torq.partners | Benelux

torq.partners | Benelux is proud to support Inkef by bringing our financial expertise to advance the growth journey of one of its portfolio companies Our team specializes in supporting VC and PE-backed companies by streamlining their finance functions, optimizing financial models, and providing CFO-level insights tailored for high-growth ventures. Whether you're looking to get enterprise ready or refine your path to profitability, we deliver the financial stack and knowledge to advance your portfolio’s growth journey. Ready to elevate your portfolio company's potential? Let's connect 🤝 and talk about how torq.partners can help drive financial clarity and sustained growth. Just DM us! 👉 Jitse Rupp Yori May Bas Scheele Ashankith Gopal Krishna Emiel de Groot Mitch Karsten Hans Redgate Joost Geluk #VentureCapital #PrivateEquity #StabilityInMotion #fractionalCFO #FaaS #fundraising #ERP 

🚀 We are growing - new team member!   Very happy to welcome Joost Geluk as the newest team member of torq.partners 🎉   With a background both at Deloitte, having followed the entrepreneur in residence-program at Antler as well as having founded his own startup, Joost's experience suits the torq.partners spirit perfectly.   Combining the world of high-end consultancy with the dynamic world of fast growing companies 🌱   Joost's last role at Deloitte was at the Debt & Capital Advisory team, further strengthening our proposition in securing (alternative) debt for founders.   ➡️ So are you a founder in need of (working) capital financing?   Or are you considering a bridge round and curious about the possibilities to secure this without diluting your equity stake?   ☕ Reach out to any of our team members for a call or coffee to discuss your specific situation.   #torqpartners #newhire #debtadvisory #founders #torq #entrepreneurship #fundraising #mergersandacquisitions

🤔 Earn-Outs in M&A: What Founders Need to Know   In this second post of our deal structuring series, we’re diving into earn-outs.   🤝 One of the most used instruments to bridge the gap between valuation expectations while negotiating a deal.   At torq.partners, we see these structures frequently, especially in tech M&A where buyers and sellers often have different expectations for the future.   An earn-out ties a portion of the deal to future performance—aligning the final payout with post-deal results.   💯 Which could in practice work out incredibly well for both parties. If you reach the envisioned performance, the buyer is happy because they purchased a successful company, and you are happy as you receive a larger payment.   ❗ However it also includes risk. No one can predict the future. And it certainly isn't always in your hands.   And what if you have an earn-out on EBITDA, but the way the governance is structured your buyer controls the budget, and they suddenly invest all profits in growth expenses?   This is only one of the items that can arise while chasing your earn-out.   For founders, understanding the pros and cons is essential.   Pros of Earn-Outs 🌟   💰 Maximized Deal Value: Earn-outs give you the chance to secure a higher price if the company hits specific targets.   📈 Alignment of Interests: Tying payout to performance keeps both parties committed to growth.   🏃 Negotiation Flexibility: Earn-outs are a compromise when initial valuations differ, allowing both sides to share in future success.   Cons of Earn-Outs ⚠️   📝 Uncertain Payment: If targets aren’t met—even due to factors outside your control—the payout can be lower than expected.   ⚖️ Potential for Disputes: Disagreement on terms, like revenue or EBITDA calculations, can lead to issues.   💼 Importance of governance: Ensure you are able to exercise a fair amount of control over the business, to ensure you can meet your earn-out milestones or performance.   ⌛ Extended Commitment: Earn-outs often require founders to stay on post-deal, which can delay new ventures.   The above are but a few of the considerations that come with earn-outs, and no situation is the same.   Is an Earn-Out Right for You? Earn-outs offer flexibility but also come with risks.   📉 Getting professional advice is crucial. Your value could quite literally diminish if you oversaw a clever article or didn't fully comprehend the consequences of a proposed earn-out methodology.   👩🏻⚖️ This is also where a specialised lawyer is worth its weight in gold.   Thinking about what options there are in structuring your M&A deal, and what would suit your personal preferences? Let’s connect at torq.partners | Benelux — we’re here to help founders navigate their options.   📜 Also if you need some recommendations on strong and pragmatic lawyers, send me a connection request or DM and I'd be happy to recommend a few.   Yori Jitse Emiel #torqpartners #acquisitions #earnout #founders #dealstructure #startups

🚀 torq.partners | Benelux is thrilled to announce client partnership with Brainial! 🚀 Brainial is leading the charge in the 🏗️ construction industry by equipping businesses with powerful  ✨ AI-driven tools to streamline the tender process. From quick, data-backed Bid/No-Bid decisions to rapid information retrieval to proposal generation. Brainial founders Fedor Klinkenberg and Taco Hiddink selected torq.partners to support scaling their business internationally. Brainial’s solutions enable teams to make smarter, faster decisions that drive project success. 🔹 Boost Efficiency in Bid/No-Bid Decisions Brainial helps companies cut decision-making time in half, delivering AI-powered insights that assess risks and uncover key details. 🔹 Comprehensive, Targeted Analysis Their solution ensures no critical information is overlooked, providing organisation-specific insights that enhance decision-making. 🔹 Time-Saving Advanced Search With a 90% faster information retrieval capability, Brainial allows teams to locate vital details quickly and focus on strategic moves. 🔹 AI-Assisted Proposal Writing Create tailored proposals effortlessly with Brainial. Generate customised content from past proposals and get targeted assistance for precise, measurable writing. Curious how we support scaling you venture? Connect with us! 🤝 Mitch Karsten Bas Scheele Jitse Rupp #AI #BidManagement #TenderAI #Construction #Brainial #Scaling

