Models

Subscription business built from an acquisition funnel and per-vintage cohort retention, through billings and deferred revenue to a monthly three-statement model, a use of funds and a valuation.

Screens:

Subscription · People · Use of funds · Valuation · Sensitivity

Use for:

Seat- or account-based subscription products; Product-led businesses with a free tier feeding a paid one

Not for:

Businesses where most revenue is one-off delivery work — use Professional services; Marketplace or transaction take-rate models — use Ecommerce; A holding company being acquired with debt — use Leveraged buyout

Consumer brand built from an acquisition funnel and repeat-purchase cohorts, with a contribution-margin ladder, a wholesale channel, inventory-driven cash conversion, and a monthly three-statement model through to a use of funds and a valuation.

Screens:

Trading · People · Use of funds · Valuation · Sensitivity

Use for:

Direct-to-consumer brands where repeat purchase drives the economics; Marketplaces and retailers with a paid acquisition motion

Not for:

Subscription products billed on a contract — use B2B SaaS; Made-to-order or project work — use Professional services; A manufacturer selling only into trade — use Manufacturing

Commitments, capital calls, a portfolio of investments, management and performance fees, and an LP/GP waterfall. Reports gross, pre-carry and net-to-LP returns separately.

Screens:

Returns · Use of funds · Valuation · Sensitivity

Use for:

Closed-end private funds — buyout, growth, real assets, royalty; Testing fee load and carry against LP net returns

Not for:

A single asset or deal — model it in its own archetype (Real estate development, Music catalogue, LBO) and bring the equity cash flow here; Evergreen or open-ended vehicles with continuous subscriptions and redemptions — the commitment/call model does not describe them; An operating fund manager as a business (the GP's own P&L) — use Professional services

Free-form revenue and cost lines mapped directly to the statements, with the standard depreciation, debt and working-capital schedules.

Screens:

People · Use of funds · Valuation · Sensitivity

Use for:

A business that does not fit a specific archetype; Rebuilding an existing spreadsheet line-for-line before refactoring it

Not for:

Anything an archetype already covers — you lose its KPIs and its checks

Entry at an EBITDA multiple funded by a debt stack, operated for a holding period, exited at a multiple. Reports IRR and MOIC to equity.

Screens:

Credit · People · Use of funds · Valuation · Sensitivity

Use for:

Sponsor acquisitions of a cash-generative business; Debt-capacity and covenant-headroom testing

Not for:

Pre-profit businesses — an EBITDA multiple on a negative number is meaningless; Asset developments with a construction phase — use Real estate development

Capacity-constrained production with a per-unit bill of materials, yield losses, plant depreciation and inventory-heavy working capital.

Screens:

Operations · People · Use of funds · Valuation · Sensitivity

Use for:

Producers with a finite plant or line capacity; Businesses where materials and yield drive the margin

Not for:

Asset-light resellers — use Ecommerce; Service delivery — use Professional services

Song-level royalty earnings that decay to a steady state, collected in arrears net of administrator commission, with advance recoupment — valued both on a DCF and on a multiple of Net Publisher Share.

Screens:

Catalogue · Use of funds · Valuation · Sensitivity

Use for:

Publishing and master-recording catalogue acquisitions; Royalty-backed lending and advance structures

Not for:

A label or publisher as an operating business, with staff and A&R spend — use Professional services or Generic three-statement; A fund acquiring many catalogues with an LP waterfall — model the catalogue here and the fund separately; there is no LP archetype yet; Live touring or merchandise revenue, which is neither decaying nor collected in arrears — use Generic three-statement

Project business built from signed backlog plus probability-weighted pipeline, delivered by a costed roster, with a recurring maintenance and licence book.

Screens:

Delivery · People · Use of funds · Valuation · Sensitivity

Use for:

Systems integrators, consultancies and agencies; Businesses whose revenue is contracted and executes over a term

Not for:

Pure subscription products — use B2B SaaS; Unit-volume businesses — use Ecommerce or Manufacturing

Land, construction draw, letting on a per-unit rent roll, development finance and exit at a yield on net rent.

Screens:

Appraisal · Use of funds · Valuation · Sensitivity

Use for:

Development and forward-funding appraisals; Income-producing assets with a lease-by-lease rent roll

Not for:

Operating businesses that happen to own property — put the asset in Manufacturing or the relevant archetype; Portfolio-level fund modelling across many assets

Funding rounds, share classes and option pool, with fully diluted ownership per holder at every round and exit proceeds after liquidation preferences.

Screens:

Returns · Use of funds · Valuation · Sensitivity

Use for:

Priced equity rounds and the dilution they cause; Founder and employee ownership through a financing plan

Not for:

Convertible notes and SAFEs — the archive names them but does not record how Blash models the discount, cap or conversion trigger, so this archetype would be inventing the mechanics; Anti-dilution ratchets (full or weighted-average) — same reason; The operating business itself — model that in its own archetype and bring the raise amounts here