FundSimulate

I'm Nishkal, the founder of FundSim (fundsimulate.com). Wanted to share what I built and what I learned launching it.

What it is: A free, browser-based deal simulator for people learning PE, VC, and IB. LBO simulator with a real debt schedule, VC cap table with SAFE notes and liquidation prefs, IB DCF and accretion/dilution, and a weekly Deal Challenge with a global leaderboard. No download, no login to try.

Why I built it: Finance prep courses are $300 and they're passive video. The actual interview skill is speed and judgment under pressure. That comes from reps, not from watching someone else build a model. FundSimulate is the reps, free, for everyone.

What worked on the soft launch:

Honest framing converted way better than feature lists. "I built this because $300 courses are passive video" got engagement. "Excited to share..." got crickets.

Free with no login wall. Letting people play with it before asking anything was the single biggest conversion lever.

Building one thing people would share (Deal Challenge cards) instead of 10 things no one talks about.

What didn't:

Promoting on subreddits where I had no posting history got me shadowbanned twice. Build karma in a sub before posting your own thing.

Trying to capture emails on the launch page killed conversion. Removed it.

Generic launch copy on directories. Replaced with founder voice, submission rate roughly 3x'd.

What's next: weekly Deal Challenge variants (LBO this week, VC waterfall next, M&A after), group rooms for finance clubs, school-filtered leaderboards.

If you run a finance club or business school program and want a group session, DM me.

Try it: fundsimulate.com