Where do I Create Calculations?
Users can create calculations in our Metrics Library which is available on the metrics tab for an individual portfolio company or in the information request creation workflow.
Creating a Calculation in a Portfolio Company's Metrics Tab.
Navigate to the metrics page for a given company.
2. Click on the Add Metrics button to open the Metrics Library.
3. In the metrics Library, click Create Custom Metric to create a new metric.
4. In the Create Formula box, enter the formula for your metric.
Video Walkthrough
How Do I Create Calculations?
Calculations consists of individual pieces which can be combined together into one cohesive calculation. The individual pieces are Operators, Parentheses, Numbers, and Categories (Operands).
Operators
Operators are mathematical terms used in calculations. Users can use the following symbols in their calculations.
+for addition-for subtraction/for division*for multiplication
Parentheses
() operate just like they do in math or computer science splitting up longer equations into individual pieces.
For example, (10/2) + (5-3) would resolve to 5 + 2 because the items in the parentheses are evaluated just like an ordinary math formula.
Numbers
Users can use numbers in formulas.
If you wanted to divide sales pipeline by 4 to get a weighted pipeline, the formula would be
{Pipeline} / 4 the 4 in this case is just a number while the Pipeline value is an operand.
Categories (Operands)
Users can use existing categories like Revenue, Gross Margin, any other Standard Metric, or any other custom metric in their calculation. These Categories are called Operands in our formulas and can be thought of as a variable.
For example, the formula for Gross Profit would be {Revenue} - {CostOfGoodsSold} = Gross Profit. Syntactically, Operands are wrapped in {} to indicate that the word is an Operand.
Formulas apply across all dates for each company in a firms portfolio. Operands will pull the value for the given date in the calculation. The formula example for Gross Profit would apply for all values of Revenue and Cost of Goods sold that the firm has. Q3 2023 would use the Revenue and Cost of Goods Sold from that quarter and Q2 2010 would use the values from that quarter.
Offsets
Users can reference data from a different time period by including an offset in a formula. Offsets are marked using brackets and an offset amount as part of an Operand.
To calculate new customers, the formula is current period customer count - last periods customer count . This can be expressed as {Customers} - {Customers[-1]} .
The [-1] in the formula indicates that were referring to the prior period. For quarterly metrics, the [-1] would reference the quarter before. For monthly metrics, this would reference the month before.
Users can also reference consistent time periods by using a period argument as part of the offset. To compare a metric year over year, the offset would be [-1Y].
Case Statements
Users can use conditional logic in calculations by leveraging CASE statements. CASE statements use the following syntax.
CASE
WHEN <condition1> THEN <action1>
WHEN <condition2> THEN <action2>
ELSE <action3>
END
Each WHEN clause allows the user to specify a condition like Revenue > 10 . If this condition is true, then the THEN action is done. If the when clause is not done, the function checks the next WHEN condition.
For example, if I wanted to discount the valuation of my companies by 50% if their Runway drops below 12 months with a further discount of 75% if they have under 3 months of runway, I could specify the following formula.
CASE
WHEN {Runway} < 3 THEN {Valuation} *.25
WHEN {Runway} < 12 THEN {Valuation} *.5
ELSE {Valuation}
END
If Runway is less than 3 months, Valuation is multiplied by 25%. If Runway is less than 12 months but greater than or equal to 3 months, it’s multiplied by 50%. Otherwise, Valuation is returned as is!
Examples of Formulas
Burn Multiple = {NetBurn} / {NetNewARR}
Average ACV = {ARR} / {Customers}
ARR Growth Rate = ({ARR}/{ARR[-1]}) -1
Profit Margin = {NetIncome} / {Revenue}
Rule of 40 = {ARRGrowthRate} + {ProfitMargin}
Additional Functions
LTM() - Last twelve months of a metric
Example: LTM({Revenue})
Annualized() - A metric estimated over the course of a year
Example: Annualized({Revenue})
Coalesce() - Returns the first non-null metric in a list
Example: You're looking to find the combined value of two metrics. If one of the metrics has no value (is null), you still want the value of the other metric in your resulting calculation.
Coalesce({CashInBank} + {CashEquivalents}, {CashInBank}, {CashEquivalents})
Even if one of the values is null, you will get the other value in your calculation
Example Video Creating a New Calculated Metrics for EBITDA Margin