Free SaaS Projections Worksheet

You’d like to build a web app but have no idea how much it costs or how much it could make. You're not even sure what types of costs to include in your calculations.

Estimating costs and budgeting for first SaaS application can be overwhelming.

New technology and tools have made it more affordable than ever, but there's still plenty of expenses.

And then there's the expenses you didn't even know about.

Fortunately, It doesn't have to be a wild guess.

I've created an evolved version of the spreadsheet that I used to run my SaaS application for eight years until I sold it. It walks the line between too detailed and not detailed enough so you can go into things with a reasonable approximation.

Before you get started, take a quick pass at this worksheet to get an estimate of how much it will really cost to run your application. Make some adjustments and explore different scenarios so you can get an idea of how much money you need in the bank to get your idea off the ground.

Once you've filled it out, you'll be able to mor easily explore scenarios and understand how much money you'll need and help you think through potential costs that you may not even be aware of.

[A screenshot of the overview tab of the worksheet.]

The steps to use the spreadsheet will look about like this:

1. Profit & Loss Update the Profit & Loss tab's months (in yellow cells) to correspond to your relevant dates.
2. One-time Fixed Costs Think though all of your potential startup costs, and populate them here.
3. Recurring Fixed Costs Think you all of your recurring costs, whether they're monthly or yearly, and populate them here.
4. Revenue Set up your anticipated pricing, initial customer and growth estimates to see how your revenue will increase over time.
5. Marketing Marketing is optional, and this tab is designed to support unstructured advertising spending over time.
6. Profit & Loss After you've provided everything else, this will help you understand your cash flow for your first two years.

[A screenshot of the profit and loss calculations tab of the worksheet.]

How does it work?

It's just a Google Docs Spreadsheet. There's not much more to it. It has several tabs and includes some inline notes and guidance to help fill things in. Ultimately, it's just a starting point for you to duplicate and customize for your own business. It's difficult to make a one-size fits all spreadsheet, so it's really just meant to help you get going quickly and save you time.

Is it available for Excel or Numbers?

I haven't created versions for Excel or Numbers, but you should be able to duplicate it and download a version that you can open locally.