❌ Founders: do NOT use generative AI for forecasting or decision making 🤷♂️   I don't intend to jump on the "posting about GenAI" bandwagon, but I just loved this visual from the folks at Gartner.   There's no going around GenAI nowadays. And it can be incredibly useful and time saving.   🔫 Is it the silver bullet? By no means.   But the attached visual does a pretty good job at showing what it is good for (and what it is not ❌).   ❗ And for the love of everything: do not use a ChatGPT forecast for your business in your pitching materials.   But ChatGPT is actually very good at being a sparring partner/source of inspiration when (i) writing a pitch deck, and (ii) preparing for investor meetings. 👀 It truly provides some surprisingly good content. But you need to carefully follow the right process to actually get useful content. And don’t include confidential data, of course. Curious? We at torq.partners will release a detailed 'how to' guide in a few days. Follow or connect to stay tuned.   Yori Jitse #torqpartners #financeAI #GenerativeAI #startupgrowth #financialstrategy #AIinFinance #Gartner

🚀 Navigating deal structuring in M&A for tech founders   At torq.partners, we notice that structuring the right M&A deal is a topic that most founders still struggle with.   And also most content on M&A on LinkedIn talks about tactics, valuation, buyer categories and so on.   🏆 Deal structuring doesn't get the attention it deserves, whereas it is an absolutely crucial element of selling your business.   👉🏻 And one where small nuances can make a difference of (literally) millions.   A solid deal structure goes beyond just price; it aligns incentives, manages risk, and prepares both parties for integration.   But with the unique speed and scale of tech, traditional structures don’t always fit. And buyers are always looking for possibilities to minimise their risk.   This post kicks off our new series on deal structuring. Over the coming period, we’ll cover everything founders need to know, from earn-outs to pre-exits to equity rollovers and more.   So you can ensure that you make informed decisions when considering the likely most important deal of your life.   🧩 Why Deal Structure Matters It’s easy to focus solely on valuation, but the structure is just as crucial.   Think of it as not only the timing of your proceeds from the initial sale, but even the roadmap of your business post-deal.   👥 An earn-out on EBITDA will make you reconsider that aggressive hiring plan you had envisioned.   ❗ And milestone payments might very well result in neglecting other parts of the business that might need (and deserve) more attention.   On the other hand, either of the above or equity options could help you bridge valuation gaps that come across during the process.   📢 Stay tuned! In our next post, we’ll dive deeper into earn-outs. What is their purpose, pros and cons, and what are considerations you should be mindful of?   🤝 And if you are curious about your own situation and would like a short chat on the attractiveness of your company in the current market, feel free to link or send me a DM.   Yori Jitse Emiel #torqpartners #mergersandacquisitions #dealstructuring #techfounders #startups #growthstrategy #torq

torq.partners is proud to support the 𝗦𝗲𝗿𝗶𝗲𝘀 𝗔 𝗕𝗹𝘂𝗲𝗽𝗿𝗶𝗻𝘁, XAnge's ultimate guide for ambitious Seed founders in 2024. Packed with actionable strategies, expert insights, and real-world examples, this guide will help you confidently scale to Series A. 🚀 𝗪𝗵𝗮𝘁’𝘀 𝗶𝗻𝘀𝗶𝗱𝗲? • 𝗔𝗰𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻𝗮𝗯𝗹𝗲 𝗦𝘁𝗿𝗮𝘁𝗲𝗴𝗶𝗲𝘀: Address key challenges in sales, product development, and team management. • 𝗘𝘅𝗽𝗲𝗿𝘁 𝗜𝗻𝘀𝗶𝗴𝗵𝘁𝘀: Learn from dozens of successful founders and industry leaders across Europe. • 𝗥𝗲𝗮𝗹-𝗪𝗼𝗿𝗹𝗱 𝗘𝘅𝗮𝗺𝗽𝗹𝗲𝘀: Explore case studies that highlight what works—and what doesn’t—when scaling. • 𝗘𝘀𝘀𝗲𝗻𝘁𝗶𝗮𝗹 𝗧𝗼𝗼𝗹𝘀: Utilize benchmarks, KPIs, and resources to power your growth. 𝗥𝗲𝗮𝗱𝘆 𝘁𝗼 𝘀𝗰𝗮𝗹𝗲? Dive into the Series A Blueprint today! https://lnkd.in/egF5fdiQ

