About Me
When I was 9 years old, I began my first business. Queuing up for the tuckshop one day I realised there was a gap in the market; all my friends and I wanted to get lollies from the outside world but were limited to the options on a tuckshop board.
I decided to setup an operation, buying lollies from the supermarkets, packaging them up in smaller quantities before school started and then selling them during my lunch and recess. I had a few weeks of success and remember trying to mask the sound of all my coins as I came home from school. Some of the teachers found out and my shadow lolly business was crushed.
Ever since I’ve been fascinated by business. Understanding how companies make money naturally led me to the world of investing. Some of the greatest businesses in the world happen to be listed, trade daily and publicly report on how they are performing. Buying shares in these businesses at the right price is a tremendous opportunity.
I have started this blog so I can share my experiences and opinions with you. I welcome your feedback and sincerely appreciate your attention.
Ashford Bain
Work Experience / Qualifications
Work Experience
I’m a Finance professional with significant experience scaling Finance functions within scale ups. I began my career at Sydney based Fintech Lendi as their first Finance team member. Moving the Finance function from a one-man-band to audited financials. I’m proud to have developed a best in class valuation framework for valuing future trailing commissions as well as significant Analytics projects improving customer and financial insights into the business.
I’ve worked for SiteMinder (B2B Vertical SaaS) in the Financial Planning and Analysis team. I have contributed to the budgeting process during a period of increased investment and re-acceleration of growth as well as worked on successful capital raising efforts. I’ve successfully led the analysis and presentation of the business’ unit economics (lifetime value value of customer and customer acquisition cost) which are central metrics for a SaaS company.
I worked for commercial motor insur-tech Zego based out of London as an Analyst, helping drive and execute on the financial strategy. I worked on the $150M Series C capital raise from pitch-deck to due diligence in a process spanning less than two calendar months. At Zego I evangelised unit economics, using it as the basis for marketing spending framework, business development decisions alongside dovetailing into revenue and wider corporate forecasting.
Currently I work for global consulting firm Efficio as FP&A and Corporate Manager.
Qualifications
Chartered Financial Analyst (CFA) Program completed
University of Sydney - Bachelor of Commerce (Majors in Finance and Commercial Law)