In June 2024, Masumi Vyas and Arya Dixit were deciding whether to launch Bay6, a sustainable women’s clothing brand, in London, Ontario. To make this decision, the pair needed to assess the environment, evaluate their marketing strategy, and project financial statements for three years.
In June 2023, Aaron Hendrikx, owner and founder of BackRoads Brews + Shoes (BackRoads) wanted to evaluate opportunities to solve the store’s seating capacity issues. The store’s success in recent years had led to customers entering the store on busy nights with no room available for them to sit in the dining section. Aaron considered extending the store, rearranging the store’s layout, or maintaining current operations. He wanted to ensure that he would make a decision that would satisfy his existing customers and promote further growth in the future.
In March 2023, the owner and managing director of PrintOxe struggled to find a way forward that would help the business recover from its declining profitability. PrintOxe was among the longest-standing e-commerce sellers of compatible printer accessories in Canada. For several years, PrintOxe reached millions of dollars in revenues and six-figure profits. But fierce competition due to the market’s ease of entry, coupled with the harsh supply chain issues caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, caused PrintOxe to see its first unprofitable year in 2022. As a result, PrintOxe considered replacing its floundering 3D printer filament product line with a new product and utilizing advertising to improve the company’s visibility and revenues.
In March 2022, Jack Jelinek and Mikey Woolfson, co-founders and co-owners of CRANK Lite Bev Corp (Crank), were considering whether they should sell their beer (Crank Lite Lager) at the Northern Heat Rib Series (Ribfest). As an Oakville, Ontario-based brewery startup that launched during the COVID-19 pandemic, Crank had already taken on a large amount of risk, and Jelinek and Woolfson were unsure of whether they could afford to take on additional risk. However, they wished to continue growing their business to eventually get acquired by another company. Jelinek and Woolfson wanted to determine whether the Ribfest opportunity made sense from a qualitative and quantitative perspective.
Trina Wolfson incorporated her business, Tartan Loungewear (Tartan), on June 1, 2022. The business sold trendy loungewear with tartan accents. After Tartan’s first year of operations, she and her friend, an accountant, were working together to record all accounting transactions and prepare financial statements for the year.
As Louise Bernard grew her entrepreneurial venture, Heeling Custom Athletic Shoes (Heeling), she wanted to ensure that she was managing her cash flow prudently to make sure the company was well positioned for future success and growth. Heeling’s business model was to manufacture and sell custom athletic shoes for a variety of sports that provided customers with the perfect fit as well as personalized style and exceptional performance.
In 2020, Cathy Siskind-Kelly and Rob Kelly, co-founders and co-owners of Black Fly Beverage Company were deciding whether they should undertake a major expansion of their company’s production facility. Black Fly was started in London, Ontario in 2005 and had grown to be one of the largest ready-to-drink brands in the alcoholic beverage industry. Part of Black Fly’s business relied on a co-packer for their canned products, and increasing challenges including supply-chain disruptions caused by the COVID-19 pandemic made their reliance on the co-packer increasingly risky. The move would not only allow them to massively increase their capacity, but bring their can production in-house, as well as become a co-packer for other beverage companies
On September 5, 2023, Luke Hayes, owner of Hayes Public Relations (HPR) in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, was reviewing the company’s financial performance for its seventh fiscal year. Having already reviewed the company’s operating decisions for the previous fiscal year, Hayes was now preparing to review the company’s financing and investing transactions for the fiscal year ending August 31, 2023.
On December 6, 2023, Shirley Rose, owner of the toy manufacturer Stacked, was reviewing the company’s financial performance for its fourth fiscal year, ending November 30, 2023. Stacked manufactured toy wooden blocks in Stratford, Ontario, Canada. Rose needed to record all necessary accounting transactions for fiscal year (FY) 2023 using the FY 2022 statement of financial position, the FY 2023 list of cash receipts and disbursements, and other related information provided in the exercise.
