A financial modeling bootcamp
for startup founders

1-week of LIVE sessions to create investor-proof projections,
estimate your fundraising needs,
and track the core KPIs for any kind of startup

$99

Enroll

Pre-recorded lessons will be available from November 11th

Live Q&A Session dates with Caya have a catch-up weekend. These sessions now start Nov 14th at 12:30 PM ET.

The financial modeling course had a lot of great information and was very organized with all of the resources they provided! I didn't get a chance to attend all of the calls, but glad I have the repository to look back on. They are definitely passionate about what they do.

Estrella Quiroz

The session was informative. The financial model sheets available with the Slidebean account are a bit daunting on their own - having this walkthrough was great, as well as the practical applications of the data and ability to ask specific questions on modeling and different scenarios.

‍Tim Chalk

When you're done, you'll be able to...
‍

design and connect a financial model for any type of startup

build, connect, and edit any financial spreadsheet

test different scenarios, and understand their outcomes

understand the KPIs that affect your business

Join our next cohort

Nov 11th - 15th, 2024

Enroll

Still not sure?

Download a sample financial model built by our team

Free Download

Bootcamp Agenda

(Optional) Day 0: Leveling up our spreadsheet skills

This module is designed as a leveling course for founders and entrepreneurs who are new to spreadsheet tools like Microsoft Excel and Google Sheets. It starts with the basic building blocks of formula-building, and advances into reference functions like INDEX+MATCH.

We focus on the tools that you'll need to connect most financial models.

Agenda:

Setting up a basic spreadsheet: creating and formatting a worksheet, entering data
Common math functions (e.g. SUM, AVERAGE, MAX, MIN)
Date and time functions (e.g. TODAY, NETWORKDAYS)
Using lookup and reference functions (e.g. VLOOKUP, INDEX, MATCH)
Using logical functions (e.g. IF, AND, OR)
Collaborating with others and using version control
Formatting and presentation tips
Sorting and filtering data
Consolidating data from multiple worksheets

Day 1: Why do I need Financial Modeling?

Driver-based modeling is the single most important lesson we will be teaching in this bootcamp. This module is the key to unlocking your understanding of financial models and will allow you to dissect and break down any type of business into parts that you can model on a spreadsheet.

Curriculum:

What is driver-based modeling, and why is it important for startups?
Common direct and indirect drivers of startup growth
The KPIs to convert drivers into revenue
Simple model maps: SaaS, eCommerce, and Traffic-based business models
Adding conversion funnels
Advanced model maps: Marketplaces and virality
Converting maps into variables
Homework assignment before our Live Session

Day 2: Building your Financial Model

Now that we understand the basics of how financial models work, we’ll get to building our first formulas to connect the maps that we’ve been working on.

Curriculum:

Setting up the layout: inputs vs outcome spreadsheets
Standardizing our format: variables vs formula results
Our first formula: a marketing budget
Scaling linearly vs exponentially
Defining launch dates
Our first complete map: from driver to costs

Day 3: Understanding the Template

We’ve built our first financial model, but we need a better canvas to work on if we want to scale the spreadsheet. We’ll walk you through the (free) template our team built, and that over 20,000 startups have used as a starting point.

Curriculum:

The basics: SG&A, COGS and Revenue
Advanced sheets: CAPEX
Understanding VAT and Sales Taxes vs Income Taxes
Managing headcount and staff scaling
Advanced sheets: Cap Table

Day 4: Your Custom Building

With a superpowered canvas to work from, we now move into connecting a complete model map inside an existing financial model template.

Curriculum:

Build a realistic budget, focusing on salaries and hiring plans
Plan for a pre-seed round to start operations and adjust the team size to fit funding
Manage costs, cut unnecessary hires, reduce salaries, and scale marketing gradually to stretch the budget
Project growth and revenue to determine when to raise rounds
Use financial models to test different scenarios for sustainability and investor expectations

Day 5: Running Scenarios and Projections

At this point we have a fully functional financial model we can use to estimate anything we want. It’s now time to put it to good use to answer the questions a founder needs to solve before pitching investors.

Curriculum: