Who This Helps
You're a product manager who gets asked "is this feature worth it?" or "why is revenue up but cash flat?" You want to turn those questions into clear, measurable decisions — not more slides.
The Founder Finance Basics Mission Pack is built for exactly this. It gives you simple frameworks to answer the hard questions without a finance degree.
Mini Case
Meet Ben. He runs a SaaS product. Revenue is up 12% this quarter, but cash is flat. His CEO wants a one-page truth on unit economics. Ben uses the Unit Economics Snapshot mission from the Founder Finance Basics Mission Pack. He maps customer acquisition cost (CAC), lifetime value (LTV), and payback period. The numbers show his growth spend is eating profits. He presents a clear fix: cut one underperforming channel, save 7 days of runway per month. The CEO approves the plan in one meeting.
Do This Now (5 Steps)
- Grab your last 3 months of revenue and cost data. You need total sales, marketing spend, and customer count.
- Calculate your unit economics. Use the Unit Economics Snapshot card from the Founder Finance Basics Mission Pack. Divide total cost by new customers to get CAC. Divide total revenue by total customers to get LTV.
- Check your payback period. If it's longer than 12 months, you're spending too fast to recover. The CAC Payback Triage mission helps you decide which channels to cut.
- Run a pricing scenario. Use the Pricing Scenario Guardrails mission to test a 10% price increase. Model the impact on demand and revenue. Set a stop rule: if conversion drops more than 5%, roll back.
- Build a runway forecast. The Runway Forecast mission gives you a simple table. Input your monthly burn and cash in bank. See exactly how many months you have left.
Avoid These Traps
- Don't mix one-time costs with recurring costs. That inflates your CAC and makes you look inefficient.
- Don't ignore churn. A low LTV with high churn means you're losing money on every customer.
- Don't present raw data without a decision. Stakeholders want a recommendation, not a spreadsheet.
- Don't assume all growth is good. If your CAC payback is 18 months, you're burning cash faster than you earn it.
Your Win by Friday
By Friday, you'll have a one-page unit economics snapshot your CEO can understand and approve. You'll know exactly which channel to cut, how much runway you have, and whether a price increase is safe. That's a decision your team can execute on Monday.