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url: /docs/portfolio-02-how-tos-and-workflows.md
---
# Portfolio — How-Tos & Workflows

## Add a company

1. Go to **Portfolio**.
2. Click **Add Company**.
3. Fill in the company's name, sector, stage, status, entry date and
   valuation, current valuation, and ownership %, and optionally HQ
   location, HQ country, website, and description. For HQ country, type
   a country name or code (Canada, CA, or CAN) or pick one from the list.
4. Enter the **First investment**: the amount, and its date if it differs
   from the entry date. It becomes the first entry in the company's
   investment ledger.
5. Under **Funds**, choose the funds that hold the company. If you're
   limited to certain funds, you must choose at least one of yours.
6. Save.

Adding companies needs the **Edit portfolio** permission (Admin, Partner,
or Analyst).

## Edit or delete a company

1. Open the company from the Portfolio list.
2. Use **Edit** to update any field, or **Delete** to remove the company.
   Invested and realized amounts aren't edited here: record investments
   and realizations in the company's **Investments** card.

Deleting a company also permanently removes all of its cap table data
(shareholders, funding rounds, option grants), its valuation history, and
its documents and financials. This can't be undone.

## Record a valuation

Needs **Edit portfolio** (Admin, Partner, or Analyst).

1. Open the company and find **Valuation History**.
2. Click **Add valuation**.
3. Enter the date (any day up to today), the valuation, how it was arrived
   at (last round, comparables, DCF, cost, or other), and optional notes.
4. Click **Add valuation**.

If it's the most recent valuation, it becomes the company's current
valuation. A valuation on a date that already has one replaces it. To
remove one, click the bin icon on its row; deleting the latest makes the
one before it current.

Editing the company's **current valuation** with **Edit** also adds a
point for today, so the history fills in as you go.

> **Example: rebuilding a company's history.** Northwind Analytics joined
> your portfolio in January 2024 at a $10M valuation, raised a Series A
> at $18M post-money in June 2025, and was marked up to $24M on
> comparables last quarter. Add two valuations: 30 June 2025, $18M, **Last
> round**, with the note "Series A at $18M post"; and 30 September 2026,
> $24M, **Comparables**. The chart now shows the climb from $10M to $24M,
> and $24M becomes the current valuation. With 14.5% ownership your stake
> is now worth $3.48M, so MOIC on the company page updates with it.

## Record an investment or realization

Needs **Edit portfolio** (Admin, Partner, or Analyst).

1. Open the company and find **Investments**.
2. Click **Record**.
3. Choose **Investment** (a round or a follow-on) or **Realization** (a
   sale of shares, a dividend, or an exit).
4. Enter the date and the amount. Choose the fund if more than one holds
   the company, and add a note such as "Series B follow-on".
5. Click **Record**.

The invested and realized totals, MOIC, and IRR update straight away. To
correct an entry, click the pencil on its row; to remove one, click the
bin.

> **Example: a follow-on.** You invested $1.8M in Lumen Health when it
> joined the portfolio in March 2024, at 12% ownership of a $20M company.
> In September 2025 you put in another $600K in its Series B. Record an
> **Investment** of $600,000 on 10 September 2025 with the note "Series B
> follow-on". Invested becomes $2.4M. With Lumen now valued at $31M, your
> 12% stake is worth $3.72M, so MOIC is 1.55x, and IRR is worked out from
> the two cheques and that value.

## Add a date to a converted entry

Companies that had invested and realized totals before the investment
ledger have them as entries. A realized total became a realization
without a date, marked **Date needed**, and IRR waits until it has one.

1. Open the company and find **Investments**.
2. Click the pencil on the entry marked **Date needed**.
3. Enter the date it happened. If it was several payments, record each one
   separately and delete the converted entry.
4. Save. Once every entry has a date, IRR is calculated.

## Create a tear sheet

Creating, editing, and deleting need **Edit portfolio** (Admin, Partner,
or Analyst). Everyone can download tear sheets.

