First Chicago Method Calculator Excel Template
First Chicago Method Calculator Excel Template
Interactive Excel Financial Model
Download, customize, and integrate into your own analysis
What's Included
- Interactive financial model with live Excel formulas
- All formulas visible and fully editable
- Professional formatting with color-coded inputs & outputs
- Formula reference sheet with variable definitions
- Step-by-step instructions sheet
- Compatible with Microsoft Excel 2016 and later
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Price range: $0.00 through $20.00
Professional First Chicago Method Excel template with live formulas for scenario-based startup valuation. Calculate post-money and required ownership.
Online Calculator vs Excel Template
| Feature | Online | Excel |
|---|---|---|
| Instant use — no download | ✓ | — |
| Works offline | — | ✓ |
| Customize formulas & layout | — | ✓ |
| Save & share with colleagues | — | ✓ |
| Integrate into your own models | — | ✓ |
| Print-ready formatting | — | ✓ |
About This Template
Master scenario-based startup valuation with this professional First Chicago Method Excel template. Whether you are a venture capitalist evaluating early-stage investments, a startup founder preparing for fundraising, or a finance student learning valuation techniques, this downloadable spreadsheet provides all the formulas you need to calculate probability-weighted valuations.
What You Can Calculate
This template computes four essential valuation outputs:
- Expected Exit Value — The probability-weighted average across your success, sideways, and failure scenarios
- Post-Money Valuation — The present value of expected returns, discounting for time and risk
- Pre-Money Valuation — Company value before investment (Post-Money minus Investment Amount)
- Required Ownership — The equity stake needed to achieve your target return, with automatic warnings for aggressive terms
Required Inputs
Enter nine parameters to run your analysis:
- Three scenario exit values — Expected company value at exit for success, sideways, and failure outcomes (in $ millions)
- Three scenario probabilities — Likelihood of each outcome occurring (must sum to 100%)
- Discount rate — Your required rate of return (typically 25-70% for early-stage)
- Years to exit — Expected holding period until exit event
- Investment amount — Capital being invested in this round
Methodology
The First Chicago Method, developed at First Chicago Corporation in the 1970s, explicitly models multiple outcome scenarios rather than relying on single-point estimates. The expected value formula is:
E[V] = Psuccess x Vsuccess + Psideways x Vsideways + Pfailure x Vfailure
This expected value is then discounted to present value using discrete compounding: Post-Money = E[V] / (1 + r)n
Key Assumptions
- Three discrete scenarios (success, sideways, failure)
- Single-period analysis with terminal exit values
- Discrete compounding for present value calculation
- No taxes, transaction costs, or dilution adjustments included
Frequently Asked Questions
The template uses the classic First Chicago three-scenario framework. To add scenarios, unprotect the Calculator sheet, insert rows, and extend the expected value formula to include additional probability-weighted terms. You would also need to add a probability constraint check.
This template calculates ownership for a single funding round. For multi-round analysis, duplicate the Calculator sheet for each round and manually adjust the investment amount and pre-money valuation inputs to reflect dilution from prior rounds.
Ownership exceeds 100% when the investment amount is greater than the calculated post-money valuation. This indicates the deal terms are unrealistic u2014 either lower the investment, increase expected exit values, adjust probabilities, or reduce the discount rate.
A fully interactive financial model with live Excel formulas, an Instructions sheet with usage guide, and a Formula Reference sheet with variable definitions and model assumptions. All formulas are visible and editable.
Microsoft Excel 2016 or later. The template uses standard Excel formulas only — no macros, VBA, or add-ins required.
Yes. All cells are fully editable. You can modify any formula, add your own calculations, change formatting, or integrate the model into your existing spreadsheets.
The online calculator runs in your browser for quick calculations. This Excel template gives you a portable, offline financial model you can customize, save, share with colleagues, and integrate into your own analysis.
This template is provided for educational and personal use. You may use it in your own professional analysis and presentations. Redistribution or resale of the template itself is not permitted.
You can re-download the latest version from your account or by requesting a new download link. Free downloads are limited to 5 per email address per month.
