Startup Valuation Calculator
Berkus, Scorecard and the VC method run side by side on the same pre-revenue company. They will not agree, and the spread between them is a more honest answer than any single figure.
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Three published methods for valuing a company with little or no revenue, run side by side. They will not agree — that is the useful part. A pre-revenue valuation is a structured argument rather than a measurement, and the spread between the methods is a truer answer than any one of them.
| Method | Pre-money | What it rests on |
|---|---|---|
| Berkus | $2,000,000 | Five milestones, capped at $2,500,000 by construction |
| Scorecard | $3,200,000 | A regional baseline × 1.28, from seven weighted factors |
| VC method | $4,000,000 | An exit assumption divided by a required return. Unbounded. |
These methods are 2.0× apart on the same company. Berkus is capped at $2,500,000 by design and the VC method has no ceiling at all, so the gap widens the more promising the business looks. Nobody is wrong — they are answering slightly different questions, and an investor will pick whichever supports the number they already had in mind.
Berkus — value for each de-risking milestone
| Sound ideabasic value | |
| Prototypetechnology risk | |
| Quality management teamexecution risk | |
| Strategic relationshipsmarket risk | |
| Product rollout or salesproduction risk | |
| Berkus total | $2,000,000 |
Scorecard — rated against an average funded startup
| Factor | Weight | Rating (1.0 = average) |
|---|---|---|
| Strength of the team | 30% | |
| Size of the opportunity | 25% | |
| Product or technology | 15% | |
| Competitive environment | 10% | |
| Marketing and sales channels | 10% | |
| Need for further investment | 5% | |
| Other factors | 5% | |
| Multiplier | 1.28× | |
VC method — working back from an exit
Typical pre-money for a funded startup in your market.
The least checkable input here. Treat it as a claim.
Seed funds typically underwrite to 10x or more.
Cash going in this round.
From later rounds. Raises the stake asked for now.
A word on what these are. None of the three is a measurement — they are frameworks for making an argument legible, and every input is a judgement someone can disagree with. The VC method in particular rests on an exit figure nobody can check, which is why it is unbounded and why it produces the highest number roughly whenever the person using it wants a high number. In practice a pre-revenue valuation is set by what an investor will pay, and these methods are the vocabulary for that negotiation rather than a substitute for it.
Every one of these methods is really asking how much you have de-risked. If you are building largely on your own, Tekk turns what you want into specs your coding agent can actually execute.
Three methods, one company
There is no revenue to multiply, so a pre-revenue valuation is a structured argument rather than a calculation. Three arguments are in common use.
Berkus = Σ up to $500k for each of five de-risking milestones
Scorecard = regional baseline × Σ (weight × rating)
VC method = exit value ÷ required return − investment
Worked example
A seed-stage company with a prototype, a strong team and a couple of pilot customers.
Berkus
| Milestone | Risk removed | Credit |
|---|---|---|
| Sound idea | basic value | $500,000 |
| Prototype | technology | $400,000 |
| Quality team | execution | $500,000 |
| Strategic relationships | market | $300,000 |
| Product rollout | production | $300,000 |
| Total | $2,000,000 |
Scorecard, against a $2.5m regional baseline:
| Factor | Weight | Rating |
|---|---|---|
| Team | 30% | 1.5 |
| Opportunity | 25% | 1.4 |
| Product | 15% | 1.2 |
| Everything else | 30% | 1.0 |
| Multiplier | 1.28× |
$2.5m × 1.28 = $3,200,000.
VC method, on a $50m exit at a 10× target with $1m going in:
| Post-money | $5,000,000 |
| Pre-money | $4,000,000 |
| Investor stake | 20% |
| Grossed up for 30% later dilution | 28.6% |
They are twice apart, and that is the mild case
| Method | Pre-money |
|---|---|
| Berkus | $2,000,000 |
| Scorecard | $3,200,000 |
| VC method | $4,000,000 |
Two times from bottom to top on identical inputs. And this example is deliberately modest — Berkus is capped at $2.5m by construction while the VC method has no ceiling at all, so the more promising the company, the wider the gap. A business with a $200m exit story spreads eight times or more.
Nobody is wrong. They are answering slightly different questions, and in practice an investor reaches for whichever method supports the number they already had in mind. Knowing all three is what lets you notice that happening.
What each method is really claiming
Berkus says: value is a function of risk removed, and here is a price list for removing it. Conservative by design, and it stops being useful the moment a company is genuinely exceptional.
Scorecard says: you are a version of the average funded company in your market, adjusted. It is the most defensible in a conversation, because every input is an explicit comparison someone can push back on.
VC method says: work backwards from what this could be worth. It is the only one that can justify a large number, and it rests entirely on an exit figure nobody can check — which is both why investors use it and why founders should read it carefully.
