Who This Helps
You're a founder operator who sees a KPI drop and needs to find the root cause before the next team standup. This is for you if you want to move from "something's off" to "here's exactly what happened" in one focused session. The Finance Basics for Operators program gives you the framework to do just that.
Mini Case
Meet Viktor. He runs a subscription box service. Last month, his contribution margin dropped from 42% to 30%. He had 7 days to explain it to his board. Using the Unit Economics Snapshot mission from the program, he found the culprit: a 12% increase in packaging costs that he hadn't noticed. One line item. One fix. He saved the month.
Do This Now (5 Steps)
- Pull your last 4 weeks of data. You need revenue, variable costs, and fixed costs. No more than 30 minutes.
- Calculate your contribution margin. Revenue minus variable costs divided by revenue. If it's below 40%, you have a problem.
- Compare week over week. Look for any line item that changed by more than 10%. That's your suspect.
- Ask one question per suspect. Is this a one-time blip or a trend? If it's a trend, you need a control move.
- Write down your top cost driver. Use the Cost Structure Triage mission from the program to identify one control move. Done in 1 hour.
Avoid These Traps
- Don't look at profit first. Profit lies. Cash and margin tell the real story.
- Don't blame sales. Often the drop is in costs, not revenue.
- Don't try to fix everything. Pick one root cause and one action.
- Don't skip the assumptions. The Break-even Scenario Card mission teaches you to write them down.
- Don't wait for perfect data. Use what you have now.
- Don't forget to check pricing. A small change can mask a big problem.
- Don't ignore fixed costs. They can creep up and kill your runway.
- Don't do this alone. Share your finding with one teammate for a sanity check.
Your Win by Friday
By Friday, you'll have one clear root cause for your KPI drop and one control move to test. You'll also have a one-page Finance operator card from the program that you can use for every future decision. That's faster decisions, less stress, and more time to build.