Personal Sports Coach App Break-Even: $405K Monthly Revenue

Fixed costs $20.3K/mo Year 1 base

Contribution margin 81% After variable costs

Break-even revenue $25.1K/mo Monthly target

Break-even timing Month 3 Model break point

Break-even calculator

Check how monthly revenue, variable expenses, and fixed monthly costs shape break-even for a personal sports coach app.

Lean Base Full

Monthly revenue Revenue is the cash that pays variable costs and then covers overhead. $ Low sales High sales Variable expenses Variable expenses bundle cloud, payment, app commission, and support costs. $ Light fees Heavy fees

Money available to cover fixed costs $341,000 $411,000 revenue - $70,000 variable expenses

Margin ratio

83%

Covers fixed costs

Yes

Fixed monthly costs This is the monthly cost base break-even must cover. $ Lean overhead Heavy overhead

Break-even chart Revenue Total costs

Which expenses stay fixed, and which move with paid users in this training app?

Cost classification

Break-even gets more reliable when fixed overhead, user-driven fees, and committed growth spend stay separate. If you mix them, Month 3 break-even can look cleaner than the cash reality.

Expense	Cost	Break-Even Treatment	Common Mistake
Office and admin overhead	Fixed	Include $4,900/month for rent, software, legal, insurance, utilities, and internet.	Spreading overhead per user and hiding the true monthly hurdle.
Year 1 payroll	Fixed	Use $185,000/year, about $15,400/month, as recurring operating overhead.	Treating founder and core technical payroll as optional after launch.
Annual marketing budget	Semi-fixed	Model the first year at $150,000/year, but track paid acquisition separately from margin.	Assuming marketing can stop instantly without hurting the funnel.
Cloud infrastructure costs	Variable	Deduct 3.0% of revenue in the first year before calculating contribution margin.	Using a flat hosting line while usage rises with subscribers.
Payment processing fees	Variable	Deduct 2.0% of revenue because fees move with paid subscriptions.	Leaving card fees out of break-even margin.
App store commissions	Variable	Deduct 10.0% of revenue when sales run through app marketplaces.	Ignoring marketplace fees and overstating contribution margin.
Customer support and onboarding	Semi-variable	Start with 4.0% of revenue, then add staffing steps as subscriber volume grows.	Treating all support as fixed when onboarding load follows paid users.
Customer Success Specialist staffing	Semi-fixed	Add in steps from Month 25: 1.0 FTE, then 1.5 FTE, then 2.0 FTE.	Letting service headcount scale too late and creating churn risk.

How does break-even shift from a lean launch to a full build?

Scenario table

As the app adds marketing, engineering, customer success, and design, fixed cost rises faster than the margin gain. So break-even climbs from about $405k a month in the lean launch to about $1.158m in the full build.

Planning assumptions only; actual break-even will move with conversion, price mix, and hiring pace.

Scenario	Monthly Revenue	Variable Costs	Fixed Costs	CM Ratio	Operating Profit	Break-Even Signal
Lean launch	$405k	$77k	$328k	81%	$0	Lowest fixed load, so it is the cleanest starting point.
Base scale	$771k	$139k	$632k	82%	$0	Break-even rises once core growth staff come on.
Full launch	$1.158m	$197k	$962k	83%	$0	Best for scale, but it carries the highest break-even bar.

What breaks the break-even plan if subscriber growth or acquisition costs slip?

Stress test

Year 1 breaks even at about $405k/month with an 81% contribution margin. The weak spots are slower paid conversion, CAC above plan, and fixed hiring before Month 3 break-even.

Stress Case	Changed Assumption	Break-Even Revenue	Revenue Gap	Risk Signal
Current plan	No change to the Year 1 base case.	$405k/month	$0 gap	There is no cushion if launch slips.
Revenue shortfall	Trial-to-paid conversion slips from 15.0% to 14.0%.	$434k/month	$29k gap	A small funnel miss pushes much more revenue into break-even.
Fixed cost pressure	Fixed spend rises by $1,000 per month.	$406.2k/month	$1.2k gap	Any extra fixed hire before break-even raises the monthly hurdle.
Margin pressure	Contribution margin slips from 81% to 80%.	$410k/month	$5k gap	A 1-point margin cut adds about $5k of needed monthly revenue.
Combined pressure	Trial-to-paid drops to 14.0% and margin slips to 80%.	$439.4k/month	$34.4k gap	When growth and margin both weaken, the plan needs a much wider cushion.

What should the founder verify before scaling the app, marketing, and hiring?

Founder checklist

Don’t scale past launch until the funnel, pricing, and burn hold in live tests. The key checks are 3.0% visitor-to-trial, 15.0% trial-to-paid, and about $30 CAC before you push the $150,000 Year 1 marketing budget higher.

1Paid demand3.0% / 15.0% / $30

Verify visitors still become free trials at 3.0%, trials still convert to paid at 15.0%, and CAC stays near $30 before you scale spend.

2Plan pricing$19/$39/$79

Confirm the Basic, Pro, and Elite plans clear at these monthly prices, because price slippage will slow the move to break-even.

3Unit margin81% CM

After cloud, payment, app store, and support costs, about 81% of revenue should remain to cover fixed costs and growth.

4Fixed load$4.9K/mo

Hold office, software, legal, admin, insurance, and internet near $4.9K a month before wages, or the break-even line moves out.

5Staffing rampMonth 13+

Delay the senior software engineer, marketing manager, and customer success hires until break-even is visible, since early headcount lifts burn fast.

6Cash cushion$142K / $849K

Keep launch capex near the supplied $142K total and hold the $849K minimum cash needed in Month 2, because the model reaches break-even in Month 3.