THE WORKING DESK
Think with the inputs
in plain sight.
Interactive models and working documents. Each has a narrow purpose, visible assumptions and limits. Nothing here predicts whether your company will succeed.
THE SAME-COHORT TEST
Growth can hide
a leaking bucket.
Change the fictional amounts. Watch expansion and new business separate from the revenue kept from the opening customer cohort.
Fictional example: $85,000 retained before expansion; $105,000 after expansion. New accounts add $15,000, excluded from both retention rates.
Inspect the arithmetic and values
| Step | Amount |
|---|---|
| Opening cohort | $100,000 |
| After churn and contraction | $85,000 |
| After expansion | $105,000 |
| Including new accounts | $120,000 |
The denominator does not move.
GRR = (opening − churn − contraction) ÷ opening. NRR = (opening − churn − contraction + expansion) ÷ opening. New accounts are excluded from both. Enter consistent monthly recurring amounts for one opening cohort across your chosen comparison period; do not mix cash receipts, annual values or acquisition cohorts.
This tool’s GRR subtracts both cancellations and downgrades. Issuer definitions can differ: GitLab’s 2021 prospectus explicitly excluded contraction from its own gross-retention measure. Read definitions before comparing. Source checked 19 September 2026.
Amounts round to cents. This is arithmetic, not a benchmark or forecast. It cannot infer logo retention, profit or causal explanations. Inputs stay in this page and are not saved or sent.
A PRINTABLE WORKING DOCUMENT
Write the decision
before the test.
Turn an assumption into a brief you can print. This is an editorial planning aid—not a validated score, statistical design tool or proof that an idea will work.
The GOV.UK Service Manual recommends turning assumptions into research questions and choosing methods around what you need to learn. These six prompts are our own adaptation, not a government template. Source checked 19 September 2026. Placeholder text is a fictional example, not research evidence.
INTERACTIVE / 01 · COMPANY DESIGN
Same ambition.
Different rules.
Change either path to compare how capital, pace, and control shape the work. There is no universally better company.
Build from cash flow.
- Founder resources
- Paying customers
- Reinvested cash flow
- CAPITAL
- Customer revenue and founder resources; sometimes debt.
- PACE
- Growth follows the cash the business can generate.
- CONTROL
- Owners can set the pace, with personal financial exposure.
Autonomy comes with a cash constraint. A profitable company can still depend heavily on its founder.
Build for a large outcome.
- Outside equity
- Search for repeatability
- Scale the model
- CAPITAL
- Outside equity can fund work ahead of revenue.
- PACE
- The financing model pushes toward a very large outcome.
- CONTROL
- Ownership and governance are shared with investors.
Capital creates room to build, but also dilution, governance obligations, and pressure to reach the next milestone.
Solve a narrow problem.
- A focused product
- Recurring customers
- Small-team operations
- CAPITAL
- Typically self-funded, with a narrow initial scope.
- PACE
- A small recurring-revenue business, not necessarily a venture-scale one.
- CONTROL
- A small team can retain ownership and operating flexibility.
Low starting costs do not solve distribution. A narrow product can remain exposed to one person or platform.
Make expertise repeatable.
- A defined offer
- Repeatable delivery
- Capacity and systems
- CAPITAL
- Client payments can support early operations.
- PACE
- Growth depends on delivery capacity, scope, and margins.
- CONTROL
- Owners shape the offer, while delivery can absorb their time.
A fixed package simplifies selling, but scope creep and founder dependence can undermine its economics.
Prove the hard part.
- Technical proof
- Scale-up milestones
- Commercial deployment
- CAPITAL
- Research grants, specialist investors, and strategic capital.
- PACE
- Technical and regulatory milestones can precede revenue.
- CONTROL
- Specialist partners and funding terms shape the path.
A working prototype is not a working business. Manufacturing, approvals, and long development cycles can remain unresolved.
Build from cash flow.
- Founder resources
- Paying customers
- Reinvested cash flow
- CAPITAL
- Customer revenue and founder resources; sometimes debt.
- PACE
- Growth follows the cash the business can generate.
- CONTROL
- Owners can set the pace, with personal financial exposure.
Autonomy comes with a cash constraint. A profitable company can still depend heavily on its founder.
Build for a large outcome.
- Outside equity
- Search for repeatability
- Scale the model
- CAPITAL
- Outside equity can fund work ahead of revenue.
- PACE
- The financing model pushes toward a very large outcome.
- CONTROL
- Ownership and governance are shared with investors.
Capital creates room to build, but also dilution, governance obligations, and pressure to reach the next milestone.
Solve a narrow problem.
- A focused product
- Recurring customers
- Small-team operations
- CAPITAL
- Typically self-funded, with a narrow initial scope.
- PACE
- A small recurring-revenue business, not necessarily a venture-scale one.
- CONTROL
- A small team can retain ownership and operating flexibility.
Low starting costs do not solve distribution. A narrow product can remain exposed to one person or platform.
Make expertise repeatable.
- A defined offer
- Repeatable delivery
- Capacity and systems
- CAPITAL
- Client payments can support early operations.
- PACE
- Growth depends on delivery capacity, scope, and margins.
- CONTROL
- Owners shape the offer, while delivery can absorb their time.
A fixed package simplifies selling, but scope creep and founder dependence can undermine its economics.
Prove the hard part.
- Technical proof
- Scale-up milestones
- Commercial deployment
- CAPITAL
- Research grants, specialist investors, and strategic capital.
- PACE
- Technical and regulatory milestones can precede revenue.
- CONTROL
- Specialist partners and funding terms shape the path.
A working prototype is not a working business. Manufacturing, approvals, and long development cycles can remain unresolved.
Reading lens, not a recommendation. These are editorial summaries of Chapter 01, not measured scores or guaranteed sequences. Types can overlap and companies can change paths.
Compare all 15 types ↗Interactive / 02 · Cash runway
See the cash story
month by month.
Change the assumptions to trace a simple 24-month cash path. It is a bounded illustration, not a forecast or financial advice. Read the runway concept in the research chapter.
Underlying monthly values (USD)
| Month | Receipts (USD) | Spend (USD) | Net (USD) | Cash available (floored at zero, USD) | Unfunded shortfall (USD) |
|---|
Amounts are rounded to cents each modeled month. This simple arithmetic does not model taxes, financing, collection timing, staffing changes, or borrowing. A zero balance counts as exhausted; an unfunded shortfall is shown without assuming debt.
INTERACTIVE / 03 · THE EVIDENCE MAP
Every square
has a backstory.
53 entries. 9 collections. Select a numbered square to preview an entry, then follow its sources. Numbers follow the chapter’s reading order.
This is the composition of a selected research library—not a representative sample, a causal breakdown, or a failure-rate estimate. It includes partial failures and category entries.
Search the complete library