Risk Up Front Tool

What is your cost of being late?

Being late creates two types of cost. The linear cost accumulates month over month as your product builds toward full revenue -- profit margin you will never recover. The non-linear cost triggers all at once when a critical deadline is missed. This tool calculates both. Enter your monthly profit margin and the cost of being late appears immediately.

↓ Set your monthly profit margin. Your cost of being late appears immediately.
Step 1 of 2
Monthly profit margin
Enter the profit this project generates per month -- revenue net of direct costs, or cost savings delivered. Every month you are late, that profit does not arrive. Set margin at early launch and at full volume and the tool calculates how it accumulates over time.
Linear cost of being late
$0
Move the sliders to see your number.
Monthly profit margin at launch
Your estimate for roughly two months after ship -- products take time to find buyers, close contracts, and build volume. This is the profit you are generating before the market has fully responded. Typically 10 to 30 percent of your full-volume number.
$
$0$625K$2.5M$5.6M$10M
Monthly profit margin at full volume
The monthly profit once the product is selling at full volume -- contracts signed, customers active, production running. This is the number you are building toward.
$
$0$2.5M$5M$7.5M$10M
Step 2 of 2 -- optional
Non-linear events
A non-linear event is a deadline where missing it triggers a discrete, immediate cost -- independent of how late you are. It does not accumulate. It detonates. Select the scenario closest to your situation, enter the cost, and watch it appear in the chart.
$
Select a month and watch the chart. The non-linear event appears as a red spike exactly where you place it.
Total cost of being late
Move the sliders to see your number.
Per month (linear)
Cumulative
Non-linear event
Cost of being late by month
Select any month to see cumulative cost at that point
Linear cost
Non-linear event
Move the sliders to generate your chart
Enter your monthly profit margin above to see your cost of being late.
Month 6 of delay
Select any month to calculate your total cost of being late at that point
Cost of being late
Schedule a conversation