App Social Financial Model Template

Founders (CEO)

I’m an entrepreneur. I’ve started and failed many times, but I’ve also scaled large companies. I have the benefit of being fricking good at making models in Excel which is why I decided to make these models for you. You have limited time and budget so if you are going to allocate time it needs to be worthwhile.

Idea stage

Whether you are a first-time founder, or you are two exits in and back on the horse, this model can help you. There are just so many things going on and you need to be able to focus. I’ve made a very logical model which asks you to provide assumptions for it all. Whilst this might on the face of it seem annoying, I keep being told how much it helps. You are forced to think about what matters and if you don’t have the data, go and get it on the way to PMF!

Seed

After you have hustled and found some success, you need to start sitting back and reflecting on what you’ve been doing and what you’re going to do next. More than just the need to grow, you need to do an exercise on how every aspect of your company is going to deliver on that from sales to marketing. The model will help you dive into details you ignored before and realize how they could kill you soon.

Series

Owning a model with firepower is incredible for startups that are scaling. You take your metrics seriously and need to deliver large growth. You don’t want to be messing about building functionality, you want to put in what you’ve been doing and see how that is going to play out in the future to hit your next big round.

Investor

Investors seem like they need to pretend like they have all the answers, but we know we don’t. The only way to know it all is to be learning all the time. For a small sum, you’ve got access to a master class to rocket your knowledge of business models. Whether you want to model an investment opportunity or just learn, I have you covered.

Angel

You don’t have the benefit of working at a large firm where you can call over the ‘expert’ and have everything explained. This model will help you to take data from startups and model yourself. Alternatively, it is one of the best ways for you to start deep-diving into something you only have a little knowledge of and boost it up.

VC

If you’re learning a new business model then understanding the economics is a foundational need. If you’re requiring a tool to evaluate startups yourself, why build your own when you can get better than what the startup has sent over?

Nerds

The largest purchasers of my models are rich guys who love learning. They buy every single model that I ship because they know they are quality and even if they learn one key thing, it’s a no-brainer investment to them. If you haven’t made it yet, shouldn’t you learn from those that have things figured out already?

Understand How to Model

Most people learn how to use Excel and some get courses on modeling. The commonality is that it’s great in theory, but not so much in practice. If you want to see what a great model looks like, how to structure logic, format, and everything else a nerd loves, welcome.

Learn What Matters

Everything in my models has logic. Certain things are included, and some things you might think obviously need to be included are not. I can of course be wrong, but I thought about why. Learn with my logic so you can apply it to your own future work.

See How to Calculate Complicated Metrics

My models are a masterclass in applying Excel to business problems. They work from the high level to the micro which is where the devil lies. You can see how every metric you may have read is actually coded in Excel. You can’t get this anywhere else.

Advisors

Do you advise startups for a living? Do you frequently have to advise teams on complex issues and help them with their operations and fundraise? Many advisors licence my models to advise their clients and they even have me do the work for them and take the fees. My models can help

Ship financial solutions without the ability

My models work out of the box. They just need assumptions to feed them to create results. You can license my models and sell them on to your clients and look great whilst doing it

Answer client questions after analysis

Your clients can ask questions that you do not have the answer to, but that doesn’t have to be a problem. You can use my models and hire me to feed you the answers to the questions your clients have. Focus on what you are good at and leverage me as the expert behind the curtain.

Customise to meet needs

Whilst my models do 95% of what a startup needs out of the box, there are always edge cases that need to be added. Hire me to build what you need and make your client delighted with your ability to do anything.

FP&A

At some point, companies need a financial model that can meet their needs. Whilst my models aren’t designed to deal with expenses, they meet your forecasting requirements by offering robust calculations to expand from.

Forecast in more detail

My models are not focused on the day-to-day and are focused on the future. In your job, there can be a disconnect.

Perform analysis

Once your data is in, my outputs churn all the KPIs and metrics you need instantly.

Customise to meet needs

Whilst my models do 95% of what a startup needs out of the box, there are always edge cases that need to be added. Hire me to build what you need and make your client delighted with your ability to do anything.

