VentureAdvantage

ROI Calculator

Item	Note	Value Do Not enter commas or dollar signs. Double Click to select number.
Hurdle Rate	Enter as a decimal
Initial Investment	Enter as a negative number *
Year End 1 cash flow	Year 1 cash generation **
Year End 2 cash flow	Year 2 cash generation **
Year End 3 cash flow	Year 3 cash generation **
Year End 4 cash flow	Year 4 cash generation **
Year End 5 cash flow	Year 5 cash generation **

		This box below is a calculated value.
Net Present Value (NPV) ***	Accept if result > 0 ****
An NPV result greater than zero means that you will exceed the required rate-of-return (you will exceed the "hurdle rate"), which means the investment is acceptable. Example: A seed investor is considering investing in a startup company. Given the current market conditions, the seed investor chooses to use a hurdle rate between 50% to 100% to compensate for risk. The seed investor considers 2M shares for investing $2M in the startup after determining that the 2M shares will have a potential market value of $37.5/share (less tax) in 5 years. To determine if the seed investor will accept or reject this offering, enter the following numbers below into the calculator above: Hurdle rate: 0.5 Initial Investment: -2000000 ($2M investment, enter as negative number) Year End 1 through Year End 4 cash flows = 0 (no shares sold until year 5) Year End 5 cash flow 60000000 (2M shares x ($37.5/share - $7.5/share tax)) Result at 0.5 hurdle rate = 5901234 (Accept) Hurdle rate: 1.0 Initial Investment: -2000000 ($2M investment, enter as negative number) Year End 1 through Year End 4 cash flows = 0 (no shares sold until year 5) Year End 5 cash flow 60000000 (2M shares x ($37.5/share - $7.5/share tax)) Result at 1.0 hurdle rate = -125000 (Reject) So the answer depends on how much risk the investor wants to take. If the investor is willing to accept a 0.5 hurdle rate, then the investment is worthwhile. However, if the investor will only accept a 1.0 hurdle rate, the investment would be rejected. Startups can lower the risk to investors through establishing a solid management team, identifying intellectual property, forming strategic alliances, having a customer base, etc... You try it! Remember use no dollar signs or commas, and use a negative sign for the Initial Investment and use a positive number for money earned.
* This is the initial money received from investors, or it may be your own investment money. If this is a new project, early year cash flows will likely be negative due to design, development, marketing, launch, etc. * The NPV formula here is: where I = the initial investment outlay, c = the annual cash flow at date t, and r = the hurdle rate (the weighted average cost of capital including a risk factor). **** A result greater than zero indicates the return on the investment (ROI) is greater than the required return (Hurdle Rate).