Business Foundation

1. 1Idea and conceptWhat the business sells, to whom, and why they would pay for it.

   • Define the offer in one sentence56 min

     Turn a general idea into a specific offer, and size the market from the bottom up.

   • The alternatives, and a first price56 min

     Map what customers do today and set a first price you can test against your cost.

   You produce: Offer statement · Target customer profile · Bottom-up market estimate · Alternatives map · Initial test price

2. 2Market validationEvidence the demand exists before money is committed to it.

   • Talk to customers before you build1 h 48 min

     Run conversations that produce evidence rather than encouragement.

   • Refine the estimate with real evidence45 min

     Replace the guessed share in your market estimate with what customers actually did.

   You produce: Interview plan · Customer interview records · Validation evidence · Revised demand estimate · Go, revise or stop decision

3. 3Startup budgetEvery cost to open, what it costs to run each month, and how the opening is funded.

   • List every cost to open1 h 17 min

     Build a startup budget line by line, from real quotes, with a contingency.

   • Your monthly fixed costs55 min

     Everything the business owes each month whether or not it sells anything.

   • Fund the opening and the first months56 min

     Work out how much money you need in total — not only to open, but to survive the start.

   You produce: Startup-cost schedule · Supplier-quote records · Monthly fixed-cost schedule · Contingency amount · Funding plan · Opening cash requirement · Runway estimate

4. 4Pricing and unit economicsWhat each sale contributes once every per-sale cost is counted.

   • Margin, markup and the price you setFree preview46 min

     Understand the two percentages that describe a price, and stop confusing them.

   • What each sale actually leaves you46 min

     Subtract the per-sale costs people forget, and find the contribution that pays for everything else.

   You produce: Pricing model · Markup and gross-margin calculations · Per-sale variable costs · Contribution per sale · Pricing-warning indicators

5. 5Cash and break-evenHow much must be sold, and how long the money lasts.

   • Break-even: the number on the wall46 min

     Turn fixed costs and contribution into the sales you need each month and each day.

   • Twelve months of cash1 h 3 min

     See how cash moves month by month, and find the lowest point before it happens.

   You produce: Monthly break-even · Daily or weekly sales target · Twelve-month cash-flow forecast · Lowest-cash-point warning · Funding-gap estimate · Base, downside and upside scenarios

6. 6Lebanon setupRegistration, tax position and the permits your activity triggers.

   • Legal form and registration1 h 18 min

     Understand the registration path, prepare the documents, and budget from real professional quotes.

   • Your VAT position46 min

     Where you stand against Lebanon’s VAT thresholds, and what registering would mean.

   You produce: Legal-form comparison · Selected preliminary structure · Personalised registration checklist · Required-document checklist · Professional-quote tracker · Preliminary VAT-position assessment

7. 7Launch planThe sequence, the dates and who is responsible for each step.

   • Sequence the launch1 h 1 min

     Put the steps in order, overlap what can run in parallel, and test the date.

   • The first ninety days56 min

     Set weekly targets from break-even, and know how long you can last if sales are slow.

   You produce: Launch timeline · Task dependencies · Responsible person · Launch date · Weekly sales targets · 90-day KPI dashboard · Runway warnings · First-quarter review schedule

Questions