Plan your raise the way investors actually evaluate it.

ARR Operating Milestones and Timeline

Contract & Pricing Structure

How you price and structure contracts determines the shape of your revenue recognition.

Customer Segment

Choose the segment you sell to — this sets your funnel type. Each motion has different inputs and economics.

Sales Funnel Model — Work Backwards

From the gross-adds-per-month the Acquisition Plan requires, the funnel reverse-engineers the leads, SDRs, and reps needed to deliver them — and the CAC that implies.

Cost of Service

Two separate cost streams matching the two revenue streams. Year 1 implementation COS is typically high — companies often lose money in Year 1, which is expected and should show clearly in the model.

Sales & Marketing

Product & Engineering

G&A

Balance Sheet Assumptions

The pieces a pure P&L misses: computers you capitalize, money customers owe you (AR), money you owe vendors (AP), and — the big SaaS one — cash collected up front on annual prepay (deferred revenue). Leave anything at zero; grey text is a suggested starting point, not a default.

⭐ Milestone years highlighted. Shows how working capital and CapEx turn EBITDA into actual cash — including the deferred-revenue tailwind from prepaid customers.

Cash flow (indirect): EBITDA − ΔAR + ΔAP + ΔDeferred Revenue − CapEx + Equity Raised = Net cash change. Taxes and interest excluded (pre-profit stage). PP&E depreciates straight-line; depreciation is non-cash. Working-capital balances driven by DSO / DPO / prepay above.

⭐ Milestone years highlighted. All figures annual. GAAP revenue recognition with deferred revenue and AR.

* Revenue recognition: license fee amortized monthly (GAAP). Implementation fee recognized over months 1–2 of contract. AR assumes 45-day payment terms. OpEx scales with ARR growth from Year 1 base. Raise sizes include 25% buffer.

Cash flow (indirect): EBITDA ± working-capital changes − CapEx + equity raised. Balance sheet shows the working-capital + CapEx items; "Net Assets" = total assets − total liabilities (full equity/retained-earnings not built out at this scope). Taxes and interest excluded (pre-profit stage).

Timeline & Goals

Your fundraising journey on one page — the ARR you need to hit at each round, the raise that funds the burn to get there, and the milestones along the way. This is the destination; the rest of the model is how you reach it.

Example of Timeline

Live preview — fills in with your own numbers as you enter rounds below.

Rounds & goals

KPI Summary

Annual operating metrics across the 6-year forecast. Milestone years highlighted. All % of ARR metrics are SaaS efficiency benchmarks — best-in-class targets shown for reference.

GRR = Gross Revenue Retention (1 − annual churn). NRR = Net Revenue Retention — equals GRR until upsell/expansion revenue is modeled. OpEx % benchmarks: S&M 30–50% of ARR (early stage), Product 20–30%, G&A 10–15%.

Budget vs Actual

Budget column auto-populates from the model. Enter actuals manually or use the QBO/Xero Import tab to paste them. Variance = Actual minus Budget.

Step 1 — Paste Your QBO / Xero P&L Export

Export a P&L from QuickBooks Online or Xero (any date range), then paste the raw data below. Use tab-separated or comma-separated format.

Step 2 — Map Your Accounts to Model Categories

For each of your QBO/Xero account names, select the corresponding model category. This tells the model where each actual figure belongs.

Step 3 — Apply to Budget vs Actual

Once mapping is complete, click below to push the actuals into the Budget vs Actual tab.

Company Setup

This information appears on all outputs and reports. Powered by the Work Backwards Framework.

Instructions

Field-by-field guidance. Two minutes here saves rework on every output the model produces.

Roadmap & Timeline

This is the first slide of the finance section of your fundraise deck. It's where you present investors your long-term vision as a sequence of funding rounds leading to critical success — an exit or IPO. It shows, in the clearest possible fashion, the endpoint each round targets and how you project value creation and funding along the way. The preview below builds live as you complete this page.

Instructions

📋 Cap Table — Lightweight

Auto-computed from each round's pre-money valuation and raise amount. Shows ownership dilution across rounds for founders, the option pool, and investors at each stage.

Non-Dilutive Funding

Grants, SBIR/STTR awards, and government contracts that reduce cash burn without diluting equity. These are cash inflows in your model — they do not unlock funding rounds, but they extend runway between rounds.

Commercial Research Agreements (CRAs)

Partnerships with larger companies that fund your research in exchange for licensing rights, data access, or co-development options. Common in pharma, ag-biotech, and defense. Enter as annual cash inflows.

Partnership & Licensing Opportunities

Strategic deals — licensing an indication to a larger company, milestone payments, royalty streams, or co-development rights. These can be significant cash events but require bespoke negotiation and legal modeling. Document your opportunities here for reference.

* Partnership values are noted for reference only and are not included in the financial model. A consultant session is recommended to model deal structure, milestone triggers, and royalty economics.

Commercial Revenue

For most DeepTech companies, commercial product revenue begins only after regulatory approval — which may be beyond this model's horizon. Enter revenue only if you have a realistic near-term path to commercial sales (e.g. FDA device clearance, EPA registration, or a dual-use commercial market).

Instructions

This is the most substantial block — about an hour. It's also where the model becomes yours: every role and expense you enter here is a number you can defend in front of an investor. Have a budget in Excel already? Keep it open beside this page and transfer the lines — that pass is how your plan gets converted into Work Backwards form. Rough numbers are fine; refine later or in your onboarding session.

The three Modes — click each to see it filled in

Every row's Mode (far right) controls how its cost is spread over time. Pick the one that matches reality:

Annual + %

A salary that grows a set % each year. Most W-2 / 1099 roles.

Per year

A different amount each year. Budgets that ramp unevenly.

Specific months

Click the exact months an event happens. One-offs & conferences.

Color Convention

Standard notation used throughout this model.

Raise & Burn Timeline

Annual burn, non-dilutive funding offsets, equity raises, and cash balance across your model horizon. Raise years are set in the Funding Rounds & Endpoints tab.

* OpEx scales from Year 1 base proportional to raise size. Non-dilutive funding (grants + CRAs) reduces net burn. Raise buffer of 25% included. Commercial revenue included only if start year is set in Funding & Revenue tab.

Round Milestone Summary

Each round's target raise, expected timing, and primary endpoint.

Balance Sheet Assumptions

Opening balances, working capital days, and capex schedule. Leave anything at zero that doesn't apply yet — grey text shows suggested starting points.