Finance Expert in Annapolis, MD, United States

Amy Divaraniya, CEO and co-founder of OOVA, created a product she knew the market needed. Yet, while she was pitching investors trying to close her seed round, she found that the financial projections needed a fresh pair of eyes.

In industries seeing stagnant growth or a negative impact from uncontrollable, outside forces, many companies are turning to corporate venture capital as an alternative means to innovation. Yet, famed venture capitalist Fred Wilson once said that corporate venture capital was the “devil.”

We polled the Toptal Finance Expert network to find out how they access Bloomberg terminal-quality data without paying $25,000. One website we uncovered looks and feels exactly like FactSet—and costs nothing.

Not sure when to use which valuation ratio for which situation? In this article, we’ll delve into the must-know metrics and provide heuristics of when to use which measure.

Will electric airplanes dramatically reduce fuel costs, save the environment, and jumpstart the dying regional industry? In this article, we examine why electric airplanes are having their moment in the sun. We size the market, take bets on the winning players, investigate the challenges in current technologies, and take a guess at when you'll be flying in an electric plane.

Consultants often struggle to find new, solid clients. We asked Steve Blank, the founder of the Lean Startup movement (and someone who has helped hundreds of companies get a better product to market faster and worked with dozens of consultants along the way) how consultants can attract clients. Steve's advice is a bit counter-intuitive. But it's something that Toptal's best consultants have already been doing for years.

In the last Super Bowl when the New England Patriots faced off against the Philadelphia Eagles, Americans bet a staggering $4.76 billion on the game. 97% of that figure was done so illegally. However, this will likely change by the time the next Super Bowl rolls around. In a hotly anticipated move on May 14, 2018, the US Supreme Court struck down the Professional and Amateur Sports Protection Act, paving the way for states to legalize sports betting. This article covers the foundations of sports betting, including its $150 billion market size, implementation timeline, and revenue distribution. It will also examine the implications of its legalization, including increased sports engagement and popularity, ethical concerns, fresh opportunities, and its impact on fantasy sports and eSports.

Fewer than 3% of applicants make it through Toptal Finance’s rigorous screening process. How do the best of the best become such effective financial consultants? We sat down with one of Toptal’s most on-demand financial consultants, Jeffrey Fidelman, who shared his proprietary methods for ensuring success for his clients and how he has grown his own business exponentially.

Retail investors have had a rough year. The SPDR S&P Retail ETF has underperformed the S&P 500 by nearly 30 percentage points. From eCommerce shifts to higher gas prices, there are plenty of arguments to be made against retail. Yet, there are a couple reasons to be jolly heading into the holiday season that few are talking about. In this article, Elizabeth Hanano, CFA suggests that low expectations combined with lesser-known tailwinds indicate it may be time to dip a toe back into the retail pond.

Equity analysts often leave out an important source of wisdom when analyzing companies—the annual shareholder letter. This article intends to elucidate the purpose and traits of good shareholder letters based on an analysis of the 601 companies in the S&P SmallCap 600 Index. The article will also direct readers to some of the best lesser-known shareholder letters to put on their annual reading list.