Pulley Financial Model
Enterprise/Security Startup Financials (Free Excel Download)
SaaS cap table management platform for hyper-growth startups, covering equity issuance, 409A valuations, scenario modeling, and compliance.
professionals from Deloitte
Used by professionals from
About this model
Pulley provides cap-table management for high-growth startups, covering equity issuance, 409A valuations, scenario modelling, and compliance. It gives founders and finance teams a software alternative to managing ownership changes through fragmented spreadsheets and advisors.
The product uses a freemium Startup tier to acquire customers, then monetises paid tiers on a per-stakeholder-per-month basis. 409A valuations provide a separate service attach, while a growing cap table creates a natural expansion driver.
The model combines free-to-paid conversion, customers, stakeholders, pricing tiers, renewal, and churn with a separate 409A attach-rate schedule. Support, valuation-delivery costs, gross margin, acquisition, product spending, and cash runway show the operating plan.
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 Pulley
pulley.com
How to build a detailed financial model for Pulley
A complete walkthrough of the business, drivers, and assumptions behind the downloadable Pulley model - distilled from its pitch deck and publicly available information.
Product & value proposition
- Platform for companies, founders, employees, and investors to manage equity (cap table, option grants, 409A, scenario modeling, digital certificates, SAFE/convertible tracking).
- Differentiators: 15-minute onboarding (vs. weeks for incumbents); 5-day 409A (vs. ~1 month); self-serve UI; dedicated concierge support; 10x faster than competitors claimed.
- Lifecycle coverage: Inception → Raise → Hire → Build → IPO path.
- Features: cap table management, equity plan management, scenario modeling, digital certificates, investor/employee portals, ACH option exercising, Rule 701 analysis, custom reports, export to Excel.
Market
- Private company cap table management market (SAM proxy): $2,300,000,000 total market size.
- Incumbent revenue (2019 proxy): Carta $100M (projected), Shareworks $120M - total $220M; incumbent market share only 9.57%; available market share 90.43%.
- Transfer agent market (longer-term TAM): $3,712M total - Computershare 40% / $1,480M, AST 25% / $926M, Others 35% / $1,296M.
- Expansion TAM references: Computershare comparable (~$10B company), First Republic Bank ($16B), Forge Global ($1B latest round), DocuSign ($10B).
Revenue model
Tiered per-stakeholder SaaS subscription:
| Tier | Price | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Startup | Free (<20 stakeholders) | Freemium acquisition |
| Standard | $10 / stakeholder / month | Includes free 409A with annual contract |
| Growth | $20 / stakeholder / month | Adds accounting & compliance |
| Enterprise | Contact Sales | Transfer agent, Pre-IPO path, SSO, invoicing |
- Primary unit: number of stakeholders on the cap table (scales with company headcount and funding rounds).
- Secondary revenue stream implied: 409A valuations bundled at Standard tier (annual contract), potentially sold separately or with margin to third-party provider (slide 17 shows Aranca partnership for 409A delivery).
- Distribution: word-of-mouth / YC ecosystem; recommended cap table tool by Y Combinator.
Traction & metrics
- 62% of the last YC Batch picked Pulley.
- Companies raising $20M+ are choosing Pulley.
- Named customers include Fast, HelixNano, Clubhouse, Namebase.
- Recommended cap table product by Y Combinator.
- No revenue figures, ARR, customer count, or MoM growth rates disclosed.
Competition / moat
- Direct competitors: Carta (projected 2019 revenue $100M), Shareworks ($120M revenue).
- Transfer agent incumbents: Computershare, AST.
- Moat claims: YC recommendation + word-of-mouth network effects within YC batch ecosystem; speed advantage (onboarding + 409A turnaround); self-serve vs. high-touch incumbents; customer listening + 1-week feature shipping cadence.
- Feature parity claimed vs. incumbents at comparable or lower price.
Team & funding ask / use of funds
- Founders/team: Yin (CEO/Founder - sold Android Systems Application to MSFT, YC alum, Stanford CS), Mark (Sr Engineer, Docker/Crowdflower), Wil (Sr Engineer, Pebble, YC alum), Yoshio (Engineer, Radius Intelligence), Austin (Engineer, CZI, Stanford), Caitlyn (Designer, RSDI).
- Investors: Stripe, Y Combinator, 8VC, General Catalyst, Caffeinated Capital.
Recommended financial model
- Archetype + why: SaaS ARR model with freemium-to-paid conversion funnel. Revenue is per-stakeholder/month across tiers - this is a seat/unit expansion model. The freemium Startup tier is the acquisition engine; conversion to Standard/Growth drives ARR. 409A can be modeled as a separate attach-rate revenue line. This is an operating startup, not an M&A or SPAC deck.
