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Startup Financial Models

Are you looking for a Startup Financial Model that you can use to help fund your startup business? I launched my first tech startup in 1998 and quickly discovered that there was no way to outsource knowledge of the financial and business model. Investors wanted to know that I understood my key metrics, those things that are knowable about the business. The next step is to translate those key metrics into an Excel Spreadsheet. Finally, investors will want you to track forecasted vs. actual revenue.

As a mentor for Techstars, Founder Institute and 9Mile lab as well as 100’s of Startup Weekend companies the questions about financial models never change. The good news is that you don’t have to start your effort from scratch. Because looking at a blank spreadsheet is never a fun place to start if you’re not a CFO or an MBA.

Venture Ready Models has downloadable Financial Model Templates that help you speed through your process of created a Venture Capital Financial Model without having to get your MBA from a top tier program.

Four components of Startup Financial Models:

  • Assumptions – what are your key assumptions for
    • Customer Acquisition Cost (CAC)
    • Lifetime Value (LTV)
  • Revenue Forecast
  • Compensation and staffing expense and timing
  • Charts & Graphs – these will go int your Investor Presentation

They also start with a business model template based on your key hypothesis of the company you are launching. For example, a Subscription Model template or a Marketplace Template.

Please review the Business Model resources on the site before choosing your Startup Template.

  • Business to Business Models – there are 9 B2B models – each has different conversion metrics
  • Business to Consumer – there are 10 B2C models – each has different conversion metrics
  • Other models, for examples Business to Government and multi-sided marketplaces. I’ve blogged about these models on DKParker.com below, but have not reviewed them on this site.

Keep in mind, for your startup and at your launch, you will have only one business model. At scale you may have multiple ways of monetizing your business. But, you need to survive launch to get to scale.

For additional startup company resources refer to DKParker.com and the DKParker.com/Blog