Business template
Business Startup Cost Estimator
One-off spend and monthly running costs separated out, then turned into how long your funding lasts.
- Live formulas
- 41
- Columns
- 6
- File
- 9 KB
$5
Checkout opening soonOr get it with all 66 paid templates in the complete pack — $45.
Works in Excel 2013 and later, Microsoft 365, Google Sheets and LibreOffice Calc. Set up to print on one page wide.
About this Business Startup Cost Estimator template
Most new businesses underestimate how long their money has to last. This Excel startup cost estimator separates one-off costs, like equipment and a website, from monthly running costs, like rent and software, and turns them into a year-one total.
Enter the money you have to start with and it shows what is left after the one-off spend, how many months that lasts with no sales, and the monthly sales you need to cover your costs.
Good for
- →Planning a new business before committing money
- →Preparing figures for a start-up loan application
- →Checking whether savings will cover the first year
What it works out for you
Can you afford to start?
- →One-off costs to open the doors
- →Monthly running cost
- →Year one total
- →Left after the one-off spend
- →Months of runway with no sales
- →Shortfall against year one
- →Monthly sales needed to cover costs
- →Largest single line
- →Lines budgeted
What you fill in
The table has 6 columns. Calculated columns fill themselves in; the rest are yours to type over.
- →Item
- →Category
- →Type
- →Amount
- →Year one cost
- →% of year one
Settings in the “Funding” box
- →Money available to start
How to use it
Mark each line One-off or Monthly. Year one adds twelve months of anything recurring, and the runway comes from the funding figure below.
The file opens with sample rows so you can see every formula working before you change anything. Type your own figures over them. When you need more rows, insert them inside the existing block rather than underneath it, so the totals keep covering every row.
Shaded, boxed cells below the table are settings the formulas read from. Change those first — every row that depends on them updates at once.
Functions it uses
Every one of these exists in Excel, Google Sheets and LibreOffice, so the file behaves the same wherever you open it.
COUNTIFIFERRORMAXMINSUMSUMIFQuestions about the Business Startup Cost Estimator
What is runway?
How many months your money lasts before it runs out, assuming no income. Here it is the money left after one-off costs divided by the monthly running cost.
Does it include my own salary?
Only if you add it. If you need to draw money to live on, add it as a monthly line so the runway is realistic.
Why does 'monthly sales needed' equal the monthly running cost?
To break even each month, sales must at least cover your monthly running costs. It does not include the cost of any goods you sell.
