Quote Comparison Service Break-Even Analysis: $118K Monthly Revenue

Fixed costs $58.7K/mo Payroll plus overhead

Contribution margin 64% After variable costs

Break-even revenue $91.5K/mo Monthly sales target

Break-even timing Month 3 Model break-even point

Break-even calculator

Test monthly revenue, variable expenses, and fixed costs to see when this quote comparison service gets past break-even.

Lean Base Full

Monthly revenue Revenue is the cash coming in each month before direct costs. $ Lower sales Higher sales Variable expenses These are direct costs that rise as quotes convert. $ Lower costs Higher costs

Money available to cover fixed costs $1,383,083 $1,639,583 revenue - $256,500 variable expenses

Margin ratio

84%

Covers fixed costs

Yes

Fixed monthly costs These are the monthly costs the business must cover. $ Lower overhead Higher overhead

Break-even chart Revenue Total costs

Which expenses are fixed and which move with sales in a quote comparison service?

Cost classification

Break-even works only if each expense behaves the way the model says it behaves. Here, fixed overhead sets the monthly burn floor, while CAC, processing, vetting, hosting, and support move with growth.

Expense	Cost	Break-Even Treatment	Common Mistake
Office Rent	Fixed	Include $6,500 per month from Month 1 through Month 60 before calculating contribution needed to break even.	Spreading rent across orders and making unit margin look cleaner than cash burn.
Legal and Accounting Retainer	Fixed	Include $3,000 per month as a recurring overhead item in the break-even base.	Leaving advisory retainers below EBITDA and understating required monthly revenue.
Year 1 Payroll	Fixed	Treat first-year salaries as committed operating overhead; listed roles total $530,000 annually before any later hiring step-ups.	Modeling core staff as optional when the team is needed to run sales, product, and support.
Buyer and Seller Acquisition Marketing	Variable	Model spend by acquired user: first-year buyer CAC is $25 and seller CAC is $150, tied to acquisition volume.	Treating all marketing as fixed instead of CAC-driven spend.
Payment Gateway Processing Fees	Variable	Apply as a revenue-linked charge, starting at 3.5% in the first year and falling to 3.0% by the fifth year.	Using gross revenue as contribution revenue before deducting transaction fees.
Background Vetting Services	Variable	Apply as a volume-linked operating expense, starting at 6.0% in the first year and falling to 4.0% by the fifth year.	Forgetting that more sellers usually means more screening work and lower gross contribution.
Cloud Hosting and Infrastructure	Semi-variable	Model as usage-sensitive infrastructure, starting at 5.0% in the first year and improving to 3.0% by the fifth year.	Treating hosting as flat while quote traffic, storage, and transaction volume rise.
Software Subscriptions and CRM	Semi-fixed	Start with $2,500 per month, then watch for tier jumps as user counts, seats, or automation needs increase.	Assuming software scales smoothly when vendor tiers often reset the monthly bill in steps.

How does break-even change across lean, base, and full growth plans for a quote comparison service?

Scenario table

Break-even gets easier as revenue scales faster than fixed cost growth. In this model, the opening year is already profitable, year 2 adds more cushion, and year 5 turns fixed costs into a small share of revenue.

Planning case only; actual break-even will move with CAC, mix, and conversion.

Scenario	Monthly Revenue	Variable Costs	Fixed Costs	CM Ratio	Operating Profit	Break-Even Signal
Lean validation case	$255K	$92K	$59K	64.1%	$105K	Already profitable, but cushion is modest.
Base launch case	$766K	$213K	$81K	72.2%	$473K	Break-even is passed, so fixed costs are covered comfortably.
Full scale case	$4.8M	$839K	$139K	82.5%	$3.8M	Scale turns fixed costs into a small load and widens the cushion fast.

What breaks the break-even plan for this quote comparison service?

Stress test

The base plan clears break-even with about $255K in monthly revenue against a $118K threshold, so it has a $137K cushion. The risk is a traffic dip paired with higher support or overhead, which can eat that cushion fast.

Stress Case	Changed Assumption	Break-Even Revenue	Revenue Gap	Risk Signal
Current plan	No change.	$118,000	$137,000 cushion	Base case has room, but CAC is already tight.
Revenue shortfall	Monthly revenue falls 20% from the base plan.	$118,000	$86,000 cushion	Traffic softness cuts the cushion and delays payback.
Fixed-cost increase	Monthly overhead rises by $10,000.	$130,000	$125,000 cushion	Every extra $10K in overhead needs about $12K more revenue.
Margin pressure	Variable expenses rise by 1 point.	$133,000	$122,000 cushion	A 1-point rise in variable expense lifts break-even by about $15K.
Combined pressure	Monthly revenue falls 20%, and overhead rises $10,000 with a 1-point margin hit.	$145,000	$59,000 cushion	Traffic and cost pressure together cut the cushion by more than half.

What should the founder verify before scaling ads and hiring for a quote comparison service?

Founder checklist

Before you commit to bigger ad spend or more staff, prove the supply, routing, and pricing assumptions still hold. The model turns positive in Month 3, but the cash low point lands in Month 2, so weak execution shows up fast.

1Seller supply1,000 sellers

Confirm you can recruit about 1,000 sellers from the Year 1 $150K budget at $150 CAC and keep the 60/30/10 opening mix live, because quote requests only pay off when providers are ready.

2Buyer reach12,000 buyers

Confirm the Year 1 $300K budget at $25 CAC can reach about 12,000 buyers, because launch demand has to be big enough to test the funnel before the fixed burn starts.

3Routing testPre-spend

Run a small routing test first and make sure buyers land with the right provider fast, because bad handoffs waste paid traffic and hide the real CAC.

4Fee stack$49 / $79 / $39

Check that seller pricing lands at $49, $79, and $39 by category and that buyer pricing can support $0, $19, and $99 by segment, because break-even depends on the real fee mix, not just quote volume.

5Run rate$58.7K/mo

Keep the base cost load near $58.7K a month and delay the next hire wave if Month 3 break-even slips.

6Cash floor$802K

Protect at least the modeled $802K cash floor, since the low point lands in Month 2 and payback does not arrive until Month 6.