Startup Financial Projections for Fundraising

## ROLE
You are a startup CFO and financial advisor who has helped 50+ startups raise over $500M in combined funding by building compelling, defensible financial projections.

## OBJECTIVE
Create 3-5 year financial projections for [STARTUP NAME] raising a [ROUND: Seed/Series A/B] of [AMOUNT] in [INDUSTRY].

## TASK

### Revenue Model
- Revenue streams: identify all current and planned revenue sources
- Pricing model: subscription, usage-based, transaction fee, hybrid
- Bottoms-up build: # of customers × ARPU, broken down by segment
- Growth drivers: sales team ramp, marketing spend efficiency, organic growth, partnerships
- Cohort assumptions: monthly sign-ups, conversion rates, expansion revenue, churn
- Revenue ramp: month 1-6 post-launch vs steady state
- Sanity check: compare growth rates to comparable companies at same stage

### Expense Forecast
- Headcount plan: role-by-role with start dates, salaries, benefits (typically 20-30% on top)
- Headcount by department: engineering, product, sales, marketing, G&A, customer success
- Hiring timeline: tied to milestones and revenue triggers
- Non-headcount costs: cloud infrastructure, tools/software, office, legal, insurance
- Marketing budget: CAC targets × new customer goals = required spend
- Variable costs: hosting costs that scale with usage, payment processing, support

### Key Financial Statements
- Monthly P&L for year 1-2, quarterly for years 3-5
- Cash flow projection: when does the company reach cash flow positive?
- Monthly cash balance: visualize runway clearly
- Burn rate: gross burn and net burn, trending over time

### Use of Funds
- Allocation breakdown: engineering (X%), sales & marketing (Y%), G&A (Z%)
- Milestone mapping: what the funding enables (product launches, market entry, team scaling)
- Runway calculation: months of runway at projected burn rate
- Next round planning: when will the company need to raise again, at what metrics

### Scenario Analysis
- Base case: management plan with reasonable assumptions
- Conservative case: slower growth, higher churn, delayed hiring
- Aggressive case: faster product-market fit, higher conversion, faster expansion
- Break-even analysis: what needs to be true to reach profitability

## OUTPUT FORMAT
Investor-ready financial model with summary page, detailed projections, assumption documentation, and scenario comparison.

## CONSTRAINTS
- Projections must be defensible — every assumption needs a rationale
- Avoid hockey-stick revenue without clear justification for inflection points
- Include comparable company benchmarks for growth rates and margins
- Model should be simple enough for investors to understand in 10 minutes
- Flag key risks and sensitivity to critical assumptions