How to Build Your 24-Month Forecast and Read the Results

3 min read Updated Oct 20, 2026

By the end of this guide you'll have a 24-month forecast of your business, from today to the month-24 business you designed, and you'll know how long your starting cash lasts on the way.

A month-24 target says where the business ends up. It doesn't say whether you can pay the bills while you get there. Growth usually costs cash before it brings any in: new hires, equipment and marketing come first, revenue follows. The Build step is where that gap shows up.

Before You Start

  • Plan: every input step is free, Build included. The forecast results need Solo or Advisory. On the free plan the results page shows "Example Results" with "Unlock My Results".
  • Earlier steps done: "Basics", "Funding" (optional), "Target", "Design", "Working Capital" (only if the business sells products), then "Invest". Each card unlocks the next.
  • Funding and Invest filled in honestly: cash in the bank and debt come from "Funding"; startup and growth spending (setup, equipment, software, launch marketing) comes from "Invest". The cash result is only as good as these two.

Steps

  1. Open your Blueprint and click the "Build" card.
  2. Shape the growth curves month by month: how fast each revenue and cost line moves from where it is today to where Design puts it at month 24. Seasonality, such as a slow winter or a spring ramp, is drawn here by hand, line by line. A Blueprint started from My Business begins without a seasonal pattern, because My Business holds annual figures.
  3. If you ran Occam's Proposal, its growth path is offered here. Click "Use This Path" to start from it, then adjust.
  4. Click "Generate Projection". This produces the 24-month forecast.
  5. Read the results.
  6. Optional: open "Scale" to extend the plan to years three to five.

What You'll See

The 24-month forecast runs from today to the month-24 business, including how long your starting cash lasts. That cash line is the one to read first. If the cash runs out before the business reaches month 24, the plan needs more starting cash, a slower curve, less spent up front in "Invest", or funding added in "Funding".

Take a hypothetical landscaping company, Greenline Landscaping, whose revenue swings from about $70,000 in July to about $18,400 a month in winter. A plan that adds a second crew in spring has to carry that crew's cost before the season's revenue arrives, so the months to watch are the ones just before the busy season. Those swings only show in the forecast once you draw them into Build's curves.

On Solo or Advisory, the results page has an "Ask Occam" button, 1 credit per question. The results from "Scale" (years three to five) are also paid.

Common Questions

Why do I see "Example Results" instead of my numbers?
Blueprint results need Solo or Advisory. Every input step stays free, so you can build the whole plan first and upgrade when you want to see your own forecast.

Do I have to regenerate after I change something?
Only after changing the growth curves: click "Regenerate Projection". Saving a change on any other step regenerates the forecast automatically, and editing a finalized step doesn't reset the steps after it.

What if the cash runs out partway through?
Go back to the step that drives it. Slow the growth curve in "Build" (then click "Regenerate Projection"), spend less up front in "Invest", or add cash or a loan in "Funding". Loans in "Funding" are included in the forecast.