KR Community talks about money!

A Q&A with Marissa Bonants of The Money Mate, financial strategist for startups & scale-ups

Earlier this month we launched our newest kid on the block, the KR Community! A membership that gives you access to a wide range of educational workshops with a different theme each month, get togethers with other food entrepreneurs and the opportunity to pitch your concept to relevant buyers. This month is all about finance, because money matters! 

We speak with Marissa Bonants of The Money Mate, you can turn to her for financial strategic advice that really fits the challenges startups and scale-ups face. Lucky for us, she is sharing her knowledge during the Finance Basics and Finance for Scale-ups workshops this month. We had a virtual cup of coffee with Marissa to get to know her a little better. Andne, sign up for those workshops. Time well spent!

Q: What does the The Money Mate do?

A: Six months ago, I founded The Money Mate. Basically the familiar story. I always followed the obvious path, which led to a lot of experience at a large company. After a great journey, it itched, because starting for myself was a matter of now or never! The dream of having my own business, choosing my own clients and being able to move quickly. With The Money Mate, I provide financial advice to startups and scale-ups and help them optimize finance matters. I mainly work with food and fashion brands, where finance is often an understudy. There is little knowledge of business, something you can start to catch up on.

The main focus in working with these brands is to make finance easier. I offer them handy overviews and tools to be able to do this themselves after my help. I also work with a team of accountants, because of course this goes hand in hand. By now I have built up a nice customer base with fine, lasting relationships.

Q: Tell us, what will you cover during The Finance Basics workshop?

A: As a start-up entrepreneur in food, you face a lot of investments in the beginning. This workshop therefore focuses on cash flow management. Establishing a sufficient buffer to pay for those investments is essential. We also discuss costing, the strategy behind it and the difference in price between different sales channels. So this workshop is perfect if you are starting a new business or focusing on a whole new product category.

Q: And the Finance for Scale-ups workshop?

A: Your business is through the initial growing pains and then what? The key then is to think about how you are going to make the business profitable. You will also have to deal with more costs, because you have expanded your business. You now work with staff, different types of products and customers. In this workshop, I discuss the next steps to tackle these new challenges as well.

Thank you for your time Marissa, we are very much looking forward to your workshops! And for all startups and growing entrepreneurs, there is limited space so reserve your spot as soon as possible!