Happy Labor Day!
According to CBS, it costs a quarter million dollars to raise a kid to the age of 18. Check out the cost breakdown: http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-505144_162-57598411/what-it-costs-to-raise-a-kid-$241080/
Tack on another $100k to get them through a public university. If you did a full financial analysis complete with a discounted cash flow and IRR, there is absolutely no break-even point.
But that’s not why we have kids.
“All financial projections are lies.” So goes the Venture Capital joke. They have to be believable and pass the sniff test when you tell your story but no one can predict the future, nor can we predict customer behavior. There will be a time when you must crunch the numbers, tweak the models, build the spreadsheets and analyze the scenarios.
But in the startup phase, no amount of analysis will justify the investment. That will come from customer validation so run the numbers and then, as Guy Kawasaki would say, “go make meaning”. If you find a way to ease the pain and create delight for your customers, the numbers will follow.
BloggingGazelle 