CICircular Financial Model
Marketplace Startup Financials (Free Excel Download)
Cooperative recruiter community that recirculates rejected candidates between in-house tech recruiters, eliminating agency cost.
professionals from Deloitte
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About this model
Circular is a recruiter community that recirculates strong candidates rejected from one process to other in-house hiring teams. Recruiters share referrals, build reputation, and access salary and market intelligence, while candidates receive confidential and tailored opportunities.
The platform is designed to replace a portion of agency-led hiring with a cooperative network. Its research notes that active companies post most of their jobs through Circular, and defines GMV as the annual salaries of hires closed on the platform.
The financial model uses a success-fee marketplace structure. Active companies, jobs posted, referrals per role, interview conversion, hires, and average salary create placement GMV; a take rate then produces revenue. Company retention, recruiter activity, fill rate, and sales cost are more important drivers than a conventional SaaS seat count.
A turnkey financial model
Live formulas, no hardcoded values
Outputs are driven by live formulas, so the workbook updates from its assumptions instead of relying on hardcoded results.
All assumptions in one tab
Inputs are clearly marked in the Assumptions tab and separated from calculations, making it clear what to change and what to leave intact.
Statements always balancing
For integrated-statement models, the balance sheet, cash flow, and supporting schedules tie through properly.
Distinct schedules for clarity
Debt, working capital, taxes, and cash flow can get messy quickly. We group calculations in clear schedules, not across disconnected tabs.
No hidden macros or external links
There are no unexplained external workbook links or macros to undermine auditability or portability.
Changes flow through the model
Update a key driver and see the impact carry through the forecast, financing, and return outputs. We never use hardcoded numbers in formulas.
About Circular
circular.io
How to build a detailed financial model for Circular
A complete walkthrough of the business, drivers, and assumptions behind the downloadable Circular model - distilled from its pitch deck and publicly available information.
Product & value proposition
- For recruiters: community platform to refer and receive vetted candidates rejected from their own processes; build a reputation score; access salary benchmarks and market intelligence.
- For candidates: passive job search - referred by recruiters, receive tailored inbound offers confidentially, no public profile listing, give feedback on hiring process.
- Core mechanic: recruiter reputation score (visible leaderboard) incentivises quality referrals; feedback loop - more referrals → more fills → more jobs posted.
- Active companies post 90% of their jobs in Circular.
Revenue model
Not explicitly stated in deck. Implied model based on context:
- GMV is defined as "annual salary of hires closed during the period", strongly suggesting a success-fee / placement-fee model (% of annual salary per hire placed).
- No SaaS subscription pricing shown.
- No fee percentage disclosed.
- Two potential revenue lines: (a) placement fee charged to hiring company on successful hire; (b) future SaaS/seat fee for recruiter community tools (speculative, not in deck).
Traction & metrics
- 2 years since launch.
- #1 hiring source for their customers.
- Active company count: redacted in deck (yellow box) [slide 7].
- % of customers' tech hires filled through Circular: redacted [slide 7].
- Survey base: 86 companies answered the source-of-hire survey.
- Interview processes started through Circular: redacted growth % over two quarters [slide 8].
- GMV growth: redacted % over two quarters [slide 8].
- Average salary on Circular: redacted [slide 8].
- Referrals per job posting: redacted [slide 9].
- Jobs filled in Circular (absolute count): redacted [slide 9].
- Active companies post 90% of their jobs in Circular.
- Customer logos (15+ named): TravelPerk, Typeform, Personio, Hopin, Glovo, Preply, Facebook, Free Now, Twilio, XING, Oracle, Gartner, EA, Ryanair.
Competition / moat
- Compared to: internal referrals, LinkedIn applications, career pages, reach outs, job board applications, agencies, others - Circular claims to be #1 source for its customers across all these.
- Moat articulated as: (a) network effects (more recruiters → more quality candidates), (b) reputation lock-in (recruiter reputation score tied to platform).
- Positioning: recruiter community (trust-based), not a job board or agency.
Team & funding ask / use of funds
- Pedro Torrecillas - VP of Product, co-founder; previously VP at Jobandtalent (€300m+ raised).
- Teo Ruiz - VP of Engineering, co-founder; previously VP at Jobandtalent.
- Journey together started 2015.
- Funding raised: €2.1m Seed, led by LocalGlobe.
- Use of funds: not specified beyond "scale the community across tech hubs" and prove zero-cost candidate acquisition.
Recommended financial model
- Archetype + why: Marketplace GMV + take-rate P&L. Revenue = GMV × take rate (placement fee as % of annual salary). This fits exactly how the deck defines and tracks GMV. Secondary scenario: SaaS seat fee once community reaches scale.
- Forecast horizon & granularity: 3 years (Y1–Y3), monthly in Y1, quarterly in Y2–Y3. Seed stage with fast growth warrants monthly resolution in near term.
- Key drivers & assumptions:
| Driver | Value | Source |
|---|---|---|
| Active companies (starting) | 50–100; redacted in deck - 86 companies surveyed implies ~this range | - |
| Active companies growth (MoM) | 8–12% MoM early-stage community growth | based on "accelerated speed" language |
| Jobs posted per active company per quarter | 3–5; active companies post 90% of jobs on platform | average, seeded from deck context |
| Referrals per job posting | Redacted; 2–4 referrals | - |
| Conversion: referral → interview → hire | 15–25% hire rate from referred candidates | recruitment industry benchmark |
| Average salary (GMV per hire) | Redacted; €60–80k (EU tech mid-level, consistent with salary shown in slide 5: £51–67k range) | - |
| Take rate (placement fee) | 8–15% of annual salary - standard contingency recruitment fee range; not disclosed in deck | - |
| Revenue per hire | €6–12k at midpoint assumptions | - |
| Recruiter CAC | €0 (organic community referral, Campus Madrid presence) | - |
| Company CAC | €500–2,000 (sales-assisted outbound for enterprise; community-led for SMB) | - |
| Gross margin | 70–80% (marketplace, minimal COGS beyond ops/support) | - |
| Headcount | 5–10 FTEs post-seed; scale with rounds | - |
- Scenarios (Base / Bull / Bear - which variables flex):
- Bear: take rate = 8%, active company growth = 5% MoM, average salary = €55k
- Base: take rate = 12%, active company growth = 10% MoM, average salary = €70k
- Bull: take rate = 15%, active company growth = 15% MoM, average salary = €80k, faster fill rate
- Primary flex variables: take rate (unknown), company growth rate, average salary per hire
- Required sheets / outputs:
- Assumptions - all drivers in one tab
- Community growth - recruiters, active companies, jobs posted per period
- GMV bridge - jobs posted → referrals → interviews → hires → GMV
- P&L - revenue (GMV × take rate), COGS, gross profit, S&M, R&D, G&A, EBITDA
- Cash / runway - burn vs. raise (€2.1m seed); months of runway
- Dashboard - GMV, revenue, hires, active companies, fill rate, burn
Frequently asked
Is the Circular financial model free?+
Yes. The Circular model is a free Excel (.xlsx) download with live formulas. Sign up with your email and the workbook is yours to keep, review, and edit.
What's included in the model?+
A 5-year monthly forecast with P&L, cash flow and runway, valuation (exit multiple plus a DCF cross-check), MOIC/IRR returns, and unit economics, with live formulas throughout.
How was this model built?+
It was built from Circular's pitch deck and publicly available information, then structured to investment-banking standards as a fully editable Excel model.
Can I change the assumptions?+
Yes. You can change assumptions and the live formulas will recalculate in the downloadable Excel model.
Have more financial modelling questions? Contact us
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