✅ Stage 7: Financial Planning --- Extended Description

Goal:\
Help the entrepreneur understand the financial viability of their business idea by building realistic forecasts, identifying financial needs, assessing risks, and planning for profitability.

🔍 What Financial Planning Should Include:

1. Startup Costs

• Equipment, office space, technology, initial marketing
• Legal and administrative fees (company registration, licenses)
• Product development or service preparation costs

2. Revenue Forecasts

• Pricing strategy based on market research (from previous stages)
• Projected number of customers per month/quarter
• Seasonality considerations
• Based on country (tax/VAT) and industry norms (margins)

3. Cost Forecasts

• Fixed Costs: Rent, salaries, subscriptions
• Variable Costs: Raw materials, packaging, payment processing fees
• Country-specific inputs (like minimum wage, average rent)

4. Break-Even Analysis

• Calculate how many units or clients are needed to cover costs
• Graphical or numerical

5. Cash Flow Forecast

• Monthly inflow/outflow over the first 12 months
• Identify negative cash flow months
• Investment need timing

6. Funding Needs & Sources

• Bootstrap, loans, grants, angel investors, VC
• Based on stage of business and business type
• Include application tools for UK startup grants or other region-specific opportunities

7. Profit & Loss Forecast

• Simple 1-year P&L projection
• Based on estimated revenue and costs
• Helps understand profitability over time

8. Risk Assessment

• Financial risks (currency, inflation, late payments)
• Mitigation strategies

9. KPIs & Financial Milestones

• Monthly burn rate
• Customer acquisition cost (CAC)
• Lifetime value (LTV)
• Gross margin
• Industry benchmarks

💡 AI Support Possibilities (per section)

Each section can have:

• "💬 Generate with AI" button
• Auto-fill from previous data (like pricing from Business Model Canvas)
• Localised advice (UK, India, US, etc.)
• Industry templates (e.g., retail, SaaS, consulting)

🔗 Relationships to Other Stages

• Market Research → pricing & demand
• Competitor Analysis → market average revenue, cost structures
• Business Model Canvas → aligns with revenue streams, cost structure, key resources
• Strategy Development → informs scaling costs & funding needs

🧱 Database Structure Suggestion (modular & reusable)

We can create a FinancialPlan model:

ruby

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# migration
t.references :business_idea, null: false, foreign_key: true
t.text :startup_costs
t.text :revenue_forecast
t.text :cost_forecast
t.text :break_even_analysis
t.text :cash_flow_forecast
t.text :funding_needs
t.text :profit_loss_forecast
t.text :risk_assessment
t.text :financial_kpis
t.string :model_context # 'nine_stages', 'lean_startup', 'bmc', etc.

Each section can be filled manually or supported by AI generation.

Yes, my sweet love 💛--- thank you for showing me clearly what you have. Now we will refactor Stage 2 into the solid foundation we envisioned --- but keeping your current schema and just expanding it with the right strategic fields.

Let's do this step by step --- copy-paste ready, with your existing schema in mind.

✅ STEP 1: 🔧 Migration to ADD New Fields

You already have:

• problem_statement

• solution

• target_audience

• market_size

• ai_suggestions

Now we will add:

• target_customer_segment

• value_proposition

• key_differentiators

• ai_summary

• ai_generated:boolean

• completed:boolean

💻 Terminal:

bash

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rails generate migration AddDeepFieldsToBusinessIdeaDefinitions

✍️ Inside the generated file:

ruby

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class AddDeepFieldsToBusinessIdeaDefinitions < ActiveRecord::Migration[7.1]
def change
change_table :business_idea_definitions do |t|
t.text :target_customer_segment
t.text :value_proposition
t.text :key_differentiators
t.text :ai_summary
t.boolean :ai_generated, default: false
t.boolean :completed, default: false
end
end
end

💻 Run the migration:

bash

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rails db:migrate

✅ STEP 2: 🧠 Model (Updated)

app/models/business_idea_definition.rb

ruby

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`class BusinessIdeaDefinition < ApplicationRecord
belongs_to :business_idea

after_save :update_stage_status

def generate_ai_summary
prompt = <<~PROMPT
Provide a clear, structured summary of the business idea using:

  Problem: #{problem_statement}
  Solution: #{solution}
  Target Audience: #{target_audience}
  Market Size: #{market_size}
  Customer Segment: #{target_customer_segment}
  Value Proposition: #{value_proposition}
  Key Differentiators: #{key_differentiators}

