BRAND FOUNDER ACADEMY FREE TOOLS · THE LAUNCH COST STACK
FREE TOOL · YOUR LAUNCH NUMBER

The Launch Cost Stack.

Start with what you will pay your manufacturer. Stack everything else on top. Get 1 clean number you can fund, plus the 3 numbers that tell you what it means.

Start from your winning quote. That is the quote from the manufacturer you picked. No final quote yet? Use your best one for now, and swap it in when the final one lands. The presets are the Mauna example from the lesson, so replace every line with your own.
Where your work is kept: this page remembers what you type in this browser only. A private window forgets it, and so does clearing your browser or switching computers. To keep it, click Save a copy to my computer (a small file you can open here again) or Copy a link to this budget (the link carries your numbers, so it works on any device). The spreadsheet opens in Excel, Numbers and Google Sheets, and the yellow cells are yours to change.

Your numbers

01Your winning quote
The full amount you will pay your manufacturer for the first run. This is the baseline. Everything else stacks on top.
Setup, print plates, molds, tooling. Anything on the quote that you pay once.
You pay your manufacturer
02Get it to your door
From the quote, or from your freight forwarder. $0 if the price already includes delivery.
Landed cost per unit (1 unit delivered to your door)
03Get started, once
Formulation, packaging design, artwork, printed packaging you buy yourself, product photos.
Tick what applies to your product. The amounts are rough US starting points. Replace them with real quotes.
04Ship it and sell it, the first push
Mailers, tape, and the postage you cover.
A month of small ads, market days, units you give away.
05Everything else
Business registration, the store plan, a domain, insurance, permits.
06Runway
Store plan, email tool, insurance, ads if they keep running. Your monthly burn.
How long the bills are covered before sales have to. Plan for at least 3.
07Buffer, rounded up
For what you have not thought of yet. 10% is the floor.
08For break-even
What 1 unit sells for. Not a promo price.
Mailer, postage, pick and pack, card fee.

Your launch number

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The launch number · what you fund
Break-even
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Runway
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Pre-orders to pay your manufacturer
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Orders at your price that bring in what the quote costs.
Pre-orders to cover it all
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Orders at your price that bring in the whole launch number.
The line doing the most to make the number big
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For your brand file
In your brand project, paste this into a chat and say “update my brand file.” It becomes the THE LAUNCH BUDGET section, and the next lessons start from it.

    
  


  

    
For the lesson check-in

    

    
  


  
How the math works

  

    
The baseline is your winning quote: units times the price per unit, plus the one-time fees on the quote. It is the biggest check most founders write, so everything else is stacked on top of it.

    
The launch number is every line added together, plus a buffer of at least 10%, then rounded up to a clean number. Whatever the rounding adds goes into the buffer, so the buffer you see is the real one. Never round down: that is asking for less than you need. An exact number like $27,654 looks like a spreadsheet. $30,000 with every line behind it looks like a plan.

    
Auto rounding picks a step that fits the size of the number:

    

      
Under $10,000next $500

      
$10,000 to $50,000next $2,500

      
$50,000 to $250,000next $10,000

      
Over $250,000next $25,000

    

    
Break-even divides the launch number by what 1 sale leaves after landed cost and the cost to ship 1 order. On a first run it is often more units than the run itself. That is normal: the one-time costs are paid once, and landed cost drops on run 2.

    
Runway is the months of monthly costs you set aside. If the buffer goes unused, it buys more months on top.

    
The presets are the Mauna example from the lesson, with made-up quote numbers. Standard and Overbuilt show the same product with a bigger run, a warehouse, a photo shoot, an agency and a bigger ad budget. What this does not include: your time, and anything after the first run sells.

    
Estimates only. This is not financial advice. Check your numbers with a professional before you borrow or raise money.

  


  

    
This is one lesson inside the Launch Accelerator.We get real quotes, pick a manufacturer, build this number together, and then pick the path that funds it.

    SEE THE ACADEMY
  

  
Comparing quotes first? Use The Quote Comparer. Building the cost sheet behind this? Start in The Three Buckets and set your price in The Margin Dial. Got your number? Pick how to fund it in The Funding Path Picker.