Mile Marker

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    Case Study/Mile Marker Advisors

    Mile Marker

    How Mile Marker Advisors Accelerated Transaction Advisory Services with Crunched

    Core metrics
    60-90%
    time savings on financial modeling and spreads
    80-95%
    time savings on deep research analysis and documentation
    About the client
    Client
    Mile Marker Advisors
    Industry
    Transaction Advisory Services
    Primary Use Case
    Financial modeling, financial spreads, and transaction-related write-ups in Excel
    Product
    Crunched - AI Excel Analyst for finance professionals
    "We chose Crunched because it is purpose-built for transaction workflows, and not just another generic AI assistant"
    CD
    Caleb Dean
    Principal at Mile Marker

    Executive Summary

    Mile Marker Advisors uses Crunched to dramatically accelerate core transaction advisory workflows - particularly complex financial modeling, financial spreads, and standardized deep research - without changing their existing Excel templates or review standards.

    By deploying Crunched directly inside Excel, Mile Marker reduced modeling and analysis tasks that previously took hours or days to minutes, enabling analysts and senior consultants to iterate faster and spend more time on judgment-driven work rather than manual Excel labor.

    Across Mile Marker's workflows, Crunched delivered meaningful time savings (days down to hours) on necessary yet time-consuming core tasks, while maintaining full auditability and Excel-native outputs.

    The Challenge

    High-stakes modeling under tight deadlines

    Like most transaction advisory consultants, Mile Marker Advisors operates under constant time pressure. Analysts and associates spend the majority of their time in Excel performing:

    • Complex, multi-sheet financial modeling
    • Financial spreads and normalization
    • Company, industry, and economic deep research
    • Repetitive updates across standardized templates

    These tasks are:

    • Manual and time-intensive
    • Error-prone under deadline pressure
    • Difficult to execute concurrently, even with larger teams

    Clients often request additional analysis - more scenarios, deeper diligence, tighter narratives - but the marginal cost in analyst hours sets a cap for the capacity and scope.

    The Solution

    Crunched the AI Excel analyst

    Mile Marker deployed Crunched, the AI Excel analyst built specifically for transaction advisory workflows.

    Crunched works directly inside Excel and is designed to operate the way experienced analysts do:

    • Reads and understands entire workbooks, not isolated cells
    • Builds and edits fully linked, formula-driven, auditable financial models
    • Populates standardized templates using structured data
    • Performs error checking across large models
    • Summarizes data into presentation-ready outputs

    Crucially, Crunched augments Mile Marker's existing templates and processes - it does not replace them. It allows all Mile Marker associates to have their own analyst in Excel, of which they are the expert reviewers.

    Focus Area

    Modeling first, write-ups second

    Crunched delivered step-change improvements for Mile Marker's most time-consuming Excel tasks. Crunched automated specific workflows, and the primary value came from accelerating modeling-heavy workflows, with write-ups layered on top.

    Workflow
    What the work typically includes
    Why it can take a long time
    How Crunched helps in practice
    Impact*
    Complex financial modeling projects
    Multi-tab models, sourcing and linking data, trend/variance analysis, benchmarking to public comps/peers (where available), and iterative discussions with management
    Inputs arrive in waves, assumptions evolve, source data needs cleaning/reconciliation, and model structure often changes as insights develop
    Rapidly scaffolds the model framework, organizes assumptions, accelerates early analysis, and helps generate first-pass outputs that our team refines
    60-90%
    Financial spreading
    Converting varied formats (PDFs/exports/unstructured) into structured schedules, mapping to chart-of-accounts logic, tie-outs to source documents, and consistency checks
    Data is inconsistent across periods/entities; reconciliation and mapping decisions require judgment and documentation
    Speeds structuring and mapping, produces reviewable schedules faster, and helps identify questions/edge cases earlier
    80-90%
    Target Research analysis and write-ups (model-driven)
    Synthesizing model outputs with business overview, KPIs, trend drivers, key risks/opportunities, and discussion-ready talking points
    Research and summarization take time; aligning narrative to model outputs and engagement objectives is iterative
    Produces an initial structured narrative and summary points that we edit, validate, and tailor to the engagement
    80-95%
    Industry write-ups
    Defining industry scope, gathering credible sources, identifying market structure, growth drivers, competitive dynamics, and key metrics
    Heavy reading and synthesis; sources vary in quality and relevance; scope needs continual refinement
    Accelerates synthesis into an editable draft and helps surface key themes and data points for review
    80-90%
    Economic write-ups
    Macro context relevant to the engagement: rate environment, inflation, employment, sector headwinds/tailwinds, and implications for forecasts
    Wide source set; requires filtering for what's relevant and translating macro to engagement-specific implications
    Speeds compilation and synthesis into a draft that our team refines and aligns to engagement objectives
    80-90%

