Think through growth. Plan your next step with confidence.
I examine how customer acquisition, staffing and payments fit together in your growth plan. You see which assumptions support the plan, how different outcomes affect it and which options that gives you for your next step.
60 customers. Four new hires. How does the expansion support the goal?
Entirely fictional worked example
A B2B software business sells an existing subscription product. Its management plans more customers and four additional employees for 2027. The existing forecast is to be reviewed before the hires are approved.
This is not a client case. All figures and review evidence are invented.The example shows my approach and a possible scope for a detailed modelling project. These figures are neither industry benchmarks nor promised outcomes.
60active customers on 1 January
€120,000opening recurring revenue / month
€450,000opening modelled cash
120target customers in December
The existing plan
Six customer starts per month, one customer lost each month and all four hires from January.
60 + 12 × 6 − 12 × 1 = 120
120 active customers × €2,000 produce €240,000 recurring revenue in December. Whether sales and implementation support that path is still to be established.
What I review
I work back from the goal to its requirements: how many suitable enquiries are needed, when contracts become active customers, what capacity is available then and when the payment arrives.
That creates an explained basis for deciding on hiring, priorities and funding.
View the example’s starting assumptions
Starting position on 1 January 2027
Assumption
Example value
Monthly fee per active customer
€2,000
Existing fixed operating payments
€110,000 / month
Marketing budget
€18,000 / month
Variable service costs
20% of monthly revenue
Existing onboarding capacity
4 customer starts per month
Agreed reserve
€120,000
January systems/equipment investment
€30,000
Unpaid December invoices at start of year
€120,000
On small screens, scroll this table horizontally.
The €110,000 includes the existing team, including sales. Marketing and new roles are additional. All amounts are net. Cash balances are calculated before VAT and income-tax payments.
02 · What supports the plan?
Turn assumptions into requirements you can assess.
A sales conversion rate becomes useful when its customer group and time period are clear. I review definitions, sample sizes and timing. The review evidence below belongs to this invented example.
Monthly management assumption
50qualified enquiries
30product meetings
6new contracts
60% attend a meeting · 20% of those sign
Monthly reviewed assumption
50qualified enquiries
25product meetings
5new contracts
50% attend a meeting · 20% of those sign
JanuaryQualified enquiryReview customer group and conversion.
FebruaryContract and preparationPrepare the customer’s implementation.
MarchCustomer becomes activeRevenue begins when capacity is available.
AprilPayment arrivesThe March invoice is paid.
Four customer starts are already confirmed for both January and February. The review retains this opening pipeline. New enquiries become potential starts after two months of lead time.
Assumption matrix: compare the existing plan and review
Fictional review of growth assumptions
Assumption
Existing plan
Example review evidence
Calculation consequence
Qualified enquiries
50 / month
About 40 so far; new budget is intended to enable 50
50 still needs evidence; downside: 40.
Product meetings from enquiries
60%
Comparable completed sales cohorts: 50%
Reviewed assumption: 50%.
Contracts from product meetings
20%
Completed sales cohorts support 20%
Retained; downside: 15%.
Time to customer start
No lead time
One month selling, one month preparing
New January enquiries generate revenue no earlier than March.
Opening pipeline
Not shown separately
Four confirmed starts each in January and February
Confirmed starts are retained.
New implementation employee
Productive immediately
One month of ramp-up
Additional capacity from the following month.
Customer losses
One each month
Renewal plan for the original 60 customers
Retained; downside: two.
Payment
Same as revenue
Invoice paid in the following month
Plan revenue and collections separately.
On small screens, scroll this table horizontally.
Real sales cohorts need enough time to observe completed outcomes. Open opportunities are not yet won or lost deals. The review also examines whether rates transfer to new customer groups.
What the reviewed assumptions produce
60 + 4 + 4 + 10 × 5 − 12 = 106
106 customers in December. In this case, the new implementation employee starts in January and can onboard eight customers per month from February. The original target of 120 needs additional conditions.
Work backwards from the goal
120 customers → 72 starts during the year
After the eight confirmed starts, 64 are needed from March to December: an average of 6.4 per month. At 50% meeting conversion and 20% contract conversion, this requires an average of 64 qualified enquiries each month.
My contribution
I translate the growth target into the sales performance, lead time and capacity it requires. More marketing spend does not automatically produce proportionally more qualified enquiries. That relationship needs evidence.
03 · Staffing and implementation
Plan hiring and customer starts together.
The reviewed assumptions allow two hiring schedules: all four roles from January or a staged expansion. Their total monthly costs stay the same. Start dates and productive capacity change.
