Managing the finances of your company can be a daunting task. There are countless metrics and financial indicators to keep track of, and it can be challenging to determine which ones are most important for your business. In this article, the experts behind AI-powered financial planning tool Blox will discuss the top five financial metrics that any finance team should be tracking to help you make informed decisions and ensure the financial health of your company.

As a business owner, creating a financial plan is a crucial step towards achieving long-term success. A solid financial plan provides a roadmap for managing cash flow, tracking expenses, and making strategic investments. However, creating a financial plan is not a simple task, and many business owners make common mistakes that can derail their financial objectives. In this article, the planning experts at Blox discuss the top three mistakes to avoid when creating a financial plan for your business.

When it comes to financial planning, the ability to make informed and strategic decisions quickly is paramount to the success of any business, be they early-stage startups or industry titans. Traditionally, financial planning involved using either expensive software that required specialist user knowledge and training, or relying on complex, error-prone spreadsheets. The latter especially is not only time-consuming but also poses challenges when updating financial plans as an organisation's numbers change over time, often needing the model to be torn down and rebuilt almost from scratch. However, the emergence of generative AI has the potential to revolutionise financial planning, enabling the rapid creation of bespoke and complex financial plans that can be edited in real-time. This breakthrough will democratise financial planning, allowing businesses and leaders to stay ahead of the game without requiring strong financial or modelling skill sets.

Financial planning plays a critical role in the success of startups. However, traditional specialist financial planning software platforms are often too expensive for early-stage companies, and their complex nature demands deep specialist knowledge to operate effectively. Consequently, startups often resort to using spreadsheets for financial planning, modelling, and forecasting. While spreadsheets provide a more accessible alternative, they come with their own set of challenges; they become complex very quickly, are time consuming both to build but to update, have inflexibility when changes need to be made to existing models, and present a high risk of errors. In this article, we will explore how the rise of generative AI is set to revolutionise financial planning for startup founders by enabling the rapid creation of bespoke and complex financial models, allowing leaders to stay ahead of the curve and achieve their business goals, even without strong financial or modelling skillsets.

Starting a business is a lot of work, and it can be even more daunting to try to figure out the financial side of things. But having a solid financial plan in place is essential for any business owner, no matter how small or large. We asked the planning experts at Blox for their top five things every startup founder should know when creating their financial plan.

When it comes to managing data and performing calculations, Microsoft Excel is a popular tool for businesses of all sizes. However, there are many alternative solutions available that offer advanced features and capabilities beyond what Excel can provide. In this article, we will explore the top five smart alternatives to Microsoft Excel that you should consider for your business.

Software as a Service (SaaS) companies operate in a fast-paced, ever-changing industry. To remain competitive and successful, SaaS leaders must track key metrics to make informed decisions and measure the health of their business. In this article, the planning experts behind AI-powered planning platform Blox will explore 10 important SaaS metrics that every SaaS leader should track.

Starting a new business is an exciting venture, but it can also be daunting, especially when it comes to finances. As a startup, you need to make sure that you have a solid financial plan in place to ensure that you have enough capital to get your business off the ground and sustain it through its growth phase. In this article, the team behind Blox, the financial planning solution for startups, will discuss the top 10 things to consider when building a financial plan for startups.

In just a few short months, Blox has helped hundreds of users who between them have built thousands of financial planning models, covering use cases as diverse as Workforce Planning and Subscription Revenue, to Utilisation & Margin Forecast and Financing. Read on for some of the feedback we've received from our early users.

So you have aspirations of establishing a startup, and you find yourself pondering the crucial question of how much funding you require? Alternatively, perhaps you have already taken the leap, engaged with potential investors, and want to be prepared for the inevitable query - “could you please provide your financial plan?” In this article, we will explore a few key considerations to help you navigate this process.

Neglecting proper financial planning, modelling, and forecasting can lead to major setbacks and hinder the long-term success of a startup. In this article, we will provide valuable insights and guidance on how startup leaders can get started with effective financial planning. We will also highlight common mistakes made by startups and discuss key areas that should be prioritised to ensure financial stability and growth.

Congratulations on founding your own company! As an entrepreneur, one of the most crucial tasks you'll face is creating an initial sales forecast. However, for a brand new company without any historical data or benchmarks, this can be a challenging endeavour. In this post, we will provide you with five essential tips to help create an effective sales forecast from scratch.

