How do you evaluate a Startup By Using Different Methods?

Startup valuations give insights into a business’s ability to utilize new capital in order to expand, meet the needs of investors and customers and achieve the next milestone. 

While they’re impressive, these numbers may not be as accurate as you’d like. The valuation of a startup could include factors such as the team’s experience product assets, business model, assets total addressable market competitors’ performance, market opportunities as well as goodwill.

If you’ve got actual revenue and you have tangible economic figures as a basis. But when it comes to fundraising your business is worth the amount you are and your shareholders believe it is worth it. The majority of venture capitalists and venture capitalists utilize a variety of formulas in order to determine the value in pre-money of a company and how much the company is worth before investing.

It’s true that valuing a startup can be as much an art as it is a science. It doesn’t matter if you’re at the pre-seed phase or are just distributing Stock options to employees, it can assist you in understanding various methods used by startups to value their businesses.

In this article, Brisk Logic presents eight ways for determining the worth of your startup and preparing for future fundraising discussions.

THE MOST IMPORTANT THINGS TO KNOW

If you’re trying to raise funds for your start-up company or are thinking of making a bet on one, it’s crucial to assess the value of the company.

Startup companies typically look to angel investors to help raise crucial capital to help get their venture on the right track, but how can an investor judge the value of a brand-new business?

Startups are notoriously difficult to assess accurately because they don’t have operating revenue or an actual product that is marketable and they will need to invest money to start things.

While certain approaches, such as discounted cash flows may be used to evaluate both established and new companies, However, other metrics such as cost-to duplicate and stage value are exclusive for new ventures.

What is the Worth of a Startup Business?

Cost-to-Duplicate

As the name suggests the method involves knowing how much it will cost to create a new business that is similar to the one you have by starting from beginning to finish. The concept is that an investor who is smart would not pay more than the cost of replicating. This method will typically examine the tangible properties in order to establish their worth in the market.

The cost of duplicates for a software company such as this could be calculated as the amount of time and effort involved in the creation of the software. In the case of a high-tech startup, this could include the cost of researching and developing and patent protection, and the development of prototypes. The cost-to-duplicate method is frequently used as a basis to evaluate startups because it’s fairly objective. In the end, it’s founded on reliable, historical cost reports.

The main issue with this method–and founders of companies will surely agree on this point–is that it isn’t a reflection of the future possibilities of the business in terms of generating profits, sales, and returns from investment. In addition, the cost-to-duplicate approach doesn’t account for the intangible asset such as the value of a brand, which the company may have in the early stages of development. Since it typically underestimates the value of the venture and is often employed as a “lowball” estimation of the company’s value. The physical infrastructure of the company and equipment could only constitute only a tiny portion of the amount of net value when the relationships, as well as the intellectual capital, are the foundation of the company.

Market Multiple

Investors love this method since it gives them an accurate indication of the price that investors are ready to spend on a business. In essence, the market multiple methods evaluate the company in relation to the recent acquisitions of companies similar to it on the market.

Let’s suppose that mobile application software companies are selling at five times the sales. If you know what investors will pay for mobile apps it is possible to make use of a five-times-multiply to evaluate your mobile app venture, while changing the value of the multiple upwards or downwards to account for the different aspects. If your mobile app company is, for example, in a lower stage of development than similar businesses, it will likely be able to get a lower value than five, as those who invest in it are taking greater risk.

There are popular strategies for valuing startups

 

The process of calculating value is always some guesswork, however, there are some useful resources that you should have at hand. Financial statements, such as the balance sheet statement of balance are crucial. Make sure you are able to evaluate the abilities and knowledge of your team and pinpoint any weaknesses and strengths.

Databases such as Angel list as well as Crunchbase to evaluate your value against similar companies, or search online for indexes or public reports on business.

The nature of valuations is that they differ between locations as well as industries. For instance that the Silicon Valley property technology startup that was founded in 2009 isn’t the benchmark for the value of a Boston pro-tech company that will be founded in 2025. A B2B firm could be operating with drastically different requirements as compared to one of a B2C business.

1. The Berkus Method 

The Berkus Method was developed by venture capitalist Dave Berkus to find valuations specifically for startups in pre-revenue, i.e., businesses which aren’t yet selling products on a large scale. The concept is to give dollar amounts to five crucial success metrics that are commonly found in early-stage startups.

The formula is simple and can help entrepreneurs and investors avoid misleading valuations based on projected revenue that very few businesses can meet within the anticipated time frame.

The method limits pre-revenue values to $2 million, and post-revenue values to $2.5 million. While it does not consider other market variables into consideration, the small range of the method is helpful for businesses seeking a simple tool.

2. Comparable Method of Transactions

The Comparable Transactions Method is one the most well-known valuation methods used by startups since it’s based on the precedent of previous valuations. The question is “How many times were startups similar to mine purchased?” Imagine, for instance, that Rapid the fictional shipping company, was bought by a company worth $24 million. The mobile app, as well as its website, were used by 700,000 active users. This is roughly $34 per user. Your company’s shipping has 120,000 customers. This gives your company the potential to be valued at around $4 million. There are also revenue multiples for companies that are similar to those within your industry. In your area, it is not uncommon for SaaS companies to make 5 to 7 times the previous year’s net revenues. For any model that compares two businesses, it is essential to include multipliers or ratios to account for anything that’s drastically different between the two companies. For instance, if a SaaS company uses proprietary technology, and yours doesn’t, you may choose to place the multiplier that falls on a low-end scale which is five times (or lesser) in the example in the previous paragraph. This has a lot in common with the Market Multiples Approach.

