Tools · Startup & strategy
Startup Unit Economics
Enter the few numbers a founder has — get CAC, LTV, payback, your target number, and TAM computed and interpreted.
How it works
The math is code's, the meaning is the corpus's: a deterministic compute layer calculates CAC, LTV, the LTV:CAC ratio, CAC payback, the 'Everyone Has a Number' target, and bottom-up TAM from the founder's inputs (auditable arithmetic, standard guardrails — LTV:CAC ≥ 3, payback ≤ 12mo), then the model interprets each number against the start-a-company corpus (CoCA/quantified-value-prop/follow-on-TAM constructs): what it means for THIS venture, the dollar-quantified value proposition, the KPIs to track, and an honest fundability verdict. Missing inputs are reported, never invented. Pairs with MF-174 (canvas frames the model; this proves the numbers).
You bring
{ venture, salesMarketingSpend?, customersAcquired?, pricePerPeriod?, grossMarginPct?, periodsPerYear?, monthlyChurnPct?|avgCustomerLifetimeMonths?, desiredAnnualIncome?, market?{beachheadCustomers?, annualContractValue?, followOnCustomers?, totalMarketCustomers?}, buyerBenefit? }
You get
{ venture_summary, metrics[] (value · display · formula · benchmark · health), interpretations[] (meaning · lever · grounded_in), quantified_value_proposition, kpis[], fundability_verdict, grounded_in, provenance }
Use it for
- →Founder gut-check from the start-a-company guide: enter price/margin/spend/churn → CAC, LTV, ratio and payback with a plain-English read
- →'Everyone Has a Number': supply a desired income → the exact customer count + revenue the model must clear to pay you
- →Bottom-up market sizing: beachhead + follow-on + total customer counts × ACV → beachhead/follow-on/TAM (link out to GTM-Toolbox T8 for North-Star selection)
See it work
example outputVenture: a $300/mo SaaS scheduling tool for dental practices — $48K of S&M acquired 40 customers, 80% gross margin, 3% monthly churn, founder targets $150K/yr income, beachhead of 2,000 practices at a $3,600 annual contract value.
Startup Unit Economics — DentalSlot (SaaS scheduling for dental practices)
Venture: A $300/mo scheduling + patient-recall tool for independent dental practices. Every number below is computed from the inputs supplied; any missing input would be flagged, never invented.
Computed metrics
| Metric | Value | Formula | Benchmark | Health |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| CAC | $1.2K | S&M spend ÷ customers acquired ($48K ÷ 40) | judged against LTV (target ≥ 3) | — |
| LTV | $8.0K | (price × margin) × lifetime months ($240 × 33.3) | ≥ 3× CAC | — |
| LTV : CAC | 6.7× | LTV ÷ CAC | ≥ 3 healthy · 1–3 thin · < 1 loses money | healthy |
| CAC payback | 5.0 months | CAC ÷ monthly gross contribution ($1,200 ÷ $240) | ≤ 12mo healthy | healthy |
| Target — customers | 53 customers | desired income ÷ annual contribution ($150K ÷ $2,880) | fewer is more reachable | — |
That’s the first part. This is a one-shot deliverable — run it on your data to get the whole thing →
Run it now
Check your unit economics
Get CAC, LTV, the LTV:CAC ratio, payback, and a fundability read — computed deterministically in code, interpreted from the corpus. Numbers are optional; it infers what it can.
Prefer code? Call it over the API or hand it to your AI agent via MCP — POST /api/bicycle/startup-unit-economics · compute_startup_unit_economics. API & agent access →