# Sharpist Financial Model B2B SaaS platform delivering one-on-one digital coaching and learning to enterprise employees - Canonical: https://finamodel.com/startups/sharpist - Excel download: https://finamodel.com/startup-models/sharpist.xlsx - Category: Enterprise/Security - Model type: SaaS ARR / Valuation - Funding round: Series A - Funding: $23M - Founded: 2022 - Geography: DACH (Germany, Austria, Switzerland) - primary market as of deck date; expansion implied by roadmap language - Customer: B2B ## About the company Sharpist provides one-on-one digital coaching and learning for enterprise employees. Its platform is licensed to HR buyers, while a network of coaches supplies the human service that makes development programmes more personalised. The company sells annual recurring contracts priced around seats or coaching credits. An emerging group-coaching offering adds a second delivery and margin profile, while account growth can come from adding employees, coaching credits, and programmes. The model builds ARR from enterprise customers, employees covered, credits, expansion, and renewals. It separately forecasts coach supply and delivery costs, group-coaching revenue, gross margin, sales capacity, customer success, product investment, and cash runway. ## 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 - Holistic digital coaching platform: goal assessment → algorithmic coach matching → video 1:1 coaching sessions → micro-tasks → progress tracking - Three stakeholder layers: Learner (mobile/web app), HR Customer (people analytics dashboard, cohort onboarding), Coach (session management) - Key product metrics (platform engagement): 98% license activation rate, 92% first coach-match accuracy, 92% coaching session utilization, 95% micro-task upvotes, 5x mobile interactions vs. baseline - Roadmap items in deck: "Coaching credits" (flexible session allocation, launched May 2021), "Group coaching" (June 2021 - cited as improving gross margin), Premium content, Cohort analytics ## Market - Total addressable market: $300B+ corporate learning market, with $150B rapidly shifting from offline to digital - Segment breakdown (from timeline chart, slide 7): - One-on-one digital coaching: $1.8B, CAGR 73% - Learning experience systems: $0.6B, CAGR 25% - People analytics: $2.2B, CAGR 14% - Cohort/social/group learning: part of the $150B offline-to-digital shift - Sources cited: ICF, Grand View, MarketWatch, Statista, Wonder ## Revenue model - Enterprise SaaS license: companies purchase coaching licences for employees (seat-based or credit-based) - Session-credit model: employees receive a coaching plan (e.g. "30 min every 14 days") with a set number of sessions/minutes that expire on a fixed date - "Top-up" mechanism implies add-on purchase beyond base licence - Group coaching introduced June 2021 - cited as improving gross margin vs. 1:1 coaching; suggests blended delivery model - Coaches are paid per session (supply-side cost); platform takes a margin - Sales channel: direct enterprise sales (VP Sales + Regional VP roles on team slide) - No per-user pricing tiers, upsell tiers, or ACV/ARR per customer figures disclosed in deck ## Traction & metrics - Market position: "Market-leader in DACH" - ARR growth (y-o-y): redacted - TCV bookings growth (q-o-q): redacted - Projected ARR FY 2021: redacted - Gross margin: redacted - ARR trajectory chart (slide 9): monthly bars from Jan 2021 to Dec 2023; shows steep upward curve; all Y-axis values redacted - Enterprise client count / client names: redacted (stacked client-logo chart shows clear upward growth in client count, 2020→2021) - Platform engagement KPIs (confirmed as non-redacted): - 98% license activation - 92% first match accuracy - 92% session utilization - 95% micro-task upvote rate - 200% increase in micro-task completion rate - 100% of HR customers tracked progress on 32 focus areas monthly - 80% of coaching sessions had coach-assigned micro tasks ## Unit economics - Gross margin: figure redacted - Group coaching cited as improving gross margin vs. 1:1 (directional