Telescope Beta User Guide

1. Getting Started: Upload Your Data

Step 1: Prepare Your CSV File

What You Need:

• A CSV file with your P&L actuals
• First column: Line item names (Revenue, COGS, Salaries, etc.)
• Subsequent columns: Monthly actual values
• Column headers: Dates (e.g., "Jan 2024", "Feb 2024", etc.)

Example Format:

Line Item,Jan 2024,Feb 2024,Mar 2024,Apr 2024
Total Revenue,100000,105000,110000,115000
Total COGS,30000,31500,33000,34500
Gross Profit,70000,73500,77000,80500
Salaries,25000,25000,26000,26000
...
Net Income,15000,17000,18500,20000

Supported P&L Structures:

• Standard P&L (Revenue → COGS → OpEx → Net Income)
• With "Gross Margin" instead of "Gross Profit"
• With "Direct Costs" instead of "COGS"
• With "Operational Expenses" or "Operating Expenses"
• With non-operating items (Interest, Taxes, Other Income/Expenses)

Step 2: Upload Your File

1. Click the "Upload Actuals (CSV)" button in the left sidebar under "Quick Actions"
2. Select your CSV file
3. Wait 2-3 seconds for processing
4. You'll see your filename appear below the buttons with a checkmark
5. Your actual values now populate the tables

Step 3: Run Your First Forecast

Click the "Run Forecasts" button to generate your initial forecast using default settings (5% linear growth, 12 months).

2. Basic Forecast Setup

Located in the left sidebar under "Model Configuration".

Forecast Periods

What it is: How many months to forecast into the future

How to set:

• Input field: "Number of periods to forecast"
• Range: 1-60 months
• Default: 12 months

Example:

• 12 = forecast one year ahead
• 24 = forecast two years ahead
• 36 = forecast three years ahead

Forecast Method

What it is: How each line item grows over time

Your Options:

1. Linear Growth Default

• Adds the same dollar amount each month
• Formula: Next Month = Current Month + (Current × Monthly Rate)
• Best for: Steady, predictable growth (mature businesses)
• Example: $100k → $105k → $110k → $115k (adds $5k each month)

2. Exponential Growth

• Compounds growth month-over-month
• Formula: Next Month = Current Month × (1 + Monthly Rate)
• Best for: High-growth businesses, percentage-based growth
• Example: $100k → $105k → $110.25k → $115.76k (5% compounds)

3. Logarithmic Growth

• Growth rate slows over time (diminishing returns)
• Formula: Value = Current × (1 + Rate)^log(month)
• Best for: Market saturation scenarios, maturing products
• Example: Fast growth early, then plateaus

4. Rolling Average

• Uses average of recent X months
• Formula: Forecast = Average(Last X Months)
• Best for: Volatile/seasonal businesses
• Example: Average of last 3 months = next month's forecast
• Settings:
  • Rolling Period: How many months to average (default: 3)
  • Apply Growth Trend: Checkbox to add growth on top of average

Annual Growth Rate

What it is: The percentage growth you expect annually

How to set:

• Input field: "Annual growth rate (%)"
• Positive numbers = growth (e.g., 15%)
• Negative numbers = decline (e.g., -5%)
• Zero = flat (no growth)

Example:

• 12% annual growth = 1% compound monthly growth (Exponential)
• 12% annual growth = 0.95% monthly addition (Linear)

3. Advanced Forecast Controls

Seasonality

What it is: Monthly patterns where certain months perform better/worse

Located: Model Configuration → "Seasonal Pattern" dropdown

Your Options:

No Seasonality Default

• Steady growth with no monthly variation
• Best for: Subscription businesses, steady services

Quarterly Peaks:

• Q1 Peak (Jan-Mar): Strong January-March (Tax prep, New Year fitness, financial planning)
• Q2 Peak (Apr-Jun): Strong April-June (Real estate, weddings, graduations)
• Q3 Peak (Jul-Sep): Strong July-September (Back-to-school, summer camps)
• Q4 Peak (Oct-Dec): Strong October-December (Holidays, year-end)

Seasonal Peaks:

• Spring Peak (Mar-May): Strong March-May (Landscaping, gardening, spring fashion)
• Summer Peak (Jun-Aug): Strong June-August (Travel, hospitality, outdoor recreation)
• Fall Peak (Sep-Nov): Strong September-November (Halloween, harvest, fall sports)
• Winter Peak (Dec-Feb): Strong December-February (Ski resorts, heating, winter holidays)