Join Blox at the Dublin Tech Summit 31st May - 1st June, or follow the hashtag #dts23 to be first to catch any exciting news coming out of the event.

Accounting plays a vital role in the success and sustainability of any business, especially for startups. In this blog post, we will explore the reasons why accounting is important for a startup business and how it can contribute to its growth and long-term success.

Brave Business networking events are an opportunity to connect with like-minded individuals and exchange ideas, best practices, and insights on how to drive success, aimed at Start-up/Scale-up Founders & Senior leaders, leaders in Tech/Digital businesses, and aspiring founders who are thinking about making the bold move.

The startup journey is not an easy one! Not only isBlox aimed squarely at startups and SMEs, but we are a startup ourselves, so we speak from experience! We asked founder, CEO, and Chief Bloxer Simon, what were the three things he wish he knew before embarking on the startup journey with Blox!You can check out his 75-second video here, or read on for his top three things he wish he knew before launching a startup!

Blox's Utilisation and Cost model helps services businesses understand the amount of time their employees are spending on revenue generating activities, as well as the costs associated with employing those resources. The Blox model requires just a small set of simple assumptions to generate a clear set of KPIs in minutes.

The Marketing Agency Utilisation Model from Blox is designed to help marketing agencies understand the amount of time their employees are spending on revenue generating activities, as well as the costs associated with employing those resources. You can create a plan in 5 minutes by following the simple guided steps.

Launching a new SaaS startup? Blox have put together a selection of different blocks, specifically tailored for SaaS businesses at the start of their exciting journey. Whether you’re just gaining traction or pre-launch, no more ‘going with your gut’ alone - model the outcomes and make informed decisions!

When most people think of financial modelling they think numbers. Important numbers which help you understand various areas of your business. But having a strong financial model is about more than just numbers. It can also provide a host of, often unconsidered, positive benefits. Derived from recent case studies and our own community of Blox users, here are some of the indirect benefits encountered from having a strong financial model.

So you want to build a startup, and you’re trying to figure out how much money you need? Or maybe you already took the plunge, speaking to investors and want to be ready for that inevitable question - can you send me your financial plan? Here are a few things to consider.

Creating a financial model is a critical component for any startup looking to attract investors. However, many founders fall prey to common mistakes that can jeopardise their chances of securing funding. To help you avoid these pitfalls, we’ve identified five of the most common startup financial modelling mistakes, and provided tips on how to avoid them.

Football clubs have long been subject to financial difficulties due to inadequate financial planning, overspending, and other factors. However, new regulations proposed in the UK Government’s White Paper - a 99-page white paper titled “A Sustainable Future — Reforming Club Football Governance” - seek to address some of these issues by enforcing stricter financial controls on English football clubs. What is in the White Paper, what does it mean for Football, and what lessons can business take from it?

Whether you are a new startup or a well-established business, having a productive team can make or break the success of your business. It is becoming increasingly crucial for SaaS companies to prioritise productivity to stay ahead of the competition. We at Blox shared ten tips for SaaS business success to help you get the most out of your team and increase productivity. From setting realistic goals to creating a positive work environment, these tips will help you and your company unlock new levels of productivity. 

"Marketing planning is the process of organising and defining the marketing aims of a company and gathering strategies and tactics to achieve them". We plan our marketing to make sure we have enough resources, have set aside enough money for advertising spend, and have robust plans on the marketing strategies and tactics - including channels, that will be the most effective. Our Marketing Planning block provides a high level plan based on your unit economics and key ratios - we suggest you revisit this monthly, or at least quarterly to reforecast your spend, and/or rebalance your investment across the best performing channels accordingly.

In many businesses, the largest cost to the organisation is the cost of the workforce. Workforce planning allows business leaders to model their overall workforce to understand and manage the total cost this brings. With effective workforce planning, we can align our company goals with the future hiring plans to ensure we have full visibility of the cost impact of our decisions.

Subscription revenue modelling is a continuous process, and forecasting subscription revenue accurately can be tricky. Thankfully, modelling with the Subscription Revenue Planning block is straightforward with Blox. The simple guided experience makes it possible for all leaders and planners to model their business and analyse different assumptions and scenarios. An intelligent summary output then helps you easily analyse each scenario, seeing how the inputs impact the outputs for all your Key Business Indicators.

