VC Math — Interactive Scenario Generator

Step 1

Fund math — how big an exit does the VC need?

Set the fund's size, fees, target return, and ownership goal. The tool back-solves the total exit value the VC must generate from its winners.

Inputs

Fund size (USD)

Mgmt fee yrs 1–5

Mgmt fee yrs 6–10

Target IRR / year

Fund term (yrs)

Target ownership at exit (across portfolio)

Portfolio construction

# initial checks

$ each (initial)

# follow-ons

$ each (follow-on)

Outputs

Mgmt fees taken

—

Deployable capital

—

After fees

Required return

—

Required total exit value across winners

—

— so the VC can hit IRR if they own the target % at exit.

Portfolio check

Initial deployed—

Follow-on deployed—

Total deployed—

vs. deployable—

Per-winner math (if only 1 of N exits big)

If VCs assume all but ONE investment fails, a single winner has to exit for:

—

Across initial portfolio of N companies. Adjust the # of expected winners below.

# of expected winners

Show the formulas

mgmt_fees = fund × (fee1 × 5 + fee2 × 5) / 100

deployable = fund − mgmt_fees

required_return = fund × (1 + IRR/100)^term

required_total_exit = required_return / (target_ownership / 100)

Pre-money back-solver (founder view)

Reverse the math

You know what you want to raise and how much dilution you'll accept. Solve for the pre-money valuation you need.

Raise amount (USD)

Max equity you'll give up %

Existing option pool to refresh %

Required pre-money

—

Post-money

—

Price per share (1M shares)

—

Formulas

post = raise / (target_dilution + pool_refresh)

pre = post − raise − (pool_refresh × post)

Step 2

Cap table — what dilution looks like, round by round

Edit any cell. The VC's stake compounds with each round they invest in, and shrinks each round they sit out. The founder shrinks every round.

Editable rounds

Founder start %

Round	Pre-money ($M)	Raise ($M)	Post-money	Equity sold	VC invests ($M)	VC equity (cumul.)	Founder (cumul.)

How VC dilution works

Each round, every existing holder is diluted by the % of new equity sold. If the VC writes another check, they add fresh equity on top.

Why VCs need ~15% at exit

A 25% seed stake becomes ~18% by Series C even if the VC follows on once. Skip rounds and it shrinks fast.

Founder math

Starting at 30% (after co-founders + ESOP), the founder ends at ~8% after 4 rounds. The exit needs to be big.

Final cap table (after all rounds)

Exit payouts at final ownership

Exit value (USD)

VC gets

—

Founder gets

—

Note: this ignores liquidation preferences and option pool refreshes for simplicity.

Round-by-round dilution chart

Step 3

Exit waterfall — who gets paid, and in what order

The exit price isn't the VC's profit. Capital comes off the top, then carry, then partners split. This is how an $90M VC payout turns into a $4M check per partner.

Inputs

Exit value (USD)

VC ownership at exit (%)

VC fund committed capital (USD)

Carry %

# GP partners

Distribution

VC gross take

—

Capital returned to LPs

—

First call: fund's committed $

Profit pool

—

After capital return

Carry to GP firm

—

profit × carry%

Each partner gets

—

carry ÷ # partners

Net to LP investors

—

profit × (1−carry%) + capital

Show the formulas

gross = exit × ownership%

profit_pool = gross − committed_capital

carry = profit_pool × carry%

per_partner = carry / # partners

lp_net = profit_pool × (1 − carry%) + committed_capital

Step 4

Entrepreneur's time value of money

Every dollar raised has a clock on it. This shows how much you have to spend per second to extend runway.

Inputs

Raise (USD)

Post-money valuation (USD)

Runway (months)

Divide by:

"Post-money" framing matches the gener8tor slide ($0.16/sec for $10M post / 24mo). "Raise" gives true cash burn.

Burn rate (calendar time)

$/Month

—

$/Week

—

$/Day

—

$/Hour

—

$/Minute

—

$/Second

—

Moral of the story

Don't split hairs on valuation. A $40M post vs $10M post is the difference between $0.16/sec and $0.63/sec of fuel for the same 24 months — way more leverage than haggling on a few % of dilution.

Step 5

Unit economics — what makes you investable

The deck's "CAC × 3 < LTV" and "payback < 12 months" rules, plus the famous SaaS cash flow trough that explains why fast growth burns cash before it makes cash.

LTV / CAC / Payback calculator

Deck pages 65–66

ARPU / month

Gross margin %

Monthly churn %

CAC ($)

—

LTV

—

LTV / CAC

—

Target ≥ 3

Payback months

—

Target ≤ 12

Avg customer life

—

= 1 / churn

Formulas

LTV = (ARPU × gross_margin) / monthly_churn

payback_months = CAC / (ARPU × gross_margin)

verdict = LTV/CAC ≥ 3 AND payback ≤ 12 → green

Single-deal cash flow

Deck pages 61–62

One customer at a time: you pay CAC up front, then earn a contribution margin every month they stick around. The bar dips in month 1 and slowly recovers.

CAC ($)

Monthly subscription ($)

Gross margin %

Months to show

Break-even month

—

Profit by month N

—

Months to pay back CAC

—

The SaaS cash flow trough

Deck pages 63–64

Now multiply by lots of customers acquired every month. Cumulative cash goes deep negative — that's the trough. Faster growth = deeper trough = bigger payoff later. This is why startups raise money.

