Phycocyanin Owner Income: $276M Sales, 72% Margin

A phycocyanin extraction business owner could have up to $160M available in the first year before payroll, debt service, taxes, reserves, and reinvestment under the provided assumptions Here’s the quick math: first-year revenue is $276M, product COGS are about $5196k, variable selling and logistics costs are 95% of revenue, and fixed overhead is $3744k By Year 5, revenue reaches $941M and known-cost operating cash reaches about $652M before the omitted cash uses What this estimate hides is owner pay timing, because inventory, testing failures, equipment, and customer payment terms can hold back distributions

Owner income$824k

Net margin30%–44%

Revenue for target pay$2.76M

Business difficultyHard

Want the six income drivers?

Price Mix

$2.76M

A richer mix in cosmetic and powder grades lifts blended price to about $340 per unit and drives year 1 revenue.

Recovery Yield

81%-82%

Better pigment recovery keeps more value in each batch, which protects gross margin on every kilo processed.

Biomass Cost

$32-$125

Cleaner spirulina input cuts the unit cost spread and reduces waste, rework, and off-spec losses.

Batch Throughput

8.1K

Higher utilization pushes more product through the plant and spreads about $374.4K of annual fixed overhead across more sales.

QA Costs

71.7%

Tight processing, QA, compliance, and cold-chain spend protect contribution margin, which starts near 71.7% in year 1.

Customer Mix

$350K

Better mix and faster payment terms keep cash from getting trapped before the Month 10 low point around $350K.

Want to test your owner pay target?

Owner income calculator

Estimate owner take-home and the target-pay gap from revenue, margin, costs, reserves, and target pay.

Monthly revenue

Gross margin

79%

Labor cost

Fixed overhead

Marketing

Debt service

Tax reserve

15%

Reinvestment reserve

Target owner pay

Planning note: This is a researched planning estimate, not guaranteed salary, tax advice, or owner distribution advice. Actual owner income changes with revenue mix, labor, reserves, debt, and cash needs.

Want to check owner income in the Phycocyanin Extraction and Supply model?

This Phycocyanin Extraction and Supply Financial Model Template screenshot shows revenue, margin, costs, reserves, and owner take-home assumptions; open the model.

Owner-income model highlights

Owner pay is modeled
Revenue grows $276M to $941M
Fixed overhead is $312k
Grade mix and margin charts
Scenarios stay planning-focused

Phycocyanin Extraction and Supply Financial Model dashboard summarizing key KPIs, runway/cash and performance with a dynamic dashboard, highlighting investor-ready charts and cash-flow blind spot visibility

When can a phycocyanin business owner pay themselves?

You can pay yourself only after accounting profit turns into cash, and only when payroll, debt, taxes, reserves, and reinvestment are covered. For Phycocyanin Extraction and Supply, the first-year known-cost operating cash is about $160M before those claims, but that does not mean the owner can draw it all. Cash can sit in spirulina inventory, finished pigment, QA retesting, equipment maintenance, and receivables, so if buyer terms stretch or batches fail QA, owner draws should pause before supply, payroll, or facility payments are put at risk.

Pay draw timing

Pay after cash clears, not invoices.
Keep payroll fully funded first.
Hold back taxes and reserves.
Draw only from surplus cash.

Cash traps

Inventory ties up real cash.
Finished pigment can sit unsold.
QA retesting delays collections.
Longer terms raise working capital needs.

How much phycocyanin do I need to sell to pay myself?

For Phycocyanin Extraction and Supply, you need to sell about 1,533 first-year blended units before you can pay yourself; that covers known fixed overhead of $3.744 million at a 71.7% contribution margin. For the startup-cost base behind this math, see How Much To Start Phycocyanin Extraction And Supply Business?; every extra $100,000 of owner pay or reserve cash adds about 4.1 units.

Core math

$276M revenue divided by 8,100 units
Blended price: about $34,074 per unit
Contribution margin: about 71.7%
Break-even revenue: about $5.224M

Owner pay

Add target pay to fixed overhead
Add reserve cash before drawing salary
Exclude debt, taxes, and payroll here
Formula: pay ÷ $24,425 per unit

Do product grades and buyer types change phycocyanin owner income?

