Adding an Investment

An ROI calculation is the core of any good business case. Up to this point we’ve just been focusing on the Return: a calculated benefit is the money a business will win back from a purchase. The actual price a customer will pay for access to your products is called the Investment, but you can think of it as a simple cost or fee. You can add and manage these fees in the investment tab. Changes you make to the Investment will affect the ROI multiple seen globally around the business case.

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Adding fees

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Investment table

The investment table displays all fees in a year-by-year grid. Each fee has its own row, and each contract year has its own column. You can set different values per year for each fee.

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Table structure

The table consists of:

• Fee name column: The first column shows the fee name and stays visible when scrolling horizontally
• Year columns: One column per contract year (Year 1, Year 2, Year 3, etc.). Each column is 141px wide
• Fee rows: One row per fee, sorted by creation date (oldest first)
• Totals row: Bottom row showing the sum for each year. Monthly fees are multiplied by 12 for annual totals. One-time fees count only in Year 1

The table scrolls horizontally when there are many years in the contract.

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Fee types

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Recurring fees

Recurring fees can have different values per year and support two intervals:

• Yearly: Value shown per year (e.g., $10,000/year)
• Monthly: Value shown per month with ”/ month” label. The totals row shows the annualized amount (e.g., $1,000/month =$12,000/year)

All year columns are editable for recurring fees.

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One-time fees

One-time fees, often implementation costs charged up-front, only apply to the first year of the contract:

• Only Year 1 is editable
• Years 2+ are disabled and appear blank
• Appear only in Year 1 totals

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Managing fees

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Adding fees

Use the two buttons below the investment table:

• Recurring Fee (split button): The main button adds a fee with the default interval. Use the dropdown to choose yearly or monthly
• One-Time Fee: Adds a one-time fee

New fees appear as a row with the label field in edit mode (auto-focused) and all year columns initialized to $0 (or blank for one-time fees in years 2+).

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Editing fee names

Click any fee name to edit it inline. The textarea auto-resizes as you type. Save by pressing Enter or clicking outside the field. A delete button appears when you hover over the fee name.

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Editing fee values

Click any year cell to edit the value. The currency input uses locale formatting and supports up to 9 digits. Monthly fees show a ”/ month” label. Save by pressing Enter or clicking outside the field. To clear a value, hover over the cell and click the X button that appears. This sets the value to $0 (displayed as ”-”).

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Deleting fees

Hover over any fee name to reveal a delete button. Click it to open a confirmation dialog. Confirming removes the entire row from the table.

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Increasing contract duration

Click the plus button to the right of the table (aligned with fee rows) to add one year (12 months) to the contract. A new year column appears, and all existing fees get a new $0 cell for that year. The button is disabled when the maximum duration is reached.

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Visibility system

The cost you show a prospect can make or break a deal and is often something that sales teams discuss internally. You can control which tabs external collaborators can see in your business case. To manage visibility for any tab:

1. Click on the tab title when the tab is already selected
2. Toggle the visibility setting
3. Hidden tabs are not accessible to external visitors
4. The ROI multiple will not be shown until you make the Investment tab visible

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Investment overview

Once you’ve added fees, the investment tab displays two summary cards at the top showing the financial details of the contract, followed by two charts:

• Waterfall chart: A visual representation of the ROI calculation. The first column displays the calculated benefit, the second shows the investment, and the third shows net returns (the difference between benefit and investment)
• Benefit vs. Investment year-over-year: A yearly breakdown of ROI. This is helpful for showing how ROI improves after the first year when you’ve included a one-time fee

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Payback and breakeven view

Once you have added an investment, Minoa computes the payback period and breakeven date from the breakeven chart on the investment tab. The chart plots cumulative benefit against investment over the contract — payback is when the two meet.

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Chart settings

Click the gear icon on the breakeven chart header to open Chart settings. Settings are saved per business case and apply to every viewer of that case.

• Use cash-flow perspective — toggles how the investment line is drawn. Off (default) shows the total-contract view; on shows the cash-flow view. The two views are explained below.

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Total-contract vs. cash-flow view

The toggle changes how the investment line is drawn — it doesn’t change the deal, the fees, or the calculated ROI. Pick the framing that matches how your buyer thinks about payback. Total-contract view (default): cumulative benefit is compared to the full contract investment from day one. The investment line is flat and breakeven is a single, clean crossing. Use this when the question is “if I commit to the whole contract, when have I earned it all back?” Cash-flow view: cumulative benefit is compared to cumulative fees as they accrue over the contract — the investment line steps up each time a new year’s fees hit. With multi-year deals the lines can cross more than once; the breakeven date is the last sustained crossing, not the first. Use this when your buyer is modeling real cash in vs. cash out and cares about the timing of outflows. We default to total-contract because it is often easier to fathom and produces a single, unambiguous breakeven date. Flip to cash-flow when your buyer is modeling phased spend or wants a “real cash flow” payback statement.

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FAQ

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Why is the investment line flat? Year 1 costs are lower than the 3-year total.

You’re looking at the total-contract view (the default), which compares cumulative benefit to the full contract value from day one. The line is intentionally flat because the question it answers is “when have I earned back the whole commitment?”, not “when does each year’s cash outlay land?” If you’d rather see the investment step up year by year, open Chart settings (gear icon) and turn on Use cash-flow perspective.

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The breakeven looks slow (8–9 months). Year 1 fees are front-loaded — shouldn’t it be faster?

In total-contract view, breakeven reflects the full multi-year commitment, so a deal with low Year 1 fees but higher Year 2+ fees won’t break even any sooner. Switch to cash-flow view to see breakeven against the fees that have actually accrued by each point in time — it will typically come earlier. Keep in mind that in cash-flow view the lines can cross multiple times; we take the last sustained crossing as the breakeven date, not the first.

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Why doesn’t the chart reflect new recurring subscriptions or services I added to the model?

Both views always reflect every fee in the investment table — recurring fees, one-time fees, and any changes you make. What looks like “no change” is usually the total-contract view averaging the added cost over the full contract, so the flat investment line shifts up rather than stepping. Try cash-flow view to see each fee’s timing. If the chart still looks off after that, double-check that the fees are saved on the right contract years and that the totals row at the bottom of the investment table matches what you expect.

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Why is the breakeven date the last crossing in cash-flow view, not the first?

When fees step up partway through a contract (for example, Year 2 of a 3-year deal), cumulative benefit can briefly fall back below cumulative investment after the next step. Picking the first crossing would call payback “achieved” while the buyer is still net negative. The last sustained crossing is the point from which the buyer is permanently in the green — that’s the honest payback date.

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Which view should I send to my customer?

Most buyers find the total-contract view easier to read: one clear breakeven date, no zig-zag. We’ve seen support for it from CFOs we spoke with when designing the chart. Pick cash-flow view if you know your buyer is focused on cash flow timing, IRR, or a phased-spend model — they’ll find a stepped investment line more credible than a flat one. You can switch back and forth at any time; the setting is saved per business case.