Curastory Financial Model
Marketplace Startup Financials (Free Excel Download)
Creator-economy video marketplace that lets video creators embed brand-sponsored ad segments and distribute across platforms, taking a 30% marketplace fee.
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About this model
Curastory is a creator-economy video marketplace that helps creators place sponsored segments in videos distributed across platforms. Creators get production, editing, music, and distribution tools, while brands buy audience-targeted campaigns and measure return through a dashboard.
The platform is free to creators and takes 30% of each advertising transaction. The deck reported $123,979 of actual and committed GMV and $37,194 of net revenue in its first six months, alongside 2,230 sign-ups and 82% user retention.
The model builds brand GMV from active creators, videos, views, CPM, and campaign demand, then applies the 30% marketplace fee. Equipment-rental subscriptions and future conversion-based revenue remain separate lines. Creator activation, advertiser spend, campaign retention, and acquisition cost show whether rapid early growth can become durable marketplace economics.
A turnkey financial model
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Statements always balancing
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Distinct schedules for clarity
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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 Curastory
curastory.co
How to build a detailed financial model for Curastory
A complete walkthrough of the business, drivers, and assumptions behind the downloadable Curastory model - distilled from its pitch deck and publicly available information.
Product & value proposition
- Free platform for video creators: editing tools, music licensing, one-click cross-platform distribution.
- Creators embed creator-recorded advertisement segments (not platform ads) into their videos; brands pay per 1,000 views.
- Brands access audience-targeted campaigns, track ROAS via dashboard.
- Key differentiation vs. YouTube/influencer platforms: brand-agnostic video upload first; royalty-based payment (never download ad spots); non-compete conflict alerts via tag matching.
- Three-stage evolution:
- Today (Pre-Seed): creator social channels; $X CPM model.
- Seed: video royalties; adds % CPC + CPM on embedded spots distributed anywhere.
- Series A+: white-label channel for creators (subscription + upgrades for gated content, fan support, merch).
Market
- TAM: $1 Trillion - total digital ad spending.
- SAM: $31 Billion - digital video ad spending.
- SOM: $782 Million - digital video ad spending from beta industries (Sports, Fitness, CPG, Health & Wellness).
- Creator economy growth: +20% YoY increase in number of content creators 2017–2020; ~$990M revenue generated from new content creators 2017–2020.
- 82% of audiences prefer video content; 88% watch most or all creator-recorded ads.
- Brands spend avg. $12K for in-studio video advertising.
Revenue model
- Stream 1 - Marketplace fee (primary): 30% take rate on each video ad transaction.
- Base rate: $30 per 1,000 video views paid by brand to creator; Curastory retains $9/1K views.
- Brand commitment tiers: month-to-month or 4-month lock-in.
- Stream 2 - Video equipment rentals (secondary): $35/month or $50/month subscription plans.
- Future streams (Seed stage): % of CPC on ad spot conversions + embedded view-through CPM.
- Future streams (Series A+): creator platform subscriptions + feature upgrade upsells.
- Platform is free to creators; monetization is purely on brand spend.
Traction & metrics
- GMV (actual + committed): $123,979 - months 1–6.
- Net Revenue (NR): $37,194 - months 1–6. (Implies ~30% take rate on GMV, consistent with stated fee.)
- NR CMGR: 100%.
- CLTV: $10,514.
- User retention: 82% retained, 18% loss (based on user app activity).
- Sign-ups: 2,230.
- Active beta users: 15% of sign-ups (~335 users implied).
- CLTV:CAC ratio: 876:1.
- Acquisition channels: 50% Sales (inbound + outbound), 38% Network (referrals + word of mouth), 12% Content marketing.
- Milestones completed: NCAA approval, NBPA partnership.
Unit economics
- CLTV: $10,514.
- CLTV:CAC ratio: 876:1. Implies CAC ≈ $12 ($10,514 / 876) - extremely low, consistent with word-of-mouth / referral-heavy acquisition.
- Gross margin: Not explicitly stated. Deck says COGS = 5% of spend, but this is spend allocation not a gross margin disclosure.
- Creator earnings uplift claim: illustrative case study (Valerie Loureda) shows $973/month on legacy platforms → $14,834/month on Curastory - driven by TikTok's 175.5K avg views at $30 CPM.
Competition / moat
- Named non-competitors (influencer-matching platforms): YouTube BrandConnect, AspireIQ, #paid, rewardStyle, OpenSponsorship, Upfluence, Opendorse.
- Feature moat vs. YouTube / Vimeo: brand sponsorship video matching; creator-recorded ad spots; non-compete compatibility; auto-posting to all social channels - all claimed absent in YouTube/Vimeo.
