The lender's page

The one page a lender asks for.

Sources and uses is a single sheet with two columns. On one side every dollar going into the thing you're about to do, and on the other every dollar paying for it. You'll also see it called sources and applications of funds.

Build the model with the loan and your own money below already in, or balance your two columns first.

There's one rule and it's arithmetic: the two sides add up to the same number. When uses come out higher, the plan has a hole in it, and it's the first thing anyone reading it finds.

Working capital belongs on the uses side even though it doesn't buy anything you can photograph. It's the money that sits in stock and in unpaid invoices while you wait to get paid. Leave it out and the loan ends up too small.

What the full model adds

• The same two sides taken off the plan year by year, so they move when the plan moves instead of being retyped.
• The split between the capital that keeps the doors open and the capital that pays for growth. That split decides how the loan gets described.
• The funding it takes to hold cash at or above zero across three years, and the month cash bottoms out.
• Debt service coverage in every year, which is the line a lender reads straight after the totals.

Building a plan is free. Saving it to an account, Excel and the print pack come with a paid plan, and the pricing page lists what each one holds.