This year The Startup Station is celebrating its ten year anniversary.
When I reflect on the past decade, I am very proud of the growth journey The Startup Station and I have been on. What started as a strategic and financial consultancy became a strategic finance hub spanning activities across multiple areas all making a difference for many entrepreneurs around the world.
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Finance is the language
I never looked at finance as just numbers. To me finance has always been a language with which a company speaks to its executives or founders, similar to how a child speaks to his or her parents. If you don’t understand what the child is telling you, you can’t fully meet his or her needs. Similarly, if you don’t set up proper financial processes, you can’t enable your company, your intellectual child, to realize its full potential, to let it fly, and to make your vision come alive.
The unique methodology for modeling companies created makes that communication seamless. It establishes a connection between what you are thinking, or each strategic decision, and what the company can do about it and what resources it will need to do it, or the expected financial outcome.
I think of a financial model as the company’s brain that takes your vision as the model assumptions and shows the impact of all those decisions across all the company’s functions, similar to how our decisions affect different areas of our life.
When you properly establish that connection and all interdependencies, you have a powerful communication and business intelligence tool that you can use to guide your company to the stars.
It gives me great joy to know that this approach has helped many founders I taught and worked one-on-one with to understand their vision a lot deeper, to really think through how it can be executed, and then feel confident to explain their plan to investors and later execute it.
Thank you to everyone who has trusted me to help them articulate their vision over the years. It has been a privilege to be part of your entrepreneurial journey. I am so happy some of you became friends and came back with more projects!
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Making impact
Helping others has always been a driving force behind anything I do. This is why education is a very important part of the Startup Station’s work. I remember creating my meetup in New York in 2015 and beginning to teach finance to founders. I remember how rewarding it felt to connect with founders directly and be able to help them in a very tangible way. Very quickly I was filling 40-seat boardrooms.
Based on the questions I was getting, my curriculum expanded to include accounting, startup finance, financial modeling, and valuation. My meetup grew to 3000 members and I created another in Boston. In 2018 I put all my courses online to make them accessible to anyone anywhere.
I continued to collaborate with different accelerators and hosted or co-hosted many workshops with other communities. I also began generating free content to help even more founders with the most frequent questions around fundraising, modeling, and valuation.
With Astra Global’s founder, Elena Gusakova we ran 20+ events bringing investors and founders together and making it easier to understand what investors are looking for. In 2020 we also ran the Investor Matching program where we matched founders and investors and hosted a pitch event.
In 2022 my long-time friend and colleague, Hamp Hampton, and I created PowerUp, a new program that is very meaningful to me, to address the gender funding gap and improve equitable access to capital for everyone who deserves it. The program targets seed-level female founders to help scale and raise the next round of financing.
In 2023 I got involved in fair access to capital advocacy to complement PowerUp, the ecosystem solution, with legislative support.
I am grateful to all of my partners, clients and collaborators. I know only together can we make change happen and I am excited to see what the next decade will bring.
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In conclusion, The Startup Station is now:
- A strategic CFO Advisory with unique expertise in modeling pre-revenue startups or companies undergoing drastic changes in strategy. In that capacity we have worked with 150+ founders one-on-one across 15+ industries and helped them raise more than $50M in venture capital.
- A finance education platform where we offer online courses in accounting, financial modeling, valuation and startup finance to early-stage founders with no prior finance experience. More than 1000 founders have taken our courses since we launched it in 2015.
- Community: The Startup Station has a multitude of free resources such as a YouTube Channel with 100+ videos on financial modeling, valuation and startup finance. I have given complimentary workshops to 10+ accelerators and for almost 3 years taught 500 of entrepreneurs a month at the Bank of America Institute of Women’s Entrepreneurship at Cornell. I’ve appeared on 20+ podcasts, most recently She Leads the Way, the media partner of PowerUp. I love to talk about entrepreneurship, how to use finance to drive your business forward, tips on investor communication and fundraising, as well as the most common mistakes companies make in their financial planning.
