The Financial Model Investors Expect (+ AI Economics)

Oct 7, 2026 5:30pm to 6:30pm

A model built on a growth percentage and a hopeful margin won’t survive the first investor question. This session covers driver-based financial modeling — where revenue and costs are built from the specific inputs that actually move them — with focused attention on AI-era economics: usage- and outcome-based revenue, compute and inference costs, and how those change the shape of a forecast.

**What We’ll Cover**

* Driver-based modeling: building from inputs rather than top-line guesses
* Revenue models beyond per-seat — usage, consumption, and outcome-based pricing
* Modeling compute, inference, and model costs as they scale with usage
* Gross margin in AI businesses and why it behaves differently than SaaS
* Building an 18-month forecast with defensible assumptions
* Tying use of funds to specific, dated milestones
* Sensitivity and scenario testing before investors do it for you

**Who Should Attend**
Missouri founders building or rebuilding a financial model ahead of a raise — particularly AI-enabled companies whose cost and revenue structures don’t fit standard SaaS templates.

**What You’ll Leave With**

* A driver-based 18-month forecast
* A use-of-funds tied to milestones
* AI-era revenue and cost modeling

Part of the Show-Me Founders Series.

*This project is supported, in whole or in part, by federal award number SSBCI-21031-0104 awarded to the State of Missouri by the U.S. Department of the Treasury.*