Startup Financial Modeling 101 LIVE Online Course
This is a live online, hands-on workshop on how to build financial models for a startups.
Whether you're a founder who needs to build your first financial model for fundraising,
OR if you're a Finance professional wondering how to build a good startup financial model with little-to-no data,
This course will teach you how to build great models that actually get funding and actually get used!
What you’ll learn:
By the end of the 2 hours, you’ll know how to:
Go from blank sheet → working model using first principles
Structure your model the way investors expect to see it
Translate messy, early-stage reality into simple assumptions that prevent the garbage-in-garbage-out problem
Pressure-test your plan with scenarios (slower growth, higher CAC, more hires) without added complexity
For Founders: Own your model, and build it in a way that makes most sense to YOU instead of renting someone else’s
For Finance Pros: Learn the right way to build models for startups that founders will actually use
What’s included:
2 hours live on Zoom with startup finance expert, Lauren Pearl
Pre-work prep sheet - So you arrive with your key numbers and levers ready
Post-workshop resource pack - Templates, screenshots, and cliff notes so you can retain everything you learn in class
Optional post-course Group Office Hours (LIMITED SEATS) - Get personalized feedback and Q&A with Lauren in a room of peers after the course
Why this matters for Founders:
As a founder, building your own model completely changes how you think about your business.
If you skip this step, you’ll always be relying on someone else to tell you what’s going on, where to spend your money, and how to run your company.
I’ve been teaching financial modeling to founders for over five years and consulting professionally for over a decade. The transformation modeling creates is astounding. There is no replacement for fundamentally understanding the math behind your business. It’s how you make better bets. It’s how you see how every action you take will impact your growth, your profit, and the future you’re trying to build.
If you skip this step, you’ll always wish you hadn’t.
If you put in the time now, you will become a better operator forever.
Why this matters for Finance Folks:
If you’re FP&A, accounting, banking, finance, or eyeing Fractional CFO work: Startup financial models aren't the same as other corporate FP&A.
And if you're treating them the same, you could be hurting founders more than you help.
If you’ve done modeling for a big business before, but never a startup, this course is a must-watch.
It will improve the way you build models for startups.
It builds the skill of modeling with limited data, uncertain inputs, and moving targets.
It will change how you think about incorporating founders & owners in the process.
And most importantly, it teaches how to build a model that works for its unique user: Founders & Investors.
Receipts can be provided for corporate reimbursement. CPE credits not yet available (but I’m working on it!).
Course Origin Story: It started at NYU...
This course was originally created for an accelerator at the NYU Berkley Center of Entrepreneurship, to help startups (with no finance experience) build a financial model before pitch day. The course was so successful that it's become a workshop taught every semester for NYU Stern startups.
Once per year, I release the course to the greater public, slightly modified for a wider audience (to support both startups and finance professionals).
Meet your instructor: Lauren Pearl
Lauren Pearl is a Startup CFO Advisor who's worked with over 500 startups to build financial clarity and win in the market. She's a former software engineer, 3X founder, and CEO-turned-CFO known for her founder-first perspective on finance.
Lauren teaches Financial Modeling at NYU's Berkeley Center, consults with 3 NYU entrepreneurship programs, works 1:1 with startups in NYC, and advises Fractional CFOs on working more effectively with founders. She is also the co-host of The Growth-Minded CFO Podcast (awarded Top 5 CFO Podcast for 2025), author of The CFO Daily newsletter, and has been invited to contribute and speak as an expert for CFO. com, the Association for Finance Professionals Conference, the Zanda CFO Report.