A startup financial model you can inspect
A startup financial model should tell you when to hire, how much cash you need and which assumptions actually matter. It should not begin with a revenue curve chosen because it makes the fundraising story look attractive. This pack starts with the operating drivers you can inspect and ends with a model you can reconcile.
The download contains three focused skills, an assumptions ledger, a monthly cash template and a small Python calculator with clearly labelled illustrative inputs. Use the calculator to understand the mechanics. Use the skills to adapt the structure to your actual business and to review a workbook you already have. Nothing here asks you to replace a model that already works.
The sample is a simple subscription business. A services company needs utilisation, capacity and project timing. A marketplace needs transaction volume, take rate and settlement timing. Ask Claude to adapt the driver tree before copying any sample numbers. A model becomes useful when its structure matches the way money actually moves.
Free download. Choose an individual skill below if you prefer to start with one workflow.
How to work through the pack
Start with the model's purpose, currency, reporting dates and opening cash. Put actuals and forecasts in separate columns or clearly labelled periods. Document the units and the owner of every material assumption.
Build a driver tree from customer activity to recognised revenue, then model collections separately. Keep opening customers, additions, churn and closing customers connected, so an attractive revenue total cannot hide inconsistent customer arithmetic.
Build costs from the operating plan. Separate salaries, employer costs, contractors, hosting and other spending. Record hiring start months and payment delays. Include financing only when the scenario explicitly assumes it. A target raise is not cash in the bank.
Reconcile opening cash plus receipts minus payments plus financing to closing cash for every month. Stress the assumptions that could change a hiring or fundraising decision, and show the month in which cash crosses the chosen reserve floor.
Bring the right inputs
- Opening cash, historical monthly actuals and the forecast horizon
- Prices, customer cohorts or sales pipeline, collection terms and cost drivers
- Hiring plan, debt or financing events and the minimum cash reserve
The quality of the result depends on the inputs. Keep confidential or personal information out unless it is needed and you have permission to use it. If all you have is a short brief, start there and let the missing evidence stay visible rather than filling it with an invented number.
A first request to try
Use startup-driver-model to review this workbook and assumptions. Keep actuals separate from forecasts, identify missing operating drivers, and reconcile monthly cash. Then use startup-scenario-review to test slower sales, delayed collections and the planned hire. Explain which assumption changes the funding deadline.After the first run, check the output against the underlying files. Correct any misunderstood definitions and assumptions, then ask for a revision. Save the evidence ledger with the result so that someone else can inspect the reasoning later.
Install a skill and run one task
- Download the pack, or choose one individual skill ZIP from the directory below.
- Upload that skill ZIP using the skill settings available in your Claude account. Keep the skill folder and its supporting files together. For Claude Code, place the skill folder in your project's .claude/skills/ directory.
- Share the workbook, the assumptions and the decision you face. Ask Claude to use the selected skill, then review its answer before acting on it.
You can also attach selected Markdown instructions to a Claude Project as reference material. Account features and upload limits differ, so the archive includes a README and the complete skill folders to keep the instructions usable either way.
Free download. Choose an individual skill below if you prefer to start with one workflow.
The 3 skills in this pack
Start with the skill that matches the immediate job. Each one carries its own working templates, so it can be used on its own without installing the whole pack.
01
Startup driver model
Use when: A startup needs a forecast, or a review of the financial model it already has.
Sets the business model, currency, monthly horizon, accounting basis and actuals cut-off, then maps revenue to operating drivers: opening customers plus new minus churn for subscriptions, capacity times utilisation times realised rate for services, volume times take rate for a marketplace. Billing, recognition and collection are modelled separately when the timing differs. Source, date, unit, owner and confidence sit beside every material input, and actuals are never silently overwritten.
Output: An operating-driver model specification and a traceable assumptions ledger
Download this skill (.zip)02
Startup cash and runway
Use when: A founder needs monthly cash visibility, or a defensible funding deadline.
Starts from unrestricted available cash and a dated opening balance, separates gross spending from net burn and operating cash from financing, and accounts for collection lag, supplier timing, payroll, taxes, capex and debt. Recognised revenue is never treated as receipts. Closing cash is opening cash plus receipts minus payments plus financing, and the first month below your reserve floor is reported with its timing uncertainty.
Output: A reconciled cash plan with reserve breach dates and a financing bridge
Download this skill (.zip)03
Startup scenario review
Use when: A model needs downside testing before a hire or a raise.
Holds definitions and formulas constant across scenarios and changes a small set of documented drivers rather than output totals: conversion or customer additions, churn, price, collection delay, hiring timing and variable cost. It reports the difference in cash, the reserve breach date and the financing required by scenario, checks that better collections cannot reduce cash, and ends with the actions that remain sensible across every case.
Output: A base, downside and upside comparison and the assumptions that change the decision
Download this skill (.zip)Scope, sources and the handoff to slides
The sample values are fictional teaching inputs. They are not recommended budgets, growth rates or forecasts, and they should be replaced before any number leaves your desk.
The calculator is a simplified cash illustration, not a full accounting model. Taxes, deferred revenue, working capital, capex and financing instruments need to be added when they are relevant to your business.
Installation guidance and source pages were reviewed for this release. Facts about products, financing and market practice change, so each modelling run should keep its own access dates and recheck the evidence the decision rests on.
Once the model reconciles and the scenarios are reviewed, turn the result into a page brief: one main point, the supporting numbers, the chart you need and the source notes. Oria turns that brief, rough layout or sketch into professional, editable PowerPoint slides. It is the presentation layer. Your reviewed model stays the source of truth.
For the next step, price the round with the startup valuation skills, build the workbook itself with Claude skills for Excel modelling and hand the recurring finance work to the finance agent pack.
Frequently asked questions
What is included in the download?
The complete pack contains 3 Claude skills with their instructions, an assumptions ledger, a monthly cash template, an illustrative subscription dataset and a small Python cash calculator. The skill directory below also offers one ZIP per skill so you can start with a single workflow.
How do I install it?
Download a single skill ZIP and upload it through the skill settings in your Claude account. For Claude Code, keep each skill folder intact under the project's .claude/skills/ directory. You can also attach selected Markdown instructions to a Claude Project as reference material.
Will it replace my existing model?
No. The skills are written to review and strengthen a workbook you already maintain as readily as they are to structure a new one. If your model reconciles and its drivers are inspectable, keep it and use the scenario skill on top.
How does Oria fit?
Use Claude to build, test and review the numbers. Once you have checked the output, Oria turns the brief, rough layout or sketch into professional, editable PowerPoint slides for the board or investor conversation.
Free download. Choose an individual skill below if you prefer to start with one workflow.