LBO Reps
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Free financial model templates, each with a story

Four Excel templates for students recruiting for investment banking and private equity. Every one is built around a real-feeling company with a real decision to make, so you understand why each number is there, not just where it goes.

Free to download. No account needed. Works in Excel and Google Sheets.
The templates

Start with the income statement. Finish with a full LBO.

The templates build on each other, in the same order you'd learn them on the job. Each one opens with a "Start Here" tab that tells the story, explains your task and gives you what-if exercises to try.

Template 1 · Beginner

Income Statement

Bean There Coffee Co.

  • Sheets Start Here, Income Statement
  • Years FY2025 to FY2030
  • Units $ thousands
Download .xlsx
From a coffee cart to six cafés

The story

Maya and Dev were sophomores when they noticed a line of 40 tired students outside the only coffee spot near the library every morning. They borrowed an espresso machine, parked a cart by the library steps, and sold 200 cups on day one. Three years later, Bean There runs two cafés and did $840,000 in sales.

Now they want six cafés by FY2029, and the bank wants a five-year projection before it will lend them the money.

"We know coffee. We don't know financial statements." Your job: build the income statement that gets them the loan.

What you'll learn

  • Build revenue from drivers: cafés × sales per café
  • Variable, per-location and fixed costs
  • Walk from revenue to EBITDA, EBIT and net income
  • Why margins expand as a business grows

Try this in the template

  1. The bank wants a cautious case: only 4 cafés. What happens to the FY2030 EBITDA margin?
  2. A bean shortage pushes food and coffee costs to 36% of sales. How much profit disappears?
Next step on LBO Reps: Practice "Projecting operations"
Template 2 · Intermediate

Balance Sheet and 3-Statement Model

Trailhead Outfitters

  • Sheets Assumptions, Income Statement, Cash Flow, Balance Sheet
  • Years FY2025 to FY2030
  • Units $ thousands
Download .xlsx
A $600,000 loan and a second store

The story

Sam spent every college summer guiding backpacking trips, then opened Trailhead Outfitters, a gear shop for weekend hikers. It now does $2.4 million a year in sales. Sam wants to open a second store near a popular trailhead and stock up for spring, and a bank has offered a $600,000 loan.

"Show me the balance sheet and cash flow for the next five years. Can you actually pay this back, and will you ever run out of cash?" Your job: link all three statements and prove it.

What you'll learn

  • How the three statements connect
  • Working capital: receivables, inventory and payables
  • How a loan moves through cash flow and the balance sheet
  • Using a balance check to find mistakes fast

Try this in the template

  1. The new store opens slowly: cut FY2026 growth from 25% to 10%. In which year is cash lowest?
  2. A supplier wants payment in 20 days instead of 45. How much cash does that cost Sam?
Next step on LBO Reps: Practice "Free cash flow"
Template 3 · Intermediate

PP&E and Depreciation Schedule

IronLeaf Fitness

  • Sheets Start Here, PP&E Schedule
  • Years FY2025 to FY2030
  • Units $ thousands
Download .xlsx
Profit is up. So why is cash tight?

The story

Lena was a college rower who couldn't find a gym near campus that opened before 6 a.m., so after graduation she opened one. IronLeaf Fitness now has three gyms, and members love that the equipment is always new. That costs money: about $32,000 per gym every year, plus roughly $450,000 for each new gym she opens.

Her investors keep pointing at rising EBITDA. Lena keeps asking: "If our profit is going up, why does our bank balance feel tight?" Your job: build the capex and depreciation schedule that answers her.

What you'll learn

  • Maintenance capex vs. growth capex
  • Straight-line depreciation with a waterfall
  • The PP&E roll-forward
  • Why EBITDA overstates cash

Try this in the template

  1. Find the year IronLeaf's cash after capex turns negative even though EBITDA rises. Why?
  2. Equipment that lasts 10 years instead of 7: what changes on the income statement, and does cash change at all?
Next step on LBO Reps: Practice "Free cash flow"
Template 4 · Advanced

LBO Model

Saltmarsh Heating & Air

  • Sheets Start Here, LBO
  • Hold period 5 years
  • Units $ millions
Download .xlsx
A founder retires, a PE firm buys

The story

In 1994, Ray bought a used van and started fixing air conditioners. Thirty years later, Saltmarsh Heating & Air has 340 employees, 180 service vans and $12 million of EBITDA. Ray is ready to retire, and Lanternfish Partners, a private equity firm, wants to buy the business, grow it and pay down the acquisition debt with its cash flow.

You're the first-year associate on the deal. The partner wants one answer by Monday: at 7.5x EBITDA, can Lanternfish earn at least a 20% IRR?

What you'll learn

  • Sources and uses of a buyout
  • Free cash flow and a cash sweep
  • Exit equity, MOIC and IRR, two ways
  • A value creation bridge

Try this in the template

  1. A rival bidder pushes the price to 8.5x. Does the deal still clear a 20% IRR?
  2. The margin plan fails and EBITDA margins stay at 15%. Use the bridge to explain what the return loses.
Next step on LBO Reps: Practice "Sources and uses"
How to use them

Get the most out of each template

These aren't finished models to copy. They're built so you can change things and see what happens, which is how you learn to answer interview follow-ups.

1

Read the story first

Open the "Start Here" tab. Knowing who the company is and what decision is on the table makes every assumption make sense.

2

Change the blue cells

Blue numbers on yellow are inputs. Everything in black is a formula. Change an input and watch the model update.

3

Answer the "Try this" questions

Each template ends with what-if exercises like the follow-up questions interviewers ask. Explain the answer out loud.

Ready to build these yourself?

Reading a template is a start. Building one formula at a time is how it sticks. The core lessons are free.

Start Practicing for Free

All companies, people and figures in these templates are fictional and for education only.