What this is. A ten-year (120-month) simulation of the real Love Organics business — importing oils, bottling in MIRON glass, advertising, and selling through retail (D2C), wholesale shops and distributors. You make decisions each month and steer the company from a loss-making startup to a winning exit, without ever running out of cash.

Two ways to win. Both share the same 5-year foundation, then split at the end:

• The 5-year goals (both paths): repay the owners' $400,000 loan (Pete 68% / Tim 32%) and pay them $350,000 in salary ($35k each per year).
• 🔔 ASX float (year 10): grow the company and list it. The real small-cap assets test: net tangible assets ≥ $3M (cash + stock − debt), turnover ≥ $1M/yr, 3 straight profitable years, loan repaid + salary paid, $1.5M working capital. Floating costs $600k.
• 🏷️ Trade sale (the alternative): demerge the business, sell the skincare arm to clear the debt, then sell the Black Seed health brand as your cash-out. Either exit wins — you don't have to float.

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

The journey (the spine of the game). The Milestones card on the Play tab tracks this for you:

1. Rebrand — the key unlock; lifts prices to profitable levels.
2. Capsules — a second high-margin Black Seed product.
3. Subscribe & Save — recurring revenue (optional but powerful — see below).
4. Education site → page 1 — pre-builds the keeper domain's search ranking.
5. Demerge — split into the keeper, Black Seed + Capsules (renamed Love Naturals at the exit), and Love Organics (sell).
6. Sell Love Organics — clears the remaining debt.
7. Exit — float Love Naturals on the ASX, or sell it to a buyer.

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 early 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. Every order passes a 2-week quality check, then sea freight ~5 months / air ~2 months (+20%), then ~2 months bottling — so air stock is sellable in ~4 months, sea in ~7. 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 (D2C). Google ~3–5× (best; ceiling rises as the brand grows), Instagram ~2.7× (builds repeat customers), Facebook ~2.2×, TikTok ~1.4× (rare viral upside). These only nudge wholesale ~10%.
• Trade magazine → wholesale & distributors — 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, channel toggles & MOQ: split wholesale between distributors (volume, deep discount) and direct shops (better margin). Distributors pay 2 months after the sale. Toggle each channel on/off, and set the distributor MOQ (0–300%).
• Cash: loan repayment, owner salary, Profit First buckets (auto $10k buffer; quarterly GST & profit, monthly owner pay), a $150k bank facility (10%), and you can raise investment (sell 5–40% equity at a 15% premium — but it permanently dilutes Pete & Tim).

The loans. Four sit on the books: the owners' $400k loan (clear it — it's a 5-year goal and a float gate); the $150k bank facility (10%, your bridge); a Free Spirit loan ($2,000/mo, months 1–3, final payment September); and the Skipton (Guernsey) term loan — $175k with a mandatory $1,650/mo (interest + principal) until repaid. Selling Love Organics clears whatever debt remains.

Rebrand, capsules & move-out. Launch rebrand ($10k) moves to new pricing (~+40%) and lower costs — do it early. Capsules ($20k, after rebrand) add a high-margin product. From March (month 9) you can move to a home office & garage ($2k one-off), cutting overheads ~$750/mo — it pays for itself fast.

Subscribe & Save (recurring revenue — the Grüns playbook). After the rebrand you can launch Subscribe & Save ($5k): customers re-order automatically each month at 10% off and churn slowly (~6%/mo). It runs two books:

• 🔁 Black Seed → the keeper (later Love Naturals). The hero subscription. It stays with you at the demerge and carries to your exit — recurring revenue lifts the valuation multiple and makes Love Naturals an acquisition target: build it up and a strategic buyer (a Unilever-type) appears with a premium offer.
• 🧴 Skincare → Love Organics. A subscription book on the skincare range. It makes Love Organics sell for more and transfers to the buyer at the split — easing the handover. Build it before you demerge.

Fund acquisition with the sliders (~$55 to win a subscriber) or earn them free as ~6% of your D2C buyers convert each month (more with a stronger brand). Recurring revenue is what separates a small business from a far bigger one — it's why Grüns sold to Unilever for $1.2B in under three years.

The demerger & the two exits. Twelve months after the rebrand (with capsules launched and cash built), you can demerge ($15k) into the keeper (Black Seed + Capsules) and Love Organics (the skincare oils — the sale candidate). The keeper formally takes the Love Naturals name only at the point of sale or float — for clarity the game and these notes call it Love Naturals from the demerger onward, but in reality the rename lands at the exit. Build the education site ($8k) first and climb to page 1 for black seed so the keeper domain already ranks when you sell. Then sell Love Organics (clears the debt) and take your exit: float Love Naturals on the ASX, or sell Love Naturals to a buyer (with a strategic premium if you've built recurring revenue).