- Advocacy efforts for bridging the gender funding gap worldwide:
- PowerUp: A one-of-a-kind business development program for seed-level female-led ventures to help them scale and raise the next round of capital. The program combines training in strategic and financial planning, coaching, a global network of PowerUp Ambassadors who are either investors or have investors in their network to improve access to capital, and data for transparent evaluation of risk.
- NSBA Leadership Council and SB54: National Small Business Administration advocates for the interests of small business owners. As a New York representative, I am dedicated to working with state and federal legislators on passing policies ensuring fair access to capital for women. My first focus is to pass SB 54 in New York. SB 54 is a bill passed in CA in 2023 which requires venture capital firms either headquartered in CA or invested in companies headquartered in CA to disclose how they allocate their capital, and which percentage goes to minorities.
We are planning several exciting events in 2024 to celebrate our ten-year anniversary and we will share information about them as they become available.
Still have questions?
We are happy to talk to you. Book a FREE 30-min consultation now by pressing the button below and, as a bonus, we will send you a COMPLIMENTARY financial health checklist.
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“If you’re raising capital and want to shine when pitching to investors, I highly recommend you choose Victoria Yampolsky and the Startup Station as your resource for high performance results. Victoria is extremely well versed in all aspects of raising capital and the startup landscape. She provides clients with outstanding tools, applicable advice and thoughtful insights to support their fundraising efforts.
“Victoria is a rare find in the startup world. She’s brilliant with startup financial strategies and has this no-nonsense work ethic that proves to deliver results. Victoria worked with a participant of 2020 Startups, a startup founder, and within a couple of months the founder raised capital. Victoria has done several workshops and speaking engagements at 2020 Startups and is always insightful and held in the highest regard by the audience.”
“These workshops are extremely useful for all of us. Victoria is the kind of presenter/professional who inspires confidence. I’d recommend her to any startup trying to figure out how it needs to be organized, capitalized, and operated to have a good business model going forward. She focuses on fundamentals, which, too often, are sorely lacking in our ecosystem, and she knows her stuff backwards and forwards”
“Victoria Yampolsky is THE essential tool for any startup looking to present a viable financial model! If you are a founder who, like me, lacks the business/finance background – YOU NEED HER. If you are looking to show your investors a serious plan for growth and capitalization – YOU NEED HER. Victoria’s thoroughness and dedication will ensure no stone goes unturned in the FOUNDATION of your BUSINESS. And to top it all, she explains everything with such calm & clarity, it is an absolute delight to be working with her.”
Liz Wald has 25+ years’ experience building company operations and mobilizing global teams in emerging, disruptive industries.
Blair Severn is the Chairman and Co-founder of enabling ideas®, a Venture
Victoria Yampolsky is a serial entrepreneur, strategic CFO advisor for numerous early-stage start-ups and expert in financial modeling and valuation. She’s a passionate advocate for female founders and fair access to capital for all.
Irina Sychov is an expert in voice, pitching, and fundraising and the Founder of ANIMA Women, a community supporting women in business. A five-time startup founder, she has extensive experience with family offices in London and Miami. Irina gained recognition for her dynamic presence on the British show X Factor, impressing judges like Simon Cowell, which sharpened her skills in audience engagement and self-marketing—essential tools in the business world.
Marcia Dawood is an early-stage investor who serves on the Securities and Exchange Commission’s Small Business Capital Formation Advisory Committee. She is a venture partner with Mindshift Capital, a member of Golden Seeds, and the chair emeritus of the Angel Capital Association (ACA), a global professional society for angel investors.
Sanford is the Chief Strategy Officer of PowerUp Globally, a strategic and financial planning initiative aimed at revenue-generating seed-level female-led ventures.
Irina Sychov – Founder of Women’s Business Community 
Thierry Vodounou, PMP, is Managing Director & Founder, 
Victoria Yampolsky is a serial entrepreneur, strategic CFO advisor for numerous early-stage start-ups and expert in financial modeling and valuation. She’s a passionate advocate for female founders and fair access to capital for all.
