Quick Start

Create your first forecast in under 10 minutes.

This guide walks you through creating your first financial forecast with Profitual. No finance background required.

What You’ll Build

By the end of this guide, you’ll have:

  • A company set up in Profitual
  • Revenue streams and expenses configured
  • A complete 3-statement financial model

Prerequisites

  • A Profitual account (sign up free)
  • Basic information about your business

Step 1: Create Your Company

  1. Log in to Profitual
  2. You’ll see the Company Select page listing any existing companies
  3. Click the Create button in the bottom left
  4. Complete the onboarding wizard:

Organization Basics

Fill in your company details:

Company Name: Acme Corp
Description: Automatic invoicing for small businesses
Industry: ICT

Branding (Optional)

Upload your logo and set your brand colors.

Financial Settings

Configure your fiscal year end, company location, and currency:

Fiscal Year End: October
Country: USA
State/Region: California
City: Anytown
Primary Currency: USD

Integration (Optional)

Connect QuickBooks or Xero to import your actuals, or skip this step to focus on forecasting.

  1. Click Continue to create your company
Pro tip
You can always connect an accounting integration later from the Integrations page!

Step 2: Add Your First Revenue Stream

  1. From the dashboard, expand Building Blocks in the left sidebar
  2. Click Revenue Streams
  3. Click + Add Stream
  4. Fill in the details:
Name: Pro Subscription
Description: Monthly SaaS subscription
Stream Type: Subscription
  1. Click Create Stream
  2. Expand the stream to enter your price and monthly customer forecasts

Step 3: Add Your Team

  1. In the sidebar, click Building Blocks → Team
  2. Click Add Member
  3. Enter employee details directly into the table:
Position: Chief Executive Officer
Category: General & Admin
Salary: $120,000
Start Date: January 2024

Profitual automatically calculates payroll, taxes and benefits.

Step 4: Add Operating Expenses

  1. In the sidebar, click Building Blocks → Operating Expenses
  2. First look through our default Operating Expenses to see if they fit your needs
  3. If you’d like to add more expenses, click Add Expense
  4. Add your key costs:
Name: Office Rent
Category: General & Admin
Expense Type: Fixed
Amount: $3,000
Frequency: Monthly
Start Date: 01/01/2025
  1. Click Add Expense
Note
Start with your biggest costs first. You can always add more expenses later.

Step 5: View Your Financial Statements

  1. Click Statements in the sidebar
  2. View your automatically generated:
    • Income Statement - Revenue, expenses, and profit
    • Balance Sheet - Assets, liabilities, and equity
    • Cash Flow Statement - Cash in and out

Your building blocks flow directly into these statements - no manual formulas needed.

Step 6: Explore Your Dashboard

Click Dashboard in the sidebar to see:

  • Revenue projections
  • Expense breakdown
  • Cash runway
  • Key metrics

Next Steps