Looking for a mentoring program business plan? You're in the right place.
A mentoring program sells a relationship, and the people reading your plan will want to know how that gets counted. Who pays, and how much? How many mentors do you need, and what keeps them coming back? What does one match cost to deliver? What happens in the months before a cohort starts, when salaries are due and fees are not? A generic template skips all of it.
In this article we'll walk through a complete sample business plan for a career mentoring program in Chicago, Illinois, section by section. We'll cover the executive summary, the SWOT analysis and, in particular, all of the financials, down to the cost of each match.
Here's what you'll take away:
- The executive summary: see how to explain who pays, who mentors and why the first two years lose money, all on one page
- The funding decision: learn why a program that sells seats to employers and individuals models fees and sponsorship, and what that rules out
- The match funnel: work out how many applications you need to fill a cohort once acceptance and match rates are counted
- Mentor supply and retention: find out how many new mentors a growing program has to recruit each year, and what returning mentors save
- Cost per match: see what one pairing costs to deliver and how that compares with what it earns, year by year
- The first year, month by month: spot the long gaps between intakes before you get there, and size your cash reserve to them
- The downside case: have an answer ready for the "what if enrollment is 20% short?" question, with the steps the founder takes in response
If you're planning a mentoring or coaching program, read this before you write your own. The program is fictional, so take what fits and change the rest.
In this plan
Looking for a mentoring program business plan template? The Toolkit builds yours with your own numbers.
Executive Summary
Uplift Mentoring is a Chicago program that pairs early-career software, data and product workers with experienced professionals for six months at a time. It opens on January 1, 2027 and runs two cohorts a year, starting in April and October. Each mentee gets twelve one-to-one sessions with a paid mentor, a monthly workshop and two networking evenings. Individuals pay a fee, employers buy seats for their own early-career staff, and employers sponsor cohorts. Founder Sarah Johnson owns 55% of the business and five individual investors hold the other 45%.
The business needs $575,000, all of it equity: $75,000 of Sarah's savings and $500,000 from the five investors. Of that, $523,500 is held as a cash reserve, $20,000 buys equipment and fit-out, and $31,500 pays for legal work, licensing, the matching platform and the launch campaign. There is no bank loan.
| Year 1 | Year 2 | Year 3 | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Revenue | $314,840 | $595,098 | $916,423 |
| Net income after start-up costs | ($170,300) | ($119,950) | ($3,439) |
| Closing cash | $371,591 | $240,427 | $223,525 |
The program matches 110 pairs in 2027 and 450 in 2031. Years 1 and 2 lose money because of scale. Payroll takes 70% of revenue in Year 1 and 60% in Year 2, since the team has to be in place before enough seats are sold, and it falls to 46% by Year 3. Year 3 is close to break-even and Year 4 is the first profitable year.
Uplift charges fees and sells sponsorship. It counts no grant or donation income, because no grant amount could be tied to a published source for this plan. Mentors are paid $50 a session. The operating plan explains why they are not volunteers.
The plan tests itself. If enrollment runs 20% short and Sarah delays hires, cuts marketing and her own pay, and stays in the first office, the program still ends each year with cash in the bank, but month-end balances before the 2031 intakes would fall below zero. The plan leaves that gap unfunded and says so.
No employer contract is signed at the date of this plan. Year 1 revenue depends on 38 employer seats that have yet to be sold, and the plan treats the first intake as conditional on enough paid seats being in place.
The offer is specific. Every pair has a named coordinator, mentors are paid for their time, and an employer receives a report of sessions completed and mentee ratings with no mentee named.
The Program
Legal name: Uplift Mentoring, LLC, an Illinois limited liability company. Owners: Sarah Johnson, 55%; five individual investors, 45% between them. None of the investors has a day-to-day role. Premises: 800 square feet of leased office space in Chicago's Loop with a small workshop room. Events use sponsors' offices where offered and hired venues otherwise. Start date: January 1, 2027. Stage: pre-launch. The company is formed and a matching platform is shortlisted. No employer contract is signed, and Year 1 depends on introductions Sarah makes herself.
A fee-based program, and why
A youth mentoring charity is funded by grants, donations and school contracts. Uplift is a different kind of business. It serves adults in work, sells seats to people and companies that can pay, and counts only fees and sponsorship. Grants are left out because no grant figure for this plan could be traced to a published source, and an invented one would be worse than none. A nonprofit structure would change the revenue lines, the tax treatment and the funding.
What one six-month match includes
- Twelve one-hour sessions with a mentor, roughly one every two weeks.
- Six monthly workshops of two hours, on topics such as promotion cases, difficult conversations and moving from individual contributor to lead.
- Two networking evenings with other cohort members and mentors.
- A kick-off call, and a mid-point and closing review with a coordinator.
- A rematch within three weeks if a pair ends early.
Targets through 2031
- 110 matches in 2027, then 180, 260, 350 and 450 in the four years after.
- A match rate of 95% by 2031, up from 88% in the first year.
- Mentor retention of 65% from 2029, so that returning mentors fill more than half of each cohort.
- Operating break-even in 2029, profit in 2030 and a larger profit in 2031.
