You work in a business you do not understand
You know your job and not how the company actually earns.
Courses
Start with three things you can do today
How to understand how a business works
See how a business makes money, in plain examples.
Follow who pays, what they receive, the cost of delivering it and when cash moves. A business can sell more and still lose money. The small stall example below separates revenue, costs and profit without pretending one metric explains every company.
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A starting goal
I want to understand how a business creates value and makes money. Explain customers, costs, pricing, and competitive advantage using clear examples a beginner can follow.
Change any word so it fits your situation. The course is built from what you type and a few setup questions.
Start today
Three things you can do before the course exists.
Useful on their own. The course is for when you want the whole skill, not just the first move.
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Follow one sale
Original simplified example: a stall sells 100 notebooks at $5 each, so revenue is $500. Each notebook costs $2 to supply, making variable costs $200. A $180 stall fee leaves $120: 500 - 200 - 180 = 120. These invented figures exclude tax and any costs not listed.
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Find the break-even quantity
Each sale contributes $3 toward the fixed fee. At 60 notebooks, 60 x $3 = $180, so the listed costs are covered. At 50 notebooks, the result is a $30 loss. This calculation assumes constant price and unit cost; it does not predict demand.
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Ask what the model omits
Check labor, unsold stock, refunds, payment timing and other costs before using the model for a real decision. No single number, including sales or churn, replaces understanding the business. The answer check is whether every amount has a defined period and role.
Sources: U.S. SBA: break-even assumptions and formula. Practical examples are starting points, not promised results.
- Best for
- Business
- Prerequisites
- None. Bring the situation you have.
- Course length
- 7 to 30 lessons
- Pace
- Yours. One lesson at a time, as often as you like.
- Format
- Read it, or play the audio
- Access
- Available on the App Store and Google Play, with an optional early testing list
Before the course is built
Setup asks about your situation first.
Lesson 1 opens on the moment you describe, and the examples use your role. For this request, expect questions like these.
- Why do you want this: your job, a business idea, investing, or curiosity?
- Which businesses do you know from the inside or use every day?
- How comfortable are you with basic numbers like margins and percentages?
Right for now
If any of this sounds familiar, start here.
Business language loses you
Margins, unit economics and moats get used around you and never explained.
You have an idea and no model
You know what you would sell and not how it would make money.
Course arc
Where the course goes, in order.
Cadence writes the lessons for you, so the exact path follows your answers. This is the ground a course built from this sentence covers.
01 / 06What a business is
How customer value, revenue, costs and financing fit together in a simple model.
Customers and value
Who pays, why they pay and what they compare you with.
Costs and margins
Fixed and variable costs, and why some businesses scale and others cannot.
Pricing
How prices are set in practice, and what happens when they are wrong.
Competitive advantage
Why some businesses keep their profits and others compete them away.
Reading a real business
Applying the framework to a company you know well.
What changes
What you will be able to do, and what you will stop believing.
You will be able to
Explain how a given business earns
Trace the money from customer to profit for companies you use.
Read the basic numbers
Understand revenue, cost, margin and cash in the simplest useful form.
Judge a business idea
Ask the questions that reveal whether something can work.
Ideas this course corrects
Revenue alone proves success
Sales do not show all costs, cash needs or whether customers receive value.
A simple model explains every business
It clarifies selected assumptions. Financing, regulation and complex operations may need additional analysis.
Course questions
What to know before you start.
How to understand how a business works: what can I do today?
Follow one sale. Original simplified example: a stall sells 100 notebooks at $5 each, so revenue is $500. Each notebook costs $2 to supply, making variable costs $200. A $180 stall fee leaves $120: 500 - 200 - 180 = 120. These invented figures exclude tax and any costs not listed. Find the break-even quantity. Each sale contributes $3 toward the fixed fee. At 60 notebooks, 60 x $3 = $180, so the listed costs are covered. At 50 notebooks, the result is a $30 loss. This calculation assumes constant price and unit cost; it does not predict demand. Ask what the model omits. Check labor, unsold stock, refunds, payment timing and other costs before using the model for a real decision. No single number, including sales or churn, replaces understanding the business. The answer check is whether every amount has a defined period and role.
Is this a fixed course?
No. Cadence builds the course when you type the sentence and answer a few setup questions, so the lessons follow your situation. This page describes what a course built from this request covers. You see the whole path before Lesson 1.
Who is this course for?
Follow who pays, what they receive, the cost of delivering it and when cash moves. A business can sell more and still lose money. The small stall example below separates revenue, costs and profit without pretending one metric explains every company. It sits under Business in the Work & ambitions part of the library.
Do I need any prior experience?
No. Setup asks what you already know and where you want to use it, and the course starts from there. Bring a real situation if you have one; the examples are built around it.
How long does it take?
Most courses run 7 to 30 lessons. The course length is sized to what you asked for. You set the pace: one lesson at a time, as often as you like. Lessons can be read or played as audio.
Does this course award a certificate or degree?
No. Cadence is for practical self-learning and does not award accredited degrees or professional certification.
Start today
Type it, answer a few questions, open Lesson 1.
A starting goal
I want to understand how a business creates value and makes money. Explain customers, costs, pricing, and competitive advantage using clear examples a beginner can follow.
Want new features first?