For SaaS companies, financial planning can be a complex and time-consuming process. As a result, it can be difficult to accurately predict revenue growth and profitability, which can hinder business decision-making. Connected planning solutions exist, but are usually by their own admission expensive, time-consuming to integrate, and complicated to master. However, with the introduction of the Blox SaaS Financial Planning model, these challenges may be a thing of the past.

The SaaS industry is constantly evolving, and staying ahead of the curve is crucial for success. Whether launching a new product or growing your existing one, having a solid plan is essential. However, creating accurate business and financial models can take time and effort, especially when using traditional tools like spreadsheets. Here's how Blox are ripping up that playbook, and empowering business leaders and planners to create detailed financial models in just five minutes.

Strategic business planning is a crucial aspect of running a successful organisation of any size. For resource-strapped SMBs and startups, while spreadsheets may seem like a quick and easy solution, they can actually do more harm than good. Here are five quick reasons why it's better to use dedicated planning software for strategic business planning.

Blox is thrilled to announce the launch of our first free-to-use planning models for business. Say goodbye to spreadsheets, and hello to Blox!

Spreadsheets can be super useful. But when businesses depend too heavily on them rather than purpose-built planning tools, things can go terribly wrong! Here's our top 10 most infamous spreadsheet disasters.

Find out what subscription revenue models are, how they work, and the benefits they can offer.

A successful SaaS brand can differentiate itself from the competition and build a strong presence in customers' minds. But how do you go about creating a winning SaaS brand strategy? Here are seven tips from Blox to help you get started.

What can you do to increase your sales? Here are ten realistic tips that can help you increase your SaaS sales. These sales tips will help you get the most out of your sales efforts, from optimising your website for conversions to creating compelling content.

Here are five strategic planning tips to make your SaaS business profitable and achieve a consistent month-over-month growth rate.

A business model is the foundation of any successful business, and it is crucial for all business leaders to understand the different types available and how to use them to their advantage. This article will discuss seven of the most popular business model examples that every business leader should know. So let us get started!

Business models and business strategies are two concepts often used interchangeably but quite differently. In this blog post, we will be comparing and contrasting business models and business strategies to help you better understand the differences.

From creating a launch plan to utilising influencers and launching a referral program, these strategies will help you reach your goals and get your product or service in front of the right people.

A financial model provides a comprehensive representation of a business's financial structure by establishing the relationships between various business components, such as operating costs, customer acquisition costs (CAC), customer lifetime value (CLTV), and revenue streams. Learn more about SaaS financial models in this comprehensive guide.

Finding the right employees for your business can be challenging, but it doesn't have to be overwhelming. Following a few essential steps, you can create an effective hiring plan to find the perfect employees for your business. 

So, how do you go about creating a successful strategic plan? This blog post will explore the power of strategic planning and how you can make it work for your business.

Good money management is integral to running a successful business, and budgeting software can help you stay on top of your finances. But with so many budgeting software options, how do you know which is best for your business? In this blog post we have highlighted some key points to consider and help you choose the right budgeting software for your business.

No matter what product or service you're selling, you need to have a sales plan in place to be successful. This blog post will provide you with the steps to create an effective sales plan as well as some helpful tips and insights into sales planning.

Are you looking to buy business planning software? This blog post will help you discover which is the best business planning software for your business.

Revenue forecasting is one of the most challenging exercises, especially if you don’t have a background in finance. In this blog post we will talk about SaaS revenue forecasting and how it can benefit your business.

A business plan is essential for any business, large or small. It helps entrepreneurs focus on their goals and develop a clear path to success. Learn how to write a great SaaS business plan.

Can service-based startups make recurring revenue? Certainly, yes! Here are the five best recurring revenue ideas for service-based businesses. 

If you are one of those people who find it difficult to use Microsoft Excel, here are 5 Excel alternatives you can start using right away!

Here is the list of important SaaS metrics every SaaS leader should track.

If you are a SaaS startup founder or marketing leader exploring ways to grow, here are ten awesome SaaS marketing tips from Blox.

Find out the 10 important financial metrics every startup should measure.