- 31 employer accounts by 2031, with no account above 8% of employer seats.
Revenue lines
| Line | How it is priced | Year 1 share of revenue |
|---|---|---|
| Individual mentee fees | $2,600 list price per six-month seat; blended $2,470 after access seats | 56% |
| Employer-sponsored seats | $3,800 per seat, invoiced in two halves | 30% |
| Cohort sponsorship packages | $14,000 per package; name on the cohort, a hosted workshop and an aggregate outcomes report | 13% |
Licenses and open questions
The business registers with the State of Illinois and checks with the City of Chicago which local licenses apply before opening. It also asks counsel whether any Illinois approval is required for a business that charges tuition for career training, a rule this plan did not research. Three further questions go to counsel before launch: whether paid mentors can be engaged as independent contractors, whether the federal rule on volunteers reaches them at all, and how the LLC should be taxed.
Chicago's Early-Career Tech Market
What the national numbers say
The Bureau of Labor Statistics counts about 1.7 million software developers in the United States in 2025, with a median pay of $135,980 in May 2025. For software developers, quality assurance analysts and testers as one group, it projects employment growth of 10% from 2025 to 2035. This plan found no Chicago headcount from a primary source, so it quotes none. The national figures give the size of the pool Uplift draws from: early-career workers whose employers pay well and who may spend their own money on a faster route to promotion.
What the program's staff cost
Program staff are not developers. The closest BLS occupation for a program manager or coordinator is training and development specialists, with a median pay of $69,280 in May 2025 and projected growth of 11% from 2025 to 2035. The plan pays its program manager $72,000 and its coordinators $58,000 at launch, with 27% on-costs on top.
A note on standards
MENTOR's Elements of Effective Practice for Mentoring, in its fifth edition, is written for youth mentoring programs. Uplift serves adults, and this plan found no published standard for adult career mentoring to check itself against. It measures what it can count directly: sessions completed, match rate, early endings and mentor retention.
Where a mentee could go instead
| Alternative | What it offers | Why a mentee picks it | How Uplift differs by design |
|---|---|---|---|
| Employer-run internal mentoring | Mentors from inside one company | Free to the employee and close to the work | Mentors from other companies, a coordinator and a cohort of peers |
| Free community mentor-matching and professional associations | Introductions and events | No cost | Paid mentors, a fixed six-month structure and a named coordinator |
| Online marketplaces for paid one-to-one mentors | Wide choice of mentors on demand | Flexibility on time and topic | A local cohort, in-person evenings and employer reporting |
| Bootcamp and course alumni networks | Support for graduates of one provider | Already part of the mentee's route into tech | Open to anyone in the field, whatever their route in |
| Executive and career coaches | One-to-one coaching billed by the hour | Experienced and tailored | A group workshop track and a cohort at a lower cost per hour |
The table describes categories of provider. Plans and prices change often, so none are quoted here.
SWOT
| Strengths | Weaknesses |
|---|---|
| Founder with fifteen years in software and a network of senior people | No track record, so the first employers must take it on trust |
| Paid mentors, which gives a firm basis for asking for a commitment | Stipends are a real cost: $600 on every match |
| Employer reports that count sessions without naming mentees | Two intakes a year leave long stretches with no income |
| Opportunities | Threats |
|---|---|
| Employers that want a mentoring program without building one | A downturn that cuts training budgets and early-career hiring |
| Returning mentors and mentee referrals lowering the cost of each cohort | Free programs and online marketplaces pulling on price |
| Outcome data that supports renewal conversations | Recruiting 189 new mentors a year by 2031, and a ruling that mentors must be employees |
Who Enrolls and Who Pays
Three buyers
Uplift has three kinds of customer, and each pays for a different reason.
- The individual mentee. Aged 22 to 35, working as a developer, data analyst, designer or product manager, two to six years into a career. Some are career changers who finished a course in the last two years. They pay their own fee and want a path to a senior role that their manager has not explained.
- The employer. A people-and-culture or learning lead at a Chicago company with a few dozen to a few hundred early-career staff. The employer buys seats for selected employees and wants a retention tool it does not have to run.
- The sponsor. Often the same employer. It pays for a cohort package, hosts a workshop in its office where it can and receives an aggregate report.
What triggers a purchase
A mentee usually applies after a missed promotion, a change of manager or a first lead role. An employer usually buys after losing a run of early-career staff or after an annual survey shows people cannot see a route forward. A sponsor tends to follow a successful first cohort.
What each buyer asks
Mentees ask who their mentor will be and what happens if the pairing does not work. Employers ask what the report shows, whether mentee confidentiality is protected and how seats are billed. Sponsors ask what visibility they get and how many people attend.
Renewal and concentration
The plan counts on 75% of one year's employer accounts renewing the next. That figure has no evidence behind it, because no employer has completed a cohort. The first real evidence arrives in January 2028, when the fall 2027 employers decide whether to reorder. Employers make up 30% of Year 1 revenue and 57% of Year 5, so a weak renewal rate would hit the plan hard. Two limits apply. No employer may hold more than 8% of employer seats, and the partnerships manager reports renewal intent each quarter. At the Year 4 cap, losing the two largest employers would cost about $113,000, or 9% of that year's revenue.