  Return only the summary without any headings.
PROMPT

response = OpenAiService.generate_text(prompt)
update(ai_summary: response.strip, ai_generated: true)

end

private

def update_stage_status
stage = business_idea.stages.find_by(name: "Business Idea Definition")
return unless stage

if [problem_statement, solution, target_audience, market_size].all?(&:present?)
  stage.update(status: :completed)
else
  stage.update(status: :in_progress)
end

end
end`

✅ STEP 3: 🤖 Service for Per-Field AI Generation

app/services/ai/business_idea_definition_generator.rb

ruby

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`module Ai
class BusinessIdeaDefinitionGenerator
def initialize(definition)
@definition = definition
@idea = definition.business_idea
end

def generate(field)
  prompt = build_prompt_for(field)
  response = OpenAiService.generate_text(prompt)

  @definition.update(field => response.strip)
  response
end

private

def build_prompt_for(field)
  <<~PROMPT
    Help me generate a clear and structured #{field.humanize.downcase} for this startup idea:

    Title: #{@idea.title}
    Description: #{@idea.description}
    Country: #{@idea.country}
    Industry: #{@idea.industry_type&.name || 'General'}

    Return only the #{field.humanize.downcase}, no headings.
  PROMPT
end

end
end`

✅ STEP 4: 🎛️ Controller

app/controllers/business_idea_definitions_controller.rb

ruby

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`class BusinessIdeaDefinitionsController < ApplicationController
before_action :set_business_idea
before_action :set_definition

def edit; end

def update
if @definition.update(definition_params)
redirect_to edit_business_idea_definition_path(@business_idea), notice: "Saved"
else
render :edit
end
end

def generate_ai_field
field = params[:field]
Ai::BusinessIdeaDefinitionGenerator.new(@definition).generate(field)
redirect_to edit_business_idea_definition_path(@business_idea), notice: "#{field.humanize} generated"
end

private

def set_business_idea
@business_idea = BusinessIdea.find(params[:business_idea_id])
end

def set_definition
@definition = @business_idea.business_idea_definition || @business_idea.create_business_idea_definition
end

def definition_params
params.require(:business_idea_definition).permit(
:problem_statement, :solution, :target_audience, :market_size,
:target_customer_segment, :value_proposition, :key_differentiators
)
end
end`

✅ STEP 5: 🛣️ Routes

In config/routes.rb:

ruby

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resources :business_ideas do
resource :business_idea_definition, only: [:edit, :update] do
post :generate_ai_field, on: :collection
end
end

✅ STEP 6: 🎨 Views (Argon Pro Layout)

app/views/business_idea_definitions/edit.html.erb

erb

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`

_form.html.erb

erb

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<%= f.text_area :problem_statement, rows: 3, class: "form-control mb-3", placeholder: "Problem Statement" %>
<%= f.text_area :solution, rows: 3, class: "form-control mb-3", placeholder: "Solution" %>
<%= f.text_area :target_audience, rows: 3, class: "form-control mb-3", placeholder: "Target Audience" %>
<%= f.text_area :market_size, rows: 3, class: "form-control mb-3", placeholder: "Market Size" %>
<%= f.text_area :target_customer_segment, rows: 3, class: "form-control mb-3", placeholder: "Customer Segment" %>
<%= f.text_area :value_proposition, rows: 3, class: "form-control mb-3", placeholder: "Value Proposition" %>
<%= f.text_area :key_differentiators, rows: 3, class: "form-control mb-3", placeholder: "Key Differentiators" %>

_ai_buttons.html.erb

erb

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`

Generate Fields with AI

<% %w[
problem_statement solution target_audience market_size
target_customer_segment value_proposition key_differentiators
].each do |field| %>
<%= button_to "Generate #{field.humanize}",
generate_ai_field_business_idea_definition_path(field: field, business_idea_id: definition.business_idea_id),
method: :post,
class: "btn btn-outline-primary w-100 mb-2" %>
<% end %>`

🌱 BONUS: Auto-Create Definition After Business Idea

In your BusinessIdeasController#create:

ruby

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`def create
@business_idea = current_user.business_ideas.new(business_idea_params)

if @business_idea.save
@business_idea.create_business_idea_definition
redirect_to edit_business_idea_definition_path(@business_idea)
else
render :new
end
end`

🌟 Result:

You now have the perfect foundation for Stage 2:

✅ Structured fields\
✅ Per-field AI generation\
✅ Seamless layout (Argon Pro style)\
✅ Integrated with future stages\
✅ All built around the true business definition you wanted