# Build a financial model and unit economics

Canonical HTML: [https://collty.com/help/commercial/build-financial-model-and-unit-economics](https://collty.com/help/commercial/build-financial-model-and-unit-economics)
Audience: Founders and finance leads
Reading time: 7 min
Updated: 2026-10-29T00:00:00.000Z

Define the economic unit, review assumptions and calculate reconciled monthly scenarios, income, cash flow and balance-sheet views.

## Review inputs before calculation

Open Business Architect → Operate → Business plan → Financial model & unit economics. The assistant can explain terms, identify missing inputs and suggest changes. Review and explicitly apply the proposed inputs; a chat suggestion does not silently change the accepted financial model.

Choose the planning currency, start month and supported 24-, 36- or 60-month horizon. Model the actual business using one or more revenue streams. Save partial inputs whenever necessary; Calculate becomes available when the required inputs and consistency checks are satisfied.

## Choose measures that match the business

CAC needs a defined acquisition-spend scope and acquired-customer denominator. Contribution LTV needs a retention and cost basis; a finite model horizon is not a claim of infinite customer life. Read the basis beneath each calculated measure. An unavailable denominator produces an unavailable metric, not zero.

Several revenue streams may use different units. Do not add incompatible CAC or LTV values into a misleading company average. The model presents applicable stream metrics and company financial statements separately.

| Stream | Economic basis |
| --- | --- |
| Subscription | Customer-months, new cohorts, churn, price, delivery cost and acquisition spending. Annual prepayments affect cash and deferred income separately from monthly earned revenue. |
| Commerce | Orders, order value, variable cost, returns and acquisition inputs. |
| Marketplace | Transaction volume and take rate. GMV is not platform revenue; distinguish both sides and the platform’s delivery costs. |
| Services | Billable work, capacity, utilization, price and delivery labour. Growth is constrained by the entered capacity. |
| Custom units | State the unit, price, direct cost and volume assumptions explicitly. |

## Inspect scenarios, statements and charts

CSV downloads contain the calculated scenario-month rows. Business plan and Investor deck use the same accepted calculation, including the economic unit and method notes. A previously saved presentation or downloaded PDF remains a snapshot.

- The same accepted inputs produce the base, downside and upside scenarios, monthly revenue, EBITDA and cash charts, and annual summaries.
- Income, cash flow and balance sheet reconcile using explicit funding, debt, assets, depreciation and working-capital assumptions.
- Negative cash identifies an unfunded gap. Requested fundraising is not assumed to be available cash unless entered in the funding schedule.
- Review price, volume, retention, delivery costs, staffing, marketing, payment timing and funding sensitivity before sharing the plan.

## Understand the forecast boundaries

This is a management planning model, not an audited statutory statement. Working-capital days use a 30-day convention and tax uses the explicit effective-rate assumption. The forecast does not automatically model every jurisdiction’s VAT, tax-loss carryforwards, foreign-exchange effects or consolidation adjustments.

Historical invoices and future assumptions have different evidential roles. Connecting Finance does not automatically prove historical CAC, retention or LTV. Unit economics and forecasts remain as reliable as their source definitions and accepted assumptions.

## Related guides

- [Prepare Business Plan And Investor Deck](https://collty.com/help/projects/prepare-business-plan-and-investor-deck)
- [Review Ebitda And Plan Actuals](https://collty.com/help/commercial/review-ebitda-and-plan-actuals)
- [Business Planning Standards And Methodology](https://collty.com/help/projects/business-planning-standards-and-methodology)