Charles Strout
Finance Expert
Location
Camden, United States
Toptal Member Since
January 17, 2017
A chartered financial analyst and Columbia/London Business School MBA, Charlie founded a consulting firm specializing in providing strategic and financial analysis. He also currently leads strategic initiatives at FreeWheel Media. Recently, Charlie's work has included conducting equity research and valuing non-traditional data sets. He joined Toptal to help clients leverage financial and strategic analysis to improve business results.
Charles is available for hire
Hire CharlesCareer Highlights
Data Quality Officer | Director, IT Compliance
FreeWheel Media, Inc. (a Comcast Company)
Founder | Financial Analyst | Software Engineer
Seven Shadow, LLC
Advisor
Addressable.tv
Education
Master of Business Administration (MBA) Degree
London Business School
Master of Business Administration (MBA) Degree
Columbia University
Bachelor's Degree
Bowdoin College
Select Certifications
Chartered Financial Analyst (CFA)
CFA Institute
Project Management Professional (PMP)
Project Management Institute (PMI)
Case Studies
Equity Research
Equity ResearchFinancial ModelingMarket Research & AnalysisValuation ModelingPro Forma Financial Statements
Online Financial Modeling Tool
FintechMonte Carlo SimulationsProduct DevelopmentFinancial StatementsInvestment ModelingEquity Research
Expertise
BudgetingEquity ResearchFinancial ModelingLean StartupsStartup Growth Strategy DevelopmentStartupsValue InvestingWork Experience
2017 - PRESENT
Data Quality Officer | Director, IT Compliance
FreeWheel Media, Inc. (a Comcast Company)
- Conducted a top-to-bottom strategic review of operations division with one hundred members.
- Worked with senior management to implement strategic changes resulting in a dramatic improvement in operating results.
- Implemented GDPR- and SOC-compliant policies and procedures to improve corporate governance and reduce business risk.
- Launched a project management office that resulted in operational efficiencies and better agility for the operations division.
- Managed SOC and MRC audit including managing the relationship with third-party auditors.
- Led the development of a sophisticated fraud-detection system, including instituting policies and procedures, managing off-shore development resources, and ensuring compliance with industry guidelines.
- Spearheaded brand-safety and traffic analysis initiatives for a major adtech platform.
- Oversaw an ongoing modernization project to improve the agility and efficiency of the department, including significant work in business process automation.
- Led disaster-recovery enhancement efforts to mitigate business risk and ensure compliance with contractual obligations.
Focus areas: International Data Privacy Regulations, Data Modeling, Data Analysis, Business Advisory
2002 - PRESENT
Founder | Financial Analyst | Software Engineer
Seven Shadow, LLC
- Developed equity-research reports used for investment decisions by investment funds.
- Created an equity valuation framework and financial models to assess the fair-market prices of publicly-traded investments.
- Supervised an investment portfolio of publicly-traded equities, cash equivalents, and real estate assets.
- Managed residential rental property, including overseeing property managers, maintenance, financing, and budgeting.
- Valued a nontraditional data set for a client based using both comparable data sets and bottom-up, industry-based research.
- Developed a risk management information system with detailed analytics for a major engineering company that tracked hundreds of millions of dollars in risk and saved the company millions of dollars a year.
- Responsible for all finance and accounting activities at a boutique consulting company, including capital allocation, financial statement development, budgeting and taxes.
- Performed a scenario analysis for financial investments, including the development of Monte Carlo simulations.
Focus areas: Financial Planning & Analysis (FP&A), Three-statement Modeling, Equity Research, Holochain, Entrepreneurship
2018 - 2019
Advisor
Addressable.tv
- Built a financial model and pro-forma financial statements for an adtech startup in the OTT-advertising industry.
- Managed finances, including developing financial statements and assessing capital allocation alternatives.
- Led internal operations and contributed to the overall company strategy.
- Carried out fundraising efforts, including pitch deck creation, business plan development, and investor outreach.
- Advised startup on technology and product strategy, including how to leverage cloud services effectively and ensure appropriate internal IT controls.
- Conducted strategic assessment for an adtech startup.
Focus areas: Financial Planning & Analysis (FP&A), Fundraising, Budgeting
2012 - 2017
CEO
Prudena, Inc.
- Worked as the manager of an online equity research platform that specialized in providing automated financial statement analysis.
- Developed sophisticated financial statement analysis tools to save equity researchers time and provide unique insights.
- Coordinated with university finance professors and external advisers on the development of financial research platform.
- Wrote equity research reports for investors and edited research reports from freelance analysts.
- Developed a financial model and forecasts for a fintech startup.
- Managed finances and created financial statements for a fintech startup.
- Developed a pricing model for an online subscription software business.
- Carried out fundraising activities and developed pitch-deck for investors for an early-stage startup.
- Conducted market research and evaluated product-market fit for a suite of equity research tools.
- Managed partnerships, third-party data providers, and vendors for a fintech startup.
Focus areas: Fintech, Equity Research
Education
2010 - 2012
Master of Business Administration (MBA) Degree in Finance
London Business School - London, UK
2010 - 2012
Master of Business Administration (MBA) Degree in Finance
Columbia University - New York, NY, USA
1987 - 1991
Bachelor's Degree in Philosophy
Bowdoin College - Brunswick, ME, USA
Certifications
SEPTEMBER 2018 - PRESENT
Chartered Financial Analyst (CFA)
CFA Institute
MARCH 2010 - PRESENT
Project Management Professional (PMP)
Project Management Institute (PMI)