Startup Valuation Calculator

How Each Valuation Method Works

Every figure below is an estimate. The price of a real round is set by negotiation, and these methods give you a defensible place to start.

Pre-Money and Post-Money Math

Post-money equals pre-money plus the investment. The investor owns the investment divided by post-money. Example: you raise €500K at a €2M pre-money valuation. Post-money is €2.5M, the investor owns €500K / €2.5M = 20%, and you and existing holders keep 80%.

Berkus Method for Pre-Revenue Startups

Berkus assigns a value to five things that reduce risk: a sound idea, a prototype, the management team, strategic relationships, and product rollout or sales. Example: €250K for the idea, €200K for the prototype, €250K for the team, €150K for relationships and €100K for early rollout adds up to €950K.

Scorecard Method

Start from a reference pre-money valuation for similar early-stage companies, then score yourself on team, market, product, competition, go-to-market, funding need, and other factors. A score of 50 means typical. Example: with a €2M reference and a weighted score of 62.5% against the typical 50%, the estimate is €2M x 1.25 = €2.5M.

Venture Capital Method

Work backward from an exit. Example: if you think the company could be worth €50M at exit and the investor wants 15x their money, today's post-money value is €50M / 15 = about €3.3M. Subtract a €500K investment and pre-money is about €2.8M. This method is only as good as the exit and return you assume, and it ignores dilution from later rounds.

What Investors Actually Look At

At pre-seed and seed there is usually little revenue to measure, so investors weigh other signals.

• The team: relevant experience, and why you are the people to solve this problem.
• The market: how large it could become and why now is the time.
• Early evidence: users, waitlists, pilots, letters of intent, or revenue if you have it.
• The round itself: how much you raise, what it buys in milestones, and how much of the company you sell.
• Competing interest: other investors in the round change the conversation more than any formula.

Seed rounds commonly sell roughly 10% to 25% of the company. Treat that as a typical range and not a rule.

How to Value a Startup Before Revenue

Valuing an early-stage startup is one of the hardest parts of fundraising. Without years of revenue data, founders and investors rely on comparative methods, milestone-based approaches, and expected return calculations. This calculator implements three of the most widely used early-stage valuation methods.

The Scorecard Method

Developed by Bill Payne, the Scorecard method compares your startup against typical seed-stage companies. You rate yourself across seven weighted factors (team, market, product, competition, marketing, investment needs, and other). The weighted score is multiplied by a typical seed valuation in your region to produce an estimate.

The Venture Capital Method

The VC method works backwards from the investor's perspective. If an investor expects your company to exit at a certain value and needs a specific return on their investment, the maximum they would pay today is the exit value divided by their target multiple. Typical VC target multiples range from 10x to 30x depending on stage and risk.

The Berkus Method

Created by angel investor Dave Berkus, this method assigns value to five key risk-reducing milestones, each worth up to 500K. The idea is that a pre-revenue startup's value comes from reducing risk: having a sound idea, a working prototype, a quality team, strategic relationships, and early sales or rollout progress. The maximum pre-revenue valuation under this method is 2.5M.

Tips for Valuation Conversations

1. Use multiple methods and present a range. No single method gives the definitive answer.
2. Research comparable deals in your market and stage. Actual transaction data beats theoretical models.
3. Your valuation is only real when someone writes a check. Focus on finding the right investor, not the highest number.
4. Consider the full deal structure. Valuation is important, but terms like liquidation preferences and anti-dilution matter just as much.