Capitalise a new shop with a loan or your savings, then run it week by week, pricing, marketing and cash flow, and survive the rival who's about to open nearby.
First decide how to fund the shop: a loan gives more runway but owes interest, while savings keep you debt-free on a thin cushion. Then each week you set your price and marketing spend, run the week, and watch the balance sheet, cash, equipment, loan and equity. A rival opens around a known week and starts splitting your market, so build a cushion before they arrive. Stay solvent to the end with the highest net worth.
Open Sign is a startup sim about the economics of running a small business, financing, pricing and growth.
Choosing between a loan and savings to fund a shop, then setting price and marketing weekly, is the capital-structure decision every small business opens with.
Framing it as runway against obligation is the original clarity.
The trade-off is real and unforgiving. Debt buys time at the cost of a fixed claim on revenue that does not care whether the shop is busy; equity keeps the obligation off the books and leaves a thinner cushion — so the right answer depends on how confident you are, not on which is cheaper.
Open Sign is an original free browser startup sim about the economics of running a small business, financing, pricing, marketing and a balance sheet under competitive pressure. Made in-house for PlayPendium.