Vangst Financial Model
Marketplace Startup Financials (Free Excel Download)
Vangst is the cannabis industry's all-in-one hiring platform - permanent placement, temp staffing (GIGS), and compliance tooling from a single dashboard.
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About this model
Vangst is a hiring platform for the cannabis industry, combining temporary staffing, permanent placement, compliance, and employer branding. Its GIGS product vets workers, manages payroll and time tracking, and handles the regulatory complexity that comes with cannabis employment.
The company reported that 80% of the largest cannabis businesses use Vangst, alongside 1,200-plus customers and more than 150,000 gigs filled. Revenue comes primarily from the markup on temporary staffing, with fee-per-hire permanent placements and job-listing or career-page products as additional streams.
The model is a staffing marketplace P&L. Temporary worker hours, bill rate, worker pay rate, and client accounts build gross billings and staffing margin; permanent placements and job products sit separately. Fill rate, worker supply, payroll working capital, customer retention, and regulatory compliance costs determine profitability.
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 Vangst
vangst.com
How to build a detailed financial model for Vangst
A complete walkthrough of the business, drivers, and assumptions behind the downloadable Vangst model - distilled from its pitch deck and publicly available information.
Product & value proposition
Three interconnected products:
- GIGS - on-demand / temp cannabis staffing; Vangst sources, vets, credentialed workers, handles payroll, workers' comp, time tracking, and compliance
- Vetted - permanent placement / direct hire pipeline with verified cannabis credentials
- Career Page & Job Boost - employer branding and sponsored job listings
Value prop: solves the full cannabis hiring stack (sourcing → credentialing → compliance → payroll) in one dashboard, addressing the regulatory complexity unique to cannabis (state license verification, changing employment law, COVID protocols).
Future revenue layers noted: Training, Community Ads, Payroll (expanded), Advanced Search.
Market
- US Wholesale Cannabis Market: $9B (2020) → $100B (2030), 27% CAGR
- Comparable benchmarks: Alcohol $125B (2020), Tobacco $100B (2020)
- US cannabis employment (full-time): 315K (2020) → 670K (2025)
- US cannabis employment (part-time): 31.5K (2020) → 67K (2025)
- Vangst-defined SAM: $3.1B opportunity to fill cannabis jobs
Revenue model
Two confirmed revenue streams:
- GIGS (temp staffing) - take-rate on gross wages billed; Vangst acts as employer of record, charges client a bill rate markup over worker pay rate. Exact markup % not disclosed.
- Permanent placement / Vetted - likely fee-per-hire or percentage-of-salary; specifics not disclosed.
- Job Boost / Career Page - SaaS subscription or listing fee; specifics not disclosed.
Traction & metrics
All from slide 3 unless noted:
- 80% of the largest cannabis businesses in the world use Vangst
- 150,000+ cannabis gigs filled
- 1,200+ customers
- Revenue run-rate EOY 2021: Confidential (redacted)
- Overall revenue trajectory: growing from 2016, dipped at COVID (2020–2021), projections ramp steeply 2022*–2024* - no y-axis values visible
- GIGS revenue: consistent MoM growth Jan–Oct (year implied ~2021); no y-axis dollar values visible
- GIGS live in 5 states; adult-use legal in 19 States + DC (expansion opportunity)
- Team headcount: 55
Competition / moat
Competitors identified:
- FlowerHire - boutique recruiting agency, no tech, no GIGS; customer count confidential
- HEMP STAFF - boutique staffing agency, no tech
- Viridian Staffing - boutique staffing agency, no tech
Vangst moat: only technology-enabled platform; 1,200+ customers vs competitors with undisclosed/smaller bases; 80% penetration of largest operators; employer-of-record infrastructure creates switching costs; brand and compliance expertise in a regulated industry.
Team & funding ask / use of funds
Team:
- Karson Humiston, Founder & CEO - founded company in undergrad; Forbes 30 Under 30 (2018)
- Matt Karlin, CFO - 15 yrs finance/ops; early hire at Acell ($500K → $90M → acquired by Integra IART)
- Bree Thomas, CPO - 20 yrs product/marketing/growth; Turing board member
- Ciera Parks, Head of People - 15 yrs people ops
- Craig Leland, Director of GIGS Ops - 15 yrs staffing; leadership at Robert Half & Adecco
Investors: Lerer Hippeau, Casa Verde Capital, Colle Capital
Recommended financial model
- Archetype + why: Staffing marketplace / HRtech hybrid. GIGS (temp staffing) drives the majority of revenue and should be modelled as a gross billings → take-rate model (like a staffing agency), while Permanent Placement is a fee-per-hire stream and Job Boost/Career Page is a SaaS-lite recurring subscription. The integrated model is a 3-statement with a marketplace GMV layer on top.
- Forecast horizon & granularity: 5-year (2022–2026), monthly for Year 1 then annual; GIGS modelled monthly given the Jan–Oct MoM growth shown in deck.
- Key drivers & assumptions:
- *GIGS - active states*: 5 at deck date; expand to 19+ over forecast
- *GIGS - gigs filled per state per month*: spread over operating history; ~2,000–4,000/mo in mature states]
- *GIGS - average bill rate per gig*:
- *GIGS - take rate*:
- *Permanent placement - fee per hire*:
- *Permanent placement - placements per month*:
- *Job Boost / Career Page ARPU*:
- *Customer count*: 1,200+;
- *COVID revenue dip (2020–2021)*: visible in deck; treat as one-time; recovery baked into actuals
- *Gross margin on GIGS*:
- *OpEx / headcount*: 55 staff;
- *Capex*: minimal; tech platform
- Scenarios (Base / Bull / Bear - which variables flex):
- *Bear*: Slower legalization rollout (stay at 5 states through 2023); GIGS take rate compresses to 18%; customer growth 8% YoY
- *Base*: Expand to 12 states by 2024; 25% take rate; 20% customer growth
- *Bull*: Federal legalization accelerates; national rollout by 2025; 30% take rate on scale; 35% customer growth; Job Boost/Training become meaningful revenue lines
- Required sheets / outputs:
- Assumptions - all drivers above, colour-coded, scenario toggle (Base/Bull/Bear)
- GIGS Revenue - monthly: states × gigs/state × avg gross billing × take rate
- Permanent Placement Revenue - quarterly: active customers × placement rate × avg fee
- SaaS/Listings Revenue - monthly: subscribers × ARPU
- Consolidated P&L - gross revenue, gross profit by stream, OpEx (S&M, R&D, G&A, GIGS ops), EBITDA
- Headcount plan - ops-heavy (GIGS coordinators, compliance, payroll) + tech
- Balance Sheet & Cash Flow (simplified 3-statement)
- KPI dashboard - gigs filled cumulative, active states, customer count, take rate, gross margin %
Frequently asked
Is the Vangst financial model free?+
Yes. The Vangst 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 Vangst'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
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