In public markets, valuing a company is straightforward: take the latest share price, multiply it by the number of shares, and you’ve got the market cap. That works because every share is economically identical and the market is continuously pricing the business based on real fundamentals. In venture-backed startups, that logic collapses almost instantly. Yet many founders, employees, and even some investors still fall into the trap of thinking: “Our last round was at $X per

🔹1 EV in venture isn’t observable - it’s inferred. There’s no market clearing price. Fair value reflects what a market participant would pay. 🔹2 Traditional valuation assumes fundamentals. Early stage companies rarely have revenue, margins, comps, or liquidity to anchor value. 🔹3 You’re pricing future enterprise value. It's about future upside, not current performance. 🔹4 Venture investments behave like options. Downside is capped; upside comes from low probability, hi