Your business world
Every lesson is a place in town. The ring road is the ideas every business shares, the neighborhoods are industries, and the landmarks on the edge are famous companies. Places light up as you explore them.
44 lessons to try · 0 of 15 big ideas met
Skip the mapRestaurant Row: open now.
Industries · RestaurantRestaurant Row
How a restaurant really runs: thin margins, Friday rushes, suppliers and permits.
Lessons here- You sell a $15 burger. How much do you keep?Open
- Hiring your first crew (members-only)Open
- Permits before you open (members-only)Open
- Reading your monthly numbers (members-only)Open
Every place in town, as a list
The center of town
An empty lot in the middle of town. Turn what you learned into a plan for your own business: budget, break-even, first hires, permits.
- Is this business right for me? (open)
- Your startup budget (open) (members-only)
- Your break-even point (open) (members-only)
- Your first hires (open) (members-only)
- Your permit checklist (open) (members-only)
The Foundations Loop
Selling meals, memberships, subscriptions or fees: the ways money comes in.
What's left of each sale after paying for everything.
Costs that stay put, costs that grow with each sale, and the break-even point.
How businesses decide what to charge.
- What should you charge? (open)
Why profitable businesses still run out of money: the timing of money.
- Profitable and still broke? (open)
Hiring, wages and scheduling.
- What does a person really cost? (open) (members-only)
Ads, regulars and word of mouth.
- What does a customer cost? (open) (members-only)
What makes a business hard to copy.
- Why can't anyone just copy you? (open) (members-only)
Suppliers, spoilage, inventory and shipping.
- Too much or too little? (open) (members-only)
Profit report, balance sheet and cash flow statement.
- Profit, cash, and what you own (open) (members-only)
Savings, loans and investors.
- Whose money starts a business? (open) (members-only)
Legal structure, permits and taxes.
- Who sets the rules for your business? (open) (members-only)
What can go wrong, and who gets paid to carry the risk.
- What could go wrong? (open) (members-only)
From one location to many.
- One shop or many? (open) (members-only)
How each kind of business usually fails, compared side by side.
- Why do businesses fail? (open) (members-only)
Industry neighborhoods
How a restaurant really runs: thin margins, Friday rushes, suppliers and permits.
- You sell a $15 burger. How much do you keep? (open)
- Hiring your first crew (open) (members-only)
- Permits before you open (open) (members-only)
- Reading your monthly numbers (open) (members-only)
Why a cup costs what it does, and why rent and slow afternoons matter so much.
- How a coffee shop makes money (open)
- The slow-afternoon problem (open) (members-only)
Also covered in:
Retail and online stores: inventory, shipping, and paying for ads to find customers.
- What a sale really costs online (open)
- Inventory: cash sitting on shelves (open) (members-only)
Regulars, booking every chair, and renting a chair vs. owning the shop.
Memberships: getting paid before you deliver, and keeping members from quitting.
- The membership model (open)
Also covered in:
Software: big costs up front, then each new customer costs little.
Construction and trades: bids, materials, and waiting to get paid.
Making things: machines, materials, and why making more can make each one cheaper.
Consulting and agencies: when people's time is the product.
- Selling hours (open)
Big-company landmarks
How lending other people's money turns into a business.
- How banks make money (open)
Burgers, yes. But most of its restaurants are run by franchise owners, who pay it rent and fees.
- How McDonald's makes money (open)
Also covered in:
Coffee on a lot of corners, and customers who put money on the app before they buy.
- How Starbucks makes money (open)
Huge fixed costs and prices that change by the day. Why every empty seat hurts.
- How airlines make money (open)
Also covered in:
An online store, a delivery network and a cloud computing business under one roof.
- How Amazon makes money (open)
A marketplace: it doesn't own the cars. It connects riders and drivers and takes a fee.
- How Uber makes money (open)
A warehouse store with low prices and thin markups. So where does the profit come from?
- How Costco makes money (open)
Search is free to use. So who pays? Advertisers.
- How Google makes money (open)
A business where risk is the product.
- How insurance works (open)
Subscriptions, and paying for shows long before anyone watches them.
- How Netflix makes money (open)
Company names are lesson topics, not partnerships.