Editorial standards
We use these editorial standards to build and maintain StartFigures. Our business scenarios distinguish sourced facts, modeled assumptions and editorial judgments, with the evidence and calculation basis visible to the reader.
UpdatedWe define the business before the numbers
We define each scenario by its operating format and U.S. market context. The case describes its premises or route, staffing assumptions and working-owner role; comparisons explain material differences between the modeled operations.
Low and high opening budgets describe realistic differences in project scope, equipment, premises or staffing. They do not represent statistical confidence intervals or guaranteed outcomes.
We identify what each source supports
Our research uses primary public statistics and official rules, original industry publications and vendor prices. When comparable evidence conflicts, we give primary sources precedence over industry sources, and industry sources precedence over vendor material.
A source record identifies its publisher, URL, access date and stated use. We distinguish the date we consulted a source from the period its data describes. A national employee wage table supports occupational context; it does not verify a local offer, self-employed owner pay, customer volume or a complete forecast.
- We label source-based observations and author-selected amounts separately.
- We explain local assumptions and identify the evidence needed to validate them.
- We exclude competing financial-model sellers from the financial evidence base.
- We describe modeled figures as assumptions and reserve factual claims for supported observations.
We use consistent financial definitions
We distinguish one-time opening uses in USD, annual income-statement amounts, monthly fixed costs and revenue per defined sold unit. A visit total is identified as site-wide, crew-wide or route-wide where relevant. Payroll includes paid working-owner or replacement labor where applicable; that cost is separate from owner distributions.
Calculated revenue, EBITDA, margins and break-even outputs come from the common calculation layer. Operating break-even does not establish a cash requirement or the date when opening capital is recovered.
We identify the relationship between monthly and annual scenarios on the case page. A 4.33-week planning month and a 52-week trading year have slightly different annualization, and a separate opening roster can create a larger difference. We explain that basis alongside the figures.
We assess operating conditions separately from financial outputs
The Business Score compares five operating dimensions under a published rubric. Each component has its own evidence basis and rationale within the assessment's stated date and scope. The assessment considers operating constraints as well as the financial scenario.
Missing or incompatible assessments remain unranked. No midpoint is inserted to make a ranking look complete.
How content and page checks work
Shared content records keep inputs, calculations and linked pages aligned. We run automated checks on numerical evidence coverage, units, internal links, English copy and the exported pages.
Product descriptions and purchase checks are evaluated separately from the public scenario. An HTML worksheet illustration explains the modeled case; it is not a screenshot or formula audit of a purchased file. A checkout destination or unpaid cart does not establish completed payment or file delivery.
Analytical pages display their authorship and human-review status. A completed human check is recorded with its reviewer, date, scope and the version examined. Material changes leave the earlier review attached to that earlier version; automated checks and formatting updates do not create a new human review.