If this is the path you want to
take, you should be prepared to spend several weeks looking at equity research
reports produced by other companies, learning how to prepare financial
statements, and then actually doing the work yourself. This includes a change
protocol, which allows you to determine how your finances have developed and
which business decisions have gone in your favor.
As an entrepreneur, you have many
uses for your budget and your financial modelling, but if you are looking for investors, the first thing someone
will ask you is your predictions.
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Financial modelling |
You want to be able to look ahead
and predict how your business will develop based on a number of assumptions. In
this article, I will guide you through a series - based on a road map that you
can turn to when making important business decisions and developing strategies
for how the company can grow. I will guide you in developing a fully tailored
financial model based on your company's needs and visions for the future.
Financial modelling helps you understand your business and make
predictions about your company's customers, sales, employees, etc. Similarly,
you need financial models when planning your start-up business. Here we focus
on the best of both worlds - business models and financial models for startups.
It also helps to define the
A-practice and the economic value of financial risk management, to use
financial instruments and thus get rid of different types of risk.
The creation of multiple
scenarios and the implementation of health checks helps to get closer to
realistic cases without presenting overly optimistic or unattractive cases. It
may be worth creating a financial model for a start-up to look for common
pitfalls. Creating valuations for startups using discounted cash flow methods is
also a good way to use data that is typically part of financial models.
A financial model can also help
in the fundraising process, as external financiers typically need forecasts
that provide a more accurate picture of the company's financial condition and
financial position. Tom Y. Sawyer has used the principles contained in this
book to develop financial models for numerous start-ups and early-stage
companies, and to help them plan and raise the capital they need to grow. You
will discover that financial modelling is an important management tool that, if
built correctly, provides invaluable support every step of your entrepreneurial
journey.
While one can take the risk of
modelling, the truth is that there are a number of professionals who create and
analyze financial models on a regular basis, including investment bankers,
accountants, and business managers. There are many areas where hiring an
experienced adhoc consultant to support your efforts can be very helpful.
Websites like Upwork can help you find an experienced financial person to take
you forward with your model, or your local business offices and business
centers can give you access to free and voluntary resources, If you decide to go it alone,
download a template if you're not starting from anywhere, especially one that
matches the type of business you're looking for.
The two most important approaches
to financial modelling are to use
market size data to forecast your business and to use data from other companies
such as the US Census Bureau or the National Bureau of Economic Research. You
may need a financial model not only to build an economically viable company,
but also to be better prepared for the future, to communicate the company's
performance to potential shareholders and new investors, and to create a target
company you can work with.
It might be useful to combine
these methods so that you can explain your short-term goals in detail and show
the long-term market share that investors are looking for. If you want to
reinvest in the company, you can see the impact of different investment
conditions from the term sheet.
If you already have a preferred template for financial models, you can get help by using the scenario model to get a better understanding of the answers before creating your own model. If you already had it, use it as an evaluation point to review your work at the end. For example, if a portfolio company raises funds, can you understand which other companies are in the company's capping table? Before you make a decision, you can understand different situations using software for modelling financial scenarios.