Many startups ago… I built my first fundraising model. I had toiled for years in M&A so knew something about modeling, but man… what I built still wasn’t really useful and it distracted me from when I should have been executing, pushing sales, tracking my marketing KPIs etc. Darn.

Fast forward many years and I’ve learnt a thing or two. I’ve raised for myself and many others. For my startups and for others I’ve done fundraising for, I’ve built a number of models. They were all solid, but they weren’t mind-blowing (in my opinion). A founder reached out to me for an app model when I was studying data science by the beautiful beaches in Bali and I thought, screw it. Let’s make something cool.

Over the course of a month, I pulled all the cool stuff I had coded before, analysed the models I had, studied the pros and built this model. Figuring out how to do some of the calculations was almost enough to make me quit… Founders seemed to like the model, so I built others such as for SaaS and Enterprise SaaS. I took the learnings and improvements from those models and fed them back into here.

Whether you’re raising for your app startup, or needing to develop an operational plan to understand how you are going to grow and not run out of cash, you need an Excel model. The problem is that they’re really hard to build. You don’t have time to spend 2 months building one, you need to be executing like I wish I had. Sure, maybe you have an expensive, smart CFO, but they’re still running your company, and the ROI on their time to replicate what I am doing is ignorant. For the cost of an hour of their time (or mine), you skip months of development and get straight into inputting your actuals and forecasts. This is a no brainer.

Resent buying a model, and feel better paying someone to build a model for you? Sure, paying someone smart to build something sort of usable can cost $10k+. You won’t even get what you want. I’ve seen the models ex-bankers build. They don’t get startups. They think like bankers.

Want to find a free one? Sure. I found around 5 others which weren’t bad, but just really limited in terms of functionality. These don’t solve the problem of just having something which just works and gets you back to scaling your users (Which actually matters).

This is the model I wish existed. I literally built it for you. I only build new things which add value to founders, not copy others.

Are you building the next top SaaS startup? Need to provide a AAA SaaS financial model for Venture Capitalists to secure a big round or just understand your operational requirement in detail for strategic planning? Do you need a detailed model to understand every key aspect of your business? This is it.

This model is for all SaaS companies that have an enterprise business model. If you are an enterprise company with ARPA in the tens of thousands, closing customers with an external sales force, then you this is for you.

In addition, if you have an SME SaaS aspect, because you charge monthly or annually through scalable means, do auto-onboard or sales-supported lead to trial conversion, you are good to go.

• Viral modeling: The only model globally which incorporates a viral marketing growth method
• Right timeline: 36 months of monthly forecasting with 3 annual summaries
• Flexible for actuals and forecasts: Actual and forecasts with sheets which combine your numbers in P&Ls to the exact month magically
• Staff: Manual and automated forecasting of staff. For most staff, you can decide the month your staff will join (Such as developers or a CFO) and the month they are terminated. Furthermore, you can set a date and salary increase (such as post-series-A) and salaries will increase on that date, and adjusted for bonus and payroll taxes and benefits. For support, recruitment and channel sales staff, your staff requirement flexes as you scale automagically to your desired assumptions
• Expenses: Granular assumptions to rapidly forecast your G&A, S&M and R&D
• Cohort approach to forecasting: Get a cohort-based forecasting model without the work. Input a few assumptions and you can see the revenue, costs, orders and units from each monthly cohort, for both first and repeat orders
• Comprehensive marketing plan: Forecast your entire marketing plan across viral, paid, organic, email, blog and social media channels with no heavy lifting. All the relationships between the channels are deeply integrated so social rebroadcasts will result in newsletter sign-ups. Forecast users in Android and Apple channels
• Detailed KPIs: Full dashboard of all your KPIs
• Charts: Breadth of beautiful charts to graphically explain your business
• Full blown P&L: Detailed, logical P&L explaining your business model step by step in the secret style some of the fastest growing internet companies in the world use, that is now available to you!
• Summary P&L: Easily copy and paste your summary P&L into your pitch deck
• Sources and uses: Get insight into your fundraising requirements. Four beautiful charts to copy-paste into your pitch deck

