Northstar.
Make the consequences of a decision visible.
What does another hire mean for cash runway? How does a funding round change ownership? Northstar connects those questions in a ten-year planning model. I built the calculations and the interactive application.
- Context
- Independent scenario-planning tool
- Role
- Model, architecture, interface, implementation, and tests
- Horizon
- 120 monthly periods
- Try it
- Interactive demo with fictional sample data
The context
A hiring decision
is also a cash decision.
A pricing decision changes revenue. Hiring changes delivery capacity and cash. Fundraising adds capital and changes ownership. Northstar brings those dependencies into one monthly model so someone planning a business can change an assumption and follow its effects across the whole scenario.
The model is a deterministic scenario simulator, not a probabilistic forecast or financial advice.
Every public company, person, ownership, compensation, price, operating forecast, and fundraising assumption is fictional.
Cash flows and ownership events must reconcile as hiring, funding, and dilution occur.
Settings stay in each visitor's browser. The demo has no shared scenario store or multi-user accounts.
My contribution
The calculations.
The way to explore them.
I owned the model design, architecture, interface, implementation, and verification. I translated operating questions into adjustable assumptions and tested the rules that keep cash and ownership calculations consistent.
- 01
Translated operating questions into explicit parameters for recurring revenue, setup fees, churn, market limits, sales productivity, delivery capacity, payroll, and runway.
- 02
Separated the calculation layer from the interface so the same deterministic engine can drive browser charts and Node tests.
- 03
Modeled bootstrap and funded scenarios with the same engine, including timing and recurring-revenue gates for Angel, Seed, and Series A rounds.
- 04
Sequenced option-pool use and investor dilution so ownership reconciles to 100% after each event.
- 05
Designed charts, milestones, and scenario comparisons to make planning tradeoffs visible, with fictional sample data for the public demo.
The decisions
Make the assumptions
part of the model.
01Separate recurring and one-time revenue
Setup fees can improve cash without improving recurring-revenue quality, so the model keeps them separate from subscription metrics and funding gates.
02Treat sales as demand and delivery as capacity
Acquisition and customer delivery cannot scale independently forever. The model exposes when sales output exceeds onboarding and maintenance capacity.
03Gate funding on time and performance
A round requires both its planned month and a minimum recurring-revenue threshold, preventing capital from appearing automatically on a calendar date.
04Keep ownership consistent after every event
Option-pool use and round dilution are sequenced explicitly, and every ownership event must reconcile to 100%.
05 /The experience
Change an assumption.
See what follows.
Adjust pricing, staffing, or funding in the working demo and compare the resulting scenarios. All example company data and financial inputs are fictional.
Architecture
One calculation engine.
Connected results.
Select a layer to see its responsibility and the components involved.
Assumptions
Users adjust pricing, churn, sales productivity, delivery capacity, and funding rules. These controls produce one parameter set for each scenario.
- Pricing + churn
- Sales productivity
- Delivery capacity
- Funding gates
Pure Simulation Engine
One pure calculation engine produces monthly operating and ownership results. It runs without a browser DOM, so the interface and Node tests use the same formulas.
- 120 monthly periods
- Customer flow
- Cash reconciliation
- Ownership events
Scenario Results
Bootstrap and funded scenarios expose customer, revenue, staffing, cash, runway, and ownership results across 120 monthly periods.
- Bootstrap
- Funded
- Runway
- Staffing demand
Charts and Comparisons
Charts, metrics, and milestone timelines show where scenarios differ. They all read the same results so each view reflects the same assumptions.
- KPIs + charts
- Milestones
- Scenario comparison
- Invariant checks
Settings stay in each visitor's browser; the static host exposes no shared settings endpoint or server-side scenario store.
One-time setup fees stay separate from recurring revenue so cash inflow does not distort subscription quality or funding gates.
Sales creates demand while delivery creates capacity, exposing the point where acquisition outpaces onboarding and maintenance.
Verification
Cash must reconcile.
Ownership must add up.
Tests check the relationships between calculations, including cash balances, funding conditions, and ownership after each investment round.
44 passing Node tests: 37 over the DOM-free financial model plus seven release, privacy, persistence, licensing, and mobile-containment checks.
Cash reconciliation across revenue, expenses, payroll, commissions, and funding.
Funding-trigger order, minimum recurring-revenue gates, market ceilings, hiring gates, and capacity constraints.
Option-pool and dilution sequencing with ownership required to reconcile to 100%.
Browser checks cover per-browser settings persistence, default reset behavior, desktop rendering, and reachable mobile controls without horizontal overflow.
HTTP checks confirm that only runtime assets and license notices are public; settings, tests, server code, package metadata, and editable source return 404.
Supporting material
Interactive demo
Change pricing, staffing, and funding assumptions in the complete planning interface. Every company, founder, financial, and ownership input is fictional; no private company data is shown.
Try Northstar with sample data (opens in a new tab)Shared calculation engine
The simulation engine is DOM-free, allowing the browser interface and Node test runner to exercise the same formulas.
Source and license
The first-party browser runtime is inspectable, minified without source maps, and proprietary under an all-rights-reserved license. Only runtime, required interface assets, and license notices are public. Editable source, tests, and server tooling stay private.
Read the proprietary license (opens in a new tab)
08 /What this enables
A change to pricing, hiring, or funding flows through one consistent 120-month view of growth, staffing, cash, runway, and ownership. Northstar makes the tradeoffs between bootstrap and funded scenarios visible so users can examine the consequences of their assumptions.
Interactive demo with fictional sample data and 44 model, privacy, persistence, licensing, and release checks.
Let's discuss the work