If I do not have current financials, can I start the process with available financials anyways?

Company financial information should be up to date as of either the valuation date or the end of the month before the Valuation Date.

For example, if you want a Valuation Date of May 15, 2020, then we would need Income Statements for the twelve month periods of May 2019 - April 2020, and May 2018 - April 2019 (if available), as well as a balance sheet dated either May 15, 2020 (the valuation date) or April 30, 2020 (end of the previous month).

Our books aren't closed yet for the valuation period. Can we submit with lagged financials?

Yes. Ideally you'll submit financials as of the valuation date (or the month-end immediately prior). If your books aren't ready, a lag of up to one month is acceptable. A one-quarter lag is also acceptable if that's the best information available. If you're submitting lagged financials, note the specific date ranges provided in the "Additional information" section under "Valuation details."

What should I include in the non-convertible debt balance?

Include:

Term loans
Outstanding lines of credit
Promissory notes
Venture debt
Capital leases

Exclude:

Short-term liabilities such as credit card balances and accounts receivable.

My company has no revenue and therefore no EBITDA. What do I enter in the EBITDA field?

If you don't have an EBITDA figure, enter your estimated cash burn rate for the period instead. If you don't have an estimated cash burn rate either, leave the field blank and note in the "Additional information" section under "Valuation details" that the company is pre-revenue and has no burn estimates. If the system won't accept a blank value, enter $1.00 for Revenue and $0 or -$1.00 for EBITDA and add the same note.

A portion of our revenue is "passed through" to another company. How should we report revenue?

Net revenue is reported as your gross revenue minus any amounts passed through to third parties.

Pass-through revenue is recorded for accounting purposes but not actually retained by your company, so it should be excluded from revenue totals.

Example: a marketplace that records total food orders on behalf of restaurants should only report the portion of revenue it retains (e.g., platform fees), not the full order value. Grant revenue should also be excluded from total revenue figures, as it does not represent true operating revenue. If the exact pass-through amount is uncertain, estimate a percentage to back out from gross revenue. Providing a detailed income statement showing the gross-to-net breakdown is helpful.

Requesting a 409A valuation