What this is. A ten-year simulation of running Love Organics — importing oils, bottling in MIRON glass, advertising, and selling through retail (D2C), wholesale shops and distributors. Make decisions each month for 120 months (10 years): clear the owners’ loan and pay their salary by year 5, then build the business to an ASX listing by year 10.

The goals — across 10 years (120 months), without ever running out of cash:

• By year 5: repay the owners' $400,000 loan (split Pete 68% / Tim 32%) and pay them $350,000 in salary ($35k each per year).
• By year 10 — the big one: grow the business and float it on the ASX. To qualify you must meet the real small-cap assets test: net tangible assets ≥ $3M (cash + stock − debt), annual turnover ≥ $1M, 3 straight profitable years, the loan repaid and salary paid, and $1.5M working capital. Floating costs $600,000. Listing wins the game.

If cash ever drops below zero you're bankrupt. Survival comes first.

Pruning the range. You can discontinue a weak product from its card — it stops selling and reordering, and any remaining stock is written off. A focused range is easier to run and frees cash; you can bring a product back later if you change your mind.

The single most important thing. At your starting (pre-rebrand) prices the business loses money — about $5–6k/month — and no amount of advertising fixes that; the margins can't cover the $10k/month overheads. This is true to life: it's why the real business rebranded. So the game is a race: survive long enough to launch the rebrand, which lifts prices to profitable levels. You start with a full year of stock already paid for — that's your runway.

The monthly levers.

• Order stock: 70% paid on order, 30% at bottling. Sea freight ~5 months, air ~1 month (+20%), then ~2 months bottling — so sea stock isn't sellable for ~7 months. 3-year shelf life on reorders; your opening stock lasts only 2 years. Most products order in 1,000s; Black Seed in 10,000s.
• Digital ads → retail. Google ~4.4× (best; tapers smoothly as you scale), Instagram ~2.7× (builds repeat customers), Facebook ~2.2×, TikTok ~1.4× (rare viral upside). These drive D2C retail and only nudge wholesale ~10%.
• Trade magazine → wholesale & distributors. This is the lever that grows the trade channel — trade press opens distributor doors digital can't.
• Prices: −30% to +50%. Higher price = better margin, lower volume (~12% fewer sales per +10%).
• Distributor share: splits wholesale between distributors (volume, deep discount, widest reach) and direct shops (better margin). Distributors pay 2 months after the sale.
• Cash: loan repayment, owner salary, Profit First buckets, and a $150k bank facility (10% interest) to bridge gaps. A Free Spirit loan (tail of the original $110k purchase loan) also takes a mandatory $2,000/mo until its final payment in September — month 3.

Repeat customers are built mainly by Instagram (~1 per $110) and a little by Facebook — they're cumulative and pay off as standing demand, higher satisfaction, and a higher valuation (bump at 120+, bigger at 300+).

The rebrand & capsules. Launch rebrand ($10k) moves to new pricing (~+40%) and lower costs — it's what makes you profitable, so do it early. Capsules ($20k, after rebrand) add a high-margin product. From March (month 9) you can also move to a home office & garage ($2k one-off) — the business pays $750/mo toward home rent, so net overheads drop $750/mo ($10k → $9.25k). It pays for itself fast.

Dashboards. The Break-even meter shows if you cleared break-even; the Cashflow forecast projects 6 months ahead and warns of a cash-out; Satisfaction and Brand (top stats row) reflect operational health and both feed your valuation.

How you go bankrupt: over-ordering early, over-spending on ads while still pre-rebrand, never rebranding, drawing salary/repaying the loan too soon, stocking out, or letting opening stock expire. Avoid these and the game is very winnable.

A step-by-step plan for the standard game, built from an actual winning run. In one sentence: rebrand immediately, sit on your year of stock while the rebrand makes you profitable, reorder before you run dry, then pour profit into the loan first and salary second.

Phase 1 — Rebrand & survive (months 1–2)

• Month 1: launch the rebrand straight away ($10k). Most important move in the game. Cash will dip to ~$6k — that's fine.
• Set Google low (~$800–1,200). Don't order stock — live off your year of inventory. SEO trickle, trade magazine ~$1,000.
• Month 2: the rebrand kicks in, revenue jumps to ~$30k+, you turn a small profit. Still lean, still no reorder.
• Free Spirit loan: a mandatory $2,000/mo runs in months 1–3 (final payment September) — $6,000 of unavoidable early drain on top of the rebrand. Budget for it.

