Startup valuation · Target return

Venture Capital Method Calculator

Work backward from a projected exit value and a target investor return to estimate today’s financing valuation and ownership.

Exit and investment assumptions

CurrencyExit metricProjected metric at exitExit valuation multipleYears to exitTarget annual return (%)New investmentExpected future dilution (%)Fully diluted shares before financing

Valuation and ownership

Estimated exit value—

Required return multiple—

Target investment value at exit—

Investor ownership at exit—

Investor ownership today—

Existing holders after round—

Post-money valuation today—

Pre-money valuation today—

Implied price per share—

New shares issued—

How the venture capital method works

Exit value is the projected financial metric multiplied by the selected exit multiple. The investment’s target exit value is investment × (1 + target return)^years. Dividing that target by the exit value gives the required ownership at exit; expected later dilution is then used to estimate the ownership needed today.

This follows the core venture-capital approach described in NYU Stern’s guide to valuing young companies. It is a simplified scenario tool: revenue and EBITDA multiples may imply enterprise value, so net debt, option pools, preferences, taxes, follow-on rounds and failure risk require separate analysis. It is not investment advice.