Insights

In early 2016 a professor of finance at Texas A&M University-Commerce used ASimpleModel.com to introduce 120 graduate students to financial modeling. At the conclusion of the class he required each student to write a review of the website. Positive or negative, it did not matter, students were free to respond openly.

Q: “I have a case study interview next Monday; I will be asked to calculate the cash flows necessary to meet a certain IRR hurdle rate. Can you please provide me with instructions as to how to do so – cant seem to find a succinct answer online!”

I have received this question via email a few times, so I thought it might be helpful to write a short post on this topic. To take an average and exclude all zeros in a selection use the following formula:

The Business Development video series on this website uses real data to build a financial model for ASM, which effectively makes the series a startup financial model tutorial. When I launched this website in July of 2013, my professional experience analyzing companies was limited to large public or private businesses. I did not have any prior exposure to startups, but that started to change rapidly as I began contemplating this project. Since ASM went live, I have found myself interacting with entrepreneurs and VC investors more frequently. It’s been a terrific experience to gain this new perspective.

As the site grows it has been fantastic to watch the user base expand across the globe. Recently I have received a few requests from Spanish and French speaking users of the website for a transcription of one of the longer videos: Integrating Financial Statements.