“What I appreciated most about this program was the opportunity to stop during the work day and have an opportunity to reflect. In addition to having access to pre- and post-session materials that were profoundly useful (which I will undoubtedly go back to), being asked to stop, breathe, and process was a gift that carried throughout the day, week, and program. I recommend this program to any female founder or business owner in the midst of building her business.”
“Atending the Power Up Coaching pilot has been an absolute game-changer for me. Victoria and Hamp’s expertise, passion, unwavering support and genuine commitment to empowering women in the entrepreneurial space were evident in every session. Also, what truly made this journey unforgettable were the incredible women I met along the way. Sharing stories, challenges, and dreams with fellow entrepreneurs created a bond that transcended mere networking—it felt like finding a tribe where I truly belonged. It has equipped me with invaluable skills, insights, and a network of like-minded individuals who continue to inspire and support me on my entrepreneurial journey. The lessons learned and the connections made have become pillars of strength in my entrepreneurial journey, guiding me through the highs and lows with gratitude, grace and resilience. I know that the PowerUp Coaching program will always be more than just a program to me—it’s a part of my story, a chapter filled with growth, friendship, and empowerment. I’m immensely grateful to Victoria and Hamp and The Startup Station for helping me realize my potential as a woman entrepreneur.
“As a busy entrepreneur, I was drawn to PowerUp Globally Coaching Program’s focus on cultivating resilience, emotional intelligence, and a growth mindset for managing the inevitable stresses of building a business. From the first session, the small group size allowed a safe, supportive environment to openly discuss challenges. 
“What a valuable experience!
“Victoria really distilled down the financial model to the inputs that need to be discovered in order to determine business viability. Her attention to detail and experience show in taking those inputs and filling out the rest of the model. These are the real numbers that you need for investors.”
“Victoria provided me with great knowledge for the financial projection and reviewed my pitch deck where she provided me with great pointers. She definitely is somebody I count as my inner circle of advisors and recommend her as the go to person for any start up.”
“If you’re raising capital and want to shine when pitching to investors, I highly recommend you choose Victoria Yampolsky and the Startup Station as your resource for high performance results. Victoria is extremely well versed in all aspects of raising capital and the startup landscape. She provides clients with outstanding tools, applicable advice and thoughtful insights to support their fundraising efforts.
“We are a couple of engineers going through lot’s of trials and errors trying to launch our startup so meeting with Victoria was priceless in terms of getting a fresh unbiased perspective on our business model and getting advice on how to move forward.
“I have the greatest appreciation for Victoria’s contribution in analyzing financial trends and developing the monetization strategies for my business. She is not only an experienced financial analyst, but she is also very creative and gave my business many important suggestions. I felt comfortable and willing to reveal information easily, which helped make the valuation process easier. Victoria can see the big picture almost immediately, and at the same time she is a stickler for details. These attributes make her a perfect financial advisor and mentor for entrepreneurs. Further, Victoria, once given a task, is completely dedicated to it. She has a keen ability to process and synthesize information and make the right decisions, and she comes with the highest recommendation.”
“Victoria is an amazing resource that every start-up should have. She is whip smart and diligent. We worked with her on the valuation of our company and she’s been an invaluable resource in refining our assumptions, revenue and expenditure models. If you think you understand the fundamentals of your own business model, talk to Victoria and get ready to learn so much more!”
“I had the pleasure of working with Victoria for building a working financial model for my business. Her expertise and acumen are not only impressive, but her personable nature made her a joy to work with as well. She was able to offer valuable insights and direction as we strategically built out a financial model, utilizing reliable data assumptions that translate to a usable document for my business. The result and end-product proved the value of both the time and monetary investment. I couldn’t recommend her enough as a resource for any entrepreneur looking to build out a financial model, financial roadmap and/or valuation of their enterprise.”
