AI Office · Marcus (CFO) × Daniel (Strategy)

The Numbers — SEO / AEO Retainer · CFO Dashboard

Singapore SME · bootstrapped
Draft v1 · 2026-06-13
Verdict: High margin, cash-break-even ~month 3 on a ~S$4k buffer — if sales velocity and churn/quality hold. The right play is a lean cash engine (~10–15 clients) that funds the IMDA bet — not a 50-client agency.
⚠ Honest flag: the model's big Year-2 EBITDA is overstated — it under-prices the account-management / QA labour a large client book needs. Trust the small-scale economics below, not the scale headline.

Key Numbers

trustworthy · base case
💵 Break-even
5 clients
covers Nick's S$5k draw · ≈ month 3
💧 Max cash dip
~S$3.7k
near-zero capital risk
📊 Blended ARPU
S$1,260
/client/mo · 30/50/20 mix
📈 Gross margin
~88%
at small scale, before Nick's time
⛔ Solo ceiling
~15
clients at 2hr/day before payroll
⏱ Time to profit
~Mo 3
when 5th client lands

Action Numbers

targets & triggers — what to act on
🎯
S$12–18k MRR
The goal: ~10–15 clients = lean cash engine that funds IMDA. This is the target, not 50 clients.
📈
Sell 2–3 / month
New clients/mo to stay on the base trajectory. Below 1–2 = bear case.
🛡️
Churn < 5% / mo
The red line. At 7%+ growth stalls. Mitigate with fast AI-readiness wins + annual prepay.
👥
Hire editor @ client #9
Capacity trigger. Beyond Nick's solo cap, outsource articles (~S$30 ea) or quality breaks.
🚧
Hard-cap ~15 clients
Past this it's an agency with payroll — different business, scatter risk vs the North Star.
🧾
+S$1,200 & +S$600
Each Growth client = S$1,200 MRR + S$600 one-time onboarding. Onboarding funds month 1.

Flex the Levers

live · recomputes the model
End Y1 clients
–
End Y2 clients
–
Exit MRR (end Y2)
–
Revenue · Year 1
–
Revenue · Year 2
–
Y2 EBITDA *
–
* after Nick's S$5k/mo draw; optimistic at scale — see flag.

The Offer & The Risks

Daniel · strategy

Productised tiers fixed scope · monthly

TierS$/moFor
Starter600Micro-SMEs · 2 articles + scoring
Growth ⭐1,200Core tier · 4 articles + local + fixes
Authority2,400Leaders · 8 articles + tech + monitoring

Wedge: "rank on Google AND get cited by AI." Demo hook = the free AI-Search-Readiness score ("you score 22/100"). Sell: audit → 20-min Loom → fixed-tier close.

What kills it (watch these)

  • Churn before results land (4–6mo lag) — the #1 killer.
  • Delivery overload vs 2hr/day cap → scatter + quality drop.
  • Scatter tax — competes with the IMDA bet. Keep it lean.
  • Quality risk — AI + cheap freelance content → churn (hidden link).
  • Platform risk — Google/AI ranking + citation logic shifts.