Yes—grade mix is one of the biggest first-year income levers in Phycocyanin Extraction and Supply. Here’s the quick math: Blue Liquid 10 sells at $220 with $32 unit COGS and 35% processing cost, while Cosmetic Grade Ultra sells at $850 with $125 unit COGS and 60% processing cost. So the higher-price grade can raise revenue, but it also brings more testing, documentation, packaging, and qualification work, and food, beverage, supplement, and cosmetic demand should be treated as commercial planning variables, not clinical claims.

Grade mix drives income

$220 to $850 price range
$32 vs $125 unit COGS
Blue Liquid 10 is lighter to sell
Ultra grade lifts revenue per unit

Buyer type changes burden

35% processing on Blue Liquid 10
60% processing on Cosmetic Grade Ultra
Higher purity means more qualification
More packaging adds owner cost

Key Takeaways

Grade mix drives first-year revenue and gross profit.
Recovery rate protects margin by reducing waste.
Biomass quality shapes price, yield, and batch pass rate.
Cash depends on collected sales, not booked revenue.

Compare lean, base, and high owner-income scenarios

Owner income scenarios

Owner income rises as output scales from 8,100 units in Year 1 to 29,400 units in Year 5. Mix, logistics, payroll, and fixed overhead drive the swing.

Low, base, and high cases for modeled owner income.
Scenario	Low CaseLow Case	Base CaseBase Case	High CaseHigh Case
Launch model	A lower-earnings path that tracks Year 1 output and the first operating margin profile.	A modeled mid-path that follows Year 3 volume and a more stable operating run rate.	A stronger-earnings path that mirrors Year 5 output and the highest modeled operating scale.
Typical setup	The plant runs 8,100 units across five products, with $2.76M revenue, $824k EBITDA, and full fixed overhead from lease, lab, and sales support.	The business reaches 17,600 units, $5.805M revenue, and $2.332M EBITDA as staffing and production scale together.	The business reaches 29,400 units, $9.414M revenue, and $4.153M EBITDA with a larger team and more throughput.
Cost drivers	Unit mix cold chain logistics sales commissions fixed payroll facility overhead	Higher volume steadier pricing lower logistics rate added technicians QA and sales scale	Peak volume lower logistics rate more staff compliance load reinvestment pressure
Owner income rangeBefore owner reserves	Up to $824kLow Case	About $2.3MBase Case	About $4.2MHigh Case
Best fit	Best for founders stress-testing first-year cash draw and whether the fixed base can be covered.	Best for planning around a steadier operating year where production, sales, and quality control are all in place.	Best for testing upside if demand holds and the plant keeps scaling without major service or quality breaks.

Planning note: These ranges are researched planning assumptions for modeling only, not guaranteed earnings, salary promises, tax advice, or distributions.

Phycocyanin Extraction and Supply Core Six Income Drivers

Average Selling Price by Grade

Grade-Based Selling Price

Phycocyanin revenue depends on the grade you can actually invoice, not just the batch you made. First-year prices range from $220 to $850 per kilogram or unit, so a stronger grade mix lifts gross profit before fixed overhead. If purity slips or a buyer rejects a high-spec batch, that volume may only clear at a lower grade price, which cuts the owner’s take-home fast.

Here’s the quick math: across 8,100 first-year units, every $10 change in blended price moves revenue by about $81,000 before added costs. That makes grade control one of the biggest levers on cash flow and owner pay.

Track Price by Grade

Measure price by grade, shipped units, rejected units, and the final blended price each month. That tells you whether you’re selling the right mix and whether quality losses are pushing product into cheaper tiers. The key inputs are contracted price, grade mix, purity pass rate, and total units sold.

Lock grade specs in each contract.
Test purity before release.
Price rejected lots separately.
Watch blended price monthly.

Testing, QA, and Operating Costs

Testing, QA, and Run Costs

This driver covers phycocyanin testing, QA, and plant run costs: energy, water treatment, facility maintenance, QC testing, waste management, sterilization, compliance, and small batch testing. Here’s the quick math: first-year variable selling and logistics costs take 95% of revenue, and fixed overhead adds $3,744k per year. If QA or sanitation runs over budget, cash for owner pay gets tight fast.

Estimate it from batch count, test frequency, rework rate, storage time, and documentation labor. The hidden risk is underbudgeting QA, sanitation, and storage, because those costs sit below gross margin and still drain cash. If a batch needs retesting or disposal, the hit lands twice: more cost now and less cash left for the owner.

