5 skills.
Use when asked to find the break-even point — the sales volume or revenue at which total costs equal total revenue — to sanity-check a price, a new product, or an initiative before committing, as distinct from [[unit-economics]], which asks whether a single customer is profitable rather than when the whole initiative stops losing money.
Use when asked to build or maintain a budget forecast — the ongoing, continuously updated projection of future income and expenses against actuals — as distinct from a budget itself, which is a fixed plan or target set for a period rather than a live projection.
Use when asked to build, read, or explain a capitalization table — who owns what percentage of a company across founders, employees, and investors, and how funding rounds dilute that ownership — as distinct from a [[business-model-canvas]], which describes how the business operates rather than who owns it.
Use when asked to calculate or compare the return on investment (ROI) of a decision or initiative — net benefit relative to cost — as distinct from a [[budget-forecasting]] projection, which tracks overall income and expense over time rather than evaluating one specific investment decision.
Use when asked to analyze or explain the profitability of a business at the level of one customer or unit — lifetime value, acquisition cost, contribution margin — as distinct from a full financial model or [[roi-analysis]] of a single project or investment.