Entrepreneurship · Week 13 of 18

Startup Finance II:
Revenue Projections & Break-Even

How many units do you need to sell before you stop losing money?

NKUHT · International Tourism Management Program · 2-hour session

Today's plan

One session, two halves

0:00–0:10

Welcome back. Recap: your unit price and COGS.

0:10–0:35

The Break-Even Point (BEP) formula.

0:35–1:00

Burn rate and runway.

1:00–1:45

Activity: fill in a simplified spreadsheet.

1:45–2:00

Share, debrief, quick learning check.

Quick recap

Last week → This week

WEEK 12

You calculated your cost per unit and set a price.

WEEK 13

Now: how many units do you need to sell to break even — and how long can you survive until then?

Break-Even Point

The core formula

BEP (units)

Fixed Costs ÷ (Price per unit − Variable cost per unit)

WHAT IT TELLS YOU

The minimum number of units you must sell before you stop losing money.

Burn rate & runway

How long can you survive?

BURN RATE

How much cash you spend, net, each month.

RUNWAY

Current cash ÷ burn rate = how many months until you run out.

Hour 2 · Activity

Fill In a Simplified Financial Model

Goal: calculate your BEP, burn rate, and runway using a spreadsheet template.

  1. 01 Enter your fixed costs, variable cost per unit, and price per unit.
  2. 02 Calculate your Break-Even Point in units.
  3. 03 Estimate your monthly burn rate based on planned spending.
  4. 04 Calculate your runway if you started with a modest amount of starting capital.
Activity timer

Work time

45:00

Tip: give a warning before time is up.

Debrief · Ask the whole class

Talk about it

1. Is your Break-Even Point realistic for a campus-scale venture, or way too high?

2. What's one cost you could cut to reach break-even faster?

3. What does your runway tell you about how much time you have to test and adjust?

Quick learning check

Before we go — 3 short questions

1. The Break-Even Point tells you...

2. Runway is calculated as...

3. If your BEP is unrealistically high for your context, you should...

See you next week

Week 14 — Writing the Professional Business Plan

Next week: pull everything together into a written Business Plan.

Bring: your BEP and runway numbers.