Compute break-even units and margin of safety at the new price

About this exercise

You're running a simple break-even for one product. Write a prompt for plain text with lines starting "Contribution:", "Break-even units:", "Break-even revenue:" and "Margin of safety:", each with the math. Use the current price and round break-even units up to a whole unit. Margin of safety is forecast units minus break-even units, also as a percent of forecast, to one decimal. Under 70 words. No bullets or numbering.

Common mistakes when you ask AI for this

• Using the old price. The AI uses $40 and the August 3,000 units. Try: Say: "Use the current price, $42."
• Dropping the optional marketing. The AI removes $6,000 from fixed costs. Try: Add: "Keep all $48,000 in fixed costs."
• Rounding down. The AI rounds 2,666.7 to 2,666 or leaves a decimal. Try: Add: "Round break-even units up to a whole unit."
• Markdown extras. The AI adds bold labels, headings and a closing note. Try: Say: "Plain text, no bold. Output only the lines asked for."
• Trusting the AI to count words. AI is bad at counting and runs past word limits. Try: Ask for fewer words than the real cap and keep each line short.

What a strong prompt includes

• Names the four lines
• Uses the current price
• Rounds up
• Keeps all fixed costs
• Caps length

Practice this now ↑

Related exercises

• Accrue goods received but not invoiced at PO price (Finance AI · Accountants)
• Age a returns queue in business days and flag the ones over the limit (Customer Support & Success AI · Customer support teams)
• Age open requisitions as of today and flag the old ones (Finance AI · FP&A and financial analysts)
• Age reconciling items and escalate those over 60 days (Finance AI · Accountants)
• Alert sales to a competitor's price change, facts only (Research & AI Search · Product managers)