In this episode of Behind the Numbers, I’m pleased to welcome Victoria Yampolsky, who is the president and founder of the Startup Station. 

Victoria shares insights on how a positive mindset can lead to better outcomes, even in challenging situations like receiving negative feedback from investors. She highlights the importance of mindset training, comparing it to physical exercise, and discusses proven strategies such as meditation, exercise, and setting aside time for self-awareness.

Victoria illustrates the impact of mindset with real-life examples, including entrepreneurs who thrived by embracing feedback and those who struggled due to rigid thinking. She also emphasizes the significance of financial literacy for entrepreneurs, explaining common mistakes in revenue projections, cost understanding, and the importance of cash flow management.

Throughout the conversation, Victoria and Dave explore the critical financial metrics that entrepreneurs need to track, such as EBITDA, cash flow from operations, and unit economics. They stress the importance of creating flexible and robust financial models that reflect the business strategy and market realities.

As the episode progresses, Victoria delves into the essential characteristics of effective leadership in entrepreneurship, including mental flexibility, intrinsic motivation, emotional regulation, and integrity. She provides valuable advice on how to develop these traits and their impact on business success.

About Victoria Yampolsky

Victoria Yampolsky, CFA, is a serial entrepreneur and an experienced business and finance executive with extensive startup experience. She is the President and Founder of The Startup Station, a CFO advisory and finance education platform for startups and small businesses.

Victoria founded The Startup Station in 2013 after she realized that while startup founders had a lot of passion and technical knowledge about what they were doing, they rarely had business acumen about how to bring their idea to market. Even more rarely they could analyze the financial implications of their decisions, let alone explain the business in financial terms to investors.

The Startup Station focuses on strategic financial modeling of startups and small businesses. We are fractional CFOs who know how to build and use financial models, or plans, as business intelligence tools. These tools translate the founders’ vision into an executable measurable roadmap. By properly implementing this roadmap in the financial systems, we can respond faster and more accurately to market feedback.

About Dave Bookbinder:

Dave Bookbinder is the person that clients reach out to when they need to know what their most important assets are worth. He’s a corporate finance executive with a focus on business and intellectual property valuation. 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.”

🔸 Grab Dave’s #1 Best-Selling Books: The New ROI: Return on Individuals  & The NEW ROI: Going Behind The Numbers

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🔸 Check out www.NEWROI.com for more.

💡  Want to share your insights with the business community? Message Dave to learn how you can be a guest on Behind The Numbers. https://linktr.ee/BehindTheNumbers

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