Stop looking in the rear-view mirror and start using your financial data to drive profitable business growth.
In this episode of Behind the Numbers, host Dave Bookbinder sits down with Jon Morris, founder of Fiscal Advocate and Engine BI, who famously bootstrapped Rise Interactive from a $10,000 business plan win into a near-$40 million powerhouse. Jon breaks down his pivotal 2009 inflection point that forced him to master financial metrics, showing why financial planning and analysis (FP&A) must function as a proactive strategy rather than a rear-view accounting exercise. Together, they explore the concrete frameworks leaders need to eliminate margin leaks, accurately evaluate marketing ROI using payback and cost-to-acquire metrics, and safely budget for R&D in a service business.
Mastering your numbers is the ultimate key to unlocking cash, making confident decisions, and maximizing your company’s true enterprise value.
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The Three Numbers That Matter: Cash relative to overhead, net profit margin, and year-over-year revenue growth.
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Smart Financial Operations: Fixing profit leaks, optimizing owner draws, and leveraging modern AI tools to drive efficiency without team burnout.
Mastering your numbers is the ultimate key to unlocking cash, making confident decisions, and maximizing your company’s true enterprise value.
About our guest:
Jon Morris is the Founder and CEO of Fiscal Advocate Inc, a technology-enabled professional services company powered by EngineBI software. Prior to Fiscal Advocate, he established Rise Interactive in 2004 with prize money from his second-place finish in the University of Chicago’s prestigious New Venture Challenge. Over the next 16 years, he grew Rise from a one-person shop to one of the largest independent marketing agencies in the world. After selling Rise, Jon pondered his next move and realized that he was most energized when connecting and helping fellow entrepreneurs grow their businesses.
Fiscal Advocate is the product of this inspiration. Jon recognized that focusing on insights-driven finance was instrumental in Rise’s success and understood that other agencies, in fact, nearly any professional service company, could benefit from it. So, like at Rise, Jon developed a proprietary, tech-enabled approach for surfacing the hidden financial insights that drive critical business decisions.
Fiscal Advocate’s innovative, tech-enabled financial management is designed to help professional service companies drive revenue growth, save time, increase profitability, and improve cash position. These services include basic accounting and bookkeeping, cash flow analysis, month-end analysis, as well as annual planning and forecasting using EngineBI software.
About the Host:
Dave Bookbinder is known as a trusted provider for independent business valuations, corporate asset appraisals, and exit planning advisory and he is the person that business owners and their advisors reach out to when they need to know what their most important assets are worth. Known as a collaborative adviser, Dave has served thousands of client companies of all sizes and industries.
Dave is the author of two #1 best-selling books about the impact of human capital (PEOPLE!) on the valuation of a business enterprise called The NEW ROI: Return On Individuals & The NEW ROI: Going Behind The Numbers.
He’s on a mission to change the conversation about how the accounting world recognizes the value of people’s contributions to a business enterprise, and to quantify what every CEO on the planet claims: “Our people are this company’s most valuable asset.”
Dave’s book, A Valuation Toolbox for Business Owners and Their Advisors: Things Every Business Owner Should Know, was recognized as a top new release in Business and Valuation and is designed to provide practical insights and tools to help understand what really drives business value, how to prepare for an exit, and just make better decisions.
He’s also the host of the highly rated Behind The Numbers With Dave Bookbinder business podcast which is enjoyed in more than 100 countries.
🔸 Grab Dave’s Books: The New ROI: Return on Individuals | The NEW ROI: Going Behind The Numbers | A Valuation Toolbox for Business Owners and Their Advisors: Things Every Business Owner Should Know
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🔸 Check out www.NEWROI.com for more.
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