The access fund
One seat in ten is sold at half price, funded within the blended fee of $2,470. Applicants who cannot meet the full fee can request one, and coordinators award them on a first-come basis each intake. The fund is part of the price.
Filling the Cohorts
From application to match
An individual applies online with a short statement of goals. A coordinator holds a 20-minute call and accepts about 60% of applicants. The call checks three things: that the applicant works in or is entering tech, that they can commit to twelve sessions in six months, and that the program has a mentor who fits their goals. Fees are taken only after acceptance and matching, so a declined applicant pays nothing and is pointed to free community resources. The program manager matches each accepted mentee to a mentor, and the pair meets at the kick-off in the first week of the cohort. Employer-nominated seats skip the application but go through the same call and matching.
The match funnel
| Year 1 | Year 2 | Year 3 | Year 4 | Year 5 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Individual applications | 137 | 185 | 235 | 293 | 360 |
| Accepted (60%) | 82 | 111 | 141 | 176 | 216 |
| Match rate | 88% | 90% | 92% | 94% | 95% |
| Matched and billed | 72 | 100 | 130 | 165 | 205 |
| Accepted but carried to next intake | 10 | 11 | 11 | 11 | 11 |
Employer seats add 38, 80, 130, 185 and 245 matches to the individual figures, which gives 110, 180, 260, 350 and 450 matches a year.
Winning employers
The first sales cycle is the weak point of the plan. An employer takes roughly three to four months to move from first call to a signed seat order, and no employer has signed. The April 2027 cohort needs 12 employer seats, from two or three employers, and the October cohort needs 26 more. Sarah starts these conversations in the autumn before launch through introductions from her old colleagues. The April intake goes ahead only if at least 30 of its 45 seats are paid for or ordered by mid-March. If it falls short it slips by a month, and Year 1 revenue would move with it.
An account buys eight seats a year on average, which makes 5 accounts in Year 1, 10 in Year 2, 16 in Year 3, 23 in Year 4 and 31 in Year 5. The partnerships manager starts in month 11 and holds up to about 25 accounts, which is why a second joins in month 49.
Sponsorship
Sponsors pay $14,000 for a cohort package in the first two years and $15,000 after that, on signing, in March and September. The program sells 3 in Year 1, then 5, 7, 9 and 11.
Prices
Individual and employer fees are held flat in Year 1 and rise about 3% a year from Year 2. The employer seat costs more than the individual's because it includes a manager briefing and a quarterly report.
Reaching Mentees and Employers
What marketing costs
Year 1 marketing is $40,000: $14,000 of launch spend paid from start-up capital and $26,000 of running costs. That is 13% of Year 1 revenue and about $364 per match. The cost per match falls to $160 by Year 5 as returning mentors, mentee referrals and renewing employers carry more of the load. Marketing is then $72,000, or 4% of revenue.
| Channel | Year 1 spend | What it is meant to do |
|---|---|---|
| Website, brand and application funnel (launch) | $8,000 | A site with an application form and separate pages for mentees, mentors and employers |
| Launch evening (launch) | $6,000 | An event for the first employer contacts and prospective mentors |
| LinkedIn and paid social | $8,000 | Reach early-career tech workers; about 48 of 137 applications |
| Meetups and community partnerships | $4,000 | Sponsorship of tech meetups and alumni groups; about 34 applications |
| Employer briefings and materials | $6,000 | Breakfast briefings for people leads and a one-page seat guide |
| Career guides and email | $3,500 | One practical guide a month; about 28 applications |
| Mentee and mentor referrals | $2,500 | A small thank-you for each referral that enrolls; about 27 applications |
| Information sessions | $2,000 | Monthly online sessions that answer questions before applying |
Marketing milestones
- January 2027: website live, applications open for the spring cohort.
- April 2027: first intake of 45 matches, if the paid-seat threshold is met.
- September 2027: fall applications close and mentor onboarding for the October cohort is complete.
- October 2027: second intake of 65 matches, bringing the year to 110.
Running a Cohort
The cohort calendar
Applications for the spring cohort open in January and close in early March. Mentors are recruited and trained from January, matches are made in March, and the kick-off is the first week of April. Workshops run monthly to September. A mid-point review happens at three months and a closing review at six. The fall cohort repeats the pattern from July to October.
Mentors are paid, and why
Mentors earn $50 a session for twelve sessions, which is $600 a match. They are engaged as contractors, and each is paired with one mentee. The US Department of Labor's Fair Labor Standards Act Advisor states that employees may not volunteer services to for-profit private sector employers. Uplift is a for-profit business, so unpaid volunteers carry a legal risk this plan avoids. Mentors are contractors and not employees, so whether that rule reaches them at all is a question to confirm with counsel, as is the contractor classification itself. The plan budgets $9,000 for legal work at launch.
At $600 a match, stipends cost $66,000 in Year 1 and $270,000 in Year 5, between 21% and 16% of revenue. A nonprofit could use volunteers but would give up the investors and the fee-based funding this plan relies on. Fifty dollars is a modest hourly rate for senior people, so many mentors will join for development and standing and not for the money. If the rate had to rise to $75 a session, the cost would climb by $300 a match, or $135,000 in Year 5, which takes that year's EBITDA to about zero.
