Business startup budget and break-even calculator
Test your opening budget and a monthly operating scenario before you commit. Replace the example inputs with your own assumptions.
Make your assumptions explicit.
Explore a monthly operating scenario. Values are USD. These are example numbers; replace them with yours.
Your inputs are sent to OpeningIQ to calculate this scenario. They are not saved or added to your private plan.
What would it take to break even?
Adjust the inputs and calculate to explore your operating model.
What numbers should I enter?
Use quotes and your own estimates for your restaurant, shop, salon or practice. The starting numbers are an illustration, not typical startup costs for an industry or city.
- Startup cost: one-time spending before opening, such as deposits, equipment and build-out.
- Total cash available: the cash you can use for both startup spending and operations.
- Monthly fixed costs: costs that do not change with sales in this scenario, such as rent and fixed payroll.
- Average transaction: your expected average sale in dollars.
- Variable costs: the share of sales spent on costs that rise with sales, such as materials and transaction fees.
- Expected monthly sales and operating days: your assumptions, not a demand prediction.
How break-even and cash runway are calculated
Monthly break-even revenue = monthly fixed costs ÷ (1 − variable cost percentage ÷ 100). Daily transactions divide that revenue by your average transaction and operating days, then round up.
Monthly operating surplus is sales after variable costs, minus fixed costs. Cash after startup is total cash minus startup cost. If that cash is negative, the tool shows a startup funding gap. If the operating scenario loses money, runway divides the cash remaining by that monthly loss.
For the example inputs above, $15,000 in fixed costs and 35% variable costs require $23,076.92 in monthly sales to break even, or 74 transactions per operating day at $12 across 26 days. With $20,000 monthly sales, the modeled loss is $2,000 per month. The $40,000 left after startup lasts 20 months at that loss.
“No modeled operating burn” means this monthly scenario has no operating loss. It does not mean you cannot run out of cash.
What this scenario leaves out
This is a simple USD scenario, not financial advice or a full cash-flow forecast. Taxes, debt service, capital replacements and owner distributions are excluded unless included in your inputs. Sales ramp-up, seasonal changes and the timing of payments are not modeled. Review actual quotes and cash-flow needs before committing.
Do I need an account, and are my numbers saved?
No account or card is needed. Your numbers are sent to OpeningIQ to calculate the result; they are not saved to a plan. A private opening plan saves checklist progress, notes and target dates after you sign in. Calculator inputs do not carry over.
Put your next opening steps in order
Explore free checklists for four business types in any US state, with detailed restaurant checklists in 11 cities and counties. Sign in only when you want to save a private plan.