Freight Audit and Payment Break-Even: $118K Monthly Revenue

Fixed costs $126.4K/mo Step-up payroll base

Contribution margin 78% After variable costs

Break-even revenue $162K/mo Monthly target

Break-even timing Month 30 Model break-even

Break-even calculator

Test monthly revenue, variable expenses, and fixed costs to see when a freight audit and payment model clears break-even.

Lean Base Full

Monthly revenue Monthly invoicing drives the dollars left to cover direct costs and overhead. $ Slow start Scaled up Variable expenses Use direct costs that rise with volume, like commissions, fees, and auditor labor. $ Light costs Heavy costs

Money available to cover fixed costs $138,840 $178,000 revenue - $39,160 variable expenses

Margin ratio

78%

Covers fixed costs

Yes

Fixed monthly costs This is the monthly overhead base that contribution margin has to cover. $ Lean base Big team

Break-even chart Revenue Total costs

Which freight audit expenses are fixed, and which move with sales?

Cost classification

Break-even is only useful if each expense sits in the right bucket. Misclassify auditor payroll, software, payment fees, or onboarding, and Month 30 break-even can look safer than it is.

Expense	Cost	Break-Even Treatment	Common Mistake
Office Rent	Fixed	Include $4,000 per month in baseline overhead from Month 1 through Month 60.	Spreading rent across customers and making break-even look better when sales rise.
General Software Subscriptions	Fixed	Include $1,500 per month as recurring overhead before calculating contribution profit.	Hiding core software inside variable service delivery and understating fixed burn.
Salaried Audit, Technology, Sales, Data, and Customer Success Roles	Semi-fixed	Model payroll in FTE steps as headcount rises, not as a smooth percent of revenue.	Treating senior audit salaries as purely variable, which understates break-even revenue.
Cloud Infrastructure & Data Processing	Variable	Reduce contribution margin by 8.0% of revenue in the first year, then use the lower forecast rates.	Treating usage-linked platform costs as fixed and overstating margin at higher volume.
Third-Party API Integrations & Licenses	Variable	Apply 4.0% of revenue in the first year as a direct service delivery charge.	Putting API fees in overhead and missing the drag on each new customer.
Sales Commissions	Variable	Deduct 7.0% of revenue in the first year before measuring break-even contribution.	Counting commissions only in sales payroll and overstating customer profitability.
Payment Processing Fees	Variable	Apply 2.5% of revenue in the first year, then follow the declining forecast rates.	Treating payment fees as fixed, which overstates margin at scale.
Customer Onboarding & Training Materials	Semi-variable	Use 3.0% of revenue in the first year, but watch for setup effort that spikes with new customer starts.	Ignoring onboarding load and assuming every new account is profitable on day one.

How does break-even move from a lean launch case to a full scaled freight audit and payment model?

Scenario table

As staffing, sales support, and payment handling scale up, fixed cost rises. The mix also shifts to a better contribution margin, so break-even revenue climbs but the full case carries more cushion.

These are planning assumptions built from the model, not guarantees of future performance.

Scenario	Monthly Revenue	Variable Costs	Fixed Costs	CM Ratio	Operating Profit	Break-Even Signal
Lean launch case	$118K	$36K	$81.8K	69.5%	$0	Tight launch case; one weak month can miss break-even.
Base Month 30 case	$205K	$45K	$159.7K	78.0%	$0	Month 30 planning case; pricing and mix have to hold.
Full scaled case	$290K	$42K	$247.7K	85.5%	$0	Best cushion, but staffing still has to keep up.

What breaks the break-even plan for freight audit and payment?

Stress test

Year 1 breaks even near $1.177M of revenue against about $818K of fixed costs, with a 69.5% contribution margin. A 10% sales miss or a 10% overhead jump pushes the plan into a loss fast, so onboarding speed and fee control matter.

Stress Case	Changed Assumption	Break-Even Revenue	Revenue Gap	Risk Signal
Current plan	No change in Year 1 assumptions.	$1.177M	$0 cushion	Break-even is tight, so any slip hits cash fast.
Revenue shortfall	Year 1 revenue falls 10% to $1.059M.	$1.177M	$82K gap	Slow onboarding leaves fixed costs uncovered.
Fixed-cost pressure	Fixed costs rise 10% to about $900K.	$1.295M	$118K gap	Hiring ahead of signed recurring contracts makes the base too heavy.
Margin pressure	Contribution margin drops 5 points to 64.5%.	$1.268M	$91K gap	Higher payment fees or more than 8 auditor hours per active customer squeeze the model.
Combined pressure	Revenue falls 10%, fixed costs rise 10%, and margin drops to 64.5%.	$1.396M	$217K gap	Sales delay and cost creep hit at once, so cash burn climbs fast.

What should you verify before funding the freight audit and payment buildout?

Founder checklist

First, prove you have signed or late-stage clients that can support a $1,500 Year 1 CAC and the $120,000 Year 1 marketing budget. Then confirm invoice access, payment controls, and staffing capacity, because the model only turns to break-even in Month 30 and needs an $812,000 cash cushion.

1Pipeline Proof$1.5K CAC

Confirm signed or late-stage accounts can be won at or below Year 1 CAC before you scale marketing, or the $120,000 spend will outrun revenue.

2Invoice AccessBefore onboarding

Get carrier invoice data access lined up first, because audits cannot start without clean shipping records.

3Payment ControlsACH/wire ready

Set up ACH or wire controls and bank approval steps before you touch client payments, since payment errors hit trust and cash handling fast.

4Unit Margin69.5% CM

Year 1 COGS is 18.0% and variable expenses are 12.5%, so contribution margin is 69.5% before fixed costs; if that slips, break-even moves out.

5Staffing Load$71.8K/mo

Treat the $4,000 rent line as optional if remote work can handle the workflow, and keep the Year 1 team inside the $71.8K monthly fixed load until recurring revenue is stable.

6Cash Runway$812K / $295K

Plan for the $812K cash trough in Month 30 and the $295K launch capex, including $150K platform development and $25K data security infrastructure, before you commit; do not scale marketing, software, or headcount until service accuracy and retention hold.