Financial Model for Mobile App | Mobile App Business Plan

The Mobile App Financial Plan Template in Excel allows you to develop financial projections when launching a new business centered around an app installed on a smartphone or computer desktop. The app business plan template uses a bottom-up approach to forecast downloads, active users, subscribers, or even another class of users, such as vendors. This user base can then be monetized through various sources of revenue, such as subscriptions, in-app purchases, or transactions where one user category (e.g., vendors) sells items to another user category (e.g., Active Users). The spreadsheet results in a comprehensive 5 to 10-year financial statement (depending on the model version) and free cash flow forecast. It calculates the relevant financial ratios and metrics, such as IRR and funding required to analyze in detail the financial viability of an app business plan for capital providers. The model is based on a set of assumptions that can be changed flexibly to easily simulate alternative scenarios that can help you better understand and optimize your business plan.

Mobile App Financial Model Template
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Screenshots refer to the Premium Model Version (10-Year Forecast Period with Sensitivity Analysis)

Please refer below to the video walkthrough of this financial model template:

The Key Questions of an App Business Plan

Developing a business and financial plan for an app business requires studying several vital questions, such as the following ones:

  • Where should app downloads come from,
  • What will be the Customer Acquisition Costs?
  • How to account for possible app uninstalls or inactive users?
  • Which monetization scenario offers the best value capture in the long-run?
  • How to dynamically update the forecast then assumptions of your business plan changes?
  • How to obtain a logically consistent and comprehensive financial forecast (which minimizes planning mistakes)?
  • Which metrics might become very relevant? – An app business requires a thorough understanding of customer acquisition costs, break-even point, essential metrics such as Average Revenues per User (ARPU), Customer Lifetime Value (CLV), Monthly Recurring Revenues (MRR) and many more…
  • What will be the effect in case multiple funding rounds might be needed?

This Mobile App Financial Model template addresses questions like this and offers a flexible planning tool to simulate an endless variety of financial scenarios for your envisaged mobile app business by providing all the relevant analysis and financial metrics.

Key Highlights of this Spreadsheet Template

The Mobile App Financial Model Template prepares financial projections based on solid model logic and required assumptions. The goal is to thoroughly understand the app business’s economics and its main value drivers. The key highlights of this Excel spreadsheet template are the following:

  1. Bottom-up forecast driven by detailed assumptions for download and user growth, conversion rates, purchase volumes, prices, direct costs, and operating costs.
  2. 4-6 Sources of App Downloads. Depending on model versions, the template foresees downloads from up to six sources of download traffic: Word of mouth, organic activities, social media marketing, influencer marketing, paid ads, and downloads from affiliates.
  3. 2-3 User Classes. As per the model version, the template foresees that the app business will categorize users as active users, subscribers, and another class participating in transaction activities, such as vendors.
  4. 6-9 sources of potential revenue: The app spreadsheet template foresees sources of revenues from the sale of a paid app version, subscription revenues, in-app purchases, two sources of potential transaction revenues, pay-per-click (PPC) and impression ads, revenue estimation per user class, and other income.
  5. Comprehensive Monthly and Yearly Financial Projections: The forecast results in a monthly and yearly financial statement and free cash flow forecast. Depending on the model version, either 5 or 10 years.
  6. Key Performance and Financial Metrics include – dependent on model version. -Customer Acquisition Cost, Customer Lifetime Value, and Break-Even Point. MRR, ARPU,Internal Rate of Return (IRR), Uses and Sources of Funds, Pre- and Post-Money Valuation (only Pro and Premium Version)
  7. Multiple Funding Rounds – the model foresees that the business plan might require multiple funding rounds
  8. Investor Cash Flows (only Pro and Premium Version)– the model calculates forecasted cash flows for 5-10 specific investors (dependent on model versions).
  9. Flexible Scenario Planning: The model includes toggles to run different scenarios easily, to include/exclude specific download sources, include/exclude different ways to monetize the app to make it easier to figure out the most optimal scenario.

This financial model template aims to translate an app business plan into the expected financial performance of such a business and provide deep insights into the economics of the proposed business model for a mobile app or other types of app businesses.