Custom Pattern:

• Define your own monthly multipliers
• Set each month individually (0.5 = 50% of baseline, 1.5 = 150% of baseline)

Seasonality Strength Slider (0-100%):

• 0%: No seasonality applied (same as "None")
• 50%: Moderate seasonal variation
• 100%: Full seasonal pattern applied
• Use case: Test different seasonality intensities without changing the pattern

Example:

• Base forecast: $100k
• December multiplier in Q4 Peak: 1.5
• Seasonality strength: 100%
• December forecast: $100k × 1.5 = $150k

Operating Leverage (80% Rule)

What it is: Automatic expense scaling relative to revenue growth

Located: Model Configuration → Checkbox "Apply operating leverage (80% rule)"

How It Works:

• When checked: Expenses grow at 80% of your revenue growth rate
• When unchecked: Expenses grow at the same rate as revenue

Example:

• Revenue growth: 20% annual
• With 80% rule: Expenses grow at 16% annual
• Result: Margins expand as you scale (operating leverage)

When to Use:

• High-growth companies scaling efficiently
• SaaS/software businesses with low variable costs
• Service businesses with fixed cost bases

When NOT to Use:

• Retail with high variable costs (COGS scales linearly)
• Manufacturing with material costs tied to revenue
• When you want granular control per expense

Custom Growth Rates (Per Line Item)

What it is: Override global growth rate for specific line items

How to Set:

1. Go to the P&L Forecast tab in the left sidebar
2. Scroll down to "Custom Independent Growth Rates" section
3. Select a line item from the dropdown
4. Enter a custom annual growth rate for that item
5. Click "Set Custom Rate"

When to Use:

• Fast-growing product lines (set Revenue Product A to 25% while overall is 10%)
• Declining expenses (set Software Licenses to -5% for cost cutting)
• Flat items (set Rent to 0% for no growth)
• Different cost structures (set COGS to 5% while OpEx uses global 10%)

Example Workflow:

• Global growth rate: 10%
• Marketing expense custom rate: 25% (investing heavily)
• Rent custom rate: 0% (locked in lease)
• Result: Marketing grows faster, rent stays flat, everything else at 10%

Visual Indicator:

• Items with custom rates are listed in the "Custom Independent Growth Rates" section
• You can see all custom rates and remove them from this section

4. Goal Seek: Work Backwards from Targets

What it is: Calculate the growth rates needed to hit a specific financial target

Located: "Goal Seek" tab (between Yearly Forecast and Sensitivity)

Step 1: Set Your Goal

Target Metric:

• Net Income
• Total Revenue
• Gross Profit
• Operating Income

Current Value:

• Auto-populated from your last actual month
• Shows your starting point

Target Value ($):

• Enter the dollar amount you want to achieve
• Example: $500,000

Time Period (Months):

• How long to achieve the goal
• Range: 1-60 months
• Example: 24 months (2 years)

Step 2: Choose Your Strategy

Click one of three strategic approaches:

Revenue-Driven

• Philosophy: Grow revenue aggressively
• Approach: Expenses grow at 80% of revenue growth rate (operating leverage)
• Best For: High-growth companies, market expansion, scaling operations
• Example: If revenue grows 40%, expenses grow 32%

Expense-Focused

• Philosophy: Control costs tightly
• Approach: Very low expense growth (50% of revenue growth)
• Best For: Mature companies, profitability improvement, cost optimization
• Example: If revenue grows 20%, expenses grow 10%

Balanced

• Philosophy: Equal focus on revenue and expenses
• Approach: Moderate expense growth (65% of revenue growth)
• Best For: Sustainable growth, stable businesses
• Example: If revenue grows 30%, expenses grow 19.5%

Step 3: Review Results

Goal Summary Section:

Shows: Current value → Target value → Total growth required

Required Growth Rates Section:

• Revenue Growth: Annual percentage needed
• Expense Growth: Annual percentage needed (based on strategy)
• Strategy description explaining the approach

Reality Check Section (CRITICAL):

This analyzes if your goal is realistic based on YOUR historical performance:

Very Achievable / Achievable

• Your historical growth already exceeds what's needed
• Conservative target

Stretch Goal

• Requires 1.0-1.5x your historical growth
• Challenging but demonstrated capability