Phase 2 — Build the engine (months 3–8)

• Scale Google to ~$2.5–3.5k and add Instagram ~$1–1.5k (repeat customers). Fund the trade magazine ~$1.5k for wholesale.
• Start reordering around month 6 — the pipeline is ~7 months, so order before you run dry. Keep ~12 months' cover. Black Seed orders in 10,000s (~$70k deposit) — time it for when cash allows or use the bank.
• If something's about to run out, switch that order to air freight.
• ~Month 7: launch capsules ($20k) once cash is comfortably above ~$45k.
• Begin token loan repayments (~$6–8k/mo) once reliably profitable.

Phase 3 — Pay down the loan (months 9–36)

• Hold ads steady (don't over-scale — returns diminish). Reorder steadily; never stock out.
• Repay the loan aggressively ($8–12k/mo) whenever cash is above ~$45k.
• Start drawing salary (~$5–8k/mo) — but loan stays the priority.
• Keep a $25–30k cash buffer. Sell through opening stock before it expires at month 24.
• In March (month 9), move to a home office & garage — a one-off $2k that cuts overheads $750/mo for the rest of the game. Pays for itself in under three months; take it as soon as cash allows.
• Target by month 36: loan ~half gone (~$175k), ~$140k salary paid.

Phase 4 — Finish the loan (months 36–57)

• Keep the machine running; throw spare cash ($10k+/mo) at the loan until it hits $0 around month 57. Keep drawing salary alongside.

Phase 5 — Bank the salary (months 57–60)

• Loan gone — pour cash into owner salary (up to $20k/mo) to reach the $350k target. Hitting this clears the 5-year goals and triggers the "🎯 5-Year Goals Complete" milestone — but the game keeps going.

Phase 6 — Build to the ASX float (years 5–10)

• Now switch gears from paying out to building value. Stop drawing salary, stop loan repayments (both done) and bank the profit — you need net tangible assets ≥ $3M (cash + stock − debt) plus $1.5M working capital and the $600k float cost.
• Keep turnover above $1M/year and stay profitable every year (you need 3 straight profitable years for the float). Hold ads at an efficient level; don't let revenue sag.
• Prune dead products to keep the range focused and cash tied up in winners.
• When the ASX card's checklist is all green, float the company ($600k) — that's the win. The founders ring the bell.

Golden rules: rebrand turn 1 · never stock out (use air to bridge) · don't over-order/over-spend early · loan first, salary second · keep a ~$25–30k buffer · sell opening stock before month 24 · move to home office in March · after year 5, hoard cash & hold turnover for the float · act early when the cashflow forecast warns.

Each month, glance at: 1) Cashflow forecast — trouble ahead? 2) Stock — anything about to run dry? 3) Break-even meter — above the line? 4) Ads — Google+Instagram for retail, trade magazine for wholesale. 5) Capital — loan first, then salary, keep the buffer.

Tuned for "Business as Usual." Boom is more forgiving; Recession is brutal — leaner ads, bigger buffer.

Playing manually. On the Play tab, set your levers each month — stock orders, ad spend, prices, channel mix, loan repayment, owner salary — then tap Run month. You're steering BBLO across 10 years (120 months). By year 5: clear the owners' $400k loan (Pete 68% / Tim 32%) and pay $350k salary. By year 10: meet the ASX assets test and float the company. See the Guide and Playbook tabs.

The 5 phases.

• Year 1 — Survival: test pricing, find demand, guard cash.
• Year 2 — Growth: build brand, raise stock, hire carefully, grow repeat customers.
• Year 3 — Expansion: wholesale opportunities, rising ad costs, more competition.
• Year 4 — Pressure: higher fixed costs, supply risk, defend margins.
• Year 5 — Maturity: stabilise, maximise valuation, profit, brand and satisfaction.

Running AI simulations. On the AI Tester tab, choose 100 / 1,000 / 10,000. Each strategy plays full 60-month games on the same engine and the averages land in the Results tab. Monte Carlo looks ahead each month (slower); Evolve breeds and mutates settings over generations to discover a tuned policy.

Reading the results. Float% = how often the strategy reached an ASX listing (the win); Avg float mo is the average month it listed. Avg dropped = how many products it discontinued on average. Avg score is valuation minus penalties (bankruptcy, stockouts, loss months, low satisfaction, excess debt). Bankruptcy rate shows how often the strategy ran out of cash. Compare avg valuation, profit and risk to see the trade-offs.

Why results move. Every month adds seeded market randomness — viral TikToks, port delays, COGS creep, algorithm dips. More simulations average that luck out, so a 10,000-run result is a steadier read on a strategy's true quality than 100.