Two developers
€13,000 / month
Additional product modules
Immediate → stagedJanuary → July
€78,000 in the model year
One implementation employee
€6,500 / month
Onboarding new customers
Immediate → stagedJanuary → June
€45,500 in the year · more capacity from July
One customer support employee
€5,500 / month
Ongoing support
Immediate → stagedJanuary → August
€27,500 in the year · fully ramped from September
Additional staffing costs in 2027
€300,000 → €151,000
€149,000 less paid for new roles. That is only part of the decision: later capacity also delays customer starts and revenue. The figures are assumed total employer costs.
How many signed customers are waiting?
Until June, capacity permits four starts per month. Five customers are ready from March, so the backlog grows to four waiting customers.
1Mar
2Apr
3May
4Jun
1Jul
0Aug
From July, onboarding capacity rises to eight starts per month. Eight customers start in July and six in August, clearing the backlog. Waiting customers generate no subscription revenue until they start.
Review the conditions for staged hiring
Waiting customers remain until onboarding in the example. Potential cancellations or extra catch-up costs are not included. Waiting times and service quality need review in the actual project.
Existing support handles up to 90 active customers. August reaches exactly 90; additional support capacity is available from September, when there are 94 customers. The example assumes staff can provide the necessary training.
The existing product can already be sold. Later developer hires delay additional modules and the roadmap. If those modules were needed for new contracts, revenue would also have to change.
What the decision needs
I show financial options alongside their operational conditions. Staged hiring is one possible solution under these assumptions. Its suitability also depends on product strategy, customer commitments and available capacity.
04 · One month, fully calculated
From customer start to cash: March 2027.
This calculation shows the staged hiring case in the fictional example. It separates active customers, revenue and cash collection, bringing every item through to the month-end balance.
1 · Active customers66 + 4 − 1 = 69
66 customers carried from February, four actual starts and one loss. One of the five customers ready to start waits for onboarding.
2 · Monthly revenue€138,000
69 × €2,000
Activation and loss occur at the start of the month in this example, so the full monthly fee applies.
3 · Cash collected in March€132,000
Collections come from February invoices. March revenue of €138,000 is paid in April.
March payments
Variable costs: €138,000 × 20%€27,600
Existing fixed operating payments€110,000
Marketing€18,000
New roles / investment€0
Total payments€155,600
Modelled month-end cash
Opening balance from February€358,400
Add cash collected+ €132,000
Deduct payments− €155,600
March closing balance€334,800
Modelled cash balance · before VAT and income-tax payments.
Monthly revenue is not annual revenue
Subscription businesses also call recurring monthly revenue MRR. In the staged case, December MRR is €212,000. Multiplying by twelve gives an annualised December figure of €2,544,000. Full-year 2027 revenue is €1,996,000 because the customer base grows during the year.
Annual earnings alone do not explain cash
€450,000 − €90,200 − €92,000 − €30,000 = €237,800
Opening cash less the operating loss, additional unpaid customer invoices and the January investment. Receivables grow from €120,000 to €212,000. Revenue that has not yet been collected ties up cash.
05 · Consistent scenario planning
Which case fits the goal and its conditions?
Each case starts from the same opening position. It changes specific sales assumptions, hiring dates or the timing of hypothetical funding. That makes the reason for each difference clear.
The funding comparison is available when the downside case is selected.
Selected: Reviewed assumptions · staged hiring
Modelled cash balance · before VAT and income-tax payments
Active customers in December106after actual starts and losses
Lowest modelled cash in the year€227,000Month end: October
Largest shortfall against reserve€0against the invented €120,000 threshold
Modelled December cash€237,800after payments included in the model
The reviewed assumptions stay the same. Implementation begins in June, the developers in July and support in August. Some customer starts are delayed; the backlog is cleared in August. December still reaches 106 customers. The agreed reserve is maintained under these assumptions.
Modelled cash across twelve months
Blue line: Reviewed assumptions · staged hiring
Management plan
Reviewed assumptions · immediate hiring
Reviewed assumptions · staged hiring
Downside case · same hiring schedule
Grey lines show the other baseline cases. The funding line appears when selected. Month-end balances do not show intramonth payment peaks. On small screens, scroll the chart horizontally.
