I have an investor very interested in my buisness/invention. He wanted to see an estimated profit and loss. SOOO, I looked up the profit and loss info on this site and began writing. I recently spoke with him and he mentioned a profit and loss spread sheet done in excel.. so now what? I don't know what exactley he's looking for.

 

Does anyone have a sample I can look at or go by?

Thanks!

Hi,

 

Shoot me an email directly and I can send you some samples. jclark@startupsmart.net

 

Joe

So, how have you made out so far?

 

I'd recommend (which you've probably already done), sitting down and making a list of expenses, both fixed (occurring every month whether the business is working or not.....these are the things you must pay every month just to be in business....these are the things you NEED on a monthly basis just to function....i.e. getting out of bed in the morning costs me $20 just to do this) and variable (you need these too, but can you push them off a bit....such as advertising).

 

Once you determine what your monthly cash outlay is, realistically predicting your revenue.  Spend a lot of time here to be certain of what you can and cannot do.  Put together a revenue model.  A revenue model depicts number of customers, the sales price of your products/services, and a timeline to get paid by those customers.  This process is a little more difficult then determining your fixed and variable costs, but if you know what you're doing, it's not rocket science.

 

DO NOT forget to factor in your "cost of goods" sold.  Whatever you produce, whether a product or servive, it has a cost.  An example would be the widget you are selling.  If you just buy that widget from someone else and mark it up 30%, your cost of goods is the price you paid for that widget.  You've got 30% left over for expenses (fixed and variable), plus external investor money until you acheive a certain critical mass or whatever it is you are telling your prospective investor.

 

It's not rocket science.  This is easy. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Bad news, my laptop crashed and it's finally working again... well pretty good. I am getting my numbers back together... again! (Some of us learn the hard way to back up our stuff!) I did pull the hard drive and had it copied, we still lost some though.

 

I think the harder part for me will be the revenue prediction. This is what makes me stress! I don't really know for sure what I am doing...so it feels like (mini) rocket science! i am doing it..but Im shakey!!!

Tracie

 

 

tracie,

 

no need to stress. it is difficult to nail down the revenues.  stick to what you know (costs) and input those in the example spreadsheets you have received from the gentlemen in this forum.  as far as revenues, come up with a few different what if analysis (if this then that type analysis) where you estimate the unit sales for your product.  in other words you are modeling some projections for the investor.

 

take some market research/data you have gathered and formulate educated guesses as to how much you expect to sell.  you need to be as convincing as possible and assume that the investor doesnt know about your industry. if they do then you might be in better shape as they will have their own perception of what the market demand is for your product.  they may be able to guestimate the revenues/sales. and with your provided cost structure, you should be able to derive your profitability accordingly.

 

keep us posted!