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Akira Hirai
Akira Hirai Quick Facts
Main Areas: Business Plans & Financial ForecastsBest Sellers: business plans, financial forecasts, pitch decks, turnaround consulting, exit planning, company valuations
Career Focus: Startup Consultant
Akira Hirai is the Founder and Managing Director of Cayenne Consulting, a company that helps entrepreneurs to prepare to raise equity and debt capital. Akira's company prepares high-performance business plans, financial forecasts, and investor pitch decks. A key part of Akira's planning process is helping entrepreneurs understand and develop the attributes that investors seek.
Since founding Cayenne Consulting in 2001, Akira has grown the organization to over 30 professional consultants with representation in entrepreneurial hubs worldwide.
His clients are mostly in high-tech fields, including medical devices, software, hardware, and alternative energy. His firm has also served clients in financial services, manufacturing, real estate, and other markets. In a world where perhaps one in 200 business plans ever get funded, well over half of Cayenne’s clients have done so.
Before starting Cayenne Consulting, Akira was the founder of two Silicon Valley Internet companies during the height of the dot-com frenzy. At one point, Akira was selected to be "Entrepreneur of the Week" by vCapital.com. Previously, Akira held various management positions at Salomon Brothers, a New York investment bank, most recently as Vice President in Fixed Income Derivatives Trading. He has also worked as a senior financial risk management consultant; software engineer; advertising sales manager; general manager of an advertising and graphic design agency; and engineering intern at the Stanford Linear Accelerator Center.
Akira is a frequent speaker on business planning and related entrepreneurial topics, and has been quoted in Money Magazine and Inc. He earned his B.A. in Engineering Sciences from Harvard University.
