Tutorial part 2 — Build the plan

With your company set up in part one, it's time to describe how the business works. You'll add the five drivers — products, sales, people, costs and financing — and bluprnts will derive the forecast from them as you go.

We're still building Bloom & Wick, our small online candle maker. Each step below is a milestone with a full how-to guide behind it; this part walks the path so you know the order and why it matters.

Add a product#

Start with what you sell. For Bloom & Wick that's a single candle — a physical product with a retail price and a few unit costs (wax and wick, packaging, shipping). bluprnts shows the unit economics — your margin per candle — as you type.

→ Add or edit a product

Add a sale#

A product on its own doesn't earn anything yet — a sale puts it to work. Sell the candle through a channel (Bloom & Wick sells online) at a monthly volume over a date range, and bluprnts turns it into revenue and the cash that comes in.

→ Add or edit a sale

Add your team#

Model the people. Bloom & Wick is one candle maker to start — a role with a salary, on top of which bluprnts adds employer NI and pension to work out the true, fully loaded cost. Add roles you plan to hire as planned, so they show without inflating today's headcount.

→ Add or edit an employee

Add your costs#

Now the spending that isn't a product cost or a person — studio rent, a website subscription, marketing. Costs can be recurring, one-off or capex.

→ Add or edit a cost

Add financing#

Finally, how the business is funded. Bloom & Wick takes a small startup loan to cover the first few months; you could equally model an investment. bluprnts brings the cash in and, for a loan, schedules the repayments and interest.

→ Add or edit financing

What's next#

That's a complete plan — five drivers, one forecast. Next you'll read what bluprnts derived from it, and put it to the test.

• Continue to Part 3 — Read & flex your forecast