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This session sits at the core of our fund modelling curriculum. It dives into the structural components that sit underneath every venture capital fund model, and into the constraints that define what a fund can and cannot do in practice.
Rather than teaching spreadsheet construction or complex scenario modelling, the session concentrates on first principles. It focuses on how fund models are structured, what they are meant to explain, and how they support real investment and portfolio decisions over the life of a fund.
The session reframes fund models as living steering tools, not static forecasts built for fundraising decks. The emphasis is on understanding trade-offs, second-order effects, and relevance, rather than optimising for theoretical precision.
Overall, this session is designed to strengthen the mental model required to reason clearly about venture capital fund modelling. It works as both a standalone deep dive into fund modelling building blocks and as a foundation for more technical sessions within the broader EUVC curriculum.
Agenda
Fund modelling fundamentals and structural logic
Core building blocks of a VC fund model
Portfolio construction and decomposition
Fund levers and performance drivers
LPA implications and modelling constraints
Live Q&A
Key learning points
Fund modelling building blocks
Understand the essential components that underpin every VC fund model, and how fund size, portfolio structure, ownership, reserves, and exit assumptions interact over time.
Fund levers and performance
Learn which levers have the highest impact on fund outcomes, and why their relevance differs across early vs late stage funds, primary vs secondary strategies, and different portfolio constructions.
Portfolio construction logic
Develop intuition for how portfolio size, check sizing, follow-ons, and ownership targets shape return distributions and exit requirements.
Timing and outcomes
Understand how pacing, capital deployment, and exit timing influence IRR, DPI, and fund perception, and how models can support better decision-making throughout the fund life.
LPA constraints
Learn why no fund model is valid without a clear understanding of the LPA, and how term summaries already define most of the practical limitations that any model must respect.
Meet the Instructor
Marc Penkala, Co-Founding Partner of āltitude, is a seasoned venture capitalist with extensive experience and expertise in fund modelling. As a former Investment Director and active angel investor, his insights are invaluable for emerging VCs.
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