Mentor supply and retention
One mentor is needed for every mentee in a cohort. A mentor who signs up for a second cohort costs less to keep than a new one costs to find, because screening and training are paid once.
| Year 1 | Year 2 | Year 3 | Year 4 | Year 5 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Mentors needed (one per match) | 110 | 180 | 260 | 350 | 450 |
| Retention (share who return for the next cohort) | 60% | 60% | 65% | 65% | 65% |
| Returning mentors | 27 | 84 | 143 | 198 | 261 |
| New mentors recruited | 83 | 96 | 117 | 152 | 189 |
Each new mentor costs $140 to screen and train, and recognition costs $20 per match. Together that is $13,800 in Year 1 and $35,500 in Year 5. Recruiting 189 new mentors a year by 2031 is the plan's largest operating risk. Most mentors are expected from employers that buy seats, from meetup contacts and from other mentors. If supply falls short, the match rate falls, matches slip to the next intake and revenue slips with them.
Caseload and staffing
The program manager holds up to 100 concurrent matches and each coordinator up to 90.
| Year 1 | Year 2 | Year 3 | Year 4 | Year 5 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Largest cohort | 65 | 105 | 145 | 190 | 240 |
| Delivery capacity | 100 | 190 | 190 | 280 | 280 |
| Capacity used | 65% | 55% | 76% | 68% | 86% |
The table uses the fall cohort, the larger of the two. In spring 2028 the program manager carries the 75-match cohort alone, at 75% of capacity, until coordinator 1 starts in month 19.
Cost per match
| Year 1 | Year 2 | Year 3 | Year 4 | Year 5 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Revenue per match | $2,862 | $3,306 | $3,525 | $3,674 | $3,799 |
| All operating costs per match | $4,086 | $3,949 | $3,522 | $3,575 | $3,505 |
| of which mentor stipend | $600 | $600 | $600 | $600 | $600 |
| of which staff (payroll incl. on-costs, before pay raises) | $2,005 | $1,919 | $1,528 | $1,602 | $1,542 |
Operating costs here mean revenue less EBITDA, and they exclude interest, depreciation and tax. A match costs more than it earns in the first two years and about the same in Year 3. Cost per match rises slightly in Year 4 when the larger team arrives ahead of the matches that will pay for it.
Systems and participant data
A matching platform handles applications, profiles, session scheduling and feedback. Set-up costs $7,000 and subscriptions cost $16,000 in Year 1, rising to $42,000 in Year 5 as matches grow. Employer reports show aggregate session counts and mentee ratings and never name a mentee. A mentee's goals and ratings reach the mentee's own employer only if the mentee agrees in writing.
Money and collections
An outsourced bookkeeper raises invoices, chases payment and prepares the monthly accounts, which Sarah reviews with the program director once that role exists. The cost sits in professional fees, $10,000 in Year 1 rising to $34,000 in Year 5, alongside legal work and a yearly review of the accounts. Fees are booked when billed, so a fall cohort's revenue lands in the year it is invoiced even though the service runs into the next. Under accrual accounting those fees would be spread over the six months of service.
Insurance and conduct
Insurance is $8,500 in Year 1 and covers general, professional, cyber and event liability, workers' compensation for staff, and key-person life and disability cover on Sarah. Mentees are adults, but every mentor signs a conduct policy, passes a reference and identity check, and has a confidential channel to report a problem to a coordinator.
Events and venues
A year holds 16 events: twelve monthly workshops and four networking evenings. Larger cohorts are split into groups of 40 to 60 so a workshop room is never too big for the group. Sponsors host where they can, and the rest are held in hired venues, budgeted at $8,000 in Year 1 and $32,000 in Year 5.
Who Runs Uplift
Sarah Johnson, founder and executive director
Sarah has fifteen years in software, the last eight leading engineering teams at two Chicago companies. She has mentored colleagues informally for most of that time. Her $75,000 is her savings. She leads employer sales in the first year and takes every first call.
Where the team is thin
Sarah has not run a program with a payroll, has not sold to a people-and-culture team and has no experience with outcome measurement. The plan hires a program manager in month 2 to run matching and mentor support, a partnerships manager in month 11 to take over employer sales, and a director of programs in month 37 to own outcomes and evaluation.
The people plan
| Role | Starts |
|---|---|
| Founder and executive director | Month 1 |
| Program manager | Month 2 |
| Employer partnerships manager | Month 11 |
| Mentee coordinator 1 | Month 19 |
| Events and operations associate (part time) | Month 31 |
| Director of programs | Month 37 |
| Mentee coordinator 2 | Month 43 |
| Second partnerships manager | Month 49 |
If Sarah is out
Sarah is the only person who sells to employers in the first ten months, so the business carries key-person life and disability cover on her, included in the insurance line. The program manager can run a cohort without her, but a signed employer order depends on her until month 11.
What an investor will ask
- Signed pipeline at launch. None. The plan treats the April intake as conditional on 30 paid seats by mid-March.