Follow the selected case through all twelve months
Reviewed assumptions · staged hiring · 2027 · Modelled cash balance · before VAT and income-tax payments
Month
Starts
Waiting
Active customers
Revenue
Collections
Payments
Equity
Closing cash
January
4
0
63
€126,000
€120,000
€183,200
€0
€386,800
February
4
0
66
€132,000
€126,000
€154,400
€0
€358,400
March
4
1
69
€138,000
€132,000
€155,600
€0
€334,800
April
4
2
72
€144,000
€138,000
€156,800
€0
€316,000
May
4
3
75
€150,000
€144,000
€158,000
€0
€302,000
June
4
4
78
€156,000
€150,000
€165,700
€0
€286,300
July
8
1
85
€170,000
€156,000
€181,500
€0
€260,800
August
6
0
90
€180,000
€170,000
€189,000
€0
€241,800
September
5
0
94
€188,000
€180,000
€190,600
€0
€231,200
October
5
0
98
€196,000
€188,000
€192,200
€0
€227,000
November
5
0
102
€204,000
€196,000
€193,800
€0
€229,200
December
5
0
106
€212,000
€204,000
€195,400
€0
€237,800
Collections come from prior-month invoices; January comes from unpaid December invoices. Payments include variable costs, existing fixed expenses, marketing, new roles and January investment. All amounts net. Scroll horizontally to see every column.
Four baseline cases in 2027 · no new funding · cash balances before VAT and income-tax payments
Result
Management plan
Reviewed assumptions · immediate hiring
Reviewed assumptions · staged hiring
Downside case · same hiring schedule
Active customers in December
120
106
106
74
December monthly revenue (MRR)
€240,000
€212,000
€212,000
€148,000
Full-year 2027 revenue
€2,220,000
€2,018,000
€1,996,000
€1,642,000
Additional personnel costs in 2027
€300,000
€300,000
€151,000
€151,000
Operating result before D&A, interest, tax
-€60,000
-€221,600
-€90,200
-€373,400
Lowest modelled cash during year
€172,000
€95,600
€227,000
€18,600
Month of lowest balance
August
October
October
December
Largest shortfall against reserve
€0
€24,400
€0
€101,400
Modelled December cash
€240,000
€106,400
€237,800
€18,600
This table always shows the four baseline cases without funding. The funding selection updates the selected case’s metrics and monthly calculation. Scroll horizontally to see all columns.
How staged hiring changes the result
€149,000 − €17,600 = €131,400
Lower additional staffing costs less the contribution lost through delayed starts. Annual revenue is €22,000 lower; at 20% variable costs, €17,600 contribution is lost. December cash is therefore €131,400 higher than with immediate hiring under the reviewed assumptions.
What the reserve means here
€120,000 is an invented threshold for this example. It is intended to retain room after planned payments. In the real project, we justify the reserve using upcoming obligations and potential deviations.
Positive cash alone does not establish that the next expansion is funded. All four cases have a negative 2027 operating result before depreciation, interest and tax.
Funding: same amount, different timing
In the downside case, we separately calculate a purely hypothetical €150,000 equity injection. It is not committed. This table shows why its timing matters to the decision.
Downside case: modelled cash at two funding dates
Month-end cash
Funding in October
Funding in December
October
€243,400
€93,400
November
€205,200
€55,200
December
€168,600
€168,600
Lowest balance during year
€133,200
€55,200
On small screens, scroll this table horizontally.
Both cases end at €168,600. If funding arrives in December, November is up to €64,800 short of the reserve. Interim funding would need to be available in time. It is neither approved nor automatically free, and is not included in these figures.
Equity increases cash, not revenue or operating earnings. Fees, conditions, and interest and repayments for other funding forms are added in the actual project.
06 · From review to decision
See what your next step depends on.
My work concludes with an assessment of the results and their conditions. A prioritised summary for this example could look like this:
Priority 1
Goal and sales evidence
106 rather than 120 customers under reviewed assumptions
Adjust the target or substantiate the required enquiries, contracts and implementation capacity.
Priority 2
Approval of new hires
Timing changes cash payments and customer starts
Assess staged hiring against customer commitments and the module roadmap.
Priority 3
Funding before it is needed
The downside case falls below the reserve from October
Review hiring approvals again and arrange funding before it is needed.
Decision criteria for your business
We agree on what evidence an approval needs: supported sales data, expected customer starts, appropriate capacity, payments actually received and enough cash after the next obligations. You can then continue the planning as new information arrives.
07 · A traceable working model
A model you can keep working with.
A detailed modelling project can provide an editable system or file. You change the agreed inputs and see how customers, costs and payments respond. These three previews come from this example’s calculated workbook.
1 · Inputs and reviewed assumptions
1 · Inputs and reviewed assumptions
One active model selects the assumptions for the chosen case. Blue figures are editable inputs.
