Early-Stage P&L Model
for SaaS Apps_
A comprehensive 36-month financial projection model. Model user growth, subscriptions, revenue, costs, and cash runway. Built from our experience with 360+ SaaS projects.
36
Months Projection
Full 3-year financial model with monthly granularity. See your path from launch to profitability.
SaaS
Unit Economics
Built-in metrics: CAC, LTV, churn, conversion rates, deferred revenue, and more.
360+
Projects Experience
Based on real data from our SaaS projects since 2012. Industry-tested assumptions.
What's inside the model_
Six interconnected sheets that work together to give you a complete picture of your SaaS financials.
Assumptions
All editable inputs in one place. Yellow cells with blue text are your control panel.
- Pricing (monthly/annual subscription prices)
- User growth & monetization rates
- AI costs per story/action
- Marketing CAC and fixed spend
- Infrastructure costs (hosting, CDN, etc.)
- +3 more...
Headcount
Plan your team growth with role-based cost modeling and burden rates.
- Role definitions with start/end months
- FTE allocation (full-time, part-time, contract)
- Monthly salary and burden percentage
- Loaded cost calculations
- Contractor vs employee modeling
Drivers
The calculation engine. Watch your inputs flow through to users, subscriptions, and revenue.
- New user acquisition (override or calculated)
- Active user retention modeling
- Free-to-paid conversion funnel
- Monthly vs annual subscription mix
- Revenue recognition (cash vs accrual)
- +3 more...
P&L
Full profit & loss statement on accrual basis with yearly summaries.
- Monthly and annual revenue breakdown
- Cost of goods sold (COGS) detail
- Gross profit and margin %
- Operating expenses by category
- EBITDA calculation
- +3 more...
Dashboard
Key KPIs at a glance with visual charts for quick decision-making.
- Active users growth trajectory
- MRR (Monthly Recurring Revenue)
- Gross margin % progression
- EBITDA trend
- Cash position
- +3 more...
Cashflow
Cash is king. Track your runway and understand when you hit profitability.
- Starting cash balance
- Cash receipts (actual money in)
- COGS and Opex paid (money out)
- Net cash flow per month
- Ending cash balance
- +2 more...
How to use the model_
Get started in minutes. Just adjust the yellow cells and watch your projections come to life.
Set Your Assumptions
Go to the Assumptions tab and adjust the yellow cells (blue text). Set your pricing, growth rates, costs, and starting cash.
Plan Your Team
Use the Headcount tab to model your team growth. Add roles with start months, salaries, and burden rates.
Input User Growth
Enter or override monthly New Users in the Drivers tab (row "New Users override"). Leave empty to use calculated growth.
Analyze Results
The model calculates users → subscriptions → revenue, COGS, Opex, EBITDA, and cash runway. Check the Dashboard for KPIs.
Color Legend
Yellow fill + Blue text
Editable input / assumption
White fill + Black text
Calculated value
White fill + Green text
Linked from other sheets
Sample projections_
Here's what the default model projects with sample assumptions. Your numbers will vary based on your inputs.
| Metric | Month 6 | Month 12 | Month 24 | Month 36 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
Active Users | 1,196 | 3,129 | 16,743 | 89,581 |
MRR (Recognized) | €1,111 | €7,573 | €70,401 | €396,801 |
EBITDA | -€21,530 | -€22,198 | -€5,244 | €75,764 |
Ending Cash | €179,582 | €98,550 | €337,677 | €2,862,691 |
Break-even
Month 26
First EBITDA-positive month
Gross Margin
62% at M36
From -458% at M1 to 62%
Year 3 Revenue
€2.45M
Total recognized revenue
* Sample projections based on default assumptions. Actual results will vary based on your inputs and market conditions.
Default assumptions_
The model comes pre-filled with realistic SaaS assumptions. All values are editable.
Pricing
- Monthly plan€6.99
- Annual plan€83.88
- Annual discount~2 months free
Growth & Conversion
- Monthly retention30%
- Paid conversion7%
- Annual plan mix28.6%
- Monthly churn10%
Costs
- AI cost/story€0.08
- CAC€2.30
- Fixed infra/month€90
- Starting cash€250,000
FAQs
This is a comprehensive 36-month financial projection model designed specifically for early-stage SaaS applications. It helps founders, CTOs, and finance teams model user growth, revenue, costs, and cash runway to make informed business decisions and prepare for fundraising.
This model is ideal for SaaS founders planning their financial projections, CTOs evaluating build vs buy decisions, finance teams preparing investor materials, and anyone building a subscription-based software product who needs to understand unit economics.
The model provides a framework for projections based on your inputs. Accuracy depends on the quality of your assumptions. We recommend starting with conservative estimates and adjusting based on actual data as your product matures. The model includes industry-standard SaaS metrics and cost structures.
Yes! All yellow cells with blue text are editable. You can adjust pricing, growth rates, cost structures, team composition, and more. The model is designed to be flexible enough to accommodate different SaaS business models.
Annual subscriptions are collected as cash upfront but recognized as revenue evenly over 12 months (deferred revenue). Monthly subscriptions are billed and recognized monthly. The P&L shows accrual-based revenue, while the Cashflow tab shows actual cash movements.
Make a copy of the spreadsheet for each scenario. Adjust the assumptions (pricing, growth rates, costs) to model optimistic, base, and pessimistic cases. Compare the Dashboard and Cashflow tabs across scenarios to understand your risk profile.
The default model assumes a B2C SaaS with €6.99/month or €83.88/year pricing, 30% monthly retention, 7% paid conversion, AI-powered features with €0.08/story cost, and a small team scaling from founder to 6 people over 3 years. All assumptions are clearly documented and editable.