Free calculator · Venture & Startup Finance
The Ask, Size the Raise, Price the Dilution
Sizes a fundraising ask from months to milestone times monthly burn, then prices the dilution correctly as the raise over the post-money valuation rather than over the pre-money. Inputs are the months to the next milestone, net monthly burn, and the pre-money valuation.
By Devon Coombs, CPA, MBA · Teaching Professor of Finance, Santa Clara University · Reviewed August 2026
From the author: Devon Coombs, CPA, MBA teaches finance at Santa Clara University and works with corporate teams on practical AI.
AI training for finance teams · Consulting · The 10 Laws of Finance
Interactive Tool
The Ask, Size the Raise, Price the Dilution
The ask, raise
$3.0M
20 months × $150K / month
Post-money valuation
$12.0M
pre-money + raise
New investor ownership
25.0%
raise ÷ post-money ✓
Pre-money error
33.3%
raise ÷ pre-money ✗
Founder + existing dilution
25.0%
share transferred
A clean ask ties the raise to a named milestone and states the cost as ownership on the post-money. Dividing by the pre-money overstates it (the 33% error from the cap-table module), and an investor will notice.
Learn the concept
This calculator comes from the free Entrepreneurial Finance course, where the concept is taught with readings, worked examples, and practice questions.
When to use this measure
Embed this calculator on your site
Free to embed on any site; the widget includes an attribution link back to this page.
One useful finance email a week
A tool, a number worth knowing, and what it means for your money or your business. From Devon Coombs, CPA, MBA. No spam, unsubscribe anytime.
Built by Devon Coombs, CPA, MBA, Teaching Professor of Finance at Santa Clara University.