    *The cycle-time impacts above are directional and based on internal experience and historical workflow comparisons—not minute-by-minute timekeeping records. Results vary by engagement scope, data readiness, complexity, and review requirements. All outputs are reviewed and validated by the Mile Marker team prior to use or delivery.

    Mile Marker together with Crunched identified highly manual, long-lasting tasks, and have automated specific workflows entirely. A human is still critically needed to review and iterate on the output, and there are still plenty of tasks where a human has the edge. Crunched augments the person modeling and enables the human to build a deeper, more rigorous model - it does not replace them.

    Implementation

    How Crunched works in practice at Mile Marker

    1

    Complex financial modeling

    Crunched builds, edits, and validates multi-sheet financial models directly inside Excel. Analysts use it to:

    • Construct models from structured inputs
    • Link assumptions correctly across sheets
    • Update scenarios without breaking logic
    • Catch linking and methodology errors before review

    Tasks that previously required hours of careful manual work now complete in minutes - without sacrificing rigor.

    2

    Financial spreads and normalization

    Crunched accelerates financial spreading by:

    • Structuring raw financials into standardized Excel formats
    • Linking outputs directly into valuation and transaction models
    • Maintaining traceability back to source data

    This reduced one of Mile Marker's most labor-intensive analyst tasks from a full day to roughly one hour.

    3

    Model-driven write-ups

    For company, industry, and economic write-ups, Crunched:

    • Pulls data from analyst-approved datasets
    • Writes directly into templated Excel outputs
    • Maintains formula-level links to underlying assumptions

    This ensures narratives stay synchronized with the model, eliminating manual copy-paste errors and rework.

    The Decision

    Why Mile Marker chose Crunched

    Caleb highlights several key differentiators that made them choose Crunched:

    • Excel-native - works directly in existing models and templates
    • Audit-ready - outputs remain transparent and reviewable
    • Fast to deploy - no process overhaul required
    • Feedback driven development - client feedback define the product roadmap
    • Hands-on tailoring – assistance in customizing Crunched instructions to drive full workflow automation

    Crunched's forward-deployed approach allowed rapid tailoring to Mile Marker's specific modeling standards and formats.

    The Results

    Faster deals, deeper analysis

    Quantifiable outcomes

    • What used to take days now takes hours (or less) time savings across core transaction advisory workflows
    • Multiple hours saved per analyst per project, compounding across live engagements
    • Faster first-pass model reviews lead to quicker and materially fewer iteration cycles

    Qualitative impact

    • Analysts spend more time on judgment, structure, and insight
    • Senior consultants get deeper into the analysis
    • Teams deliver higher-quality outputs under the same deadlines

    Crunched effectively made previously "nice-to-have" analysis economically viable within standard deal timelines. This allows Mile Marker to deliver top-tier quality work to all clients regardless of size.

    Broader Impact

    Why this matters for other transaction advisory firms

    For most TAS consultants, the constraint is not ideas - it is execution capacity.

    Crunched allows firms like Mile Marker to:

    • Eliminate 80%+ of manual Excel time on core modeling and analysis tasks
    • Increase analytical depth without extending timelines
    • Reduce risk from manual Excel errors
    • Scale best-practice modeling across teams without adding headcount

    In an environment where speed and accuracy directly impact project outcomes, Crunched becomes a force multiplier for elite TAS teams.

    About Crunched

    Crunched is an AI Excel analyst built by and for Excel power users in investment banking, private equity, and management consulting. Backed by First Round Capital, Y Combinator, 20VC and others, Crunched integrates advanced AI models directly into Excel to automate modeling, error-checking, research, and templated outputs - without breaking existing workflows.

    The goal: automate Excel grunt work, one high-impact pain point at a time.

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