Methods
The methods both legs share. Each page teaches one technique any practitioner can run.
The Seven Methods
| Method | Question it answers |
|---|---|
| Discounted cash flow | What is the present value of expected future cash? |
| Comparable company analysis | What does the market pay for similar things today? |
| Leveraged buyout model | What can a sponsor pay and still earn the required return? |
| Three-statement model | Do income, balance sheet, and cash flow tie? |
| Earnings analysis | What did the latest period actually say? |
| Investment committee memo | Should the committee approve the position? |
| Know-your-customer framework | Who is the counterparty and is the source clean? |
How to Use
Each method follows the same five-section structure so the pages are easy to scan and easy to compare.
- Question — the one question the method answers
- Inputs — the data the method needs and where it usually comes from
- Procedure — the steps in order
- Gates — what would invalidate the output
- Output — what the method produces and who reviews it
Read for the procedure. Use the gates. Stage every output for sign-off.
Scope Exclusions
Branded templates, firm-specific conventions, jurisdictional rules. Those belong in the firm's knowledge base. The pages here teach the universal pattern. Adapt to the firm.
Adjacent Reading
- Traditional finance — the workflows that use these methods on bank rails
- Crypto and DePIN finance — the same methods on programmable rails
- Capital allocation — the lens that decides where to deploy
Questions
Which of the seven methods answers the question I actually have?
- Am I skipping a method because it gives an answer I don't want to hear?
- Have I staged this output for sign-off before it binds anything?