“Victoria Yampolsky came highly recommended by a colleague of mine and I’ve been fortunate to work with her! She completed the valuation and the financial model for our startup, EnergyPoints. Her unique framework for modeling early-stage ventures allowed us to refine our business plan and use strategy and industry standards to credibly formulate assumptions. Victoria is a Columbia Business School grad and CFA, and her company, The Startup Station, has done 100s of valuations and has an impressive track record. She presented her valuation to two national banks with our accountant, and in both scenarios, she was praised by the level of detail that went into her extensive valuation. I can’t recommend her highly enough!”
“Victoria was a key advisor for Predictive People – as an early stage startup we had tons of questions and we needed professional guidance to sort them out. I am really glad we had her by our side to solve them all, ending with a solid business plan and financial projections. I can’t recommend her more, she’s professional, fast, empathetic, and incredibly smart, a true partner for any startup.”
“Victoria is trustworthy, knowledgeable and customer-focused startup strategic CFO. I’ve been impressed since day 1 with the responsiveness, thoroughness and overall professionalism of Victoria. According to the traditional scenario of almost all early stage startups, the founders are involved in all processes of the company formation. So I am no exception without having a financial education, without professional Excel skills – I nevertheless decided to build a financial model on our own. Honestly, it seemed impossible. But in the end, we did it in a total of 3 weeks. I want to express my deepest gratitude for professionalism and incredible talent to motivate all of our team members. Victoria has a unique ability to get into the essence of the business very quickly, to think very flexibly and innovatively – which is very important for our startup.
“I was a student and client of Victoria through The Startup Station and cannot highlight enough how helpful the process was for our company in reaching our first funding milestone and personally for me. Victoria is a fantastic teacher and recommend her financial modelling courses to anyone. We also worked one to one to refine our company model/financial roadmap and Im proud of my newly developed, ninja-level Excel skills. Paraphrasing from someone famous “Clarity trumps confidence any day of the week” and it’s what I feel from working with Victoria.”
“Building a financial model with Victoria and The Start Up Station for a mutual client was an illuminating experience!
“Victoria is a rare find in the startup world. She’s brilliant with startup financial strategies and has this no-nonsense work ethic that proves to deliver results. Victoria worked with a participant of 2020 Startups, a startup founder, and within a couple of months the founder raised capital. Victoria has done several workshops and speaking engagements at 2020 Startups and is always insightful and held in the highest regard by the audience.”
“Victoria and The Startup Station Team were absolute game-changers for Ovaterra. Victoria served as my right-hand CFO through fundraising, M&A, liquidity crises and more — always guiding the ship with calm, detail-oriented and strategic advice. I would recommend her and her team to any Founder or executive who needs a strategic, fractional CFO to guide your business to the next level.”
“Victoria, we raised $1.4M! It’s finally 
“Victoria is one of the smartest, and most talented financial analysts out there. She has created the financial models for 2 of my companies, to which we have raised over $20M using her financials and valuation reports. She is very professional and always makes you prove the assumptions:) She will always be a vital part to my businesses.”
“In business, and especially with startups, getting to a place of clarity around the business and financial models can be challenging even for the most experienced professional. Victoria brings the right mix of business and financial know-how and quickly understands the moving pieces. As such, she’s able to provide an excellent product, a deeper sense of understanding about the project based on its’ needs, and a sense of calm and assurance that the challenges faced will be dealt with in a way that drives growth.”
“I had the pleasure of working closely with Victoria as fractional CFO of our startup. Her expertise in business and financial modeling is truly exceptional. Victoria played a pivotal role in helping our company think through every aspect of our business, and her ability to create a comprehensive model was nothing short of impressive. She not only provided a clear plan for our future but also identified areas where we could improve and grow.
“Victoria Yampolsky is THE essential tool for any startup looking to present a viable financial model! If you are a founder who, like me, lacks the business/finance background – YOU NEED HER. If you are looking to show your investors a serious plan for growth and capitalization – YOU NEED HER. Victoria’s thoroughness and dedication will ensure no stone goes unturned in the FOUNDATION of your BUSINESS. And to top it all, she explains everything with such calm & clarity, it is an absolute delight to be working with her.”