Feo.finance is a start-up currently based in Germany but offers services internationally. Its no-formula solution and integrated templates that do risk analyses, management accounting and business plan presentations have changed the face of business growth and potential— and the world of automation as a whole.
Once in a blue moon, there comes along a company that changes everything— revolutionizing their industry through not only their ground-breaking entrepreneurship but also their ability to meet the needs of their industry, in real-time.
Finance entrepreneur and CEO of Feo, Andreas Feofanov, raises this bar to a new level— scaling his startup to not just carve an original space in its sector, but push automation to a more meaningful purpose: driving accessibility.
The Big Secret of Financial Models
For over a decade, Feofanov had worked with companies on their financial back-end, developing business plan templates and financial modeling examples through excel. These models would include data that measured a business’s success, factoring in expenses, capital, assets, employees hired and the projection of success in the future.
The catch?
These business models would sell for thousands of dollars. And if you went to a larger and more famous company to get a financial model for your business, you might end up spending 10-20 thousand dollars. To this end, while major consulting companies are indeed helpful in their other services, the financial models and Excel calculators they are selling can leave a dent in the wallet.
And the truth?
“These models that are costing business owners thousands of dollars are all the same,” Feofanov revealed. “Businesses think they are buying these personalized business models when in reality, they have been created already in excel for other businesses a long time ago—with the formulas, the new business’s numbers are plugged in and there indeed is the model the person is buying.”
A Quest for Justice
After many years of developing such models, Feofanov began to feel more and more just how unfair the current financial model system was.
New business owners already had so much on their plate— and plenty of expenses— that spending thousands on used models felt like a pain point the financial industry needed to correct.
Two years ago, he decided to do something about it: and so, he created his very own start-up, feo.finance.
This business is all about making business models and business plan templates accessible to the public for the price that is both affordable and realistic. With the cheapest plan selling for $15 a month, business owners who want to set their brand up with financial success and strategic business acumen can finally do so, and for a price that doesn’t dent their wallets.
“How Feo works is that you can go to our site, pick your industry and business type— like a café or hotel for example— and you will be taken to a browser with a ready finance model in excel,” Feofanov explained. “You can go in and change the numbers that you need in this file like the details of your assets, expenses, cashflow, hiring process, etc. and our program subsequently draws out the results based on your personal data.”
Also shown on the website, the program specifically operates by the input of technical data, capital costs, operational costs, revenue, financing and macro indicators. Once these are typed in, the results are revealed, including cash flow statements, balance sheets, as well as recommendations and risks.
And the automation doesn’t stop there: these financial models are able to be exported and sent to others as well as presented to investors and stakeholders. It doesn’t matter whether the business owner is in Japan, China, Germany, the United States or Australia, and it doesn’t matter the currency the business owner operates with— all models are customized to industry, country and language as needed.
“For too long, companies have been charging larger than life sums of money for financial models, allowing only the top 1% of business owners to successfully plan their corporation and its trajectory,” Feofanov said passionately. “With Feo, we want to open the door for all to be able to plan their business, know the financial health of their business and know when they’ll be breaking even— we want to offer to the public the well-deserved accessibility to success.”
The Best That Automation Has to Offer
Feo.finance offers business plan templates for over 100 businesses ranging from food industries to retail to entertainment to real estate and more.
Similar to the automation of companies like Wix and Canva, Feo has streamlined the ability for a business owner to know the details of his business and even see what is recommended, given his or her current capital and operating numbers.
And the models aren’t just for the CEO’s or investors’ peace of mind— it’s also necessary in order for the bank to grant a certain line of credit for the business.
In the United States, for example, according to data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics and summarized by Entrepreneur, “approximately 20 percent of small businesses fail within the first year and by the end of the second year, 30 percent of businesses will have failed— by the end of the fifth year, about half will have failed and by the end of the decade, only 30 percent of businesses will remain [which is] a 70 percent failure rate.”
Banks aren’t keen on handing out credit to every new business with an idea— so Feo is here to help companies prove their worth.
“In order to get the necessary credit to build your business, a business owner will want these financial models and business plans that Feo automates,” Feofanov explained. “Banks demand these drawn-out numbers because they know themselves that data says it all; they won’t give credit to businesses that won’t prove they’ll make it.”
And that’s the key to Feo: its business model canvas uses the inputted data to make recommendations and share reservations. If it sees that a company’s numbers show they’re heading towards bankruptcy in the future, it will offer an industry, sector or business type perhaps in a different city that works better.
In this way, Feo warns investors from bad investments and keeps CEO’s from opening businesses that will fail. Better yet, once the numbers are all crunched, and the I’s are dotted/t’s are crossed, the app is able to offer management accounting, where the next steps and future growth is all laid out in a business plan example.
The Net-Net
All the aforementioned features are ultimately what make Feo stand out in the world of start-ups, entrepreneurship and finance. It can take one person years to have the financial expertise, the corporate background and the excel skills to develop these automative, proactive and insightful finance models that exist in two minutes when downloaded from Feo.
The traditional approach to financial modeling has been complicated, time-consuming and costly. And when they get too costly, business owners have been left out in the cold, making financial decisions that can lead to incorrect financial planning, business failure or a bank’s rejection to a line of credit request.
Now, Feofanov and his team of financial, start-up experts have revolutionized financial health planning and understanding, allowing businesses from all over the world, in any industry, to really forecast their cash flow, break-even points and revenue-building.
“We all deserve to have access to the building blocks that foster a business’s potential,” Feofanov said, smiling. “I want Feo to be the reason a business owner is able to make their dreams come true.”