Highly Ambitious / Very Ambitious

• Requires 1.5x+ your historical growth OR 50-100%+ absolute growth
• Significant strategic changes needed

Potentially Unrealistic / Extremely Aggressive

• Requires 2.5x+ your historical growth OR 100%+ absolute growth
• May need timeline extension or lower target

Business Turnaround Required

• Your business is currently declining
• Shows total swing needed (stop decline + achieve growth)
• Requires fundamental business changes

Verification Section:

• Shows projected financials at the end of your timeline
• Validates the calculations
• Confirms accuracy with checkmark or warning

Step 4: Take Action

Download Forecast Table

• Generates complete month-by-month P&L forecast
• Shows all line items with Goal Seek growth rates applied
• Downloads as CSV (opens in Excel)
• Includes metadata about target, strategy, and required growth rates

Apply to Main Forecast

• Automatically updates your main forecast settings
• Sets growth rate to the calculated revenue growth
• Changes forecast method to "Exponential"
• Updates forecast periods to match your goal timeline
• Takes you to Monthly Forecast tab to review

Goal Seek Use Cases

Planning Mode:

• "I need to reach $500K net income in 18 months. What growth rate do I need?"
• Compare all three strategies to see options
• Choose most realistic based on Reality Check

Fundraising Pitch:

• "Investors want 3x revenue in 3 years. Is that achievable?"
• See what growth rate is required
• Download forecast table for pitch deck

Budget Setting:

• "CFO set a profitability target. How do we get there?"
• Use Net Income goal seek
• Compare Revenue-Driven vs Expense-Focused strategies

5. Viewing Your Forecasts

Monthly Forecast Tab

What it shows: Month-by-month breakdown of your P&L

Features:

• All line items with actuals + forecasts
• Scrollable table with fixed headers
• Color coding (actuals vs forecasts)
• Total calculations automatic

Best for: Detailed month-by-month analysis

Quarterly Forecast Tab

What it shows: Your P&L aggregated into quarters (Q1, Q2, Q3, Q4)

How quarters work:

• Q1 = Jan + Feb + Mar
• Q2 = Apr + May + Jun
• Q3 = Jul + Aug + Sep
• Q4 = Oct + Nov + Dec

Mixed periods: If you have actuals through March 15th, Q1 shows partial actual + partial forecast. Hover over mixed period cells to see breakdown.

Best for: Executive summaries, board presentations

Yearly Forecast Tab

What it shows: Annual totals by calendar year

Best for: Long-term planning, multi-year projections

Understanding the Tables

Color Coding:

• Green background: Actual values (from your CSV)
• Yellowish gold background: Forecasted values (calculated by Telescope)
• Bold text: Total lines (Revenue Total, Net Income, etc.)

Calculated Metrics:

• Gross Profit/Margin: Automatically calculated as Revenue - COGS/Direct Costs
• Gross Margin %: Automatically calculated as (Gross Margin / Revenue) × 100
• Operating Income: Automatically calculated as Gross Profit - Operating Expenses
• Net Income: Automatically calculated from Operating Income + Other Income - Other Expenses - Taxes

Custom Growth Rates:

• Set in the P&L Forecast tab under "Custom Independent Growth Rates"
• View all active custom rates in that section
• Click "Remove" next to any rate to delete it

6. Interactive Charts

Located: Insights Dashboard tab → Charts section (scroll down)

Monthly Line Chart

What it shows: Trends of up to 3 line items over time

How to use:

1. Select up to 3 line items from the dropdowns
2. Each line gets a different color
3. Hover over data points to see exact values
4. Use date range selector to zoom into specific periods

Customization:

• Color Picker: Click the color circle next to each dropdown to change line color
• Line Items: Choose any P&L line item
• Date Range: Select start and end periods to focus on specific timeframes

Best for:

• Comparing revenue vs expenses over time
• Spotting trends and patterns
• Identifying seasonality in your actuals
• Visualizing forecast projections

Quarterly Line Chart

What it shows: Same as monthly but aggregated by quarter

Best for: High-level trend analysis, board presentations

7. Exporting Your Data

Export Buttons

Located at the top of each forecast view (Monthly, Quarterly, Yearly)

What you get:

• CSV file with all P&L line items
• Includes both actuals and forecasts
• Column headers with dates
• Opens directly in Excel or Google Sheets

