A financial modeling bootcamp
for startup founders

This is where the model becomes real. You move from structure into execution, and start answering the questions that matter most: how long your cash lasts, what you can afford to build, and whether your plan actually gets you to the next milestone.

Curriculum:

• Use milestones and runway as the starting point for budgeting decisions
• Build the model in the correct order so cash, timing, and priorities stay visible
• Understand why team costs are the single biggest driver of burn
• Budget roles and hiring timing so growth doesn’t outpace cash
• Separate product delivery costs from operating costs
• See how that split affects margins and long-term survival
• Know when something should be treated as an expense vs. an asset
• Model equipment and inventory without distorting cash or profitability
• Add funding at the right point in the model, not as an afterthought
• Understand how loans and equity affect cash, runway, and risk
• Internalize the rule that revenue is an effect, not a cause
• Stop guessing revenue and start thinking in real business drivers

Cause and effect is the foundation of every model that actually works. This lesson is where you learn to stop treating revenue as a guess and start modeling your startup like a system, where every outcome comes from specific actions.

Curriculum:

• Understand why every number in a model should come from a prior action
• Learn to think in cause-and-effect chains instead of isolated metrics
• Walk through different model maps to see how growth works across business types
• See how acquisition, conversion, and monetization connect in SaaS
• Understand how installs, engagement, and monetization drive mobile app economics
• Break down traffic, conversion rates, and order value in eCommerce
• See how audience growth turns into revenue in a media business
• Understand how supply and demand interact in marketplace models
• Build your own model map and turn it into spreadsheet-ready variables

This is where the spreadsheet stops being static and starts behaving like a real model. In this lesson, you’ll learn how to turn assumptions into logic, logic into formulas, and formulas into a structure that scales as the business grows.

Curriculum:

• Use the assumptions sheet as the control center for the entire model
• Understand why assumptions (not hardcoded numbers) create flexibility
• Build your first formula and see how inputs flow through the spreadsheet
• Learn how budgets scale over time and why growth curves matter
• Build a conversion flow that turns activity into measurable outcomes
• Model monthly subscriptions so recurring revenue behaves correctly
• Model non-monthly subscriptions and understand timing and revenue recognition

In the final lesson, the focus shifts from forecasting to operating. You’ll learn how to bring real historical data into your model without turning it into a mess, so it stays accurate, auditable, and usable for investor conversations or internal decisions.
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This is the part of the training that turns your spreadsheet into a tool you can actually run the company with.

Curriculum:

• When and why to override historical data (and when not to)
• How to implement overrides cleanly while keeping the model transparent
• Extract core KPIs from historicals, including growth rates and efficiency
• Structure an Actuals sheet that ties cleanly into your forecast
• Reconcile actuals with projections so your outputs stay reliable over time