Business Case Template for Startups

We’ve seen hundreds of startup business cases or financial models over the past few years and worked intensively with some of them. Even though every company is different and has specific requirements for their case or model, there are known good and bad practices to consider.

Almost every startup faces the following challenges:

· What is the right level of detail and where do I get the relevant data?

· How can I keep my model up-to-date with as little effort as possible?

· What is the best way to keep input data (assumptions or actuals) and output data separate?

· How to make sure that my model does not break and thus cause (potentially unidentified) errors?

Here is a simple business case template for you and your startup: Download link

It is based on a SaaS model, but we tried to keep it as generic and simple as possible. It should, therefore, have wide applicability.

The template incorporates many of the best practices we have encountered:

· The model is built bottom-up, allowing you (and your colleagues) to reconcile the values of every single item in the P&L

· Forecast values can be replaced by actuals without the need to overwrite any cells

· The template keeps a strict separation between input and output data

· Color coding clearly indicates which values to edit and which ones not — there is very little risk that you will overwrite a formula and break the model

This is intended as a starting point for your financial planning. That is why we deliberately kept it very simple. It is very likely that you will have to customize parts of it — but, hey, that is the beauty of MS Excel and other spreadsheet tools! We will share an extended version of this model along with deep-dives on individual aspects in the future — so stay tuned.

In the meantime, we would love to hear your thoughts. Please drop us a line in case you have any questions or comments: moritz@golayer.io