File naming:

• Format: telescope_forecast_monthly_YYYY-MM-DD.csv
• Includes date of export for version control

What to do with exports:

• Import into Excel for further analysis
• Add to client deliverables
• Create custom charts and pivot tables
• Combine with other data sources
• Share with stakeholders

Export from Goal Seek

Special export feature in Goal Seek:

• Includes goal parameters (target, timeline, strategy)
• Shows required growth rates
• Month-by-month projection to reach target
• File naming: goalseek_forecast_[strategy]_YYYY-MM-DD.csv

8. Tips & Best Practices

Getting Accurate Forecasts

1. Clean Your Data:

• Ensure CSV is properly formatted
• Remove any non-numeric characters from values (except $ and ,)
• Use consistent date formatting in headers
• Check that totals are actually labeled as totals

2. Choose the Right Forecast Method:

• Mature business, steady growth? → Linear
• High-growth startup? → Exponential
• Entering saturated market? → Logarithmic
• Highly seasonal/volatile? → Rolling Average

3. Use Custom Growth Rates:

• Don't rely solely on global growth rate
• Model specific scenarios per line item
• Example: Marketing up 30%, Rent flat at 0%, Revenue up 15%

4. Test Different Seasonality Patterns:

• Upload your file, run forecast with no seasonality
• Try different patterns (Q2, Summer, etc.)
• See which matches your historical actuals best
• Adjust strength slider to fine-tune

5. Validate with Goal Seek:

• After creating a forecast, use Goal Seek to verify
• "If I grow at this rate, where do I end up?"
• Compare to your expectations
• Adjust forecast settings if needed

Common Mistakes to Avoid

Workflow for Client Deliverable

Full Process (5 minutes):

1. Upload client's actual P&L (15 seconds)
2. Set forecast parameters:
   • 24 months forecast period
   • Exponential method
   • 15% annual growth rate (based on client goals)
   • Q4 Peak seasonality at 70% strength
   • Operating leverage enabled
3. Add custom growth rates:
   • Revenue Product A: 25% (new launch)
   • Marketing: 30% (aggressive spend)
   • Salaries: 12% (hiring plan)
4. Run forecasts (5 seconds)
5. Review in Quarterly view (looks better for presentations)
6. Use Goal Seek:
   • Target: $1M Net Income in 24 months
   • Strategy: Revenue-Driven
   • Review Reality Check
   • Download Goal Seek table
7. Export Quarterly forecast (5 seconds)
8. Open in Excel, format for presentation (2 minutes)

Total time: 5 minutes for a deliverable that would take 10 hours manually

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Glossary

CAGR (Compound Annual Growth Rate): Growth rate that accounts for compounding over multiple periods

Operating Leverage: The concept that expenses grow slower than revenue as a business scales

Net Income: Bottom line profit after all revenues and expenses (including non-operating items)

Non-Operating Items: Line items after Operating Income (Interest, Taxes, Other Income/Expenses)

Seasonality: Predictable monthly variations in business performance

Growth Rate (Annual vs Monthly):

• Annual: Year-over-year percentage change
• Monthly: Month-over-month percentage change
• Conversion: Monthly = (1 + Annual)^(1/12) - 1

Forecast Period: Number of months to project into the future

Actuals: Historical financial data from your business

Mixed Period: A quarter or year that contains both actual and forecasted months

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Need Help?

Common questions:

• "My Net Income shows $0" → Check that you have Operating Income or Gross Profit + Operating Expenses totals
• "Seasonality isn't showing" → Make sure seasonality strength > 0%
• "Custom growth rate not working" → Go to P&L tab, scroll to Custom Growth Rates section, set rate there
• "Goal Seek says unrealistic" → Extend timeline or lower target based on Reality Check

Beta Limitations

Currently Locked Features (Coming Soon):

• Balance Sheet forecasting
• Cash Flow statements
• Scenario comparison
• Sensitivity analysis (UI built, locked for beta)

Focus for Beta: We're perfecting the P&L forecasting engine first. Once we ensure accuracy and ease-of-use for P&L, we'll roll out Balance Sheet and Cash Flow.

Your feedback helps us prioritize what to build next!

9. Account & Browser Behavior

Important: Single Account Per Browser

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Last updated: November 14, 2025 • Telescope Beta v0.9.2