- Renewal and concentration. A 75% renewal rate is a planning figure with no evidence yet. The 8% cap per employer limits the damage from one loss.
- Minimum cash. Hires follow signed seat orders. If cash is forecast to fall below $50,000 within ninety days, hiring and marketing growth stop.
- Return. No distributions are paid in the five years, and retained earnings are still $131,848 in deficit at the end of Year 5. Investors' return depends on later profits or a sale, and the plan forecasts neither.
- Revenue recognition. Fees are booked when billed, not spread across the six months of service.
- Finance function. An outsourced bookkeeper handles invoicing and collections, and Sarah reviews the monthly accounts.
Outside help
An advisory group of three people leaders from partner employers meets each quarter to review the employer report, and Sarah keeps an employment lawyer on call for the contractor and tax questions above.
Ownership
Sarah holds 55% of Uplift Mentoring, LLC and the five investors 45%. The terms are the plan's own figures.
Funding, Cohort Economics and Five-Year Forecast
The forecast runs five years: month by month for 2027, then one figure per year. It starts with the money needed to open, sets out the program figures behind the model, and then covers revenue, staffing, profit, cash and a downside case.
What it takes to open
| Use of funds | Amount |
|---|---|
| Laptops, event AV kit, printer and phones | $12,000 |
| Office furniture and small workshop room | $8,000 |
| Entity filing, registered agent, local registrations | $1,500 |
| Legal: employer agreements, mentor and mentee terms, insurance review | $9,000 |
| Matching platform set-up and application funnel build | $7,000 |
| Launch: website, brand, first employer outreach, launch event | $14,000 |
| Cash reserve for two loss-making years | $523,500 |
| Total uses | $575,000 |
| Source of funds | Amount |
|---|---|
| Sarah Johnson's savings | $75,000 |
| Five individual investors (minority equity) | $500,000 |
| Total sources | $575,000 |
Sarah Johnson puts in $75,000 of her own savings and five individual investors put in $500,000 for a 45% stake, which leaves Sarah with 55%. There is no bank loan. A lender is unlikely to advance money to a service business that has no revenue, no signed contracts and nothing to pledge beyond laptops and furniture, so the plan runs on equity alone. The $523,500 reserve covers the roughly $331,000 of cash the business burns through the end of Year 3, and the remaining $192,000 or so cushions the weeks before each intake. The terms are figures for this example. No grant or donation income is counted anywhere in the plan.
Program figures behind the model
- A match pairs one mentor with one mentee for six months. Spring cohorts start in April and fall cohorts in October. The program runs 45 and 65 matches in 2027 and 210 and 240 in 2031, which makes 110, 180, 260, 350 and 450 matches a year.
- Individuals pay a list price of $2,600 for the six months. One seat in ten is sold at half price through an access fund, so the blended fee is $2,470. Employers pay $3,800 a seat. Both fees rise about 3% a year from Year 2. Cohort sponsorship packages cost $14,000 in Years 1 and 2 and $15,000 after that, and the program sells 3, 5, 7, 9 and 11 of them.
- Employers buy 38, 80, 130, 185 and 245 seats a year, which is 35% of matches in Year 1 and 54% in Year 5. An average account buys eight seats a year, so the program has 5 employer accounts in Year 1, then 10, 16, 23 and 31. The plan counts on 75% of one year's accounts renewing the next: 4 of the 5 Year 1 accounts, with new accounts of 6, 8, 11 and 14 in Years 2 to 5. No renewal has happened yet, so 75% is a planning figure with no evidence behind it.
- No employer holds more than 8% of employer seats. In Year 4 the two largest employers together would be about $113,000 of revenue, or 9% of the total.
- Individuals pay in full when they enroll. Employers are invoiced half at the start of a cohort and half three months in, so the second invoice for each fall cohort is dated January and each year's revenue includes half of the previous fall's employer invoices. Sponsors pay on signing, in March and September. Fees are booked when billed. Under accrual accounting each fee would be spread across the six months of service, which would move part of every fall cohort into the following year. Receivables average 20 days.
- The match rate is the share of accepted mentees paired with a mentor by the intake date: 88% in Year 1, then 90%, 92%, 94% and 95%. Accepted mentees who are not matched are not billed and move to the next intake. 60% of individual applicants are accepted. The 72 individual seats in Year 1 therefore need about 137 applications, and the 205 in Year 5 need about 360.
- Mentors are paid contractors, one to one with a mentee. Each earns $50 a session for twelve sessions, or $600 a match. Screening and training cost $140 per new mentor and recognition costs $20 per match. Of one cohort's mentors, 60% sign up again for the next in Years 1 and 2 and 65% after that. The program has to recruit 83, 96, 117, 152 and 189 new mentors a year, and that supply is the plan's main operating risk.
- Twelve percent of matches end before month six because a mentor or mentee drops out, and a rematch is offered within three weeks. Refunds, fee credits and bad debt are budgeted at 2% of revenue.
- The program manager carries up to 100 concurrent matches and each coordinator up to 90. The largest cohort is 65 matches in 2027 and 240 in 2031. Coordinators are hired ahead of the intake that needs them. An employer partnerships manager holds up to about 25 accounts.
