# Equals Series A Financial Model

Equals is a modern spreadsheet with native database connections, versioning, and real-time collaboration - positioned as a direct Excel replacement for business analysis.

- Canonical: https://finamodel.com/startups/equals-series-a
- Excel download: https://finamodel.com/startup-models/equals-series-a.xlsx
- Category: Dev Tools
- Model type: SaaS ARR / Valuation
- Funding round: Series A
- Funding: $16M
- Founded: 2022
- Geography: Not in deck (US-based team, international customers implied by Notion/unnamed enterprise references).
- Customer: B2B

## About the company

Equals is a cloud spreadsheet and business-analysis platform designed to connect operational data with the familiar spreadsheet interface. Teams can collaborate on live models and reporting without the brittle exports and version-control problems of traditional spreadsheet workflows.

The Series A research frames Equals as subscription SaaS, with customer and ARR growth tracked monthly. Its commercial model mixes self-serve adoption from spreadsheet-centric users with sales-assisted expansion into larger teams and more connected workflows.

The model is a cohort SaaS ARR build. New accounts, seats, plan mix, monthly or annual pricing, expansion, and churn determine revenue, while live-data usage supports retention. Sales efficiency, product-led conversion, customer-success cost, and gross margin show how the company can scale its recurring base.

## What's included

- 5-year monthly revenue build with stage-appropriate growth assumptions
- Full P&L, headcount plan, and operating-expense schedule
- Cash-flow statement, runway, and burn-rate tracking
- Valuation via exit multiple with a DCF cross-check
- Returns analysis with MOIC and IRR
- Unit economics including CAC, LTV, payback, and cohort retention

## Product & value proposition

- Cloud-native spreadsheet replacing Excel for data analysis workflows.
- Key differentiators: built-in SQL editor with autocomplete, direct connectors to databases (BigQuery, MySQL, Postgres, Redshift, Snowflake, Salesforce, Stripe, Plaid, QuickBooks, Import Scripts), pivot tables, calculated columns, collaborative editing/viewing, versioning, and scheduled queries.
- Pain points addressed: stale exports, broken #REF / #NULL / #DIV/0 errors, version chaos (v22_MASTER.xls), no lineage on dashboards, no collaboration.
- Roadmap (next 12 months): Google Sheets importer, cross-datasource joins, 10+ SaaS integrations, Equals-as-a-datasource, Slack/Email push, OpenAI for SQL, report versioning, automated dashboarding.
- Early customer: Notion - automating Revenue Recognition report; working toward ARR build in Equals.

## Revenue model

- Subscription / ARR model - MRR/ARR tracked from month 1.
- Pricing not explicitly stated in deck; revenue per customer implied from slide 6 data:
  - January 2022: 10 customers, $3,000 New ARR → ~$300 ACV per new customer.
  - May 2022: 400 new customers, $125,148 New ARR → ~$313 ACV per new customer.
  - Average ACV for new customers across Jan–Jun 2022: roughly $280–$320/year (seat-based or team plan).
- GTM: content-led (drives website traffic → leads → demos → customers) + direct sales (Head of Sales + SDR on team).
- Buyer personas: Founders, Finance, CTOs (top 3).

## Traction & metrics

All figures from slide 06 (product screenshot of live Equals workbook - "2022 Growth" sheet, Jan–Jun 2022):

| Month | New Customers | New ARR | Cancelled | Cancelled ARR | ARR Growth MtM | Customer Churn | ARR Churn | Cumulative Customers |
| -- | -- | -- | -- | -- | -- | -- | -- | -- |
| Jan 2022 | 10 | $3,000 | 0 | $0 | - | - | - | 10 |
| Feb 2022 | 30 | $24,000 | 0 | $0 | 267% | - | - | 40 |
| Mar 2022 | 29 | $21,800 | 0 | $0 | 65% | - | - | 69 |
| Apr 2022 | 150 | $92,200 | 10 | $30,000 | 207% | 4.6% | 5.4% | 209 |
| May 2022 | 400 | $125,148 | 32 | $34,520 | 69% | 5.2% | 3.7% | 577 |
| Jun 2022 | 450 | $140,791 | 16 | $16,760 | 112% | ~4.0% | 2.1% | 1,011 |

- As of June 2022: 1,011 cumulative customers; deck appears prepared for September 2022 fundraise.
- Slide 17 headline states "We've grown to [X] ARR since our first sneak peek of the product in April" - the ARR figure is redacted in the image (blank chart, no axis values). Cannot determine exact ARR as of pitch date.
- Implied ARR as of June 2022 from table: cumulative ARR = sum of Net New ARR = roughly $360K+ (exact running total not shown in deck).
- Engagement: paid customers active ~3 days/week (DAU/WAU implied ≈ 43%).
- Funnel: website traffic → leads → demos with consistent conversion.
- Conversion rates tracked weekly, cohorted by first sign-up week.

## Unit economics

- Customer churn: 4.6%–5.2% per month (April–May 2022), declining to ~4.0% by June 2022.
- ARR/MRR churn: 5.4% (April) → 3.7% (May) → 2.1% (June) - improving trend.
- Gross MRR churn tracked separately from customer churn.

## Competition / moat

- Named competitors/alternatives: JetBrains, Hex, Deepnote, Looker (Google), Tableau, Chartio, Jupyter, Causal, Mode, Sisense.
- Deck's framing: "Enough with the spreadsheet alternatives" - positioning Equals as the spreadsheet itself, not another BI/notebook tool.
- Moat claims: calculation engine depth (100+ functions, pivot table, dependency graph, scroll performance), native DB connectors, versioning, and collaboration - things BI tools don't have; things Excel lacks.
- Network effect not explicitly claimed; collaboration feature implies some stickiness.

