Foundation · ~45 min
BankingPrivate equityPublic markets
Integrated three-statement model
The operating model everything else sits on
Build a forecast in which the balance sheet balances because the cash flow statement is complete, and explain why.
6 models · 28 schedules · inspect every one in the browser
Financial models you can trace, audit and rebuild
The models an analyst builds in their first year, written from first principles in the house style a reviewer expects: blue inputs, black formulas, green links, a check on every sheet, and no circular reference anywhere. Open any of them here, sheet by sheet, before you download. Each comes with the primer that teaches it, the lab that drills it and a starter workbook that leaves the hard part to you.
The path
Understand, inspect, build, download, check, apply
Understand
A primer teaches the idea in the words an interviewer uses.
Inspect
The whole workbook in the browser, every sheet and every cell, before you download.
Build
A lab drills it against a clock, marked as you go.
Download
The worked model, formulas live, and a starter that leaves the hard part to you. One worked model free with an account; all of them with Pro.
Check
Every model carries its own checks; the page tells you they hold before you open it.
Apply
A skill runs the same logic on a real company from its filings.
Operating models
The forecast that everything else reads from.
Valuation models
What a business is worth, and which assumption the answer rests on.
Core · ~40 min
BankingPublic marketsPrivate equity
Discounted cash flow model
Unlevered free cash flow to a share price
Value a company from its cash flows, reconcile the two terminal methods, and say which assumption the answer really depends on.
Core · ~35 min
BankingPublic marketsPrivate equity
Comparable companies model
Calendarised, LTM, trading and transaction multiples
Bring a peer set to one calendar year and one trailing period, compute and defend the multiples, and carry a range through a football field to a share price.
Transaction models
What a deal costs, how it is funded, and what it returns.
Core · ~60 min
Private equityBankingPublic markets
Leveraged buyout model
Sources and uses, a cash sweep, sponsor returns
Size a deal, run its debt schedule with a sweep, and decompose the return into growth, multiple and paydown.
Core · ~40 min
BankingPrivate equityPublic markets
Merger model: accretion and dilution
Is the deal accretive, and what would break even
Price an offer, fund it, and say whether it is accretive, by how much, and how much synergy it would take to break even.
Foundation · ~30 min
VenturePrivate equity
Cap table and exit waterfall model
SAFE, priced round, option pool, who gets what
Price a seed round with a converting SAFE and a pool top-up, say who paid for the pool, and run the exit waterfall for a non-participating preferred.
Schedules: the building blocks
All schedulesA schedule recurs across models. Learn the debt schedule once and you will recognise it in the LBO, the three-statement model and the credit case; each schedule page shows exactly where it sits in every model that uses it.
The statements
- Revenue buildWhere the top line comes from
- Operating costs and marginsCost of sales, opex, EBITDA
- TaxTax on profit, and tax on operating profit
- Equity roll-forwardShare capital and retained earnings
- Cash flow statementIndirect method, closing on balance-sheet cash
- Balance sheetEvery line from a schedule, and the check
Operating schedules
Financing schedules
Valuation and returns
- Cost of capital (WACC)CAPM, after-tax debt, target weights
- Discounting and terminal valueDiscount factors, two terminal methods, reconciled
- Enterprise value to equity valueDebt off, cash on, per share
- Returns analysisExit value, MOIC, IRR and the bridge
- Sensitivity tablesTwo assumptions at once, without a data table
- CalendarisationEvery peer on the same calendar year
- LTM buildLast fiscal year, plus the stub, less the prior stub
- Trading multiplesEnterprise value, the five multiples, and the range
- Precedent transactionsWhat acquirers paid for control
- Football fieldEach range applied to the target, to a share price
Transaction schedules
- Sources and usesWhat the deal costs and who funds it
- Purchase price and considerationOffer, premium, mix, new shares, exchange ratio
- SynergiesRun-rate, phase-in, after tax
- Purchase accountingThe write-up that amortises
- Pro forma EPS: accretion and dilutionStandalone to pro forma, per share
- Contribution analysisWhat each side brings against what it owns
The house style
What every model here has in common
One assumptions sheet. Every driver in one place, blue on cream. Nothing on a forecast sheet is typed.
Four colours. Blue for an input, black for a calculation, green for a value pulled from another sheet, a ruled shaded row for a check.
No circularity. Interest on opening balances, stated on the cover. The model always calculates, and a formula engine has verified every check before the page shows it to you.
Sensitivities as formulas. Every cell of a grid re-prices the model in closed form, so you can trace it, and the centre is checked against the main sheet.
Schedules tagged. Every row belongs to a schedule, which is what lets a starter workbook blank exactly the debt schedule and nothing else.
Invented data, stated. No company is described. The inputs are plausible starting points chosen so the model has somewhere to begin.
Questions
Are the models free?
To inspect, yes: every sheet of every model is on its page, in the browser, with an inspector that names each row and its schedule. To download, a free account chooses one worked model to keep, plus every starter workbook; L3VLUP Pro takes the whole library and opens the formulas in the inspector. Signing in is one email, no password.
What makes these different from a template library?
Each model is one node in a learning path. The primer teaches the idea, the lab drills it against a clock, the guide walks through the build, the worked model shows a finished version you can trace cell by cell, the starter workbook makes you build the hard part, and the skill applies the same logic to a real company. A template is only the fourth of those six.
Can I use them for my own work?
Yes, for study, interview preparation and your own analysis. They are not for redistribution as templates. Every figure in them is invented; when you use one for a real company, the inputs are yours to replace and the outputs are yours to defend.
Why is there no circular reference in any of them?
Interest is charged on opening balances throughout. That is a deliberate choice, stated on every cover sheet: a model that always calculates, at the cost of a one-year lag on interest, is the right trade for a model built to be learnt from, and it is the reason a formula engine can verify every check in every one of them before you download it.
What is a schedule?
A building block that recurs across models: a debt schedule, a working-capital build, a sources-and-uses table. The schedule pages explain each one, show exactly where it lives inside each model, and link the lab that drills it. Learn the schedule once and you can find it in every model that uses it.