Dashboards. Suggested move reads out the strongest next step; Milestones tracks the journey; the Break-even meter, Cashflow forecast (6 months ahead), Profit & loss, Sales (by product × channel), Business valuation (with the recurring-revenue premium), Balance sheet, Skipton loan, and Inventory cards keep you informed. Satisfaction and Brand (top row) feed your valuation.

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

A step-by-step plan built from winning runs. In one sentence: rebrand immediately, sit on your year of stock while the rebrand makes you profitable, reorder before you run dry, clear the loans, build recurring revenue, then choose your exit — float, or demerge and sell.

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

• Month 1: launch the rebrand straight away ($10k). The most important move in the game. Keep cash above the ~$10k/mo overhead line (draw the bank facility to bridge).
• Set Google low (~$800–1,200). Don't order stock — live off your year of inventory. Trade magazine ~$1,000.
• Budget for the mandatory drains: the Free Spirit loan ($2k/mo, months 1–3) and the Skipton loan (~$1,650/mo, ongoing).

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

• Scale Google to ~$2.5–3.5k, add Instagram ~$1–1.5k (repeat customers), trade magazine ~$1.5k.
• Start reordering around month 6 — the pipeline is ~7 months. Keep ~12 months' cover; Black Seed orders in 10,000s.
• ~Month 7: launch capsules ($20k) once cash is comfortably above ~$45k.
• In March (month 9), move to a home office & garage ($2k) — cuts overheads ~$750/mo for the rest of the game.

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

• Scale ads as the brand grows (your profitable ad ceiling rises with repeat customers & SEO). Reorder steadily; never stock out.
• Repay the owners' loan aggressively ($8–12k/mo) whenever cash is above ~$45k; start drawing some salary.
• Launch Subscribe & Save ($5k) once profitable and fund both books from surplus cash — Black Seed (carries to your exit) and skincare (makes Love Organics worth more). Recurring revenue compounds, so start early.
• Keep a $25–30k buffer; sell through opening stock before it expires at month 24.

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

• Throw spare cash ($10k+/mo) at the owners' loan until it hits $0 (~month 57). Keep growing the subscription books.

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

• Loan gone — pour cash into owner salary (up to $20k/mo) to reach $350k. That clears the 5-year goals — but the game keeps going.

Phase 6 — Prepare the split (years 5–8)

• Build the education site ($8k) and fund content/backlinks to reach page 1 for black seed — the gate to selling Love Organics, and it keeps the search authority on the keeper domain.
• Demerge ($15k) once it unlocks (12 months after rebrand, capsules launched, cash built) — the keeper, Black Seed + Capsules (renamed Love Naturals at the exit), + Love Organics (sell).
• Keep building both subscription books before the split: Black Seed subscribers stay with the keeper (the future Love Naturals); skincare subscribers transfer to the Love Organics buyer and lift its price.
• Sell Love Organics — proceeds clear the owners' loan, the bank facility, then Skipton.

Phase 7 — Choose your exit (years 8–10)

• 🔔 ASX float: stop drawing salary, bank profit, hold turnover above $1M/yr and stay profitable every year. When the ASX checklist is all green, float ($600k) — the founders ring the bell.
• 🏷️ Sell Love Naturals: or take the trade sale — grow recurring revenue and a strategic acquirer appears with a premium offer. Selling later, once Love Naturals is bigger, fetches more. Either exit wins.

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 · move to home office in March · start subscriptions early and fund from surplus · build the education site before you demerge · then pick your exit. Act early when the cashflow forecast warns.

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, loans, owner salary — then tap Run month. Read the result on the dashboards (Profit & loss, Sales, Cashflow forecast, Business valuation, reorder & expiry warnings). You're steering the company across 120 months toward one of two exits. The Suggested move and Milestones cards keep you oriented.

The arc. Survive the loss-making start → rebrand (turns you profitable) → capsules → Subscribe & Save (recurring revenue) → education site → demerge into the keeper (renamed Love Naturals at the exit) + Love Organics (sell) → sell Love Organics (clears debt) → exit by floating Love Naturals on the ASX, or selling it.

Subscribe & Save. Recurring revenue is the most valuable thing you can build. Black Seed subscribers carry to the keeper, Love Naturals (lifting its valuation and inviting a strategic buyer); skincare subscribers make Love Organics sell for more and transfer with it. Fund acquisition from surplus cash, or earn subscribers free as your D2C buyers convert.

Running AI simulations. On the AI Tester tab pick a goal (🔔 ASX float or 🏷️ trade sale), a market (Boom / Normal / Recession), and a run count (100 / 1,000 / 10,000). Each strategy plays full 120-month games on the same engine — building subscriptions, demerging, selling Love Organics and exiting just as you would — and the averages land in the Results tab.

Reading the results. Float% / Exit% = how often the strategy reached its chosen exit (the win); Bankruptcy rate = how often it ran out of cash. Avg valuation reflects the recurring-revenue premium; the shipping card shows air-ship share and quality-check holds. Compare 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.