# Build Startup Financial Models

Startup teams need financial plans that connect revenue, hiring, expenses, runway, and fundraising assumptions. This skill guides Claude, Codex, and Claude Code through structured 3-5 year projections and scenario planning.

## Install

```bash
npx skillstore add wshobson/startup-financial-modeling
```

## Metadata

- Status: approved
- Slug: wshobson-startup-financial-modeling
- Version: 1.0.0
- Author version: 1.0.0
- Skillstore revision: r1
- Version status: valid
- Tree hash: 0e5e27f2cb2a090eaf8f59f6c13f6ccd6ed74c26dabe3df5d6d4eff4dcc84927
- Author: wshobson
- GitHub username: wshobson
- License: MIT
- Repository: https://github.com/wshobson/agents/tree/main/plugins/startup-business-analyst/skills/startup-financial-modeling/
- Ref: 64ca8af0f54a325752f08bd54e52151061ea659a
- Supported tools: Claude, Codex, Claude Code
- Audit status: complete
- Agent install advisory: allowed
- Manual install advisory: allowed
- Artifact signature: available
- Audit attestation: unavailable
- Human verification: not\_verified
- Risk factors: external\_commands
- Quality score: 80
- Quality tier: silver
- Public page: https://skillstore.pages.dev/skills/wshobson-startup-financial-modeling
- Manifest: https://skillstore.pages.dev/api/skills/wshobson-startup-financial-modeling/manifest

## Capabilities

- Build revenue projections from acquisition, retention, ARPU, pricing, expansion, and churn assumptions.
- Model COGS, sales and marketing, R&D, G&A, headcount, and fully loaded compensation.
- Calculate MRR, ARR, burn rate, runway, CAC, LTV, CAC payback, and burn multiple.
- Create conservative, base, and optimistic scenarios with key assumption sensitivities.
- Support SaaS, marketplace, e-commerce, and services model structures.
- Connect fundraising rounds, dilution, use of funds, and milestone planning.

## Use Cases

- Plan Fundraising Runway: Estimate burn, hiring pace, funding needs, and runway before a seed or Series A raise.
- Build Board Forecasts: Create base, conservative, and optimistic forecasts for revenue, expenses, cash, and operating metrics.
- Review Unit Economics: Pressure test CAC, LTV, payback, gross margin, and burn multiple for an early-stage company.

## Prompt Templates

### Create a Basic Startup Forecast

```
Build a simple 36-month financial model for my startup. Business model: [describe]. Current cash: [amount]. Starting revenue: [amount]. Include revenue, expenses, burn, runway, and key assumptions.
```

### Model SaaS Cohort Revenue

```
Create a SaaS revenue forecast using cohort-based assumptions. Use monthly new customers, ARPU, churn, expansion revenue, and pricing tiers. Show MRR, ARR, and retention impact.
```

### Build Three Operating Scenarios

```
Create conservative, base, and optimistic financial scenarios. Vary customer acquisition, churn, contract value, CAC, and hiring timing. Compare runway, funding need, and key metrics.
```

### Integrate Fundraising and Dilution

```
Add a fundraising plan to my startup model. Include pre-money valuation, investment amount, dilution, use of funds, runway extension, and milestones reached before the next round.
```

## Limitations

- It provides modeling guidance, not audited accounting, tax, legal, or investment advice.
- It cannot verify private company data unless the user supplies reliable inputs.
- It does not fetch live market benchmarks or financing terms by itself.
- Spreadsheet file creation depends on the host tool and user permissions.

## Best Practices

- Start with explicit assumptions for pricing, acquisition, retention, hiring, and cost behavior.
- Separate fixed costs, variable costs, cash timing, and fundraising events.
- Compare outputs against stage benchmarks and update the model when actual results change.

## Anti Patterns

- Using one aggressive scenario as the operating plan.
- Treating revenue recognition and cash collection as the same event.
- Ignoring hiring delays, ramp time, benefits, taxes, and attrition.

## Security Audit

- Audited at: 2026-07-08T14:21:58.906\+00:00
- Summary: All static findings are false positives caused by Markdown code fences, inline reference paths, and ordinary financial planning text. I found no evidence of prompt injection, data exfiltration, unauthorized network access, or executable command behavior in SKILL.md.

## Stats

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- Downloads: 18
- Favorites: 0
- Popularity score: 0