After working with hundreds of people on business ideas, I've learned that the numbers often reveal a side of the story that the narrative in our head leaves out. While a full scope Pro forma (such as this one from SCORE) is certainly needed for any significant investment or bank loan, having some rough numbers outlined as a proof of concept created over a cup of coffee in 20 minutes often reveals a lot of helpful information.
I created this Google Sheets template to do just that. It's a back-of-the-napkin, drop-dead simple, hyper-minimalistic sheet to help solopreneurs who are not familiar with the business process to start thinking about the numbers.
Quite often, people don't know the answers to simple questions like what their cost of goods will be or what profit margin they need for their business to succeed. So, this is a piece of homework to fill in the blanks.
