Stable8 min read
Finance
Model unit economics, runway, and scenarios — with a plain-language abbreviations reference.
The Finance phase models unit economics, cash runway, sensitivity, and capital needs grounded in your Business Model Canvas and pricing work. In Sculptor you get:
/finance— FinanceAgent produces investor-style tables (unit economics, revenue scenarios, burn, sensitivity).- Explore scenarios — branch assumptions on a saved finance asset and compare side by side.
- Finance playground —
/tools/finance-scenariosfor template-first what-if modeling; save to the workspace when a finance asset exists.
Outputs are coaching artefacts, not certified financial advice.
Investors and boards ask for math, not narrative alone. Finance makes assumptions explicit, links them to strategy ids (BMC-*, PRICE-001), and gives you a base case you can stress-test without re-running the whole agent.
- Pre-fundraise or annual budget planning
- Before scaling paid channels or hiring sales
- After
/pricingwhen ARPU and packaging are directionally set - Whenever GTM plans need a runway reality check
- Import revenue and cost blocks from
BMC-*andPRICE-001when available. - Build a 12–24 month model with base, upside, and downside revenue scenarios.
- Calculate CAC, LTV, LTV:CAC, payback, and gross margin with the same cohort definitions.
- Model burn, runway, and capital requirement (
CAPREQ-001) for the/fundingphase. - Run sensitivity on churn, conversion, and ARPU.
- Branch financial scenarios in the UI to test hiring or channel decisions.
Core unit economics
| Abbr. | Full term | One-line meaning |
|---|---|---|
| CAC | Customer acquisition cost | Fully loaded cost to win one new customer |
| LTV | Lifetime value | Gross profit over the customer relationship |
| LTV:CAC | LTV to CAC ratio | Value earned per acquisition dollar (≥3:1 often cited for SaaS) |
| Payback | CAC payback period | Months until gross profit recovers CAC |
| ARPU | Average revenue per user | Mean revenue per user per period |
| ARPA | Average revenue per account | Mean revenue per B2B account |
| GM% | Gross margin | Revenue minus direct delivery cost, as % of revenue |
| COGS | Cost of goods sold | Direct cost to deliver the offer |
Revenue & SaaS growth
| Abbr. | Full term | One-line meaning |
|---|---|---|
| MRR | Monthly recurring revenue | Normalised monthly subscription value |
| ARR | Annual recurring revenue | MRR × 12 with consistent rules |
| NRR | Net revenue retention | Cohort revenue incl. expansion minus churn |
| GRR | Gross revenue retention | Retention before expansion |
| Churn | Logo or revenue churn | Customers or revenue lost in a period |
Cash & runway
| Abbr. | Full term | One-line meaning |
|---|---|---|
| Burn | Cash burn | Cash out per month (gross or net) |
| Net burn | Net cash burn | Gross burn minus cash revenue |
| Runway | Cash runway | Months of cash at current net burn |
| OPEX | Operating expenses | Ongoing operating costs |
| CAPREQ | Capital requirement | Target runway × net burn — handoff to /funding |
Sculptor artefact ids
| ID | Contents |
|---|---|
| UE-001 | Unit economics table |
| REV-001 | Revenue projection by scenario |
| BURN-001 | Burn and runway by phase |
| COST-001 | Cost structure (% of burn) |
| SENS-001 | Sensitivity (low / base / high) |
| CAPREQ-001 | Capital needed for target runway |
Full glossary tables live in this guide above; for workspace walkthroughs see Financial scenarios in Sculptor and Unit economics.
- Assumptions listed, tagged, and owned (finance or ops).
- At least two revenue scenarios plus sensitivity on key drivers.
- Unit economics use the same margin and cohort definition on CAC and LTV sides.
- Capital requirement stated as one number — round structure belongs in
/funding.
- Spreadsheet disconnected from strategy refs (
BMC-*,PRICE-001). - Vanity LTV — ignoring churn or support cost.
- CAC excludes salaries — especially founder-led sales.
- Single hockey-stick forecast with no downside case.
- Treating Sculptor output as audit-ready filings.
| Step | Where |
|---|---|
| Generate model | /finance in Chat or Agentic — consumes BMC-*, PRICE-001 |
| Compare branches | Finance asset → Explore scenarios |
| Template sandbox | /tools/finance-scenarios → Save to workspace |
| Currency display | Project details → Currency (ISO 4217) |
| Raise narrative | /funding — uses capital requirement from finance |
Deeper methodology: Unit economics, SaaS growth metrics, Service business metrics.
Note: Sculptor coaches structure and questions — not tax, legal, or investment advice.
Related techniques
Sources & further reading
- Mauboussin, M. J. (2012). The Success Equation. Harvard Business Review Press.
- Skok, D. (2010). Startup Killer: the cost of customer acquisition. For Entrepreneurs.