• Fully integrated and automated model: Get insights from KPIs if your assumptions make sense, so you look like a pro with a plan
• Standardized structure on each sheet: Every monthly calculation in the eCommerce financial model starts in the same column which makes it easy to audit
• Consistent: Consistently colour-coded cells for formulas, links, and assumptions applying best practices from global, top-tier investment banks. All cells are perfectly aligned
• Comments: Comments on all assumptions so you know what to input and why
• No hard coding: No hardcoded numbers in any formulas
• Open editing: The model is not locked, you are free to restructure as much as you like!
• Clear linking: Links to each sheet are always at the top of each sheet to track and understand where assumptions come from and what sheets are driving another one
• Separate actuals and forecasts in your P&L: Easily update your model monthly during your fundraiser without fuss. Combine months by simply adding a date of your choice
• Dynamic year-end: Set your year-end at a month of your choosing. All annual adjustments are made automatically with powerful formulas
• Accounting: Cash and revenue accounting
• Forecast period: 36 months of forecasting with 12-month summaries for each forecast year
• Change assumptions every month: Make the eCommerce financial model assumptions as simple or complicated as you like. Every assumption is mapped out on its own row. For example, any month you want to increase your pricing for consignment repeat purchasing, simply change that month. If you want to keep your assumptions linear, the formulas support that decision automatically and by the standard. Most growth assumptions also come with ‘optimization’ rows

I answer this above but I get asked a lot, so will make it clear.

I don’t make toys. If you want to do “finance good’, get Excel.

Google stuff is only for sharing things.

I use complex calculations, and Google can’t process them all.

It’s not even ‘if’ it will work in Google, you just don’t want to go there.

Just get Excel if you want to be in the big leagues and use my models. It will be so much more enjoyable.

I built the first models on my MacBook Pro Retina, so I know they work.

There are no compatibility issues between PC and Mac (Other than Macros). Mac just sucks huge donkey dick if you are amateur plus level and know shortcuts (like you should!).

If you’re at some SF startup with a douche tech policy requiring Macs, it’s OK. My models will work.

Just tell your tech team you need to do your job and give you a fricking PC. Laptops are cheap these days.

I really mean it. You can’t do finance on a Mac and enjoy your job (effectively).

I hate Excel on Mac so much I’m even willing to do a call for free to make the case.

The model is very detailed and powerful. There is nothing available on the internet on this level. It assumes you have an understanding of SaaS and for navigating excel. Every effort has been made to make it simple for a founder to get impressive results without having to be advanced in model structuring (We did all the hard work).

You don’t have to do ANY modelling to use this model. You just need to be able to fill in the assumptions boxes. Only if you need to restructure the model due to you having a special business model will you need to be advanced level.

The ideal user:

• Building a complex or simple SaaS company, with consumer (automatically onboarded) and/or SME (Sales supported) customers. Every variation is covered
• Is comfortable with numbers and wants to have control over their model with fairly granular assumptions, or rather the ability to change pricing every few months if they wanted to…
• Is at the seed to scaling stage of fundraising. The model doesn’t present years of historical data, which may not be perfect for later-stage companies. You could easily add this though. The focus is on 3 years of forecasts and the year-to-date actuals. A new model will come with advanced accounting functionality soon
• Likes to impress and enjoys a beautiful model!
• Wants to show investors they applied a very vigorous, logical approach to their forecasting and operations
• Wants a model that runs rings around hotshot bankers without the crazy cost
• Needs a logical, consistent model they can use to customize for their own purposes (Ideal)

I don’t offer returns (it’s a digital good), but want to make sure you succeed; so if you are new to Excel and marketplaces and aren’t willing to put in some work to learn, this model might not be for you.

• If you don’t know how to use a (SUM) function you may find it overwhelming if you need to understand every detail. Every line has been broken up to be logical to understand, so with a little diligence anyone can be a total boss.
• If you don’t really understand marketplaces, it might be too much but it will help you learn
• If you don’t understand how marketing works (such as what CTR is), then the detailed sheets in the model may have too much detail for you to handle. Use the basic ones instead
• If you insist on using Google Sheets, don’t use this

There are a number of additions which could have been added to this model and have purposefully not included. If you have seen models with other frills, trust there are reasons why they have not been included. Let’s go through some of these so you understand:

