Build 3-5 Year Financial Models for Startup Fundraising

Financial Projections creates a complete 3-5 year financial model for startups, including cohort-based revenue projections, detailed cost structure (COGS, S&M, R&D, G&A), headcount planning by role, monthly cash flow analysis, key metrics (CAC, LTV, burn rate, runway), and three-scenario analysis (conservative, base, optimistic). The skill guides you through gathering business model inputs, building revenue models, planning costs and hiring, and generating comprehensive markdown reports suitable for fundraising and strategic planning.

Use this skill when working on financial projections tasks or workflows, needing guidance and best practices for startup financial planning, preparing for fundraising, or building multi-year business models with scenario analysis. Do NOT use this skill when the task is unrelated to financial projections or you need a different domain or tool outside this scope.

You provide business model details (revenue model, pricing structure, target segments), starting point data (current MRR/ARR, customer count, team size, cash balance), growth assumptions (monthly customer acquisition, churn rate, ACV, sales cycle), cost assumptions (gross margin, S&M budget, CAC target, burn rate), and funding plans (amount, timing, valuation). The skill generates financial projections using structured approaches and formulas.

The revenue model uses a cohort-based approach:

MRR (Month N) = Σ across all cohorts:
  (Cohort Size × Retention Rate × ARPU) + Expansion

Cash flow is calculated monthly:

Beginning Cash Balance
+ Cash Collected (revenue, consider payment terms)
- Operating Expenses
- CapEx
= Ending Cash Balance

Monthly Burn = Revenue - Expenses (if negative)
Runway = Cash Balance / Monthly Burn Rate

The skill provides structured tables for cost breakdown:

| Department | Year 1 | Year 2 | Year 3 | % Revenue |
|------------|--------|--------|--------|--------|
| COGS       | $X     | $Y     | $Z     | XX%       |
| S&M        | $X     | $Y     | $Z     | XX%       |
| R&D        | $X     | $Y     | $Z     | XX%       |
| G&A        | $X     | $Y     | $Z     | XX%       |

The skill references the startup-financial-modeling skill for revenue modeling approaches, cost structure templates, headcount planning guidance, and scenario analysis methods. It pairs with team-composition-analysis skill for roles by stage, compensation benchmarks, and hiring velocity assumptions.

Startup founders preparing for fundraising rounds, finance teams building multi-year business models, business analysts creating investor-ready financial projections, and strategic planners needing scenario analysis for decision-making. The skill is particularly valuable for early-stage startups (pre-seed through Series B) that need to model unit economics, burn rate, and runway alongside growth projections.