Elements of the App Financial Plan Template

The mobile app Excel model template contains the following worksheets:

  • Executive Summary: Provides a summary of the overall financial plan and its key metrics in a one-page resume, including charts and tables. A forecast of the expected Business Valuation is also included during the forecast years.
  • Summaries: Provides detailed summaries of the relevant forecast figures, breakdowns of downloads, users, revenues, costs, analysis of break-even points, customer acquisition costs and customer lifetime value, profit per active user, summaries of all financial statements (Income Statement, Balance Sheet, Cash Flow Statement), free cash flow forecast, required funding amount, uses and sources of funds (per phase), pre-and post-money valuation, financial feasibility metrics such as the Internal Rate of Return (IRR), Payback Period, Net Present Value (NPV) and time to break-even. The sheet also includes charts and tables and calculates the metrics at an investor level to obtain IRRs from an investor point of view and by considering the foreseeable equity financing structure. A sensitivity analysis of the drivers of IRR is also included.
  • Settings: A sheet configuring the desired model scenario by including/excluding sources of traffic and the monetization of possible sources of revenues. One toggle either opts to record subscription revenue in the month of sale or allocate subscription revenue to the months covered by the subscription duration. The worksheet also includes general assumptions such as net working capital, tax, and exit valuation assumptions.
  • Assumptions: States the required assumptions to populate the financial forecast and adds context for a quick understanding. The assumption sheet is structured per topics such as download assumptions, conversion assumptions in different user classes, and monetization assumptions for each stream of revenue included (depending on the model version, such as paid income from the sale of a paid app version, subscription income, in-app purchases, two sources of potential transaction revenues, pay-per-click (PPC) and impression ads, revenue estimation per user class and other income). Other sections on that sheet cover cost assumptions (direct and indirect costs), employee hiring assumptions by estimating the number of Full-Time Equivalent (FTE) jobs per foreseeable position, and funding assumptions. For the advanced model version, another section outlines the cash injection and equity stake assumption for 5-10 investors for investors, their cash injection, and equity exchange by funding round. The model foresees up to 4 funding rounds (Seed, Series A, Series B, Series C) for all model versions.
  • Monthly Forecast: Translates the assumptions into a detailed monthly forecast for downloads, users, purchases, subscriptions, prices, revenues, and costs. The forecast includes a monthly Income Statement, Balance Sheet, Cash Flow Statement, and Free Cash Flow Forecast. This structure allows us to predict and track the expected cash balance monthly.
  • Subscription: A worksheet calculates the forecasted subscriptions based on a free subscription tier and up to three tiers of paid subscriptions and models monthly, quarterly, half-year, or annual payment options (including discounts). The subscription model provides breakdowns by plans and upfront payment options and forecasts the cash flows from subscriptions and their corresponding accounting revenues. The worksheet also calculates the Average Revenue per User (ARPU) and Monthly Recurring Revenue (MRR).
  • Yearly Forecast: Aggregates the monthly forecast into an annual forecast for 5 to 10-years (depending on the model version). This results in a comprehensive financial statement forecast, including a forecasted Income Statement, Balance Sheet, Cash Flow Statement, Debt Schedule, Fixed Asset Schedule, Financial Ratio Forecast, and Free Cash Flow Forecast. Additional tables provide deep insights into profit per active user, customer acquisition costs, expected business valuation, and more.
  • Customer Lifetime Value (only Pro and Premium Versions): Calculates the Lifetime Value per Download or Active User. Furthermore, the Customer Lifetime Value is broken into the value captured by the source of revenue and as per the timing they occur.
  • Break-Even Analysis (only Pro and Premium Versions): Analysis of how many downloads and how much revenue per download is required to achieve break-even at the profit level. The analysis includes a switch to calculate break-even for the necessary number of active users or their needed average revenue per active user (or can be calculated for other user metrics).
  • Investor Cash Flows (only Pro and Premium Versions) and VC Valuation: Extracts the expected cash flow forecast by investors dependent on their participation in equity funding rounds and their equity stakes until exit. This approach allows the calculation of investor-specific metrics, such as an IRR based on the expected cash flow stream. A VC Valuation is included in order to better understand the Post Money Valuation during Fundraisings.

Why do you need this Mobile App Financial Plan Template?

This app financial model template comes in handy to translate your app business plan into a bottom-up financial forecast that capital providers can understand. It allows investors to understand better the drivers of the value of your business plan and see the potential of your app business idea while providing full transparency on the assumptions taken. Providing a sophisticated Excel spreadsheet to investors offers a professional communication tool to explain your business plan and allows capital providers to see all the relevant metrics for such an app business.

What do our Customers Say?

This model has been updated several times, as many of our customers love this model template. Here are just some of the excerpts of the feedback we received:

Impressive, thorough, and just what we needed!
Have done a lot of similar models for SaaS Apps on the web. This model is out-of-the-box ready to go. There are minimal tweaks needed for our purpose. For the most part - localization. Really impressed at how much thought went into this. Just about to make a purchase and will share more feedback on the sheet.
mobile app financial statements
very helpful and well detailed thank you

Download Options

This Mobile App Financial Model Template is available in three different download versions: Basic, Pro and Premium. Each download version is a fully editable MS Excel spreadsheet template in .xlsx format. We also offer FREE PDF Demos for download so that you can see the exact model structure included in the template.