1. Open the company and find **Tear sheets**.
2. Click **Create tear sheet**.
3. Choose the **As of** date. It defaults to the end of the quarter that
   just ended.
4. Optionally add **Commentary**: what happened this quarter and what
   you're watching.
5. Click **Create**, then **PDF** to download it.

To change the commentary later, click the pencil icon; the figures stay as
they were. To remove a tear sheet, click the bin icon.

> **Example: a board meeting pack.** Northwind's Q3 board meeting is next
> week. On 3 October, the partner creates a tear sheet as of 30 September.
> It shows the $2M invested and 14.5% ownership, a valuation of $24M (up
> 33% from $18M at the start of the quarter after the Series A
> extension), September's revenue of C$412K with the 3-month trend, and a
> **Watch** health status because runway is 7.2 months. The partner adds a
> paragraph on the plan to reach 12 months of runway and downloads the PDF
> for the board pack. When October's figures are confirmed later, this
> tear sheet still shows what the board saw.

## Manage a company's cap table

From the company detail page, open the **Cap Table** section:

* **Ownership tab** — see each shareholder's current ownership percentage,
  calculated automatically from funding rounds and option grants.
* **Rounds tab** — click **Add Funding Round** to record a new round, then
  **Record Shares** to add a shareholder's participation in that round.
  Deleting a round recalculates ownership percentages without it.
* **Option Pools tab** — see allocated, available, and total shares per
  pool. Click **Grant** to record a new option grant against an existing
  option pool shareholder.

> **Example: recording a Series B.** Northwind Analytics raises a $30M
> Series B led by a new investor, and your fund takes part. On Northwind's
> Cap Table, open **Rounds**, click **Add Funding Round**, and enter Series
> B with its date and price per share. Then use **Record Shares** once for
> the lead investor and once for your fund's shareholder, which is marked
> **Your fund**. The **Ownership** tab
> recalculates everyone's percentage, so you can see your stake diluted
> from 18% to 14.5% without touching a formula.

## Mark your fund on the cap table

Marking which shareholder is your fund lets Cairn check the company's
ownership % against the cap table, whatever the shareholder is called.
Needs **Edit portfolio**.

* **A new shareholder:** in **New Shareholder**, choose **Investor**, then
  under **This is our fund** pick the fund (only funds that hold the company
  are offered).
* **An existing shareholder:** on the **Ownership** tab, open the row's
  menu and click **Mark as** the fund. **Not our fund** removes the mark.

Marked shareholders show a **Your fund** badge.

## Link a company to funds

Needs the **Manage funds** permission (Admin).

1. Open the company from the Portfolio list.
2. Under **Company info**, next to **Funds**, click **Edit**.
3. Tick or untick funds. Each change saves straight away.

## Read figures from a board pack or P\&L

Uploading needs **Edit portfolio** (Admin, Partner, or Analyst). Reading
also needs **Run Cairn Intelligence**.

1. Open the company and scroll to **Financials**.
2. Click **Upload** and choose a PDF, Excel (.xlsx), or CSV file of up to
   25MB.
3. Click **Read figures** next to the file. Cairn Intelligence reads the
   document's monthly figures and suggests a category for each line. This
   can take a minute.
4. The review page opens when it's done.

## Review and confirm figures

Figures don't count anywhere until someone confirms them.

1. On the review page, check **Currency and units**. If the document is in
   thousands or millions and Cairn read it wrong, change **Amounts in**;
   every money amount is recalculated. Headcount and runway stay as
   written.
2. Read **Before you confirm**: items marked **Must fix** block confirming.
3. In **Monthly figures**, for each line:
   * Pick a **Cairn category**. The list is grouped into **Profit and
     loss**, **KPIs**, **Balance sheet**, and **Cash flow**. The badge next
     to it shows how sure Cairn was: **High**, **Review**, or **None**. Your
     choice is remembered for this company's next document.
   * Correct any amount by clicking it. You can type `1,250` or `(1,250)`
     for a negative number.
   * Tick **Exclude** for lines that shouldn't count, such as totals.
   * Hover a line's label to see the text it was read from.
4. Click **Confirm figures**.