2 · Customer starts and capacity
2 · Customer starts and capacity
The monthly schedule connects contracts, capacity, waiting customers and actual active customers.
3 · Payments and cash
3 · Payments and cash
The revenue forecast feeds the cash schedule. Unpaid invoices, staffing and investment remain separate.
The file opens with “Reviewed / staged”. On “Inputs”, choose a case from 0 to 3. In the downside case, set the equity month to 0, 10 or 12. The model calculates one active case at a time. The website comparison uses the unchanged assumptions explained here; edits in the workbook do not change the website.
Assumptions and limits of this example
January to December 2027. The case does not project unlimited runway or provide a complete bank-account forecast.
All amounts net. VAT and income-tax payments are excluded from modelled cash. The actual liquidity plan adds their amounts and due dates.
Month-end balances omit intramonth peaks. Review reserve and payment dates before committing.
All customers pay in the following month. January includes €120,000 from unpaid December invoices. Additional defaults and payment delays are excluded.
New customers have a twelve-month commitment. Monthly losses affect the original customer base. Renewals in the following year need a separate forecast.
Every customer pays the same monthly fee. There are no upsells, setup fees or price changes. Activations and losses apply at the start of the month.
Existing costs, marketing, variable service costs and new total employer costs are paid in the same month. No additional sales commission is assumed. January investment remains €30,000 in all cases.
Outstanding questions include enquiry volume and conversion, retention while waiting, holidays and utilisation, training, delayed product modules and funding terms.
You do not need a complete model for our first conversation. In the free, no-obligation call, we clarify the decision you want to make and which information is already available.
01
Free introductory call
We discuss your question, existing plan and the appropriate review scope.
02
Growth Check
A defined review with a written assessment and prioritised next steps.
03
Detailed project
If needed, we model customers, staffing, scenarios and payments in more detail under a separate scope.
04
Strategic Finance Partner
For ongoing needs, I support updates and decisions under an agreed monthly retainer.
Growth Check
A focused review of an existing growth plan.
€1,500 net
Review critical revenue, staffing and cost assumptions.
Assess initial scenario logic and missing evidence.
Written assessment with prioritised recommendations.
Closing discussion of results and next steps.
We agree the specific review scope before you commission the work.
The detailed integrated example on this page shows a possible scope for further work. It is not fully included in the €1,500 Growth Check.
A new model, detailed customer and staffing schedules, extensive scenarios or ongoing reporting require a separate agreement. The Finance Decision System may suit a bespoke model build. You then also receive an agreed editable system or file with a personal explanation.
Project scope and fee depend on the decision, available information and modelling required.
€1,500 net, plus statutory VAT where applicable. The Growth Check provides a written decision assessment. An additional editable model forms part of a separately agreed project.
09 · Your point of contact
Understand the business model. Connect the numbers.
Roman Braun · Deistermind
I am interested in how a good idea becomes a financially sustainable business model. I connect your experience of the business with the figures available and the assumptions for your next step.
I have worked in finance and controlling for more than ten years. I now use the skills I developed in an international corporate group for SMEs and start-ups. You work directly with me and can follow how the assessment is reached.
The Growth Check reviews an existing forecast or financial model. If no usable plan exists yet, we discuss a suitable build in the introductory call.
Will you rebuild my entire model?
The Growth Check reviews the existing plan. A full rebuild or extensive expansion is agreed as a separate project. The Finance Decision System may be suitable for a bespoke model build.
Is the complete example included in the €1,500 fee?
No. The fee covers a defined Growth Check with a written assessment, initial scenario considerations, prioritised recommendations and a closing discussion. The detailed integrated example also illustrates further modelling, which requires a separate scope.
What do I receive after the check?
A written decision assessment covering critical assumptions, missing evidence, initial scenario logic and prioritised next steps. An additional modelling project also provides an editable system or file with an explanation.
Is this only for SaaS or fundraising?
No. SaaS, or subscription software, is one fictional application here. The review also fits other business models and internal growth and staffing decisions. Revenue drivers and payment flows are adapted to your business.
Does positive year-end cash establish enough runway?
It describes only the modelled balance at the end of December 2027. Funding needs beyond that horizon, tax due dates and intramonth payments require additional planning. Simply projecting today’s cash using an unchanged monthly loss would be insufficient here.
Free introductory call
What is your next growth step?
In the free, no-obligation introductory call, we discuss your question and existing plan. I then suggest an appropriate scope. No financial documents are needed beforehand. We exchange confidential information through a secure route agreed together.