The part no calculator does
A pre-revenue valuation is set by what an investor will pay, and that depends mostly on how many investors are interested. These methods are the vocabulary for that negotiation, not a substitute for it.
Which is also why a DCF is the wrong tool here. It needs a forecast credible enough to discount, and a company with no revenue history does not have one — it would produce a confident-looking number out of pure invention. These three methods are cruder, and considerably more honest about being crude.
How it works
- 1
Score the Berkus milestones
Up to $500,000 of credit for each of five things that remove risk: a sound idea, a prototype, a quality team, strategic relationships, and a product rollout. The method caps at $2.5m by construction, which is a feature at seed and a limitation above it.
- 2
Rate yourself against an average funded startup
The Scorecard method takes a typical pre-money for your market and scales it by seven weighted factors, team carrying the most at 30%. A rating of 1.0 everywhere returns the baseline exactly, so you are stating how much better than average you are, factor by factor.
- 3
Work backwards from an exit
The VC method divides a plausible exit by the return an investor underwrites to. It is unbounded and rests on a figure nobody can check, which is why this startup valuation calculator shows it beside the other two rather than on its own.
Frequently asked questions
- How does a pre revenue startup valuation calculator work?
- With one of several structured arguments, because there is no revenue to multiply. A pre revenue startup valuation calculator runs the three common methods: Berkus, which credits de-risking milestones; Scorecard, which rates you against an average funded company in your region; and the VC method, which works backwards from an exit. None is a measurement.
- What is the Berkus method?
- A framework from angel investor Dave Berkus assigning up to $500,000 for each of five risk reductions: a sound idea, a working prototype, a quality management team, strategic relationships, and product rollout or early sales. Five factors at half a million each means it cannot return more than $2.5m, by design.
- What is the Scorecard method?
- Also called the Payne method. Take the typical pre-money valuation for a funded startup in your region, then adjust it by seven weighted factors — team at 30%, size of opportunity at 25%, product at 15%, and four smaller ones. Rating everything at 1.0 returns the baseline, so the method makes your claim to be above average explicit.
- How does the VC method work?
- Divide a plausible exit value by the return the investor requires. A $50m exit against a 10× target implies a $5m post-money today, so a $1m round is buying 20%. Then gross that up for later dilution — 20% becomes about 29% if you expect 30% more dilution before the exit, which is why the ask is always larger than the arithmetic first suggests.
- Why do the methods disagree so much?
- Because they are bounded differently. Berkus cannot exceed $2.5m however good the company is, while the VC method has no ceiling at all and scales directly with an exit figure nobody can verify. Run all three through a startup valuation calculator on a promising company and the gap easily reaches five or eight times - and an investor will reach for whichever method supports the number they already had in mind.
- Which method should I use?
- All of them, and then quote the range. A startup valuation calculator that returns a single number implies a precision none of these methods has. If you must pick one, the Scorecard method is the most defensible in conversation because every input is an explicit comparison to a market average, which gives the other side something concrete to argue with.
- What is a typical pre-revenue valuation?
- Somewhere between $1m and $5m pre-money for a seed round in most markets, with wide regional variation - the same company is worth materially more in the Bay Area than in most of Europe. That variation is why any pre revenue startup valuation calculator needs a baseline you can change rather than a fixed one.
- Does a startup valuation calculator replace a negotiation?
- No, and it is worth being blunt about that. A pre-revenue valuation is set by what an investor will pay, which depends on how many of them are interested. These methods are the vocabulary for that conversation rather than a substitute for it — useful for making your argument legible, useless as an appeal to authority.
- How much equity should I give up in a seed round?
- Fifteen to twenty-five percent is the usual band. Much below that and investors may not have enough at stake to care; much above it and you have too little left for the rounds ahead. Note that the valuation and the percentage are the same decision viewed from two ends, so negotiating one is negotiating both.
- Why does expected dilution raise the investor's stake now?
- Because their percentage shrinks in every subsequent round, and they underwrite to what they will hold at the exit rather than what they buy today. Expecting 30% further dilution means a 20% target becomes an ask of about 29% now — a mechanic that surprises founders and is entirely reasonable from the other side.
- Should I use a DCF for a startup?
- Not at pre-revenue. A discounted cash flow needs a forecast credible enough to discount, and a company with no revenue history does not have one — it produces a confident-looking number from pure invention. These methods are cruder and more honest about being crude.
- Do you store the numbers I enter?
- No. The calculation runs entirely in your browser. Nothing is sent to a server, nothing is logged, and there is no account.
- Why is this free, and what is Tekk?
- Tekk is a spec-driven development platform for people building software with AI coding agents. This calculator costs us nothing to run, and every one of these methods is really asking how much you have de-risked — which mostly means how much you have built. No signup, no run limit, no upsell inside the tool.
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