• Traditional cash flow statement and balance sheet: There is a cash-based accounting section to understand your actual cash burn. Investors don’t really care about your BS and CFS sheets like a PE company would. They care about the logic of your model to show it is thoughtful. They care how much revenue you will generate to size the market opportunity (how they will get rich) and how ambitious you are. The BS and CFS are useful at growth stage companies when there is a line of sight on meaningful forecasts- early stage you don’t really have many reliable numbers so they serve to create information overload
• Cap table: It is best to have this separately so it is a distinct conversation rather than bundling it with your forecasts. If you need a model you can get one of mine
• DCF and valuation: Having a DCF at an early stage is totally ridiculous, particularly as the assumptions don’t make sense (What’s your discount rate? Show me how to do your WACC…). A DCF is also not how VCs value early stage companies. Including a DCF or multiples is not how you want to approach a valuation discussion with investors and I think can actually harm you in negotiations. I recommend not putting a valuation in the model
• Complicated paid marketing assumptions: We want to show logic not needless complexity. There is some very smart logic in calculations for emails and the like, but we try to keep the number of assumptions down so you can discuss what’s important (Like CPC and budget, not keyword volumes)
• Growth modelling: If you are at the growth stage, you will have a lot more visibility on your actuals and have more historical reporting. This is not the best approach to modelling and fundraising for you. But the cool thing is, if you know basic Excel, it’s easy to add columns for your actuals if you like. We’re happy to add those for you

Startup is hard and fundraising is a total nightmare. It takes up so much time and it can be far easier to execute if you have the right tools on hand.

When we started Delivery Hero I spent far too much time figuring out how to build a good fundraising and operation model and it was infuriating. I wished I had something that just worked or a base I could use to fiddle with and get the result I wanted (Meaning, getting back to executing). We’re making these models so you don’t have the same painful, long nights and weeks, not executing like I wished I could have.

• The model is provided as is
• Every effort has been made to ensure there are no errors. Given the size and impressive depth, it is impossible to ensure there are none. If you find an error, please reach out so it can be fixed for everyone! I am happy to help you fix any errors free of charge
• If you need support building your model I offer a consulting service dependent on your bespoke needs

• You need Excel. Google Sheets is never to be used for a fundraising model as the functionality is limited. It might work in Sheets, but I can’t warrant it will work. I highly recommend using a PC and Excel
• This works on both Mac and PC and was built on both (But Mac sucks)
• You should install the ‘Solver Add-in’ and ‘Analysis TookPak’ if you do not have it installed already. These are free and standard Microsoft add-ins. I don’t require it, but it’s worth having
• I do not have circular references so there is no need for ‘iterations’ in this model, but in case, turn them on in your calculation settings, especially if you fiddle.
• This is not needed, but if you want to be a boss in Excel, download https://www.asap-utilities.com/. There are some really useful tools if you need to build models. It only works on PC though (as do the other cool tools).

Yes. There are business models which will require the model to do things that you need. I charge $300 an hour and can build whatever you need.

No refunds.

These are digital goods. You can’t return them.

If you aren’t sure if this model is for you ask me your questions first.

You can email me or hit me up on live chat (If I’m around).

Hi. You’re on my site, I built the models.

I’ve worked at Lazard in FIG M&A (Top tier firm and team), and VC, I’ve built lots of startups, I mentor at lots of accelerators (And mentor some of the people who run them), TEDx talked, bla bla.

I’ve got more free Excel tools on my site than any other startup site and I give the stuff away that others charge for. Get some of my free stuff and tell yourself before you buy if you aren’t sure.

I spent a fricking week auditing this model.

If there is an error, I want to know! Just email me, and I’ll look into it and fix it for you gladly. Maybe within an hour if I’m free.

Bear in mind normally when people say there is an error they just did something wrong and didn’t understand why.

Yes. If someone finds an error, or I add new functionality, I send updates to everyone with the new model.

I DO NOT hide anything in any model I make.

Yes, I know of one well-known model that locks everything. I think that’s dumb (Mainly because I already hacked it).

You can do anything to my models if you want. I purposefully design my formulas so you can follow what is happening.

My models are fully editable.

I also do not do VBA as I want you to be able to see what is going on.