- Direct costs cover workshop facilitators and guest speakers, catering and card fees. They run at 12% of individual fees, 10% of employer fees and 15% of sponsorship income, close to 12% of revenue overall.
- Payroll adds 27% to wages for payroll taxes, health cover, workers' compensation and a retirement match (15% for the part-time associate). Wages in the staff table are launch rates, and annual pay raises of 3% are charged as a separate line from Year 2. Mentor stipends are contractor payments with no on-cost. Whether that classification holds is a question for counsel before launch.
- Rent is 800 square feet at about $36 a square foot a year ($28,800), rising 3% a year with no move. A year holds 16 events: twelve monthly workshops and four networking evenings. Larger cohorts are split into groups of 40 to 60. Events use sponsors' offices where a sponsor offers one and hired venues otherwise, which is the event venue line ($8,000 in Year 1, $32,000 in Year 5).
- Professional fees cover legal work, a yearly review of the accounts and an outsourced bookkeeper who raises invoices and chases payments: $10,000 in Year 1 and $34,000 in Year 5. Insurance of $8,500 in Year 1 includes key-person life and disability cover on Sarah.
- Tax is charged at the 21% federal corporate rate plus a 9.5% Illinois corporate rate (7% income tax and 2.5% replacement tax, per the Tax Foundation's 2026 summary), and the model sets losses against later profit in full. The federal rule caps that offset at 80% of taxable income, so roughly $2,000 of extra tax in Year 4 and $8,000 in Year 5 is missing from the tax line, and the start-up costs are not deducted in it. Rates may change, and an LLC taxed as a pass-through entity would be charged differently. No distributions are paid.
Revenue by buyer
| Revenue stream | Year 1 | Year 2 | Year 3 | Year 4 | Year 5 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Individual mentee fees (six-month cohort seats) | $177,840 | $254,500 | $340,600 | $445,500 | $569,900 |
| Employer-sponsored seats | $95,000 | $270,598 | $470,823 | $705,330 | $974,863 |
| Cohort sponsorship packages | $42,000 | $70,000 | $105,000 | $135,000 | $165,000 |
| Total revenue | $314,840 | $595,098 | $916,423 | $1,285,830 | $1,709,763 |
| Growth on prior year | – | 89% | 54% | 40% | 33% |
Individuals supply 56% of Year 1 revenue and 33% of Year 5. Employers grow from 30% to 57%, which ties the business to a small number of renewals; the exposure to employer concentration and to the 75% renewal figure is covered in the program figures above. Sponsorship packages slip from 13% of revenue to 10% as seat income grows around them.
Year 1 by month, across two intakes
| Month | Individual mentee fees (six-month cohort seats) | Employer-sponsored seats | Cohort sponsorship packages | Total revenue | EBITDA |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Jan 2027 | $0 | $0 | $0 | $0 | ($34,363) |
| Feb 2027 | $0 | $0 | $0 | $0 | ($34,363) |
| Mar 2027 | $0 | $0 | $14,000 | $14,000 | ($22,015) |
| Apr 2027 | $81,510 | $22,800 | $0 | $104,310 | $57,642 |
| May 2027 | $0 | $0 | $0 | $0 | ($34,363) |
| Jun 2027 | $0 | $0 | $0 | $0 | ($34,363) |
| Jul 2027 | $0 | $22,800 | $0 | $22,800 | ($14,253) |
| Aug 2027 | $0 | $0 | $0 | $0 | ($34,363) |
| Sep 2027 | $0 | $0 | $28,000 | $28,000 | ($9,666) |
| Oct 2027 | $96,330 | $49,400 | $0 | $145,730 | $94,176 |
| Nov 2027 | $0 | $0 | $0 | $0 | ($34,363) |
| Dec 2027 | $0 | $0 | $0 | $0 | ($34,363) |
Money arrives in short bursts: sponsors in March and September, individual fees and the first employer invoices at the April and October intakes, and the second spring invoice in July. January, February, May, June, August, November and December bring in no revenue at all. Operating profit is positive only in April and October. The lowest month-end cash balance of the year comes in Sep, at about $345,000 after allowing for the 20 days employers take to pay.
Staff plan against caseload
| Role | Annual wage | Starts | Year 1 end | Year 2 end | Year 3 end | Year 4 end | Year 5 end |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Founder and executive director | $95,000 | Month 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 |
| Program manager (matching and mentor support) | $72,000 | Month 2 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 |
| Employer partnerships manager | $76,000 | Month 11 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 |
| Mentee coordinator 1 | $58,000 | Month 19 | – | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 |
| Events and operations associate (part time, 20 hours a week) | $26,000 | Month 31 | – | – | 0.5 | 0.5 | 0.5 |
| Second partnerships manager | $76,000 | Month 49 | – | – | – | – | 1 |
| Mentee coordinator 2 | $58,000 | Month 43 | – | – | – | 1 | 1 |
| Director of programs (outcomes, mentor training, evaluation) | $88,000 | Month 37 | – | – | – | 1 | 1 |
| Total payroll incl. on-costs | $220,557 | $345,440 | $397,220 | $560,760 | $694,110 |
Sarah runs the program alone for the first month. The program manager joins in month 2, ahead of mentor recruitment for the April cohort, and the partnerships manager in month 11 to build the employer pipeline for 2028. Coordinator 1 arrives in month 19, before the October 2028 cohort outgrows the program manager's caseload of 100. The part-time associate takes over events and logistics from month 31. A director of programs starts in month 37 to own outcomes and evaluation, coordinator 2 in month 43, ahead of the October 2030 cohort, and a second partnerships manager in month 49 once accounts pass 25. Sarah's $95,000 salary is paid from month 1, so profit here is what is left after she is paid.
