Plan beyond opening day
Can you fund
the whole plan?
Getting the doors open is one expense. Keeping the business moving while customers find you, orders arrive and invoices get paid is another. I want you to see the cash pressure before you commit to it.
Find the cash low. Then test your assumptions.
This is a planning tool for starting, buying or franchising a business. Replace every sample number with your own estimate. It follows cash actually received and paid, not booked sales or accounting profit. The starting figures are illustrative, not industry benchmarks.
- 01Protect home.
Separate the money your household needs.
- 02Fund the opening.
Count actual upfront cash uses once.
- 03Follow the timing.
Plan when cash comes in and bills go out.
- 04Keep a buffer.
Test a tougher outcome before committing.
Your inputs are calculated in this browser and are not submitted or saved by this site. Dollar amounts are USD. This educational model is not a lending decision or a substitute for a detailed plan reviewed with your accountant and advisers.
Illustrative example / 6-month cash plan
Additional funding needed
for your selected cash floor
$8,000.00
This is the modeled gap after the available business funds you entered. It includes your selected minimum business cash balance.
The lowest modeled cash balance is $2,000.00 in month 3, below the $10,000.00 cash floor you selected.
- Business funds available
- $50,000.00
- Personal reserve excluded
- $20,000.00
- Total business funding modeled
- $58,000.00
- Cash after upfront payments
- $20,000.00
- Lowest projected cash balance
- $2,000.00Month 3
- End-of-window cash balance
- $14,000.00
Your downside scenario
What changes if the plan gets harder?
- Additional funding needed
- Lowest cash balance
The result checks the opening position and month-end balances within your selected window. Cash can run short between those dates. A positive balance does not establish profitability, loan eligibility or business viability.
My first question
What happens if the cash arrives later?
Before you commit, ask what still has to be paid when sales slip, a customer pays late or opening takes longer. A forecast is useful when you are willing to challenge it.
Compare the ownership pathsThe cash path
The low point matters.
Later receipts do not erase an earlier funding gap. Follow the whole curve, including the cash left immediately after opening or closing.
- Base forecast
- Downside forecast
- Your cash floor
See the exact cash schedule and funding calculation
Negative cash means a modeled shortfall; an unfunded business cannot actually spend below zero without another source of funds. Forecast figures are estimates. This table follows the last calculation.
| Point in time | Opening cash | Cash received | Cash paid | Closing cash | Downside closing cash |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| After upfront payments | — | — | — | $20,000.00 | |
| Month 1 | $20,000.00 | $6,000.00 | $15,000.00 | $11,000.00 | |
| Month 2 | $11,000.00 | $10,000.00 | $16,000.00 | $5,000.00 | |
| Month 3 | $5,000.00 | $14,000.00 | $17,000.00 | $2,000.00 | |
| Month 4 | $2,000.00 | $20,000.00 | $18,000.00 | $4,000.00 | |
| Month 5 | $4,000.00 | $24,000.00 | $20,000.00 | $8,000.00 | |
| Month 6 | $8,000.00 | $28,000.00 | $22,000.00 | $14,000.00 |
$30,000.00 upfront cash uses + $18,000.00 peak cumulative cash draw + $10,000.00 selected business buffer = $58,000.00 total modeled funding. Less $50,000.00 available business funds = $8,000.00 additional funding needed.
Put the plan under pressure.
The price is one line.
For a purchase or franchise, review the cash required at closing, transition work, inventory, fees, debt service and operating needs. Enter the full cash paid from the funding listed here, not only your down payment. Seller-financed amounts not paid upfront belong in the repayment plan.
Sales do not pay bills until collected.
Inventory, payroll and marketing may need cash before the customer pays. Put loan repayments and owner draws into the month they leave the business. Exclude noncash expenses such as depreciation; include actual capital purchases and tax payments where applicable.
Six months is a window, not a rule.
Your cash needs depend on opening time, seasonality, payment terms and the business itself. Extend the plan beyond this tool when needed. Recheck it against actual collections and payments. More funding cannot fix a plan that never becomes economically workable.
How this model works and what it leaves out
- Available business funding
- Liquid funds under consideration − protected personal reserve + additional confirmed funding. All included funds are assumed accessible for the entered uses before the upfront payments. This is not a model for undrawn credit or future loan approvals.
- Peak cumulative cash draw
- Add each month's cash receipts minus cash payments in order. Find the lowest cumulative total, including a starting total of zero. If it is negative, its absolute value is the peak draw. An eventual recovery does not remove an earlier cash need.
- Total modeled funding
- Upfront cash uses + peak cumulative cash draw + your selected minimum business cash balance. The additional funding gap is this total minus available business funding, with a minimum result of zero. A gap of zero only means this forecast clears that test.
- Personal reserve and business buffer
- The personal reserve is removed from money available to the business. The business buffer is the minimum cash you want the business to keep. Each is counted once. If your liquid funds already exclude your personal reserve, enter zero in the reserve field to avoid subtracting it again.
- The downside
- Monthly receipts × (1 − your reduction percentage) and monthly payments × (1 + your increase percentage). Opening uses and funding stay fixed. Payments are stressed as a total, including any debt service or owner pay you included. This is a sensitivity test, not a probability, a full recession forecast or a prediction of delayed invoices.
- Color and scope
- Red means cash falls below your chosen floor at opening or a month end. Yellow means it reaches that floor exactly. Green means it stays above the floor with positive cash at those modeled points. No activity entered produces no rating. No result is a business-health grade or authorization to invest.
- What you still need to check
- Intra-month timing, missing costs, restrictions on funds, taxes, contingencies, funding conditions, debt covenants and the period beyond the forecast. This tool does not automatically increase costs when sales grow, calculate interest, estimate taxes, value a business or determine affordability.
Still choosing a direction? Compare starting, buying and franchising, then read the questions I would ask before committing.