torq.partners is proud to support the 𝗦𝗲𝗿𝗶𝗲𝘀 𝗔 𝗕𝗹𝘂𝗲𝗽𝗿𝗶𝗻𝘁, XAnge's ultimate guide for ambitious Seed founders in 2024. Packed with actionable strategies, expert insights, and real-world examples, this guide will help you confidently scale to Series A. 🚀 𝗪𝗵𝗮𝘁’𝘀 𝗶𝗻𝘀𝗶𝗱𝗲? • 𝗔𝗰𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻𝗮𝗯𝗹𝗲 𝗦𝘁𝗿𝗮𝘁𝗲𝗴𝗶𝗲𝘀: Address key challenges in sales, product development, and team management. • 𝗘𝘅𝗽𝗲𝗿𝘁 𝗜𝗻𝘀𝗶𝗴𝗵𝘁𝘀: Learn from dozens of successful founders and industry leaders across Europe. • 𝗥𝗲𝗮𝗹-𝗪𝗼𝗿𝗹𝗱 𝗘𝘅𝗮𝗺𝗽𝗹𝗲𝘀: Explore case studies that highlight what works—and what doesn’t—when scaling. • 𝗘𝘀𝘀𝗲𝗻𝘁𝗶𝗮𝗹 𝗧𝗼𝗼𝗹𝘀: Utilize benchmarks, KPIs, and resources to power your growth. 𝗥𝗲𝗮𝗱𝘆 𝘁𝗼 𝘀𝗰𝗮𝗹𝗲? Dive into the Series A Blueprint today! https://lnkd.in/egF5fdiQ

Jitse Rupp en Bas Scheele treden toe als partner bij torq.partners | Benelux » https://lnkd.in/g2Nk5Y_X

Resuming the Torq.partners finance short series! As part of our short series, we would like to share some of our tips and tricks that we have learnt along our day to day helping start-ups and scale-ups with financial services. Today’s article will share 𝟓 𝐭𝐢𝐩𝐬 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝐒𝐭𝐚𝐫𝐭𝐮𝐩 𝐅𝐢𝐧𝐚𝐧𝐜𝐢𝐚𝐥 𝐌𝐨𝐝𝐞𝐥𝐢𝐧𝐠. First off, as a founder, you might wonder why you need a financial model? In our view a financial model serves to reflect the company's strategy and to translate this strategy into clear and quantifiable metrics. Makes sense to have that right? Both for yourself and your (future) investors.  So, here are our top 5 tips: 𝟏. 𝐃𝐞𝐭𝐞𝐫𝐦𝐢𝐧𝐞 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐎𝐛𝐣𝐞𝐜𝐭𝐢𝐯𝐞 🥅   Before starting, it is critical to understand the overarching objective of your model. Are you trying to determine the intrinsic value of the company? Or are you creating a model for budgeting purposes? And what type of investors are you looking for? The objective of your model can have a big impact on how extensive it needs to be. 𝟐. 𝐊𝐞𝐞𝐩 𝐢𝐭 𝐬𝐢𝐦𝐩𝐥𝐞! ✍  Often the hardest thing to do but it is important that any reader can easily understand and replicate your model.  • Using consistent and simple formulas - avoid lengthy lookup formulas!  • Colour coding: consistent formatting and sections/sheets, logically structured and colour coded cells • Drivers and Assumptions sheet and kept pragmatic and concise. For example, the P x Q should be clear. 𝟑. 𝐀𝐝𝐝 𝐚 𝐒𝐜𝐞𝐧𝐚𝐫𝐢𝐨 𝐀𝐧𝐚𝐥𝐲𝐬𝐢𝐬 📈  No forecast will ever be 100% correct and therefore Investors want to understand the financial performance of your company under different scenarios. What is the impact of a lower # of units sold or of a delay in sales? A common approach is to model different business case scenarios:  • Down case (“what-if” not all goes according to plan) • Base case (realistic scenario) • High/Management-Case (optimistic scenario) 𝟒. 𝐀𝐥𝐢𝐠𝐧 𝐇𝐢𝐬𝐭𝐨𝐫𝐢𝐜𝐚𝐥 𝐟𝐢𝐧𝐚𝐧𝐜𝐢𝐚𝐥𝐬 𝐰𝐢𝐭𝐡 𝐅𝐨𝐫𝐞𝐜𝐚𝐬𝐭 💰 For a trustworthy model it is important that the forecast is aligned with historicals. So make sure you have cleaned historical financials before starting with your forecast.  The projections and assumptions can deviate a lot from historicals for startups. That is fine, as long as you then take note of our next tip! 𝟓. 𝐀𝐝𝐝 𝐪𝐮𝐚𝐥𝐢𝐭𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐯𝐞 𝐢𝐧𝐩𝐮𝐭 💬  Often overlooked but nonetheless important: for your input & assumptions sheet, explain the rationale for certain assumptions, especially if your forecast deviates from historicals or if there are no historical figures! This can be done in a dedicated column or via in-cell comments.  𝐈𝐧 𝐜𝐨𝐧𝐜𝐥𝐮𝐬𝐢𝐨𝐧, your financial model should be easily understandable and serve the overarching objective in informing your current and ideal potential new investors. 💸  We hope that these tips and tricks were useful to you! 🚀  #torqpartners #financialmodel #startups #scaleups #fundraising #finance