Stage 5 · Viability · the destination
← Your journey, in five stagesWill your business survive?
A deterministic model of your business: it doesn’t flatter you and it doesn’t invent numbers. It tells you whether you make it — and the one thing to fix.
Example output
On track
Default alive
Runway
14 mo
at today’s burn
Break-even
month 11
LTV:CAC
4.2×
You make it: you break even 3 months before the cash runs out.
The one thing to fix
Reach break-even 4 months sooner
Trim the right ~$2.5k/mo and month 11 becomes month 7. The model tells you which.
✗ ChatGPT or a spreadsheet
Neither knows what's healthy for your stage.
ChatGPT — or Claude, or any LLM — invents a number and sounds sure. A spreadsheet computes whatever you type. Both answer "what is it?"; neither answers "is it good?".
Why not just use ChatGPT? →
✓ Startkeel
A benchmarked verdict.
Deterministic, checked against real pre-seed data — flags the fantasy, names the one fix.
How we calculate →
Learn
How do I know if my business will survive?
A plain-English checklist to tell if your startup will make it: the few numbers that decide survival, what is healthy, and a free score that checks them for you.
Read →
What does "default alive" mean for a startup?
What "default alive" and "default dead" mean, how to calculate which one you are, and why it is the most important question for an early-stage founder.
Read →
How much runway should a pre-seed SaaS have?
How many months of runway a pre-seed SaaS should target, why under 12 months is risky, and how to extend runway before you raise.
Read →
Tools
Runway & Burn Calculator
How long your cash lasts at the current pace. Five inputs, no signup.
Open →
Viability Score
One 0–100 number: does your early-stage SaaS hold up? Five pillars.
Open →
The rest of the viability tools
Churn, LTV:CAC, break-even, what you can pay yourself… no signup.
All viability tools →
The Verdict
The full deliverable: a deterministic model with your verdict, 36-month P&L, and the one thing to fix.
The Viability Model
Complete viability: P&L, unit economics, break-even and benchmark diagnosis.
What you walk away with
Model PDF
36-month P&L, cash runway, benchmark verdict
CSV files
P&L, cash, metrics — editable, yours
AI prompt (.txt)
Calibrated to your numbers, for your own ChatGPT or Claude
Need more than viability?
The whole journey — visibility, validation, pricing, costs and viability — as one pack.
Not your stage yet?
Mark what you already have covered on the map and you’ll see where to go next.
Open the journey map →