Economics, University of Oregon · Dec 2026

I learned business by running one. Now I'm learning to forecast them.

I've spent years reselling on StockX, GOAT and eBay, tracking every buy, sale and margin by hand. I'm still at the beginning with forecasting, so I'm teaching myself by building real projects on real companies, and I'll put in the work to get good at it.

See my latest project Get in touch
Looking forEntry-level roles in forecasting, planning or analytics
Based inBeaverton, Oregon · open to remote
ToolsExcel, Google Sheets, Python, R (RStudio), Apps Script

Selected work

Built from public filings and my own business data.

Most recent project · Nov 2026

Nike turnaround tracker and FY27 forecast

Turnaround scorecardScenariosGuidance checkExcel

Is Nike's comeback working? I track seven quarterly signals from Nike's SEC filings and forecast FY27 revenue by region and operating profit under three scenarios. Sneakers are where I started in business, so I wanted to understand the company behind them.

What I built

  • A scorecard of quarterly signals: regional growth, Nike Direct vs wholesale, gross margin and costs
  • A regional forecast for the rest of FY27, checked against management's guidance
  • A sensitivity table showing which assumption moves profit the most

What I learned

Headline numbers can hide a lot. Nike's FY26 gross margin looked stable at 42.9%, but a one-time $986M tariff refund was holding it up. Without it, margin was 40.8%. And to hit its own guidance, Nike's sales have to fall about twice as fast for the rest of the year as they did in Q1.

Download the model
2 of 7Turnaround signals improving
−7.8%FY27 revenue, base case
40.8%FY26 gross margin without the tariff refund
ActualBase forecastSlower to faster turnaround
Nike quarterly revenue, $ millions. Q1 FY25 to Q4 FY27 (fiscal year ends May 31).
What it leaves out: product categories like Jordan and Sportswear (Nike doesn't report their revenue every quarter), currency effects, and anything below operating profit. Next I'd add Nike's Investor Day targets and update it after Q2 results in December.
Forecast model · Oct 2026

Lithia & Driveway forecast

A driver-based forecast for the largest US auto dealer group: cars sold × price for revenue and cars sold × profit per car for gross profit, with three scenarios and a backtest against 2026 results.

  • Base case 2027 operating income of $1.68B, range $1.43 to $1.90B
  • Backtest: within 1.2% on total revenue
  • Biggest lever: profit per car (about $40M of gross profit per $100)
Download the model
Analyst practice · 5 Oregon companies

Oregon Company Lab

A self-study workspace for doing analyst work on real Oregon companies: Lithia, Nike, Columbia Sportswear, Portland General Electric and Lattice Semiconductor.

  • Read the income statement and compare ratios across companies
  • Work out what the market is pricing in
  • Connect each company to the wider economy
  • Write a one-page analyst summary for each
My own business · in daily use

Gimme Gear Flip Desk

The operations tool for Gimme Gear, the golf equipment resale business I run with two partners. It replaced our spreadsheets and texts with one shared system.

  • Profit calculator, inventory tracking and price comps across marketplaces
  • Monthly sales dashboard and automatic team alerts in Discord
  • AI features: ask questions about our sales, identify gear from a photo, and draft listings
  • Built on Google Sheets and Apps Script, hosted on Netlify
Forecasting is the same question I ask before every buy, just at a much bigger scale.

Why sneakers led me here

Reselling taught me business before any class did. Buy at the right price, know what the market will actually pay, and track every margin, because nobody else will. Every pair is a small forecast: will this be worth more or less by the time it sells?

Watching the sneaker market up close, I saw shoes like the Dunk go from selling out instantly to sitting on shelves. Later I read Nike's earnings and saw the same story from the inside: less Dunk supply, fewer Jordan retros, a company resetting how much it makes. That's what got me curious about the planning side, where a company has to make that same call across millions of pairs.

I'm early in learning how that work is done. These projects are how I'm closing the gap.

How I approach a forecast

Three habits I'm building on every project.

01

Start from the drivers

Before picking a growth rate, ask what actually moves the number: how many sold, at what price, and how much was kept on each.

02

Check it against reality

Test the method on a period that already happened. If it can't explain last year, it shouldn't be trusted with next year.

03

Say what I don't know

Every model simplifies. I write down what mine leaves out so the people using it know where it could be wrong.

I put in the work. I pair my own research with AI tools like Claude to learn new skills faster and take on projects bigger than I could alone. The standard I hold myself to: understand every formula, and be able to explain every number on my own.

Experience

Where the business sense comes from.

Co-founder, Gimme GearGolf equipment resale

Sourcing, pricing and selling used golf gear with two partners. Built the tools we run the business on.

Founder, multi-platform resaleStockX, GOAT, eBay

Running an e-commerce resale business: buying, pricing against live market data and tracking margins across platforms.

Product Research & Sourcing SpecialistViral Bricks

Researching products and sourcing inventory.

Sales Associate (freelance)Ragaholics

Selling streetwear and vintage.

Co-founder, sneaker market communityOnline community

Co-founded a sneaker market insights community and grew it to 100+ active members.

B.S. EconomicsUniversity of Oregon · Dec 2026

Graduating a term early.

Learning next

I'm early in this and eager to learn.

If you work in forecasting, planning or analytics, I'd love to hear what I'm missing, and I'm open to entry-level roles where I can learn from a strong team.

briantru04@gmail.com