## Team & funding ask / use of funds

**Team**:
- Bobby Pinero - CEO & Co-founder: Intercom exec; built FP&A, Accounting, Biz Ops, Biz Analytics, Data Engineering, Legal; scaled $1M → $180M+ ARR over 7 years.
- Ben McRedmond - CPO & Co-founder: First employee at Intercom; led Growth $1M → $50M ARR (30+ person team); founded Consider (email startup 2017–2020).
- Jamie Oaler - Head of Engineering (10 yrs).
- William Collins - Founding Engineer (10 yrs).
- Emmanuel Olomolaiye - Founding Engineer (6 yrs).
- Mike Stewart - Software Engineer (14 yrs).
- Mauro Ribeiro - Software Engineer (18 yrs).
- Martin Rariga - Founding Designer (10 yrs).
- Joon Choi - Head of Sales (7 yrs).
- Leo Zhou - SDR (1 yr).
- Abbey Minondo - Business Operations (3 yrs).

**Funding ask**:
- Series A: ~$15M.
- Use of funds:
  - GTM: scale Sales, Marketing, Customer Success to 22 HC; accelerate content + product launches; explore new channels.
  - R&D: 3× engineering headcount in next 18 months to 22 HC; continue rapid product shipping.

## Recommended financial model

- **Archetype + why:** SaaS ARR / MRR model with cohort-level churn. Equals sells on annual/monthly subscriptions, tracks ARR, MRR churn, and customer churn separately - a standard SaaS ARR waterfall (Gross New ARR + Expansion − Churn = Net New ARR) is the natural fit. The deck explicitly shows this structure in their own internal Equals workbook and in the churn table.

- **Forecast horizon & granularity:** 3 years monthly (July 2022 → June 2025). Monthly granularity matches the MRR reporting cadence the company already uses. Series A runway planning horizon is typically 18–24 months; 36 months gives investors a full growth arc.

- **Key drivers & assumptions:**

  *Revenue*
  - New customers added per month: 450 in June 2022; grow at ~15% MoM in H2 2022 tapering to ~8% by end of year 1 as GTM scales - consistent with Series A hiring plan but no specific growth rate stated in deck.
  - Average ACV per new customer: ~$300/year ($25/month); modest price increase to ~$360/year by end of year 1 as team plan / enterprise tiers develop.
  - Expansion ARR: 0% in base case (no upsell/expansion revenue described in deck - single pricing tier implied); add 5% NRR expansion in bull case once enterprise tier launches.
  - Gross MRR churn: 2.1% in June 2022; improves to 1.5% by end of year 1 as product matures and customer Churn stabilises post-product-market-fit phase.
  - Customer churn: ~4.0% monthly (June 2022); different from dollar churn due to mix - track both.

  *Costs*
  - Starting headcount: 11; grow to 44 over 18 months per funding plan (22 GTM + 22 R&D).
  - Average fully-loaded salary: $180K/year (US B2B SaaS market rate for mixed eng/sales/ops team).
  - COGS: 15% of ARR (hosting, DB connectors, support); typical for early SaaS.
  - S&M: ramps from ~40% of ARR to ~60% in year 1 as GTM scales; target <40% by year 3.
  - R&D: ~50% of ARR in year 1 given 3× engineering headcount growth; normalises to ~30% by year 3.
  - G&A: ~15% of ARR; stable.

  *Cash / runway*
  - Starting cash: ~$15M Series A raised (per funding ask) + any prior funding (not disclosed).
  - Burn = Headcount cost + COGS + other opex − ARR collected; monthly invoicing (MRR basis).

- **Scenarios (Base / Bull / Bear - which variables flex):**
  - Base: new customer growth tapers from 15% MoM to 8% MoM; churn at 2%/month gross; ACV flat at $300.
  - Bull: new customer growth holds at 15% MoM for 12 months (sales team fires); churn drops to 1%/month; ACV grows to $400 with enterprise tier.
  - Bear: new customer growth declines to 5% MoM (content/SEO channel slows); churn stays at 3–4%/month (product-market-fit less sticky than hoped); ACV flat.

- **Required sheets / outputs:**
  1. `Assumptions` - all drivers in one place, colour-coded inputs.
  2. `ARR Waterfall` - monthly: Gross New ARR, Expansion ARR, Churned ARR, Net New ARR, Cumulative ARR; mirrored customer waterfall.
  3. `Cohort Analysis` - monthly cohorts showing retention curve and LTV build.
  4. `P&L` - monthly Income Statement: Revenue (ARR recognised), COGS, Gross Profit, S&M, R&D, G&A, EBITDA.
  5. `Headcount Plan` - department-level HC ramp (GTM / R&D / G&A) tied to salary assumptions.
  6. `Cash & Runway` - starting cash, monthly burn, runway in months.
  7. `Funnel Model` - website visits → leads → demos → customers (conversion rates by stage); feeds new customer adds.
  8. `Scenario Toggle` - Base / Bull / Bear switch driving P&L and runway.
  9. `Dashboard` - KPI summary: ARR, MRR, customers, gross churn, net churn, burn, runway, CAC payback.

## Frequently asked questions

### Is the Equals Series A financial model free?

Yes. The Equals Series A model is a free Excel download with live formulas.

### Can I change the assumptions?

Yes. The workbook is editable and its live formulas recalculate when assumptions change.