Business Viability Dashboard
—Yr 1 take-away /mo
—Yr 1 coverage /mo
—Runway
What this is. A cash model for deciding whether starting or buying a small business actually works
— for you, not just for the business. You enter what you have, what it costs to get set up, what you need
to live on, what the business costs to run, and a few revenue scenarios. It tells you whether the money
lasts, and for how long.
How to use it. Work down the page in order; every figure is yours to change and nothing is required. The tab bar at the top holds independent scenarios — the Example — service business tab is filled in so you can see a complete model, and My plan is empty for your own. Duplicate a tab (⧉) to try a what-if without disturbing the original. Everything is saved in this browser only; use Export JSON to back it up or move it.
How to use it. Work down the page in order; every figure is yours to change and nothing is required. The tab bar at the top holds independent scenarios — the Example — service business tab is filled in so you can see a complete model, and My plan is empty for your own. Duplicate a tab (⧉) to try a what-if without disturbing the original. Everything is saved in this browser only; use Export JSON to back it up or move it.
Available funds
Everything you can put on the table. Type in either currency — the other updates instantly.
⇄
Leave the second currency blank if you
only work in one. When set, the funds box and the relocation sheet show both, linked by the rate.
Relocation & setup
One-off cost of getting set up — moving, visas, deposits, anything you pay once before
trading starts. With a second currency set, each row shows both and either side updates the other.
Personal living expenses
Monthly household cost of living. Add or delete any row. With two people, each row is
split 50/50 by default — click 50/50 in the Who pays column to flip a row to Mine.
Business startup cost
The one-off cost of opening the doors. This plus relocation is what comes out of your funds before month 1.
Business running costs monthly burn
One tab per period of the ramp-up. Duplicate a tab to model months 0–6 / 6–8 / 8+ separately. The
Salaries row is calculated from the staff table below it.
Staff for this phase
Whoever is on the payroll during this phase. Their total feeds the Salaries row above.
Rate — what the person is paid, in whatever unit the Pay basis says. Pick
Yearly salary and it's their gross salary per year; Monthly salary is per month;
Hourly is per hour (then set hours / week); Per job is per job (then set jobs / month).
Each box says its own unit underneath. This is gross pay — what lands on their payslip before
their own tax is withheld, not what they cost you.
Burden % — the extra you pay on top of their gross pay, as a percentage of it: the employer's share of payroll taxes and social contributions, unemployment or redundancy funds, and any compulsory employer insurance. It varies a lot by country and by trade — in the US it is commonly 10–15% for an employee (the employer half of Social Security and Medicare alone is 7.65%), while elsewhere employer contributions can be considerably higher. Put in your own country's number and confirm it with an accountant. A self-employed contractor who invoices you is normally 0% — they pay all of it themselves, which is why their headline rate is higher.
So Cost to you = gross pay × (1 + burden%), and that is the figure the business actually spends.
Burden % — the extra you pay on top of their gross pay, as a percentage of it: the employer's share of payroll taxes and social contributions, unemployment or redundancy funds, and any compulsory employer insurance. It varies a lot by country and by trade — in the US it is commonly 10–15% for an employee (the employer half of Social Security and Medicare alone is 7.65%), while elsewhere employer contributions can be considerably higher. Put in your own country's number and confirm it with an accountant. A self-employed contractor who invoices you is normally 0% — they pay all of it themselves, which is why their headline rate is higher.
So Cost to you = gross pay × (1 + burden%), and that is the figure the business actually spends.
One-time expenses
Unplanned or non-recurring spend after launch. These feed the yearly conclusion below.
Business income projections
Each row is a gross-revenue scenario, set per year — pick a year tab and type that year's figures.
Years past the last tab reuse it. Materials come off first, then that year's running burn, then the one-time share.
Swap the sheet between yearly and monthly — it just ×12 or ÷12 every figure, the model underneath is the same.
Conclusions
Cash timeline
Your cash balance month by month: funds, minus relocation and startup, plus what the business
leaves you, minus your share of living costs. Phase burn switches automatically at the month boundaries you set.
Cash in the black
Cash gone / in the red
Balance line
Phase boundary