Cap Table and Exit Waterfall Masterclass

9.2

(52 ratings)

·

3 Weeks

·

Cohort-based Course

Live masterclass for founders, investors, and lawyers to learn the structures and math for building cap tables and exit waterfalls.

Hosted by

Taylor Davidson

I've helped over 48,000 founders and investors as Founder/CEO of Foresight.

Course overview

Master cap tables and exit waterfalls in 3 weeks

I've helped over 30k founders and venture capitalists with tools to understand how equity, convertible notes, SAFEs, and options impact their cap tables, dilution, and ownership. We'll work through examples and you'll leave with the understanding to build your own models.


The sessions can be joined live or watched on your own time. All students will receive the slides, the example spreadsheet, the case study, and the recording of the full workshop, and all of the materials can be downloaded for viewing on your own time.

Who this course is for

01

Venture Capital analysts and associates, lawyers and accountants looking to learn how to build cap table models

02

Founders raising capital who are creating and managing cap tables

03

Anyone looking to get into venture capital or startups and understand how cap tables work.

Learn how to read, understand, and create cap tables and exit waterfalls

Build a cap table from scratch

Understand the math and structures necessary to create fundraising rounds, convert notes and SAFEs, calculate proratas, and more.

Build an exit waterfall from scratch

Understand the terminologies and math involved in showing how proceeds from an exit are distributed to the owners of a business, and be able to build your own.

Create scenario analyses around fundraising events

Be able to take a list of shareholders, rounds, share prices, and more from any cap table management software and create your own custom scenario analyses around future fundraising rounds or exits.

Understand how fundraising rounds impact cap tables

Understand how to calculate dilution and ownership over time to understand the impact of different fundraising structures (equity, notes, SAFEs). We will cover the common legal structures used in fundraising and how to understand the terms and the math they imply.

9.2

(52 ratings)

See what people are saying

        There is no other way to put it; Taylor knows his stuff. From his financial model (which I have been using for years) to this course, his work always exceeds expectations. This course covers everything I expected and much more. The detail on SAFES, option pools, and exit waterfalls was the refresher I needed.
Zachary Weiner

Zachary Weiner

CFO and Advisor
        Taylor's classes, videos and resources were very helpful as I further navigate cap tables. My understanding of dilution and waterfall modeling has greatly improved as a result of his class. Taylor was quick to respond to questions and provide updated resources based on class responses / questions. I would highly recommend this class.
Executive / Investor

Executive / Investor

(Private)
        Very useful, gives clear ideas on key concepts, specially for VCs that are so worried on how a new round affects exit values etc. and clear instructions on how an exit waterfall works. Fantastic models people can use to build own models in real life work.
Beatriz Gandarias

Beatriz Gandarias

Investment Senior Analyst, Alta Life Sciences
        Great course with extremely supportive instructor. We covered a lot of material in a very short span of time which was very impressive. I love that Taylor provides access to the material even after the course is done, allowing me the time necessary to fully absorb.
Laura Frishman

Laura Frishman

Corporate Strategy and Development, Picsart
        This course provides a ton of great reference material on cap tables and exit waterfalls. You'll come away with a collection of spreadsheets and videos that walk you through the math of various scenarios and give you the confidence to create your own cap tables.
Founder

Founder

(Private)
        Great course for understanding the math and logic necessary to model cap tables and waterfalls. This coming from someone who had no prior experience.
Xavier Friel

Xavier Friel

Analyst, Plainsight Capital
        Taylor leads a highly collaborative and instructional program which breaks down a higly complex subject into digestible and accessible components. I left the course comfortable not just with knowledge of the mechanics of a model, but the theory and "so what" context around cap table modeling and term sheet negotiations.
Connor McKenna

Connor McKenna

Portfolio Director, Pronghorn
        Cap tables are not as hard as they first seem - TD does and amazing job of breaking the basics down so each element is understandable
Founder

Founder

(Private)
        I really enjoyed taking this course. Very knowledgeable instructor, and access to tons of resources. I think it's also important to note that depending on your baseline knowledge, you may need to dedicate time outside of the course to understanding and retaining the concepts.
Phil Joseph

Phil Joseph

Investment Analyst, Real Ventures
        Liked the way theory and practice were presented. Taylor really walked us through a lot of scenarios, and was clear in his explanations and always open to questions.
Camila Rivas

Camila Rivas

Investment Analyst, Anthemis
        I really like the step-by-step templates to help understand how the maths work in building out cap tables and scenarios.
Founder

Founder

(Private)
        Taylor delivers an effective and interesting sequence of lessons to model pre-seed, seed and letter rounds and the impact to outcomes by different instruments. I left the course feeling that I can absolutely model out a cap table for a series of fundraising rounds effectively.
Robert Jacques

Robert Jacques

Venture Partner, Root System
        I love all the resources that I can refer to, unless you do this all the time you need reliable sources of reference and a helping hand sometimes when things get complex.
VC

VC

(Private)
        Great course for Cap Table 101. Taylor covered all the important concepts and explained them very well. Learned a lot - thank you!
Eugin Lee

Eugin Lee

Investor, Telstra Ventures
A pattern of wavy dots
Join an upcoming cohort

Cap Table and Exit Waterfall Masterclass

Cohort 10

$949 USD

Dates

Oct 10—26, 2023

Payment Deadline

Oct 10, 2023

Meet your instructor

Taylor Davidson

Taylor Davidson

Founder and Managing Director, Foresight

Taylor Davidson is the founder of Foresight, which helps entrepreneurs use financial models for business decisions.


