My Guest
Nicholas Andrews is the Founder of Aspen Consulting Group, a company that performs finance, accounting, and operations consulting for a wide range of small and medium sized businesses. Aspen’s services include technical accounting, corporate finance, valuations, operations planning and M&A due diligence, among others.
Prior to founding the Aspen Consulting group, Nick was part of a three-member founding team that grew an asset management business from $0 to $1.5B in AUM across the real estate and energy sectors in less than 4 years. Nick’s 20 years of experience includes establishing finance and accounting operations from non-existent states, as well as managing annual budgets of $200M+ for several publicly-traded entities.
Nick received his MBA from UC Berkley, and his BSBA in Accounting & Finance from The University of Denver. Nick is a CPA and resides in Denver, Colorado, with his family.
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A Finance Survival Guide for SMB CEOs: Liquidity, Hiring, Budgeting, Capital Allocation & More – In The Trenches
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Episode Overview with Timestamps
- 00:00 Navigating Cash and Liquidity in Uncertain Times
- 06:35 Understanding Cash Reserves and Metrics
- 09:50 Balancing Cash Management with Inflation Concerns
- 12:46 Strategies for Liquidity Management
- 15:50 Identifying “Cash Vampires” in Your Business
- 18:30 Tactical Practices for CEOs on Liquidity
- 21:34 The Importance of Employee Financial Literacy
- 24:47 Capital Allocation Strategies for Small Businesses
- 41:44 Common Financial Mistakes in SMBs
- 43:19 Measuring Returns on Investments
- 45:16 Hiring Challenges and Capital Allocation
- 48:49 Understanding Cash Usage in Growth Companies
- 54:05 The Limitations of Traditional Budgeting
- 01:00:51 Hiring Finance Leaders: CFO vs. VP of Finance
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Links to Resources Discussed During the Episode
- Book: The Four Disciplines of Execution, by Chris McChesney, Sean Covey, Jim Huling, Scott Thele, and Beverly Walker
- Book: The Great Game of Business, by Jack Stack
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