CAC ($)

Monthly sub ($)

Gross margin %

Months horizon

Monthly churn %

Scenario A: customers/mo

Scenario B: customers/mo

Scenario C: customers/mo

Scenario A

—

Scenario B

—

Scenario C

—

Quarter → Dollar (the offer to investors)

Deck pages 67–70

Pulled directly from the deck: "I promise to give you a dollar in 12 months… IF you give me a quarter today." A 4× return per bet — but most bets fail. Move the survival slider to see how the math holds up.

$ in (CAC / investment)

$ out (LTV / return)

Survival rate %

Multiple per bet

—

Effective multiple (after survival)

—

Profitable?

—

Grid shows 36 bets. Green = paid out, gray = failed. The deck's lesson: even at 4× per win, you need most bets to survive.

Step 6

Growth — why investors are obsessed with MoM rate

$1,000 of revenue compounding at 20% month-over-month for 84 months becomes $3.7 billion. This is the single most important slide in the deck.

Inputs

Starting revenue ($)

Your MoM growth %

Months

Overlay deck benchmarks

10% MoM 15% MoM 20% MoM

Final value—

At 12mo—

At 36mo—

At 60mo—

Compounding curve (log scale)

Log scale because at 20% MoM the linear chart is unreadable after month 36 — the entire history disappears against the spike at the end.

Step 7

Investability checklist — what stage are you?

The deck's 4-stage gate. Each level unlocks a different kind of investor. Most founders pitching a Series A are still operating at Stage 2.

Your current stage

—

Suggested round

—

SAFE math

SAFE / convertible note — how the angel's check turns into shares

A SAFE converts at the next priced round using whichever mechanic — valuation cap or discount — gives the investor more shares. Set the SAFE terms and the priced round, and watch which mechanic wins.

Inputs

SAFE principal (USD)

Valuation cap (post-money, USD)

Discount %

Most Favored Nation (MFN)

Next priced round

Pre-money (USD)

Raise (USD)

Conversion

Winning mechanic

—

Conversion price / share

—

SAFE holder's effective PPS

Shares issued

—

to the SAFE holder

SAFE % of post-money cap table

—

Effective valuation SAFE converted at

—

principal ÷ SAFE %

All three mechanics side-by-side

Mechanic	Price / share	Shares
A — Priced round price (no cap, no discount)	—	—
B — Discount only	—	—
C — Valuation cap	—	—

More shares = better for the SAFE holder. The winner gets a green row.

Show the formulas

// Convention: 1,000,000 fully-diluted shares pre-round (simplification)

price_priced = pre_money / 1,000,000

shares_A = principal / price_priced

shares_B = principal / (price_priced × (1 − discount%))

shares_C = principal / (cap / 1,000,000)

winner = max(shares_B, shares_C) — whichever gives the investor more shares

safe_% = shares_winner / (1,000,000 + new_round_shares + shares_winner)

Bonus

Liquidation preference — how VCs guarantee their money back

VCs get paid before founders at exit. A 1x non-participating pref is a floor; participating preferred lets the VC "double dip." Watch where the kink in the payout curve falls — that's where the VC "converts" to common.

Inputs

VC money in (USD)

VC ownership %

Pref multiple (Nx)

Type

Participation cap (Mx)

Exit value range

Min ($)

Max ($)

Payout curves

Violet = VC payout with pref. Red = founders + employees (everyone non-preferred). Gray dashed = what VC would get with pro-rata only (no pref). The gap between violet and gray shows the protection the pref provides.

Scenario table

Scenario A exit ($)

Scenario B exit ($)

Scenario C exit ($)

Exit	VC payout	VC multiple	Founders + employees

Show the formulas

pref = money_in × pref_mult

non_part: vc = max(pref, exit × ownership%)

part_unc: vc = pref + (exit − pref) × ownership%

part_cap: vc = min(part_unc_result, money_in × cap_mult)

common_pool = exit − vc (split pro-rata by remaining ownership)

Capital sources

Pick your financing — equity isn't the only option

The deck lists seven ways to fund a startup. Answer six toggles and the tool ranks which sources actually fit your situation.

Your situation

1. Paying customers / revenue today?

2. Growing 15%+ MoM or at scale?

3. Accounts receivable from creditworthy customers?

4. IP, deep tech, or SBIR-eligible domain?

5. Willing to give up equity & board control?

6. Want to remain founder-controlled long-term?

Best fits

Top recommendation

—

Source	Example	Pros	Cons	Fit

Score 0–3 per source. Bar turns green at 2+, amber at 1, gray below.

Recap

The full story in one chain

How each step compounds: from a $30M fund all the way to one partner's check.

Why startups raise (despite all this dilution)

Competitive landscape

If a well-funded competitor exists, growing on cash flow alone means losing the market.

Intellectual property

Patents, R&D-heavy science, deep tech — the bill comes due before revenue.

CAC < LTV (SaaS/Subscription)

If you can pay $X to acquire a customer worth $5X, every dollar raised is gasoline on a profitable fire.

Why does a VC need your startup to exit for half a billion?

Fund math — how big an exit does the VC need?

Cap table — what dilution looks like, round by round

Exit waterfall — who gets paid, and in what order

Entrepreneur's time value of money

Unit economics — what makes you investable

Growth — why investors are obsessed with MoM rate

Investability checklist — what stage are you?

SAFE / convertible note — how the angel's check turns into shares

Liquidation preference — how VCs guarantee their money back

Pick your financing — equity isn't the only option

The full story in one chain