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SMB Tools / Startup costs

How much to open the doors?

Add up what it costs to open and to run for the first few months, with a cushion for what you forgot, so you know how much capital you really need before day one.

One-time costs

What you pay once to open the doors.

Licenses, permits & registration
$
Legal & accounting setup
$
Equipment & machinery
$
Furniture, fixtures & signage
$
Leasehold improvements / buildout
$
Initial inventory
$
Website, branding & launch marketing
$
Deposits (lease & utilities)
$
Other one-time costs
$
One-time total$62,000

Monthly operating costs

What it costs to run each month once you’re open.

Rent / lease
$
Payroll & contractors
$
Utilities, phone & internet
$
Insurance
$
Software & subscriptions
$
Marketing (ongoing)
$
Loan payments
$
Other monthly costs
$
Monthly burn rate$15,500

Cushion

Months of operating cash to hold
months
Contingency
%
Total startup capital needed
$170,500
before you open, including a 6-month cushion
One-time $62,000Working capital $93,000Contingency $15,500
One-time costs
$62,000
Working capital (6 mo)
$93,000
Monthly burn rate
$15,500

A planning estimate from your figures, not a budget. Get real quotes for the big items (buildout, equipment, deposits) before you commit.

More tools

Business Fit Finder

Answer a few questions about your budget, skills, time, and appetite for risk, and see which of the 150+ business models genuinely fit you - then dive straight into them.

Open fit finder →

Owner Readiness Check

An honest read on whether you are cut out to own and run a business - your strengths, your gaps, and what to shore up before you leap.

Open readiness →

Business valuation calculator

Estimate what a business is worth using the SDE multiples buyers and brokers actually use, and see what drives the number up or down.

Open valuation →

ROI & payback calculator

See how long an investment takes to pay back and the return it earns - for a piece of equipment, a buildout, or a whole acquisition.

Open roi →

SDE & add-back calculator

Normalize a seller's profit into Seller's Discretionary Earnings - the number buyers and brokers actually value a business on - by adding back owner pay, non-cash charges, and one-offs.

Open sde →

Acquisition analyzer

Pressure-test a specific deal: cash needed at close, whether the earnings cover the loan, and your cash-on-cash return - the buyer's go/no-go in one place.

Open deal analyzer →

SBA loan & financing calculator

Model an SBA 7(a) or conventional loan: monthly payment, total interest, and whether the cash flow can actually carry the debt.

Open sba loan →

Entity & tax chooser

LLC, S-corp, or sole prop? Compare the structures and see the estimated tax difference in real dollars for your situation.

Open entity & tax →

Domain name search

Check whether the .com, and the alternatives, are available for your business name without bouncing between registrars.

Open domain →

Trademark search

A first-pass screen of the federal trademark register, so you can spot conflicts before you commit to a name.

Open trademark →

Business name generator

Generate name ideas for your concept, then check the domain and trademark on the strongest ones in the same flow.

Open name ideas →

Breakeven & margin calculator

Find the revenue you need to cover costs, your contribution margin, and how a change in price or cost moves the line.

Open breakeven →

Pricing calculator

Set prices that hold their margin - markup versus margin, cost-plus, and target-margin, with the math worked out for you.

Open pricing →

True cost of hiring

What an employee really costs - wages plus payroll taxes, benefits, workers comp, and overhead - as one fully loaded number.

Open hiring cost →

Commercial lease analyzer

Turn a headline rent quote into the true all-in cost of a lease over its term - escalations, NNN, free rent, and build-out - and compare options on equal footing.

Open lease →

Inventory reorder & EOQ

For product businesses: the stock level to reorder at so you never run out during lead time, and the order size that keeps ordering and holding costs in balance.

Open inventory →

Cash flow forecaster

Project your cash in and out month by month, so you see a crunch coming with enough time to do something about it.

Open cash flow →

Marketing ROI calculator

See what a marketing dollar returns - cost per lead, cost per customer, and the payback on a campaign before you scale it.

Open marketing roi →

LTV & CAC calculator

Weigh what a customer is worth over their lifetime against what they cost to acquire - the ratio and payback period that tell you whether you can afford to grow faster.

Open ltv : cac →

Benchmarking tool

Compare your cost structure, margin, and key metrics against sourced operating benchmarks for your business model - free to run, with a free account to save check-ins and track your numbers month over month.

Open benchmarking →

Self-fundable growth calculator

Find the growth rate your own cash flow can fund, and how much outside cash a faster target would need before growth outruns your cash.

Open self-fundable growth →

Sale proceeds estimator

Estimate what you actually walk away with after a sale, once debt, fees, and taxes come out of the headline price.

Open sale proceeds →

Exit readiness check

Gauge how sellable your business is today, and the handful of things that raise its value most before you list it.

Open exit readiness →