- Forecast horizon & granularity: 3 years monthly (Year 1–2 monthly, Year 3 quarterly rollup). Cohort-based new customer additions, with stakeholder expansion within each customer.
- Key drivers & assumptions:
| Driver | Value / Source |
|---|---|
| Standard tier price | $10 / stakeholder / month |
| Growth tier price | $20 / stakeholder / month |
| Enterprise tier price | $50–75 / stakeholder / month; contact-sales, estimated from market norms |
| Avg stakeholders per Standard/Growth company | 30–75; median startup has 20–50 option holders + founders + investors |
| Freemium-to-paid conversion rate | 15–25%; YC cohort capture rate is high (62% of batch) but most are pre-revenue/seed |
| YC batch size as addressable pipeline | ~200 companies/batch, 2 batches/year; 62% pick Pulley = ~248 new logos/year from YC alone |
| Broader market new company formation | US startup formation ~50,000+/year; Pulley targeting fast-growth; assume 5,000 TAM/year |
| Monthly churn (gross logo) | 1.5–3%; cap table software is sticky (switching cost high - all historical equity records) |
| Net revenue retention | 110–120%; stakeholder count grows as companies hire and raise |
| 409A attach rate (Standard annual) | 60% of annual Standard customers take 409A bundle |
| 409A revenue per valuation | $1,500–$3,000; Aranca partnership suggests cost-plus or bundled margin |
| Gross margin | 70–80%; low COGS (cloud infra + 409A third-party cost); support-heavy model compresses early margin |
| S&M as % of revenue (early) | 40–60%; word-of-mouth dominant but sales headcount needed for Growth/Enterprise tier |
| R&D as % of revenue | 30–40%; 6-person engineering-heavy team |
| G&A as % of revenue | 10–15% |
- Scenarios (Base / Bull / Bear - which variables flex):
- Bear: lower YC batch penetration (40%), higher churn (3%), slow enterprise upsell, no 409A attach
- Base: 62% YC batch, 1.5% churn, moderate stakeholder expansion, 60% 409A attach
- Bull: YC penetration expands beyond YC to broader VC-backed market, NRR >120%, early enterprise wins, 409A at premium pricing
- Required sheets / outputs:
- Assumptions - all drivers with toggle for scenario
- Customer cohort model - new logos by month, tier mix, avg stakeholders, MRR per cohort
- ARR bridge - new ARR, expansion ARR, churned ARR, net new ARR
- Revenue build - Standard + Growth + Enterprise subscription + 409A fees
- P&L - Revenue → Gross Profit → EBITDA (with S&M, R&D, G&A)
- Headcount plan (engineering-heavy)
- Cash / runway (no raise size in deck; use as scenario input)
- KPI dashboard - ARR, MRR, logo count, avg stakeholders/customer, NRR, CAC payback
Frequently asked
Is the Pulley financial model free?+
Yes. The Pulley 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 Pulley'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
Created by ex-finance professionals
Hey, I’m Alex and I created Finamodel.
Over my years in the finance industry I kept building the same models over and over again. Same structure, same assumptions, different logo. So I started building frameworks to turn them into clean, reusable templates.
Every model here is one I’d actually use for a client, and I personally vet each one before it goes up.
I’m not an expert in every industry, but I’ve built enough models to know what belongs in one. And when something is completely foreign to me, I reach out to my network for experts to work on our models with us.
Having a template library on hand cuts a first build from hours to minutes.
Need help finding your model? You’ll find me in the Finamodel app!
Other Enterprise/Security Startup Financial Models
Browse another startup in the same category.
AgBiome
AgBiome is a microbial-platform agtech company that discovers, develops, and commercialises biological crop protection products (and licences the platform across adjacent markets).
Alation
Enterprise data intelligence platform - data catalog, governance, and metadata management for large organisations.
Archer SPAC
Archera
Cloud resource automation platform that continuously optimizes AWS commitment purchases, de-risks overcommitment, and automates FinOps workflows.
Ardoq
Cloud-native Enterprise Architecture (EA) SaaS platform that helps large enterprises navigate digital transformation through automated data collection, graph-based architecture modelling, and change impact analysis.
Ascend
Ascend.io is an enterprise big data automation platform ("Enterprise Intelligence Platform") that abstracts away the complexity of big data engineering so non-experts can build and run data pipelines.
Athennian
Cloud-based legal entity management system (EMS) uniting entity data with workflow and document automation.
Auditboard
Cloud-based integrated risk management platform connecting audit, risk, compliance, and ESG teams across the enterprise.