- Structural moat: brands never download ad spots (always tracked for royalty payment); non-compete conflict alerts on tag matching.
- Positioning is "podcast advertising model for video" - show-level matching, not campaign-level influencer matching.
Team & funding ask / use of funds
- Team: Tiffany Kelly (Founder + CEO), Shane Austrie (CTO), Lilliana Antequera (Head of Customer Success), D'Bria Bradshaw (Head of Public Policy), Reisa Forster (UX/UI), Oliver Do (BE Engineer). Past experience: ESPN, NBA, NCAA, Muscle Milk, Booksy, Reddit, Facebook.
- Advisors: Dan Zigmond (Director @ Apple, ex-FB/IG/YT/Google - executive coaching); Jamie Lund (Partner @ SOF, ex-Poly/Digitas/TED - brand acquisition).
- Current investors: Lightspeed, Republic, Techstars.
- Funding ask: $1.25M (Seed, Tranche 2).
- Use of funds:
- SG&A: 72%
- Advertising + Marketing: 16%
- Legal & Professional: 7%
- COGS: 5%
- Prior raises: $207K pre-seed; $500K Tranche 1 (in-progress / committed per milestone slide).
Recommended financial model
- Archetype + why: Two-sided marketplace GMV model with take-rate revenue, plus a subscription ancillary line. The core engine is brand GMV (views × CPM rate) with Curastory capturing 30% as net revenue. This is closest to a creator-economy/ad-marketplace model - analogous to Patreon/Substack monetization mechanics layered on a GMV volume driver.
- Forecast horizon & granularity: 3 years monthly (36 months). Month-level needed because NR CMGR is currently 100% (doubling monthly) and the business is pre-PMF - cohort behavior matters. Roll up to annual P&L for investor summary.
- Key drivers & assumptions:
*Creator supply side:*
- Active creators (month 1 seed): 335 (~15% of 2,230 sign-ups)
- Monthly creator growth rate: 15%/mo base case - step-down from current 100% NR CMGR as base normalizes post-seed
- Videos per creator per month: 4 (2 long-form + 2 short-form per Valerie case study)
- Average views per video: 50,000 blended - weighted avg. across YouTube, TikTok, IGTV, Facebook Watch; deck case study shows 175.5K TikTok + smaller YouTube/IGTV
*Brand demand side / pricing:*
- CPM rate (brand pays per 1K views): $30
- Monetization rate (% of videos with a brand ad): 40% base case - not all creator videos will be sponsored at launch
- Curastory take rate: 30%
- Brand commitment mix: 60% month-to-month / 40% 4-month - affects revenue recognition smoothing
*Equipment rental:*
- Rental subscribers: 5% of active creators at $42.50/mo blended ($35/$50 plans)
- Rental churn: 10%/mo
*Unit economics:*
- CLTV: $10,514
- CLTV:CAC: 876:1 → implied CAC ≈ $12
- Creator retention: 82%/mo
- Brand retention: 70% - slightly lower than creator retention; brands re-evaluate campaigns; informed by 4-month commitment option
*Cost structure (seeded from use-of-funds allocation):*
- SG&A: 72% of total spend → headcount-driven; model as FTE count × avg. salary
- Advertising + Marketing: 16% of total spend
- Legal & Professional: 7% of total spend
- COGS (platform infra + creator payouts beyond marketplace net): 5% of total spend
- Raise proceeds: $1.25M → model as 18-month runway assumption
- Scenarios (Base / Bull / Bear - which variables flex):
- Base: 15% monthly creator growth; 40% monetization rate; $30 CPM holds; 82% creator retention
- Bull: 25% monthly creator growth; 60% monetization rate; CPM rises to $40 as brand demand scales; NBPA/NCAA partnerships drive step-change creator adds
- Bear: 8% monthly creator growth; 25% monetization rate; CPM pressure to $20; brand churn spikes to 50%/mo
- Required sheets / outputs:
- Assumptions - all drivers centralized, color-coded inputs
- Creator Cohort Model - monthly creator adds, retention waterfall, cumulative active creators
- GMV Build - active creators × videos/creator × avg views × monetization rate × CPM / 1,000
- Revenue - GMV × 30% take rate + equipment rental MRR
- P&L - Revenue less COGS, SG&A, Marketing, Legal; EBITDA and net income
- Cash Flow & Runway - operating cash burn + $1.25M raise proceeds; months of runway
- Unit Economics Summary - CAC, CLTV, LTV:CAC, payback by cohort
- Scenarios Dashboard - Base / Bull / Bear toggles on key drivers
Frequently asked
Is the Curastory financial model free?+
Yes. The Curastory 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 Curastory'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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