The problem
You own 60% of your company. On paper. After the liquidation preferences stack up, you might own rather less than that — and in a modest exit, possibly nothing.
Founders sign terms they don’t model and pay for them for years. The option pool comes out of your share, not the VC’s. Four rounds in, your 60% is 12% and you never traced the steps. That SAFE will convert — into terms you haven’t run. And nine months of runway means you should already be raising.
The founders who keep control and keep their equity are the ones who modelled the cap table and the waterfall before they signed, not after.
What this book gives you
How to Master Startup & Venture Models gives you the 18 models every founder and investor should run before signing — each a full chapter with the working model behind it.
- TAM / SAM / SOM
- The Cap Table
- The Option Pool
- Dilution Modelling
- Burn Rate & Runway
- Product-Market Fit
- SAFEs & Convertibles
- The Liquidation Waterfall
… 18 in all, from market sizing to the exit waterfall.
See it move
Build the liquidation waterfall for a £40m exit with a couple of preference stacks on top. Watch the money flow to preferred first — and the founders’ “ownership” turn into a sliver, or nothing. Change the terms from 1x non-participating to 2x participating and see your outcome collapse. This is the model to run before you sign, not after you sell.
Buying more than one category? All 25 books and every one of the 467 models are £29.99 in the Business Framework Omnibus — less than the price of a third book. Prefer to try first? The free Framework Starter Pack gives you five complete chapters and their live Excel models.
18 frameworks. One category. The complete learning path. Every model in Startup and Venture Models — explained, applied, and ready to use.
How to Master Startup and Venture Models walks you through the complete arc: 18 models, in the order you'd actually learn them, each with a full practitioner chapter and a live Excel companion.
- 18 models across Startup and Venture Models, the complete learning path
- Full practitioner chapters plus a live Excel companion for every model
- Written from 30+ years in investment banking, M&A and private equity