Bottom-up 24-month SaaS model: MRR, CAC, LTV, runway, scenarios, and the assumptions doc your investors actually read.
Your seed investor asked for the model on Friday. You opened a spreadsheet, typed 'Revenue' in A1, and three hours later you're googling 'how do VCs calculate LTV' for the fourth time this year. The templates online are either Excel files from a 2017 SaaS bootcamp or 80-tab monsters built for Series C ops teams. This tool gives you the model a real seed-to-A founder actually defends in a meeting — 24 months out, bottom-up from your acquisition channels, with the unit economics math done correctly. You paste what you know (current MRR, ACV, growth, headcount cost, channels, what stage you're raising at). It returns a structured projection, three scenarios you can stress-test live, an assumptions doc tied to every input, and the use-of-funds breakdown for your ask. Numbers structured so you can paste them straight into Sheets or Causal without retyping anything.
Brief used: “B2B SaaS, AI meeting notes for sales teams. Current MRR $18k, growing ~22% MoM last 3 months. ACV $1,200/yr ($100/mo). Team of 3 (2 founders no salary, 1 eng at $9k/mo all-in). Channels: outbound (60% of new logos, ~$140 CAC), partnerships (30%, ~$60 CAC), inbound (10%, ~$0). Currently raising a $1.5M seed. Want model showing where we get to with that money and what it buys.”
## 24-Month Projection (Base Case) | Month | MRR | New MRR | Churn | Expenses | Cash | Runway | |---|---|---|---|---|---|---| | M1 | $18,000 | $4,200 | -$540 | $11,500 | $1,506,500 | 22mo | | M6 | $42,800 | $7,100 | -$1,720 | $34,200 | $1,389,000 | 17mo | | M12 | $84,500 | $11,200 | -$3,380 | $56,400 | $1,156,000 | 14mo | | M18 | $142,000 | $14,800 | -$5,680 | $78,000 | $812,000 | 10mo | | M24 | $208,000 | $17,400 | -$8,320 | $94,000 | $402,000 | 4mo | ## Unit Economics - **Blended CAC:** $96 (weighted across channels) - **LTV:** $1,920 (ACV $1,200 × 1.6yr avg life at 4% monthly churn) - **LTV:CAC:** 20:1 (healthy — but partnerships are inflating this; outbound-only is 8.5:1) - **Payback:** 1.1 months blended (outbound: 1.4 months) - **Contribution margin:** 81% (hosting + AI inference at scale assumes 19% COGS) ## Scenarios - **Base:** 22% MoM tapering to 8% by M18. M24 MRR $208k, ARR $2.5M. - **Bull:** Outbound holds at 15% MoM through M12, M24 MRR $340k. Requires hiring AE in M5. - **Bear:** Growth craters to 5% MoM by M9 (channel saturation). M24 MRR $112k, runway dies M19. ## Key Sensitivities 1. **Outbound CAC** — if it climbs from $140 to $220 (likely as you scale), M24 cash position drops by ~$180k. 2. **Monthly churn** — 4% vs 6% changes M24 ARR by 31%. 3. **First AE hire timing** — hiring M5 vs M9 changes cash at raise by ~$95k but lifts M24 ARR ~22%. ## Use of $1.5M - 2 engineers (M2, M7): $480k over 24 months - 1 AE (M5): $260k - 1 designer (M9): $180k - Outbound tooling + paid pilots: $120k - AI inference (variable): $90k over 24 months - Founder salaries kick in M3 at $90k: $360k - Buffer: $10k Gets you to ~$2.5M ARR with 10 months runway at M18 — strong A position.
Static example — your run uses Claude live on your specific brief.
Pre-seed and seed founders prepping their first investor meeting, post-seed founders updating the model before an A conversation, technical founders who freeze in spreadsheets, anyone who knows the model is the blocker on the raise. Not for: CFOs at Series B+ who already have FP&A, anyone wanting an audited three-statement model with deferred revenue schedules.
A complete model pack: (1) 24-month projection table — month-by-month MRR, new MRR by channel, churn, expansion, expenses by category, cash balance, runway in months, (2) unit economics block — CAC by channel, blended CAC, LTV, LTV:CAC ratio, payback period, contribution margin, (3) three scenarios — base, bull, bear — with the 2-3 levers that swing the outcome called out, (4) assumptions doc — every input justified in one sentence so the investor knows you didn't just type bigger numbers, (5) sensitivities — which variables actually matter (usually 3 of them), (6) use-of-funds breakdown for the ask, tied to specific hires and channels.
You're starting investor conversations next month and the deck is done but the model is a blank tab. Get a defensible bottom-up projection in 25 minutes.
You raised seed 14 months ago and the model is wildly out of date. Refresh it with your real numbers and three scenarios before the first partner meeting.
Board meeting Tuesday and the directors want updated projections. Generate the base/bull/bear in one pass instead of stitching three tabs together.
You need to decide whether to hire the third engineer. Run the model with and without the hire and see what it does to month-18 cash.
Yes — the projection tables are structured month-by-month with clean columns so you can paste into Sheets, Excel, or Causal without retyping. The unit economics block is plain numbers, not narrative.
No — this is the seed-to-A operating model investors actually look at first: revenue, expenses, runway, unit economics. If you need GAAP three-statement, you need an FP&A hire or an accountant, not a $79 tool.
Most seed founders' numbers are guesses. The assumptions doc forces every input to have a justification in one sentence. If the justification is 'gut feel from 14 sales calls', write that — investors prefer honest assumptions to fake precision.
Yes — describe each tier (price, % of customers, ACV) in the input and the model splits new MRR across tiers. Same for annual vs monthly billing.
Causal gives you the spreadsheet. This gives you the inputs done right, the scenarios defended, and the use-of-funds tied to the ask. You can paste this into Causal in five minutes.
Yes. You get an anonymous preview instantly with no signup. Drop your email and you unlock 3 full-length runs per month for Startup Financial Model — no credit card. Unlimited runs are $79 one-time, or $19/mo for every tool.
Paid ($79 one-time) unlocks unlimited runs for Startup Financial Model, longer outputs from Claude Sonnet, full exports, and priority generation. $19/mo unlocks every tool on JustNeeda.
Free runs render in-browser and can be copy-pasted. Paid unlocks copy-to-clipboard, Markdown, and plain-text exports — and history of every run tied to your account.
No. Every run hits Claude live with your specific input. We don't reuse outputs across users. Your input stays private to your session and account.