The table below compares the three different template versions offered for download:

Model VersionBasicProPremium
Forecast Period5 Years5 Years10 Years
Download Sources4 Sources
– Organic Downloads
– Influencer Campaigns
–  Social Media
– Paid Ads
5 Sources 
Word of Mouth
–  Organic Downloads
–  Influencer Campaigns
–  Social Media
– Paid Ads
6 Sources
–  Word of Mouth
–  Organic Downloads
–  Influencer Campaigns
–  Social Media
–  Affiliates
–  Paid Ads
User Classes–  Active Users
–  Subscribers
–  Active Users
–  Subscribers
–  Active Users
–  Subscribers
– Vendors
Sources of Revenue6 Sources
–  Paid Downloads
–  In-App Purchases
–  Subscriptions
–  PPC Ads
–  Impression Ads
– Other income
7 Sources
–  Paid Downloads
–  In-App Purchases
–  Subscriptions
–  Transactions
–  PPC Ads
–  Impression Ads
– Other income
9 Sources
–  Paid Downloads
–  In-App Purchases
–  Subscriptions
–  Transactions 1
–  Transaction 2
–  PPC Ads
–  Impression Ads
–  User related Income
– Other income
Funding RoundsUp to 4Up to 4Up to 4
Customer Lifetime Value Analysis:NOYESYES
Investor Cash FlowsNOYESYES
Break-Even AnalysisNOYESYES
Number of InvestorsNone510
VC ValuationNOYESYES
Sensitivity AnalysisNONOYES
Model Version with Assumptions reset to zeroNONOYES

Model Version Number: 7.2 The Excel files are fully editable. The PDF Demo Version allow you to understand the exact model structure.

Filetypes: .xlsx (MS Excel), .pdf (Adobe Acrobat Reader

Please select the model version:

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Reviews

  • Best FinTech App Template

    The Mobile App Financial Model Template is incredibly user-friendly and an excellent tool for startups. It streamlines financial planning and budgeting, making it less daunting and more efficient. The comprehensive design of the template leaves no room for errors and helps paint a clear picture of the company’s financial future. It’s a must-have tool for every entrepreneur!

    232 of 424 people found this review helpful.

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  • Very detailed and extensive

    I bought another spreadsheet before, and in all cases these are very comprehensive, and advanced spreadsheets. Really challenges Excel skills for someone like me. But either way really helps with modeling and “what if” scenarios, and to build a business plan.

    525 of 1017 people found this review helpful.

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  • Great model for people with advanced excel skills

    I chose this model over others out on the market because of the complexity of it and the analysis I could accomplish. I am impressed, however it did (and still is) taking time to get used to the workings of the model. One of the major downfalls is how downloads are being calculated, unless I am missing something it is using annual growth percentages instead of monthly. Ultimately, I had to build my own spreadsheet and then weave it into this model to make it work on monthly growth.

    701 of 1456 people found this review helpful.

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    • Thanks for your comment. The reason is that annual growth rates are easier to forecast than monthly growth rates. Also if you would use the same steady monthly growth rate, small deviations accumulate quite easily, most likely your forecast might end up way off reality. Many businesses face seasonal effects, this is easier to capture when allocating the annual downloads to each month. For those reason it was decided to model it this way. In any case, the goal of the model template is to make you think about growth, because that is really the key for any successful mobile app!

      703 of 1386 people found this review helpful.

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  • Amazing and Comprehnsive

    You will not need anything else other that those listed in the output. very detailed and easy assumptions and input. I like the way of the explanation in the front sheet. really deserve the value.

    725 of 1462 people found this review helpful.

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  • Good Stuff!

    The model itself (xlsx) is just as robust as the pdf preview. It’s the real deal! Very helpful, very thorough. Cuts down the time I have to spend a lot.

    725 of 1525 people found this review helpful.

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  • Impressive, thorough, and just what we needed!

    Have done a lot of similar models for SaaS Apps on the web. This model is out-of-the-box ready to go. There are minimal tweaks needed for our purpose. For the most part – localization. Really impressed at how much thought went into this. Just about to make a purchase and will share more feedback on the sheet.

    683 of 1381 people found this review helpful.

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  • mobile app financial statements

    very helpful and well detailed
    thank you

    821 of 1617 people found this review helpful.

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