The founder of Zentein Nutrition Inc. needed a short-term plan for 2023 to maximize his goals for business growth and customer reach. The company was based in London, Ontario and provided natural, simple, healthy, and nutritious food alternatives to an affluent, health-conscious, and health-knowledgeable customer base. Its competitors included many large companies in a highly competitive and fragmented market, but the company had a competitive edge by offering a simple and sustainable ingredient list, use of collagen as a protein source, and made-to order protein bars. With demand outpacing supply, the founder paused all promotional efforts but the company continued to grow exponentially with only word-of-mouth promotion and a social media presence. The founder was now wondering which sales and distribution channels he should pursue for the rest of 2023, and also for the future, after supply would be increased with automation. The three sales channel options—the company website, the Amazon online platform, and traditional retail stores—each offered specific benefits and drawbacks, but the founder had to make a decision that would deliver both quantitative and qualitative results.
Luke Thomas, owner and operator of Healthy Eats (HE), was considering the future direction of the business following an inflow of cash from a silent investor. HE was a meal prep delivery service located in London, Ontario that focused on fueling healthy lifestyles with locally sourced ingredients. Having proven the business model in London, Thomas was considering two distinct growth alternatives: opening a second kitchen in Hamilton, Ontario, or doubling down on securing new corporate clients. Regardless of his decision, Thomas also wanted to revisit HE’s fiscal 2023 marketing strategy to ensure sales projections were met despite a limited budget.
In August 2022, Anthony Tan, co-founder and CEO of Flirtual, a virtual reality-based dating platform was deciding whether to hire a new employee or work with a consultancy to complete a major rewrite of the platform’s code. Flirtual had experienced high user growth, resulting in performance issues among some of its users. Tan wanted to decide how to continue growing its users while addressing these challenges.
In early 2023, the executive chef and owner of Craft Farmacy was considering the feasibility of expanding to a second location in Waterloo, Ontario. Craft Farmacy was a farm-to-table restaurant in London, Ontario that featured an upscale, rustic bistro style dining experience. During 2022, the owner had visited similar farm-to-table restaurants in the Kitchener-Waterloo region to verify his sales, investment, and cost assumptions; this data allowed him to project financial statements and cash budgets for the new restaurant. With the projections complete, the owner thought he could analyze the risk of the expansion, and then decide whether or not a second location in Waterloo would be a wise investment.
In August 2022, a Canadian investor, Adam Eissa, was considering making an investment in Nautilus Inc. (Nautilus). Nautilus was a manufacturer of connected home fitness equipment that was experiencing financial volatility amid the COVID-19 pandemic. Before coming to a decision, Eissa wanted to analyze the financial data from Nautilus’s annual report and complete a business size-up of its corporate strategy.
In April 2021, the owner and founder of Claw & Kitty (CK) in Markham, Ontario, was considering moving his claw machine arcade to a larger location to continue growing his business. The owner had managed to grow his business despite the challenge of numerous pandemic-related shutdowns, and now he wanted to expand. He needed to decide whether this was a good time to do so. Would CK be able to survive if the Ontario government implemented future lockdowns or capacity limits? The owner had to assess the return and payback he might expect on this large investment and consider how he would fund the expansion. He would need to analyze the incremental revenues and costs and compare these against the investment to determine whether this move made sense from both qualitative and quantitative perspectives.
In March of 2021, the management consulting division of Global Consulting Company Canada was preparing to hold its biannual performance review call for consulting analysts hired in September 2019. The analysts had been unable to complete their traditional two-year rotational development program, which meant that no promotion would normally be recommended on this call. However, extraordinary circumstances caused by the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic in March 2020 made two analysts from this class stand out above the rest. The senior manager of the two high performers was planning to challenge the firm’s strict requirements for promoting analysts. She wanted to keep her two high-performing analysts motivated and to fast-track their careers. Her presentation at the upcoming performance review call would be a key factor in the firm’s decision.
In August 2021, the founders of We are Marlow Corporation (Marlow) were considering the company’s future. Marlow was a direct-to-consumer (D2C), subscription-based business that sold lubricated tampon kits. The company was about to receive full approval from Health Canada to sell its products and the founders needed to shift their focus to a marketing strategy for their upcoming launch. They needed to decide on their target market and pricing scheme and how they would allocate their promotional budget to sell as many units as possible. The founders wanted a plan that would contribute to Marlow’s long-term sustainability and growth.
The founder and executive director of Allswell Productions (Allswell), an amateur musical theatre company based in London, Ontario, and her team had seen tremendous success with their inaugural production, and they needed to determine what show to stage next. With a wide assortment of theatregoers in the London area, she needed to refine her target market and plan a production for the next season. She had to determine which show to stage, in which theatre space to stage it, how to price the tickets, and how to promote the show.