3. Method of Scorecard Valuation

The Scorecard Method is another option for companies that aren’t yet revenue-producing. It is also used to compare your business to other startups that have been funded before however with additional criteria.

The first step is to determine the median pre-money value of similar companies.

Then you’ll look at the way your company compares with respect to the following attributes.

•  The team’s strength is 0-30%.
• The size of the opportunity: 0-25 Percentage.
• Service or product The amount of the product or service is 0 to 15%.
• Competitive environment: 0-10%
• Sales channels, marketing, and partnerships from 0 to 10 percent
• Additional investment required: 0-5 %
• Other: 0-5%

This is the case for each startup quality, and then calculate the total of all the factors. After that, divide that sum by the average of the valuation within your particular industry sector to determine your pre-revenue estimate. Learn the exact method to calculate percentages and weigh the impact of each factor in this article written by Bill Payne, the method’s creator.

4. Cost-to-Duplicate approach

The secret to this strategy is in the title. You’re trying to figure out how much it will cost to replicate your company elsewhere without excluding any intangible assets such as your brand or goodwill.

Simply add up what you think is fair value for your assets. You can also add research and development expenses as well as prototype costs for products as well as patent costs and much more.

The main drawback is that this technique does not capture the entire worth of a business especially if it’s producing revenues. When calculating the value of your startup it’s possible that you’ll have to overlook certain aspects that are relevant for example, such as customer engagement.

5. Risk Factor Summation Method

This is a more comprehensive method of the valuation of your startup. Start with a first valuation using any of the other methods that are discussed in this article. Then, you can either increase or decrease the value by multiples of $250,000, based on factors that could affect your company.

If, for instance, your online clothing shop has a moderate but not a lot of risk of competition then you can rate positively, but you can only add $250,000.

The following are the most regularly used risk categories:

1. Stages of Business Management
2. Political risk/legislation
3. Manufacturing dangers
4. Marketing and sales-related dangers
5. Raising funds/capital is a risk.
6. Threat of Competition
7. The Threat of Technology
8. Litigation danger
9. International dangers
10. Risk to one’s reputation
11. An exit strategy that could be profitable

The tough part of this approach is getting an objective standard to evaluate each element. Starting with similar methods, such as the Scorecard Method or Comparable Transactions Approach can be beneficial.

6. Discounted Cash Flow Method

The value of your business can be calculated by using the Discounted Cash Flow (DCF) method. It is possible to coordinate with an analyst in the market or an investor to apply this method. Then, you take your anticipated future cash flows and apply a discount, which is also called the expected return (ROI). In general, the more expensive discounts, the more risky the investment is -and the higher your growth rate must be. The reason for it is the fact that investing in new businesses is a risky investment when compared to investing in companies that are already in operation and earning a steady income. There is also an alternative method called the First Chicago Method, which is a variation of the DCF method. It analyzes three scenarios the two other being those in which the startup’s performance is poor according to projections and the other one where it performs better than what was expected, offering three different valuations for businesses.

7. Venture Capital Method

The name suggests that this technique is commonly used by venture capitalists, and is an alternative to consider if you’re in need of an estimate of your revenue prior to the start of the year. This also mirrors the thinking of investors looking to exit a business in many years.

There are two formulas you can use to figure out your worth:

• The Anticipated Rate of Return (ROI) = terminal Value/Post-Money Valuation
• Post-Money Valuation = End-of-Term Value or Anticipated Return on Investment

The first step is to calculate the value of your startup’s final value or the anticipated selling price once the VC company has made an investment. You can determine this by using the estimated revenue multiples of your particular industry or the value-to-earnings-to-price ratio.

Find out the expected return on investment, like 10x, then plug it all into your post-money value. After that subtract the investment amount you’re seeking to calculate your pre-money value.

8. Method of calculating the book value

A Book Value Method can provide you with an asset-based estimation. It’s similar to the Cost-to duplicate Method, but it’s much simpler.

In general, a startup’s book value is the sum of its assets less its liabilities. This means that using the Book Value method equates the value of your business with your value.

Use Different Approaches for Startups with Brisk Logic

Startup valuations usually require information from other companies like yours to assess the worth of a new venture. The investors (at venture capital companies and even beyond) are likely to look at competitors and other companies operating in the same field to better comprehend how your company’s business model is positioned within the overall picture.

They will analyze financials, funding rounds the amount of money that companies raised, and prior revenue valuations or post-revenue valuations. The valuations aren’t the only way to determine [founder’s] success. There’s plenty more to it than this. There is access to the same resources for the information you need through Public library databases.

If you don’t have a library membership it is highly recommended that you make one. Public libraries offer a huge database of research databases available that you can access with both private and public information about companies. Similar to university libraries as well.

In most cases, universities have more databases and more data because they have bigger budgets. In any case, you can make a library account or look up the old email address of your university address and create the accounts.