Date: 12.11.2025 (2025-11-12)
Dylan Jones (12.11.2025) • https://www.linkedin.com/in/dylan-jones-710370118/ • Friend of Illichmann • Founder @ Zenith Analysis | Simplifying Investor Relations (only him afaiu) • Helping enterprises communicate with investors faster and cheaper, while helping startups and small businesses communicate like enterprises. • Frm Finance Manager at Amazon
Notes: • Notes: • Together GE - then both at Amazon on coincident • Zenith: • He worked at a startup and built their finance -> he converted it to a startup -> finance SW -> FP&A, investor relations etc. • Focussed on USA • It is priced at a premium -> too expensive for a European company / CFO • US Market • AP is very unsolved -> a lot of bookkeepers - many people are offshored to Philippines -> low benchmark • Customers want an end to end solution for bookkeeping • From founder types • Increasing market of fractional CFOs • Some of them do bookkeeping themselves • Companies are not comfortable with variable costs • He thinks there is a lot of opportunity of SW automation - CF optimisation • Smarter AP Reconciliation phase • Quickbooks (80%) and Xero (15%) • Enterprises are with SAP, Netsuite • Hard for him to say how good Quickbooks it • He sits on top of Quickbooks • Gives a first level of automations etc. • Not too much value of QuickbooksBI features • He thinks it is a low value item • A lot of tax software • Zenith: • Takes data from Quickbooks • Creates reports in more detail • Forecasting • Narrative development • Automated investor emails • Competitor analysis -> benchmarking • CF: some basic analysis -> runway • 13 weeks cash in and outs -> check what he means • 3 layers he forecasts: • ML model that takes past into account and comparable companies • Proforma analysis tool -> free statement model -> you can drag and down data (e.g. revenue) -> slider for every single item • He has a GUI that can be used instead of Excel -> slide to demonstrate in a board meeting etc. • He focuses on GAAP reporting -> what a public company would report • Demo did not work -> i think he is overselling a lot • He is happy to partner with us -> his customers would love to do AP automation • Maybe even merge -> bias • Automation: • • Biggest objections / challenges in his daily life? • • Most valuable flows for him? • • Context: team setup? internal and external? • • Which tasks are the biggest pain? With magic wand -> what would he solve? • • Which tasks would he focus on? • • Do they already have automations? Which ones? How well do they work? • • Which companies would he target? • • General feedback to pitch? •