The figures then appear in the company's **Financials** section and in the
Command Center. To start over instead, click **Discard**: the reading is
deleted and the document stays, so you can read it again.

> **Example: a balance sheet that doesn't balance.** Northwind's pack
> includes a balance sheet. **Before you confirm** shows "The balance sheet
> doesn't balance: assets of 1,580,000 against liabilities and equity of
> 1,460,000". The difference is exactly the "Accrued expenses" line, which
> has no category. Pick **Balance sheet › Other current liabilities** for
> it and the check clears. With cash on the balance sheet and operating
> cash flow of −150,000, Northwind now shows cash, burn, and runway, even
> though its pack doesn't list them as KPIs.
>
> **Example: catching wrong units.** A company's Excel P\&L says "in
> thousands" on a hidden header row, and Cairn reads the amounts as shown.
> **Before you confirm** lists a **Must fix**: revenue of 412 is far from
> the company's usual 395,000. Change **Amounts in** to **Thousands**,
> every amount is recalculated, the check clears, and **Confirm figures**
> becomes available. Without the check, March revenue would have been
> recorded as $412 instead of $412K.
>
> **Example: lines that don't add up.** The document's total operating
> expenses are 1,240, but the lines Cairn read add up to 1,150. The check
> points you to the gap: a "Contractors" line was excluded by mistake.
> Untick **Exclude** on it and the totals match.

## Request figures from your companies

Needs **Edit portfolio** (Admin, Partner, or Analyst).

1. Go to **Portfolio** and click **Data requests**, or open a company and
   click **Request figures** in its **Data requests** card.
2. Check **Period ending**. It starts at the last quarter end, and **Period
   name** fills in from it (for example "Q3 2026"); you can rename it.
3. Set **Due**. It starts two weeks from today.
4. Add a **Message** if you want, for example "Please include the balance
   sheet and cash flow." The company sees it on its page.
5. From the Data requests page, tick the companies to ask, or click
   **Select all**. A company already asked for that period is shown as
   **already requested** and skipped.
6. Click **Create request** (or **Create 3 requests**).

Each company gets its own link. Cairn doesn't email it for you: send it
yourself (see the next section).

## Send a request's link

1. On **Portfolio › Data requests**, find the company's row.
2. Click the copy icon to copy its link, then paste it into an email or
   message to the company, **or** click the envelope icon to open your own
   email with the subject, due date, your message, and the link already
   filled in.

To remind a company, send the same link again. It keeps working until the
request is closed, its link is replaced, or 60 days after the due date.

## What the company sees

The company opens the link in a browser. It doesn't need a Cairn account.
The page shows your firm's name and logo, the period, the due date, and your
message. The person enters their name and email, then either:

* **Upload files:** one or more PDF, Excel (.xlsx), or CSV files, such as a
  board pack, P\&L, or balance sheet; or
* **Type in figures:** a month and currency, then any of recurring revenue,
  other revenue, cash balance, monthly net burn, ARR, and headcount.

They can add a note, send more than once, and see everything they've sent
so far.

## Review what a company sent

1. On **Portfolio › Data requests**, rows marked **Received** have
   something in. **Needs review** means a reading is waiting for you.
2. Click the company's name to open the request. Under **Received**, each
   file or set of figures shows who sent it, when, and their note.
3. Click **Review figures** and review and confirm as usual (see [Review
   and confirm figures](#review-and-confirm-figures)).

Files are read automatically when they arrive, so you don't need to click
**Read figures**. If a file couldn't be read, the request shows why; open
the company and use **Read figures** on the document, or ask the company
for a different file.

