Budget
Budget compares each month’s spend with its Budget, forecasts the next six months, and asks the Founder to approve every change to a Budget.
Outcome
| Part | This Process |
|---|---|
| Outcome | Each month ends with spend compared to its Budget, a six-month forecast, and every Budget change approved by the Founder. |
| Reads | Budget, Transaction |
| Leaves | Forecast, Budget, Approval |
| Runs in | Each Startup |
Accountable
Responsible: Finance Lead.
Consulted: Treasurer, Marketing Lead.
Informed: Founder.
Workflows
| Workflow | Runs | Team |
|---|---|---|
| Monthly budget | on Period.closed | Finance Team |
Who does each step
| Workflow | Step | Role | Calls | Approval |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Monthly budget | 1. Record each Budget’s actual spend for the closed Period. | Finance Lead | Budget.update | None |
| Monthly budget | 2. Forecast cash and runway six months ahead at trailing rates. | Finance Lead | Forecast.create | None |
| Monthly budget | 3. Propose next month’s Budgets and ask the Founder to approve any change. | Finance Lead | Approval.create | None |
| Monthly budget | 4. Send the Founder spend against Budget and the forecast. | Finance Lead | Message.create | None |
Events
| Direction | When | What happens |
|---|---|---|
| In | On Period.closed | Starts Monthly budget |
| In | On Order.paid | Wakes this Process, the first time only. A Startup takes its first outside payment. |
| Out | Budget.updated | Raised by step 1 of Monthly budget |
| Out | Forecast.created | Raised by step 2 of Monthly budget |
| Out | Approval.created | Raised by step 3 of Monthly budget |
| Out | Message.created | Raised by step 4 of Monthly budget |
Plays
No Play names this Process.
Controls
No Control names this Process or a Workflow of it.
Settings
| Setting | Type | Default | Say | Set with |
|---|---|---|---|---|
budget.varianceAlert | number | 10 | Tell me when any budget runs 10% over | Setting.update |
Failure
A failed step retries; when retries run out, the Action goes to the Finance Lead.
Loop
| Step | Value |
|---|---|
| Hypothesis | A monthly Budget with a six-month forecast keeps the Startup default alive more often than spending by request. |
| Measure | Default alive over 90d, at least 6 observations |
| Learn | The learn step reads the Readout, records Evidence and a Decision, and drafts the next Variant. |
Code
Turn on budgetEnable
On by default for every Product Template. Process.pause stops new Actions; Actions in progress finish.
Tell me when any budget runs 10% overExample
A SaaS ends the month with ads at $2,300 against a $2,000 Budget. The Finance Lead sends the Founder the overrun and a forecast of 14 months of runway. One Approval keeps next month’s ad Budget at $2,000.