signal only) ## Competition / moat - Competitive framing: positions against offline coaching and legacy LMS / e-learning platforms - Slide 6 title: "The #1 interface for people development of the future. The winning learning experience of today." - brand claim, no explicit comp table in deck - Moat signals: algorithmic coach matching (92% first-match accuracy), proprietary engagement loop (goals → coaching → micro-tasks → analytics), people analytics dashboard for HR buyers - No explicit competitor comparison matrix in deck ## Team & funding ask / use of funds - CEO / Co-Founder: Hendrik Schriefer - "Business Punk Top 10 thinker in HR for 2021"; background: Rocket - COO / Co-Founder: Fabian Niedballa - background: GetYourGuide - CPO / Co-Founder: Khurram Masood - Forbes Contributor; background: ALU, McKinsey - VP Sales: Tine Schlaak - McKinsey & Company, Udacity - Regional VP Sales: Dr. Jonas Vrany - Google, LinkedIn - VP Customer Success: Karla Calinawan - Everpi - VP Engineering: Joshua Hoffman - "Inventor of Prometheus", SoundCloud - Head of Network Ops: Luigi D'Angelo - GetYourGuide, Booking.com - Head of People: Samir Keck - Flixbus, Zalando - Contact: hendrik.schriefer@sharpist.com - Funding ask: redacted --- ## Recommended financial model - **Archetype + why:** Enterprise SaaS ARR model. Revenue is seat/credit-based licences sold to corporate HR buyers on annual contracts; the business tracks ARR, TCV bookings, and gross margin - all standard SaaS KPIs explicitly referenced in the deck. The emerging group-coaching line introduces a blended-margin layer worth modelling separately. - **Forecast horizon & granularity:** Monthly for Year 1 (Jan–Dec 2021 actuals/forecast already in deck); quarterly for Years 2–3 (2022–2023 per the ARR chart). 3-year model total. - **Key drivers & assumptions:** | Driver | Value / Rationale | | -- | -- | | Starting ARR (Jan 2021) | Unknown - ARR chart redacted; placeholder €X to be filled from data room | | YoY ARR growth rate | Metric exists but redacted; 100–150% for 2021 based on "market-leader" positioning and steep chart curve | | New enterprise logos added per quarter | Directional: client chart shows rapid logo accumulation 2020→2021; assume ~5–10 new logos/quarter in 2021 | | Gross margin - 1:1 coaching | Redacted; ~50–60% (marketplace coaching platforms typically 40–65%; group coaching improves this) | | Gross margin - group coaching | Directionally higher than 1:1 per slide 6; 65–75% | | Revenue mix shift to group coaching | 0% in 2021 (launched June 2021), growing to ~20% of sessions by 2023 | | Churn / NRR | No churn data in deck; assume 90–95% gross retention (enterprise HR-tech benchmark); NRR >100% via seat expansion | | Headcount / OpEx | 9 named senior hires visible; team size not given; assume 30–60 FTE scaling to 100+ by 2023 | | Coach network cost | Largest COGS driver; assume coach paid 40–50% of session revenue; group coaching dilutes this | - **Scenarios (Base / Bull / Bear - which variables flex):** - **Base:** ARR growth 100% YoY (2021→2022), 80% (2022→2023); gross margin stable at ~55%; churn 7% - **Bull:** ARR growth 150%/120%; faster mix shift to group coaching lifts margin to 65%+; NRR 110% from seat expansion - **Bear:** Growth decelerates to 60%/50%; churn 12% (enterprise budget cuts); gross margin pressured by coach cost inflation - **Required sheets / outputs:** 1. Assumptions - all drivers in one place with scenario toggle (Base/Bull/Bear) 2. ARR Bridge - new ARR, expansion ARR, churned ARR, ending ARR; monthly granularity 3. Revenue - 1:1 coaching vs. group coaching split; total MRR → ARR 4. P&L (Income Statement) - Revenue, COGS (coach payments, platform costs), Gross Profit, S&M, R&D, G&A, EBITDA 5. Headcount plan - by function (Sales, CS, Eng, G&A) 6. Cash & Runway - operating burn, cash-out date, funding need 7. KPI Dashboard - ARR, MRR growth, gross margin %, NRR, logo count, CAC payback ## Frequently asked questions ### Is the Sharpist financial model free? Yes. The Sharpist 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.