Will the business model hold?

Before you write a 30-page plan, answer the question underneath it: at your price, your costs, and your growth — when does this business break even, and does the cash last until it does? PlanForge turns nine numbers into a monthly model, the answer, and a plan skeleton to build on.

1
Describe the money inWhat you charge, how many you’ll sell in month one, and how fast that grows.
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2
Describe the money outDirect costs, payroll, rent, marketing — plus startup costs and the cash you’re starting with.
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3
Read the verdictBreak-even month, runway, margins, a monthly model, and starter narrative for the written plan.
⭐ Pro — $29 one-timeMonths 13–36 of the model · price × growth sensitivity table · printable exhibit
Harborline Coffee — a café opening with $110k in the bank: $6.50 average ticket, 2,400 tickets in month one, growing 6%/mo. Watch when it breaks even — then edit anything; it’s yours the moment you type.
per sale
sales in month 1
Payroll (incl. you)
Rent & utilities
Marketing
Everything else
One-time startup costs
Cash + funding on hand

Planning math with your assumptions — not accounting, tax, or investment advice. Nothing you enter leaves this device.

Questions PlanForge answers

What founders and small business owners ask before they build a model.

How do I work out my break-even point?
Divide fixed costs by contribution margin per unit — the price minus the variable cost of delivering one unit. The answer is how many units cover the fixed base each month. Most first models get this wrong by treating owner pay or loan payments as variable when they are fixed.
How much runway do I actually have?
Cash on hand divided by average monthly net burn, where burn is cash out minus cash in — not profit. A business can be profitable on paper and out of runway, because invoices paid in sixty days do not cover payroll in thirty.
What goes in a business plan's financial section?
A monthly revenue build with volume and price stated separately, fixed and variable costs split, a break-even point, a cash-flow projection long enough to show the trough, and the assumptions written down where a reader can argue with them. Lenders read the assumptions before the totals.
How many months should a financial projection cover?
Thirty-six is the standard ask for a loan or a plan, with the first twelve monthly and the rest quarterly if you prefer. Shorter than twenty-four rarely shows the point where growth stops consuming cash, which is the thing the projection exists to find.

PlanForge is free to run in your browser with no account, and it installs — see below to put it on your phone or desktop. Pro is a one-time $29 unlock that adds the full 36-month horizon, the sensitivity table and the printable exhibit — owned forever, not a subscription. Built by NESO, an advisory and tools practice for business and real estate. Questions: send them here.