Calculators and frameworks operators actually use — runway, pricing, freelance rates, and a one-page business model canvas.
How many months can you survive at your current net burn?
Default-alive companies reach profitability before they run out of cash. Rule of thumb: raise when you have at least 6 months of runway left. Below 3 months you have no leverage — investors smell it.
Reverse-engineer the hourly rate your target income actually requires.
Most freelancers undercharge because they divide salary by 52 × 40. Reality: you'll bill closer to 50% of your time. Overhead covers taxes, tools, healthcare, downtime, biz dev. Profit margin funds growth — not optional.
Eight ways businesses price — when each one wins, and how it fails.
Manufacturing, agencies billing time.
Take your cost, add a margin (e.g. 40%). Simple and defensible.
Ignores what customers will actually pay. Leaves money on the table for great products.
Commodity markets, new entrants.
Anchor to incumbents: match, undercut, or premium-position.
Races to the bottom. Doesn't reflect your unique value.
B2B SaaS, consulting, anything with measurable ROI.
Price as a fraction (typically 10–20%) of the value created for the customer.
Hard to quantify value. Requires deep customer discovery.
Software, subscriptions, services with feature variations.
Three tiers — most buyers pick the middle. Anchor with a premium tier.
Too many tiers paralyze. Keep features per tier sharply differentiated.
APIs, infra, AI tokens, anything metered.
Pay per unit consumed. Aligns price with value delivered.
Revenue is unpredictable. Customers fear surprise bills.
Network-effect products, viral B2C/B2B tools.
Free forever for basic use, paid for power features, teams, or scale.
Brutal economics unless conversion > 2–5% or virality is real.
Collaboration software, team productivity tools.
Charge per active user. Grows with customer's team.
Discourages adoption — customers cap seats to control cost.
Consumer, e-commerce, plan pages.
$99 beats $100. Show a $499 tier so $99 looks like a deal.
Tactic, not a strategy. Doesn't save a weak value prop.
The one-page map of how your business creates, delivers, and captures value.