Any Operating Model Row Can Be an Entry or Exit Valuation Metric
Specialist software private equity investors have moved away from framing entry and exit valuation around traditional valuation multiples (TEV / Revenue, EBITDA, or EBITDA – Capex) and towards more industry-specific earnings metrics, including ARR, EBITDA – Capitalized Software Expenses, or similar variations of top- and bottom-line earnings metrics.
With enhancements to Mosaic’s Operating Model serving as the foundational unlock, we have now added functionality allowing a user to frame their entry and exit valuations on any operating model metric they define.

To achieve this in Mosaic, simply configure the Operating Model row to be a “Valuation Metric” as shown below:

Doing so will result in the row becoming available as an option in the menus for entry, leverage, and exit multiples throughout the Mosaic application:

The “EBITDA Less X” Row
An extension of the concept above, Mosaic has added a dedicated, optional “EBITDA Less X” section of the operating model given how many nonstandard valuation metrics used in practice are some variation of EBITDA less Capex.
To add an EBITDA Less X row, simply click the button shown below and configure the formula to leverage the desired rows. The label will update automatically, but can be overwritten at any time.

Using the dedicated EBITDA Less X row (vs. defining it as a formula-based operating model row elsewhere) is critical in cases with M&A, Cost Savings, or Sale Leasebacks – as Mosaic will pull from consolidated EBITDA (i.e., with the benefit of M&A EBITDA) when computing your custom defined EBITDA Less X metric at exit.
IRR Decomp in Excel
One of the most valuable outputs in Mosaic is the IRR Decomposition – whose historical iterations / sticky-ifs / manual copying and pasting were made obsolete in Mosaic by the power of Python.
We have had, however, many users request that the legacy Excel functionality of the iterative IRR Decomp with related switches be incorporated into Mosaic’s Excel download.
With our latest release, Mosaic’s Excel download now includes an “IRR Decomp Panel” with related switches that turn on / off each step of the IRR Decomp – allowing users to recompute the decomposition in Excel if changes are made after downloading the initial version:

To recompute the IRR Decomp, first, turn all the switches off (enter 0 for “Off”, 1 for “On”) – then in order from top to bottom, turn them on one-by-one – pasting the “Live IRR” value (not formula) into the cumulative IRR cell for the respective step in the decomposition. Mosaic will then automatically compute the differences between each step of cumulative IRR, which results in the values underlying the IRR Decomp.
If the IRR Decomp is out of sync with the current version of the model, the IRR Decomp output table will flag “Update!” as shown below to indicate that the IRR Decomp panel must be re-cycled to produce an up-to-date decomposition:

Upgraded LBO Summary (Different Entry & Exit Multiples)
Mosaic’s LBO produces a helpful summary of the deal’s entry and exit multiples, net debt, and TEV to quickly orient the user to the scale and profile of the investment being considered. For situations where a user was framing valuation around a different metric at entry vs. exit (e.g., Revenue multiple at entry, EBITDA multiple at exit), users expressed a desire for a clearer delineation of entry and exit metrics with the inclusion (but subtle de-emphasis) of the like-for-like value for each at entry and exit.
The result of this effort is shown below:

Let us know what you think 📣
Mosaic has been built over the years by the collective intelligence of the private equity industry - specifically, by you, our users - through your thoughtful product feedback.
Your feedback is instrumental in helping us build a product that you'll continue to love far into the future. Please reach out if there is anything we can do to make your Mosaic experience even better.
That's all for now! Shoot us a note at support@mosaic.pe if you can think of anything else you'd like to see in Mosaic!