Financial modelling templates for traditional and self-funded acquisitions

searcher profile

June 08, 2025

by a searcher from University of Western Australia in Sydney NSW, Australia

Hey everyone, a question for the group: financial modelling templates for traditional and self-funded acquisitions. Would anyone be willing to share or point me in the direction of any templates or resources they found particularly helpful or useful? I'm fairly comfortable building financial models from scratch, and I have found a few examples to start with, e.g., Sam Rosati's SF template and a couple from Yale's Search / EtA courses. But I haven't yet had to build an LBO model myself, and that's before adapting to the nuances of Search / EtA. I just want to make sure I'm not missing anything before going down a pathway that's been solved many times before by others! Any help or guidance would be greatly appreciated. Josh
5
22
281
Replies
22
commentor profile
Reply by a searcher
from Barnard College in New York, NY, USA
I've been using ETA IQ (www.etaiq.com). It's a financial modeling and CRM platform built specifically for Searchers. It's been great for quickly screening deals against my criteria. I started out using Sam Rosati's template - it's a solid starting point, but I needed something more comprehensive, particularly around working capital analysis, modeling investor returns, etc. Happy to answer any questions, I've been using them for a few months now.
commentor profile
Reply by a searcher
from Harvard University in Dubai - United Arab Emirates
I'll echo ETA IQ - Faisal Saidi is the Founder and is often on this site. It's been very helpful for getting a quick perspective on a deal, and Faisal has been really responsive to tweaks to further enhance the tool depending on your use cases!
commentor profile
+20 more replies.
Join the discussion