Through his template financial models and strategic advisory services, he has helped over 48,000 entrepreneurs from 116 countries on financial planning, projections, fundraising, valuations, and business strategy.


Taylor has also worked with over 800 angel investors and venture funds on investment strategy, portfolio tracking, capital planning, and fundraising.


He created the Cap Table and Exit Waterfall Masterclass to help founders and VCs learn how to understand and build cap tables and exit waterfalls for their financing rounds.


He created How to Model Venture Funds to help VCs learn how to model portfolio construction, capital flows, and unpack key performance metrics.


He partnered with Chris Wattig to create Finance for Founders to help founders learn how to build an FP&A function at their companies.


Contact him at hello@foresight.is or @tdavidson on Twitter.

6 sessions + downloadable tools and instructional videos

01

How to model equity fundraises

We'll dive into details on the terminologies and structure of capitalization tables, including how to calculate share prices, use valuations, model equity fundraising rounds, issue new shares to investors, and calculate ownership percentages.

02

How to model convertibles (SAFEs and convertible notes)

We will cover how to issue convertible securities (SAFEs, convertible notes, and warrants), and how to convert them into shares, calculating share prices, valuations, and ownership percentages.

03

How to model option pools

We will cover how to model option pools, from creating, refreshing, and tracking the issuance of options through rounds.

04

How to model exit waterfalls

We will learn how to create an exit waterfall to model the distribution of proceeds to shareholders, detailing how to handle liquidity preferences, converting preferred shares to common shares, and handle the flow of proceeds to multiple classes of shareholders.

05

How to model investor returns

Continuing on from the first class on exit waterfalls, we'll dive into how to use the waterfall to understand investor returns across share classes, incentives around the terms and structures around liquidity distributions, and more advanced topics around waterfalls and investor return modeling.

06

Case study

The case study is optional, but a great opportunity to apply your learnings from the class. You can work on the case along with the classes, ask questions in the community, and we will cover it in the course wrap-up and Q&A.

Free resource

3 free mini-cases for learning cap tables (with answer keys)

Today more than ever, it's important to know how fundraising structures impact ownership and dilution as valuations change.


Download (Microsoft Excel or Google Sheets) three of the fourteen mini-cases we use in the Cap Table and Exit Waterfall Masterclass to learn cap table math, including how to model equity raises, convertible notes and SAFEs, anti-dilution, option pools, and more. Each case contains answer keys and videos that explain the important calculations.


Questions, contact me anytime.

Get the free spreadsheet

Course schedule

3-4 hours per week
  • Live Classes on Tuesdays and Thursdays

    12:00 - 1:30 PM EST

    Sessions are on Tuesdays and Thursdays, each session is 1.5 hours, 12 to 1:30 PM Eastern.


    Cohort 10 live sessions are scheduled for October 10, 12, 17, 19, 24, 26


    If you cannot join the live sessions, you can always join and only watch the session recordings.

  • Join live, rewatch anytime

    All sessions are recorded, so you can watch them at your own time if you can't attend.

  • No required homework

    The time commitment is manageable for busy professionals. Actionable takeaways that you can use in your businesses today.

  • Practical Examples

    Optional practical examples for you to apply what you learn in class. Download an example of the exercises here.

  • Practical Case Study

    If desired, you have the option to work through a case study, practice what we learn, and get direct feedback on your work.

  • Specific questions, ask anytime.

    Always available for questions and support through the online community.

A pattern of wavy dots
Join an upcoming cohort

Cap Table and Exit Waterfall Masterclass

Cohort 10

$949 USD

Dates

Oct 10—26, 2023

Payment Deadline

Oct 10, 2023

Not sure if it's for you? Register for just the sections you want to learn

01

Beginning Cap Tables

1.5 hour, 1 session beginning-level course for founders and VCs to understand the fundamentals of cap tables and modeling equity fundraises. Details >

02

Intermediate Cap Tables

3 hour, 2 session intermediate-level course for founders, VCs and lawyers to build cap tables modeling SAFEs, convertible notes, options, and warrants. Details >

03

Intermediate Exit Waterfalls

3 hour, 2 session intermediate-level course for founders, VCs and lawyers to build exit waterfalls for liquidity distributions. Details >

Example - How to model SAFEs

This was a free workshop on modeling SAFEs, which is a small portion of modeling convertibles.

Example - Modeling Anti-Dilution for Cap Tables

This was a free, live workshop on modeling anti-dilution and their impact on cap tables.

Learning together is more effective - and more fun

Learning together is more effective - and more fun

Active learning with hands-on tools

Six live sessions conducted over Zoom plus downloadable example tools to help you create your own cap tables to edit and use during the course.

Learn with a cohort of peers

You’ll be learning with other venture capitalists, founders, and people looking to learn how to create and understand cap tables and waterfalls.

Learn how you learn best

Join live or just watch the recordings, it's your choice on how you want to participate. Everyone learns differently, and the course is structured to allow you to learn how you learn best.

Build your own models

I've taught over 50 in-person and virtual classes around financial modeling, and it's easy to follow someone else's work, hard to do it yourself. This course is packed with practice exercises and a case study so you can work on building your own models.

Stay in the loop

Sign up to be the first to know about course updates.

Frequently Asked Questions

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A pattern of wavy dots
Join an upcoming cohort

Cap Table and Exit Waterfall Masterclass

Cohort 10

$949 USD

Dates

Oct 10—26, 2023

Payment Deadline

Oct 10, 2023

$949 USD

9.2

(52)

·

3 Weeks