing spend and headcount growth on a department level and focus more time on explaining the story behind the numbers.

Impact #1	Real-Time Forecasting: Centralized models and connected them to live data to help accelerate OpEx and headcount planning.
Impact #2	Better Benchmarking: Built canvases so department leads can easily access and work with real-time numbers.
Impact #3	Dynamic Planning: Established modern planning workflows leverage a single source of truth.

Impact #1

Real-Time Forecasting: Centralized models and connected them to live data to help accelerate OpEx and headcount planning.

Impact #2

Better Benchmarking: Built canvases so department leads can easily access and work with real-time numbers.

Impact #3

Dynamic Planning: Established modern planning workflows leverage a single source of truth.

Benefit #1	50% Less time building OpEx and headcount plans.
Benefit #2	30% More time spent on cross-department collaboration.
Benefit #3	6x Faster fiscal year planning cycle.

Benefit #1

50% Less time building OpEx and headcount plans.

Benefit #2

30% More time spent on cross-department collaboration.

Benefit #3

6x Faster fiscal year planning cycle.

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Overview

Creating Dynamic Financial Models for a Hyper Growth Company

Operational Impact

Quantitative Benefit