Income and costs by year
| Year 1 | Year 2 | Year 3 | Year 4 | Year 5 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Revenue | $314,840 | $595,098 | $916,423 | $1,285,830 | $1,709,763 |
| Direct costs (workshop facilitators, event costs, card fees) | ($37,141) | ($70,202) | ($108,108) | ($151,686) | ($201,696) |
| Gross profit | $277,699 | $524,896 | $808,315 | $1,134,144 | $1,508,067 |
| Payroll incl. on-costs | ($220,557) | ($345,440) | ($397,220) | ($560,760) | ($694,110) |
| Rent | ($28,800) | ($29,700) | ($30,600) | ($31,500) | ($32,400) |
| Utilities | ($2,400) | ($2,500) | ($2,600) | ($2,700) | ($2,800) |
| Marketing | ($26,000) | ($40,000) | ($52,000) | ($62,000) | ($72,000) |
| Insurance | ($8,500) | ($10,000) | ($11,500) | ($13,000) | ($14,500) |
| Professional fees | ($10,000) | ($16,000) | ($22,000) | ($28,000) | ($34,000) |
| Software subscriptions | ($16,000) | ($22,000) | ($30,000) | ($36,000) | ($42,000) |
| Mentor stipends (12 sessions at $50 per match) | ($66,000) | ($108,000) | ($156,000) | ($210,000) | ($270,000) |
| Mentor screening, training and recognition | ($13,800) | ($17,000) | ($21,600) | ($28,300) | ($35,500) |
| Event venue hire and AV | ($8,000) | ($14,000) | ($20,000) | ($26,000) | ($32,000) |
| Outcome surveys and external evaluation | $0 | ($3,000) | ($8,000) | ($8,000) | ($9,000) |
| Professional development, dues and travel | ($3,000) | ($4,000) | ($5,000) | ($5,500) | ($6,000) |
| Phones, printing and supplies | ($3,000) | ($3,800) | ($4,600) | ($5,200) | ($5,800) |
| Equipment replacement and new-hire kit | $0 | ($3,000) | ($4,000) | ($5,000) | ($4,000) |
| Refunds, fee credits and bad debt (2% of revenue) | ($6,300) | ($11,900) | ($18,300) | ($25,700) | ($34,200) |
| Annual pay raises (3% a year) | $0 | ($10,363) | ($24,191) | ($51,998) | ($87,117) |
| EBITDA | ($134,657) | ($115,807) | $704 | $34,486 | $132,640 |
| Depreciation | ($4,143) | ($4,143) | ($4,143) | ($4,143) | ($1,143) |
| Interest | $0 | $0 | $0 | $0 | $0 |
| Income tax | $0 | $0 | $0 | $0 | $0 |
| Net income before start-up costs | ($138,800) | ($119,950) | ($3,439) | $30,343 | $131,497 |
| Start-up costs expensed at opening (legal, licensing, platform set-up, launch marketing) | ($31,500) | $0 | $0 | $0 | $0 |
| Net income after start-up costs | ($170,300) | ($119,950) | ($3,439) | $30,343 | $131,497 |
Year 1 loses $138,800 before start-up costs and $170,300 after them. Year 2 loses $119,950. The cause is scale: payroll takes 70% of revenue in Year 1 and 60% in Year 2, because the team has to be in place before enough seats are sold, and it falls to 46% in Year 3. Year 3 is close to break-even, with a net loss of $3,439 and EBITDA (earnings before interest, depreciation and tax) of $704. Year 4 earns $30,343, a 2.7% EBITDA margin, as the director of programs and coordinator 2 join, and Year 5 earns $131,497 at 7.8%. Mentor stipends are the largest cost after payroll: $66,000 in Year 1 and $270,000 in Year 5, or 21% and 16% of revenue. Income tax is zero throughout because the early losses cover later profit.
