What it costs to turn the lights on
The $37/mo SaaS stack is not the launch budget. The gate to the first sale is the legal, insurance, and safety work below — the software is a rounding error.
$3.2–10.2k
gate to first sale (must spend)
$37–39/mo
launch software stack, all-in
$8–20k
realistic 90-day total, full GTM
~$3.5–5k
shoestring floor (organic only)
90-day cash curve
cumulative spend · illustrative pacing from plan ranges
Shoestring (organic-only) Full GTM
View as table
| Day | 0 | 7 | 14 | 21 | 30 | 45 | 60 | 75 | 90 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Shoestring | $0 | $1.5k | $2.8k | $3.6k | $3.9k | $4.2k | $4.4k | $4.6k | $4.8k |
| Full GTM | $0 | $2.5k | $5k | $7k | $9.5k | $12k | $14.5k | $16.8k | $19k |
Unit economics per SKU
at settled prices · shipping ≈ wash ($4.95 charged vs ~$5 postage) · free ship > $20
assumes COGS ~$0.60/cone until friend confirmsassumes 2.9% + 30¢ processing until ISO fees in writingShopify third-party fee 2% (Basic) COGS Fees Margin
The $2.99 single is add-on only — solo it's margin-negative against postage. The Night Kit is engineered as the free-shipping unlock.
Launch-gate costs
must be spent (or resolved) before order #1 ships
Monthly stack
launch tier now · growth tier pre-mapped
| Launch (~$37/mo) | Cost |
|---|---|
| Shopify Basic (annual) | $29 |
| Google Workspace Starter (1 seat) | $7 |
| Domain (Cloudflare, amortized) | ~$1 |
| Phone (Google Voice) | $0 |
| Age gate · reviews · email · bundles · subs · inbox | $0 (free tiers) |
| Growth (~$105–125/mo, revenue-triggered) | Cost |
|---|---|
| Shopify Grow (at ~$5k/mo) | $79 |
| Klaviyo paid (at ~250 profiles) | $20+ |
| Judge.me Awesome | $15 |
| Gorgias (at ~10 tickets/day) | $10+ |
| Paid theme (one-time, if data demands) | $240 once |
Upgrade triggers
nothing upgrades on a date — everything upgrades on a number
- ~$5k/mo revenueUpgrade Shopify Basic → Grow: third-party gateway fee drops 2% → 1%, which covers the plan-price delta.
- ~250 email profilesKlaviyo free tier ends — move to paid.
- ~10 support tickets/dayAdd Gorgias.
- ~500 orders/moHand-fulfillment ceiling — move to Fulfyld 3PL (~$2.50–5/order).
- At launch (not at scale)Start the OEM sample run — 30–90 day lead time outruns hand-assembly if anything goes viral.