In this episode, Brandon Valentine, a CPA and the founder of Valentine Advisory Group, explains why a founder who can't speak to their unit economics can't raise capital: lenders and investors want to understand how the company makes money and how they get their capital back. He breaks down what goes into the numbers (cost of goods sold, operating expenses and a price the market will pay), why pricing starts with market research and the problem you solve for the customer, and how a three statement financial model turns "I want money because my idea is very good" into a specific ask backed by numbers. Hunter adds why bad unit economics get worse with growth: lose money on one widget and you lose more on a thousand. They also cover finance tools versus finance expertise, how to vet a CPA, and how AI is changing accounting work, including why it still depends on good data going in. Founders preparing to raise will learn which numbers to get right before the pitch.

Chapters

00:00 Asking for capital with numbers, not belief

00:37 Introducing Brandon Valentine and Valentine Advisory Group

01:11 Where founders should start: unit economics

03:40 Why you can't raise without your unit economics

04:53 Labor, operating expenses and early foundations

06:55 Bad unit economics lose more as you scale

07:40 Pricing, freemium and market research

10:16 Pricing to the problem you solve

12:50 The three statement model and the capital ask

15:03 Finance tools versus finance expertise

16:33 How to find and vet a CPA

18:07 How AI is changing accounting and finance

23:02 Where AI goes wrong: bad data in, bad data out

24:23 Where to find Brandon

Host: R. Hunter Harris

https://www.linkedin.com/in/rhunterharris/

Guest: Brandon Valentine

Brandon is a CPA from Atlanta and the founder of Valentine Advisory Group. He helps people buy and sell businesses in the lower middle market and helps founders and small business owners build their accounting and finance foundations.

https://www.linkedin.com/in/brandon-valentine-cpa

https://valentineadvisorygroup.com/

By Hunter Software Consulting

https://huntersoftwareconsulting.com/