Cash and the intake cycle
| Year 1 | Year 2 | Year 3 | Year 4 | Year 5 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Cash from operations | ($183,409) | ($131,164) | ($16,903) | $14,245 | $109,411 |
| Equipment and fit-out | ($20,000) | $0 | $0 | $0 | $0 |
| Funding received | $575,000 | $0 | $0 | $0 | $0 |
| Loan principal repaid | $0 | $0 | $0 | $0 | $0 |
| Owner distributions | $0 | $0 | $0 | $0 | $0 |
| Net change in cash | $371,591 | ($131,164) | ($16,903) | $14,245 | $109,411 |
| Closing cash | $371,591 | $240,427 | $223,525 | $237,769 | $347,180 |
Closing cash falls from $371,591 to $223,525 by the end of Year 3, then rises. Year-end figures hide the intake cycle, so the table estimates the balance at the end of March and September, the months before each intake. The estimate comes from a rough check outside the model, with costs spread evenly, fees received on the invoice dates above and employer invoices collected at 90%, and it will not match the year-end figures exactly.
| Month-end estimate | Mar Y2 | Sep Y2 | Mar Y3 | Sep Y3 | Mar Y4 | Sep Y4 | Mar Y5 | Sep Y5 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Base case | $310,000 | $204,000 | $177,000 | $120,000 | $113,000 | $62,000 | $69,000 | $55,000 |
| Enrollment 20% short | $314,000 | $217,000 | $173,000 | $96,000 | $70,000 | $20,000 | ($4,000) | ($66,000) |
The base case stays above about $55,000 at every one of these points. The management rule: hires follow signed seat orders, and if cash is forecast to fall below $50,000 within ninety days, hiring and marketing growth stop. There are no loan payments and no distributions.
Balance sheet
| At year end | Year 1 | Year 2 | Year 3 | Year 4 | Year 5 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Cash | $371,591 | $240,427 | $223,525 | $237,769 | $347,180 |
| Accounts receivable | $17,252 | $32,608 | $50,215 | $70,456 | $93,686 |
| Equipment and fit-out (net) | $15,857 | $11,714 | $7,571 | $3,429 | $2,286 |
| Total assets | $404,700 | $284,750 | $281,311 | $311,654 | $443,152 |
| Bank loan | $0 | $0 | $0 | $0 | $0 |
| Paid-in capital | $575,000 | $575,000 | $575,000 | $575,000 | $575,000 |
| Retained earnings | ($170,300) | ($290,250) | ($293,689) | ($263,346) | ($131,848) |
| Total liabilities and equity | $404,700 | $284,750 | $281,311 | $311,654 | $443,152 |
Break-even
| Measure | Year 1 | Year 2 | Year 3 | Year 4 | Year 5 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| EBITDA margin | -42.8% | -19.5% | 0.1% | 2.7% | 7.8% |
| Net margin (before start-up costs) | -44.1% | -20.2% | -0.4% | 2.4% | 7.7% |
| Payroll incl. pay raises as share of revenue | 70% | 60% | 46% | 48% | 46% |
| Revenue per full-time equivalent at year end | $104,947 | $148,775 | $203,650 | $197,820 | $227,968 |
| Average monthly revenue | $26,237 | $49,592 | $76,369 | $107,153 | $142,480 |
| Monthly revenue needed to cover operating costs | $38,959 | $60,533 | $76,302 | $103,894 | $129,949 |
| Debt service cover (EBITDA / interest + principal) | – | – | – | – | – |
The last two rows compare average monthly revenue with the monthly revenue needed to cover operating costs. Year 1 averages $26,237 against $38,959 needed and Year 2 averages $49,592 against $60,533. Year 3 only just clears the line, at $76,369 against $76,302, and Years 4 and 5 clear it by a little more. The business has no debt, so debt cover does not apply.
If enrollment runs 20% short
| Year 1 | Year 2 | Year 3 | Year 4 | Year 5 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Revenue | $251,872 | $476,078 | $733,138 | $1,028,664 | $1,367,810 |
| Net income before start-up costs | ($144,510) | ($121,740) | ($67,042) | $5,190 | $4,260 |
| Net income after start-up costs | ($176,010) | ($121,740) | ($67,042) | $5,190 | $4,260 |
| Closing cash | $369,331 | $239,449 | $162,465 | $155,604 | $142,423 |
This case cuts every revenue line by 20% in every year, so the program also runs 20% fewer matches. The response: every hire from month 13 starts six months later, marketing is cut by 20%, Sarah takes a 20% pay cut, the program stays in its first office, and mentor stipends, screening, event venues, refunds and platform costs fall with the lower volume. The plan has no distributions, so that lever is unused. On those terms the program loses money in Years 1 to 3, makes a small profit in Years 4 and 5, and ends every year with cash in the bank, at no less than $142,423. Equity ends Year 1 at $398,990. The table in the cash section shows the catch: month-end balances before an intake fall below zero from spring 2031, to about $66,000 below zero in September 2031. The plan does not fund that gap. An investor top-up of about that size, or an overdraft line secured on receivables once the program has a trading record, would have to cover it.
Sources
- Bureau of Labor Statistics, Software developers, quality assurance analysts and testers, Occupational Outlook Handbook. The median pay and employment count are for software developers; the 10% projection covers developers, quality assurance analysts and testers combined. May 2025 wage data and 2025 to 2035 projection.
- Bureau of Labor Statistics, Training and development specialists, Occupational Outlook Handbook, May 2025 wage data and 2025 to 2035 projection.
- Tax Foundation, Illinois tax rates and rankings, 2026 (9.5% corporate rate, 7% plus 2.5% replacement tax).
- US Department of Labor, Fair Labor Standards Act Advisor: volunteers.
- MENTOR, Elements of Effective Practice for Mentoring, fifth edition (youth mentoring).
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