Everyday I use Excel, Krisp, Loom, & Zoom,
but lately I've been doing the unthinkable...
I've been printing my models.
On...... PAPER. ๐จ
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Why would I do something so archaic?
Well there's actually a downside to being good at Excel...
I. go. too. fast.
Ever been looking over a spreadsheet,
Just repeatedly pressing F2 saying "looks good looks good looks good" ?
You're not actually checking anything.
You're zoning out.
I catch myself doing this a lot.
So I print it.
Yes, good old ctrl+P.
My printer gets a tear in his eye, looks up at me and says, "wow, today's the day?"
I turn away from my computer, grab a pen, and start reviewing.
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I've found 2 views are helpful:
ใ1ใthe "Annual One Pager"
โช๏ธ Shows next [5] years
โช๏ธ Condensed IS, BS, & SCF
โช๏ธ Condensed Covenants
โช๏ธ Working Capital summary
โช๏ธ Capex summary
ใ2ใthe "Next 12 Months"
โช๏ธ Similar to the Annual One Pager, but
โช๏ธ More detail in each of the 3 statements
(↑ mostly in the P&L, so I can review expenses)
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I would say 90% of the time I find ๐ด๐ฐ๐ฎ๐ฆ๐ต๐ฉ๐ช๐ฏ๐จ I want to take another look at.
Would I have caught it just looking at my screen?
Maybe. Probably even.
But, using a pen & physically circling something actually makes me think.
Can I explain it?
Is something off?
It forces me to revisit the model in a tactical way,
and make sense of things at the level people care about most:
The 30,000 ft view.
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This leads me to a side point...
Try not to force your model into a printable view, rather,
Build your model with all the detail it needs,
and build the printable summaries afterwards.
(↑ I'll expand on this another time)
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So, what do you think?
Something you might try?
Does your model even have a summary you can print?
(don't forget to buy printer paper)
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—Chris
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