Video · webinar-length walkthrough

Mastering Financial Models for Your Startup with Logan Burchett

Logan Burchett (Co-founder, Forecastr) · YouTube (Forecastr) Free Beginner

This is a guided build of a startup model from the bottom up, run by someone who does this for a living, so you see how a defensible model comes together from real drivers rather than wishful top-line numbers. It is aimed at founders raising money and connects the model back to what makes an investor believe you. Watch it once with the template open, then rebuild the logic with your own numbers.

  • A bottom-up model starts from the levers you control (acquisition, pricing, conversion, retention) and lets the revenue fall out of them, instead of you inventing the revenue first.
  • The goal is not to predict the future accurately, it is to show you understand what drives your business.
  • Being able to change one assumption and watch cash, margin, and timeline move is what makes the model credible to an investor.

The question it answers

  1. How do I build a simple financial model for a pitch deck without pretending I can predict revenue three years out?

Read with it

  1. You do not want to build a three-year model from a blank sheet, and you also do not want a generic one-size template that does... Forecastr Template · 12 templates, make a copy and fill in Forecastr Free Startup Financial Model Templates (Excel and Google Sheets) Forecastr
  2. Before you touch a spreadsheet, this essay reframes what the model is even for, and it answers your exact worry: at pre-seed... Equidam Essay · long-form essay What Are Startup Financial Projections Actually For? Daniel Faloppa
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