Financial Modeling for Startups

Built for entrepreneurs who want to learn how to model the operations of a business to build financial models.

The financial model templates can jumpstart the process of building a financial model for your business, but if you want to learn how to build models from the ground-up, start here. In this course, through two hours of instruction over 27 video lessons, you’re going to learn beginning financial modeling for startups. View the first three lessons and the course outline here →
Who is this course for? This is aimed at entrepreneurs new to financial modeling that want to learn how to fundamentally think about modeling a business idea, from forecasting users to revenues to costs and beyond. This course is not about Excel and how to build Excel formulas; while we will cover many basic concepts of Excel used in building financial models, this is aimed to help you learn how to assess the viability of a new business idea or raise a round of capital.

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Entrepreneurs that are beginners to financial modeling. The instructional material covers the beginning concepts of building any type of financial model, whether it is a SaaS, ecommerce, marketplace, etc.

Why I Built This

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- I created the financial models behind Foresight as a resource for entrepreneurs and early-stage startups to spend less time on finance and more time on their products.
- The reason was simple. I started builing financial models in 1998 when I worked in private equity, and eventually moved into building financial models for startups at the first startup I worked for in 2000. A couple years later, after finishing my MBA from Carnegie Mellon University in finance and accounting I was working as a part-time CFO at a startup and also building financial projection models for friends’ startups and companies. I found myself creating dozens of models from scratch and knew it wasn’t sustainable since at this point I had a full-time job at a global strategy consulting firm.
- I decided to build a template, something that could be simple to use but had the ability to help solve complex problems, and released that version online in 2008. Since then, 18,200+ people from 98+ countries have downloaded the financial models I have online or taken a class on financial modeling from me.
- I decided to build this course because as good as templates are, being able to understand how to build a model - how to break down a business strategy using numbers - is a fundamental skillset that can help entrepeneurs make solid business decisions. I created the course to help beginners to financial modeling upgrade their skillset so that they can do their own analysis and understand financial modeling better.

Key Features

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View the first three lessons and see the content outline here. →

Two hours of video instruction over 27 videos that covers:
How to build a fully functioning financial model from scratch
How to forecast users, revenues and costs
How to best prepare financial projections for investors
How to use assumptions, key metrics and scenarios to communicate your business
How to build a cap table that shows how your ownership changes over time as you take on investors
Everything you learn in this course will be directly applicable to your unique idea or business.

By the end of this course, you should expect to:
Have the skills necessary to build custom financial models
Understand what angel investors and venture capitalists look for in potential investments
Gain a better grasp of the operational and financial health of your business.

Payment, Terms and Conditions

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After purchase you will receive an email with login details to the course at . This activation email will come between 9 am to 4 PM, EST Monday to Friday.
Course can be viewed at any time, learn at your own pace. Videos cannot be downloaded for viewing offline.
Credit/Debt Cards and PayPal accepted; all transactions are SSL secured and no payment details are stored by Foresight.
If applicable, VAT is extra
Bulk license purchases available, details here
Purchase signifies acceptance of terms and privacy policy

Matt Sand
Visionary VC

Video Course

2 hours of instruction over 27 videos, all available online.
Learn at your own pace, available forever.
One-time purchase.
Free email customer support.
Preview first 3 lessons here →

$99

Add to Cart

Video Course
+
Model

Video Course.
Selected Financial Model template, downloadable immediately.
Course is only $50 in package with a Model.
One-time purchase. Model updates are free. Course is at your own pace, available forever.
Free email customer support.
Select the video course + model package from the model templates here.

$125+

View Models

2 hours of instruction over 27 videos, all available online.
Learn at your own pace, available forever.
One-time purchase.
Free email customer support.
Preview first 3 lessons here →

Video Course.
Selected Financial Model template, downloadable immediately.
Course is only $50 in package with a Model.
One-time purchase. Model updates are free. Course is at your own pace, available forever.
Free email customer support.
Select the video course + model package from the model templates here.

Purchase and start learning.
The course is aimed at entrepreneurs new to financial modeling that want to learn how to fundamentally think about modeling a business idea, from forecasting users to revenues to costs and beyond. This course is not about Excel and how to build Excel formulas; while we will cover many basic concepts of Excel used in building financial models, this is aimed to help you learn how to assess the viability of a new business idea or raise a round of capital. You will receive an activation email to register shortly after purchase.
Use the course with or without a template model.
The course is available on its own or in a package with a Foresight template. The right choice is a personal preference; the course is not an instructional guide to the templates, but a beginning intro course on how to think about financial modeling for startups, so the content is applicable regardless of whether you want to use a Foresight template or not. My goal is to enable people to learn how to use numbers to model a business’s future and make strategic business decisions using numbers, and sometimes the best way for an entrepreneur to do that is to learn the fundamentals, in some cases the best option is to use a template, and sometimes the best option is to directly work with me. Questions on the best path for you, email hello@foresight.is
Complete the course at your own pace.
Complete the lessons on your own pace. The course is available on Foresight’s website and can be viewed at any time. Complete the lessons, go back to view lessons again, proceed at your own pace.
Need more help?
New how-to videos and explainers are regularly added to Learn, Email customer support anytome at hello@foresight.is to answer questions on the content covered in the course and how to apply it to your business. If you would like more help on getting started, I also offer advisory services from helping you use a Foresight template to building a custom model to advising on fundraising and capital structure. Details →

Financial Modeling for Startups

Packages

How it Works

Purchase and start learning.

Use the course with or without a template model.

Complete the course at your own pace.