Track QA Before It Cuts Pay

Set a per-batch cost cap for testing and sanitation, then compare actuals weekly. Split costs into energy, water treatment, waste, sterilization, compliance, and documentation so overruns show up early. One clean rule helps: if QA cost rises faster than sales, owner draw shrinks even when gross margin looks fine.

Use a simple forecast with revenue, 95% variable selling and logistics, and $3,744k overhead, then add processing costs on top. That shows whether cash can support owner pay after testing and rework. If small-batch testing or retesting keeps climbing, tighten release standards and batch size discipline before it turns into a cash problem.

Customer Mix and Working Capital

Customer mix changes how fast phycocyanin turns into cash. Bigger buyers can bring repeat volume, but they also tend to demand tighter specs, longer payment terms, and more inventory. Smaller accounts may pay faster, but sales effort and commissions can be higher. For this business, owner income depends on collected cash, not booked revenue, because working capital means cash tied up in receivables and inventory.

Here’s the quick math: first-year sales commissions are 30% of revenue and cold chain logistics are 65%. That mix can leave very little cash after delivery, sales costs, reserves, and reinvestment. If a buyer delays payment or requires more finished-goods stock, profit on paper can look fine while the owner still can’t pay themselves.

Track Cash, Not Just Orders

Measure each account by payment days, order size, repeat rate, inventory required, and gross cash left after sales and logistics. Split customers into fast-pay, standard-pay, and slow-pay groups, then test which mix gives the best cash conversion. The goal is simple: keep revenue quality high enough that collected cash covers commissions, cold chain costs, and a reserve.

Track receivables by customer.
Track inventory days by grade.
Price longer terms into contracts.
Limit slow-paying concentration.
Forecast cash before hiring or scaling.

Extraction Yield and Recovery Rate

Recovery rate is the share of spirulina biomass that turns into sellable phycocyanin. When yield slips, you need more biomass, more testing, and more rework to ship the same finished units, so raw material cost per unit goes up and owner take-home goes down. That matters here because the first-year product COGS target is $5,196k; weak yield pushes you away from that level fast.

Purity loss can also push a batch into a lower-priced grade or cause rejection. Then you lose revenue on the batch and still pay labor, utilities, waste handling, and extra QA. The key inputs are recovery rate, purity grade, moisture content, and batch pass rate. More sellable output per batch means lower unit COGS and more cash left for owner pay.

Measure Yield by Batch, Not by Month

Track sellable kilograms ÷ biomass kilograms for every run, then pair it with grade, moisture, and pass or fail results. If a batch needs rework, log the extra labor, test, utility, and waste cost so the real recovery rate stays visible. One clean metric: batch pass rate. If that drops, margin leaks before revenue does.

Set a yield floor by product grade.
Test moisture before final release.
Separate rework cost from normal COGS.
Flag any grade downgrade fast.

Use the data to forecast how much biomass you need for the next sales order, then compare that to the modeled $5,196k first-year product COGS. If yield improves, cash tied up in raw material falls and more gross profit reaches the owner. If it weakens, you can still ship volume but pay yourself less.

Spirulina Biomass Cost and Quality

Spirulina biomass is the feedstock cost behind phycocyanin. If biomass runs from $7 to $30 per unit, every $1 change moves first-year gross profit by about $8,100 across 8,100 units. Because this hits unit COGS before overhead, a low quote only helps if the batch stays high-purity and saleable.

Quality matters as much as price. Lower pigment concentration, contamination, or moisture drift can force retesting, rework, or disposal, and that turns cheap biomass into margin loss. The real driver is delivered biomass that stays consistent enough to hold the planned grade. If supplier reliability slips, owner take-home drops even when booked sales look fine.

Track Cost per Passable Batch

Measure cost per passable batch, not just quote price. Track supplier price, incoming pigment concentration, contamination flags, moisture, retest rate, and batch rejection rate. A supplier at $7/unit can cost more than one at $30/unit if it creates disposal, downgrade, or retest loss. Pay for output that sells, not input that only looks cheap.

Quote and landed cost per unit
Incoming pigment and contamination checks
Retest, rework, and disposal rate
On-time, in-full supplier delivery

Use at least two qualified suppliers for critical biomass and forecast cash with expected scrap, not best-case yield. If batch consistency holds, gross margin stays strong enough to cover overhead and leave room for owner pay. If onboarding or delivery slips, the cash hit shows up before revenue can catch up.