Blog #4 - Making the Numbers Work: Financial Planning and Investment

Blog #4 - Making the Numbers Work: Financial Planning and Investment

I had a business professor once tell me that everything business students learn in school is basically common sense. He said now obviously business students, especially here at CMU, are smart, talented individuals, but there key to success is helping everyone else see the obvious. Business isn't all about crunching numbers. He even admitted he was awful at math, but that intuition and common sense are what helped make him successful. He was telling me all this, because I sat there panicked about my grade in the course. I felt I wasn't understanding the material and that this was the reason I didn't pursue an MBA. He reassured me that I was thinking too much. I was only focusing on the numbers, and not the overall cause. Why are you investing here and not there? Why did you choose that venture to fund you? I wasn't answering the most obvious questions, which left me scattered in my thoughts and not the grade I wanted.

Income statements aren't meant to be hard. They are there to help you organize the obvious! This money went here, so we should put some money over there. Obviously, there is a little more reason behind such actions and numbers do matter, but what entrepreneurs need to understand is that keeping your numbers in line will allow you to follow your intuition and push forward on your vision.

Last fall I got the privilege to meet a young, 25 year old, extremely successful entrepreneur, Brian Wong. Wong's new book, The Cheat Code, is about "going off script to get more, go faster, and shortcut your way to success".  The message of his book isn't about technically cheating the system, but using common sense and intuition to achieve your goals. His "cheats" are simple techniques to get your foot in the door, land funding, and build your vision. Chapter titles ranging from, "Think on Your Feet" to "Screw the MBA," Wong lists out ways to find your funding, how to talk to Angel Investors, how to take rejection, how to be independent, while be humble and conservative towards your venture/start-up. While some of his tactics, for example "Balls to the Walls" aren't necessarily humble, the underlining message is to be humble towards your vision. Do what you need to do to find your success but never lose site of what the purpose of all of it was.

Funding your venture could be the make or break of your start-up, but with the right attitude and the drive to never give up, most of us will make it.