> **Example: Q3 figures from three companies.** On 1 October you request
> "Q3 2026" figures from Lumen Health, Northwind Analytics, and Copperline
> Robotics, due 15 October, and email each link. Lumen uploads its board
> pack on 6 October: its row shows **Received · Needs review**, and you
> confirm the figures in two minutes. Northwind's founder doesn't have a
> pack ready and types in September's revenue, cash, and burn; the reading
> arrives with every line already categorized. On 16 October Copperline's
> row turns **Overdue**, so you click the envelope icon and send the same
> link again as a reminder.

## Close a request or replace its link

Open the request from **Portfolio › Data requests**:

* **New link** creates a new link and stops the old one working at once.
  Use it if a link was sent to the wrong person.
* **Close request** stops the link working. Everything already received
  stays on the company's page. Closing also lets you request the same
  period from that company again.

## Find companies that need attention

1. Go to **Portfolio**.
2. Click the **Health** column header to put the most urgent companies
   first (At risk, then Watch). Companies without confirmed figures go last.
   Or use the health filter (**Any health** by default) to show only one
   status.
3. Hover a company's Health badge for its reasons, or open the company to
   see them in the **Financials** section.

Health only reflects confirmed figures, so keep each company's documents up
to date for it to stay meaningful.

You don't have to remember to check: the bell at the top of every page
shows **portfolio alerts** when a company crosses your firm's thresholds
for runway, revenue, burn, or missing figures. Admins set the thresholds
under **Settings › Notifications**.

> **Example: an alert between reviews.** On a Wednesday, an analyst
> confirms Northwind's August figures. Runway has dropped to 5.5 months.
> The next time anyone opens the bell, it shows "Northwind Analytics —
> Runway is 5.5 months." The partner opens the company, then dismisses the
> alert after scheduling a call with the CEO. If September's figures still
> show under 6 months, the alert comes back.

> **Example: the quarterly portfolio review.** Before the review, a
> partner sorts the Command Center by **Health**. Two companies are **At
> risk**: hovering the first shows "Runway is 4.5 months.", and the second
> shows "Revenue is down 28% on the previous three months." One company is
> **Not recent** because its last confirmed pack is from May, so the
> partner asks its CFO for the latest numbers. The review starts with those
> three companies instead of going alphabetically.

## See where your capital sits

1. Go to **Portfolio** and click **Geography**.
2. Narrow it down with the filters: fund, vintage, sector, stage, or
   status.
3. Choose what the colour shows (**TVPI**, **DPI**, or **At risk**) and
   what sizes the bubbles (**NAV** or **Invested**).
4. Click a country on the map, or a row in the table, to see its holdings.
   Each one links to the company.
5. Click **Export CSV** under the table to download the figures by
   country.

You only see the companies in the funds you can access.

## Set a company's country

Companies without an HQ country appear in the **Unassigned** notice on the
Geography page.

1. Next to the company, type or pick its country.
2. Click **Set country**. The company moves onto the map straight away.

Or open the company, click **Edit**, and fill in **HQ country**. Setting a
country needs the **Edit portfolio** permission.

## Spot concentration in one country

1. On the Geography page, look at the **Concentration** panel: the five
   countries with the largest share of NAV.
2. Change **Flag above** to the share your firm cares about. It's 25%
   unless you change it.
3. Countries above it are marked on the panel, outlined with a dashed line
   on the map, and labelled **Concentration** in the table. The CSV marks
   them in its **Above concentration threshold** column.

The threshold applies to this page only and resets when you leave.

## Import companies in bulk

1. Go to **Portfolio** and click **Import**.
2. Upload a CSV or Excel file, or download the provided template first to
   see the expected columns.
3. Map your file's columns to the required fields: name, sector, stage,
   status, entry date, entry valuation, current valuation, invested
   capital, realized value, and ownership %. HQ location, website, and
   description are optional.
4. Preview the rows to be imported, then confirm.
5. Review the results screen for how many rows imported successfully and
   how many failed.

## Export your portfolio

Go to **Portfolio** and use the **Export** menu to download your company
list as a CSV or Excel file.