Fixed investment
Everything you pay for once, before you open.
Each investment category you switched on has its own step: for example leasehold improvements, kitchen equipment, machinery, furniture, computers or vehicles. Each is a table with a row per item.
Tips
- Itemise big purchases. "Espresso machine, 2 group" and "Two grinders" read better to a lender than "Equipment: 25,000".
- Use real prices where you can: a supplier quote, a listing, a catalogue. Record it in Notes.
- Don't add your own contingency row. Foundation adds a contingency on top of the fixed investment for you (10% by default, set on Investment Summary).
Pre-Operational Expenses
Money spent before the first sale: company registration, licences and permits, deposits, design fees, recruitment, launch marketing, and your own living costs until opening if you're drawing on the business. This is the step first-time founders forget most often.
Investment Summary
Adds up every category plus the contingency, which you can change here. Your total investment on the dashboard is this fixed investment plus working capital: the cash you need to keep running while money comes in slowly. See Investment and working capital.
Depreciation
Equipment, buildings and vehicles lose value over time. Foundation spreads each category's cost over its useful life (for example 7 years for kitchen equipment, 25 for a building). Depreciation reduces taxable profit, but it isn't cash going out. Land, pre-operational expenses and initial inventory are not depreciated. You can change any category's useful life on Financial Assumptions.