We Started With A Simple Question
Why do smart people make poor financial decisions when presenting budgets?
Back in 2019, three financial analysts sat in a boardroom watching another brilliant proposal get rejected. Not because the numbers were wrong—but because nobody understood them. That moment changed everything.
Building Something Different
From frustrated professionals to education partners across Australia
The Beginning
Founded by Lennart Viklund, Oskar Bergquist, and Thea MacLeod after years of watching good ideas die in budget meetings. We knew presentation skills mattered as much as the numbers themselves.
First Programs Launch
Piloted our initial curriculum with 40 finance professionals across Sydney and Melbourne. The feedback was raw but invaluable—people wanted real skills, not corporate fluff.
Expanding Reach
Partnered with regional businesses throughout NSW and Queensland. Discovered that budget presentation challenges weren't just a big-city problem—they were everywhere.
Looking Forward
Now working with organisations across Australia, we're developing advanced programs focused on stakeholder psychology and persuasive financial storytelling. Next cohort starts September 2025.
What Drives Us Now
Here's what we've learned: most budget rejections aren't about bad math. They're about unclear communication, mismatched expectations, and presenters who haven't thought through their audience's actual concerns.
We're not promising overnight transformations. What we offer is practical training grounded in how decision-makers actually think. Our programs focus on real scenarios—the kind where you've got 15 minutes to justify a six-figure request to people who don't care about your spreadsheet methodology.
By 2026, we want to have worked with finance teams in every Australian state. That's ambitious, but realistic if we keep focusing on what actually helps people get their budgets approved.
Real Progress From Real People
We track what matters: approval rates, stakeholder feedback, and whether participants actually use what they learn. These are outcomes from past cohorts—not guarantees, just examples of what focused practice can achieve.
Practice Under Pressure
Participants work through challenging stakeholder scenarios with immediate feedback. Most report feeling significantly more confident when facing actual budget committees after going through multiple practice rounds.
Learning From Each Other
Small cohorts mean everyone shares their specific challenges. A common benefit: discovering your problems aren't unique and hearing how others have tackled similar situations in different industries.
Templates That Actually Work
We provide frameworks for structuring presentations, anticipating objections, and translating financial jargon. Past participants often mention these resources get used long after the program ends.
Voices From Past Cohorts
Honest feedback from professionals who've been through our programs
Jari Korhonen
Finance Manager, Brisbane
I'd been getting budget proposals knocked back for two years straight. mirestaviqen's program didn't give me magic answers, but it taught me to frame requests around executive priorities rather than department needs. That shift in perspective made the difference. My last three proposals went through with minimal revisions.
Recent approvals after training
Less revision time required
Program completion year