After the calculation is finished, the interviewee should come back to his structure and answer the following question.
Consider your profit analysis. What decision would you make and why?
This question opens a general discussion about the attractiveness and future of entrepreneurship or a employee position, in this case a consultant.
A good response to this question should focus on the attractiveness of both options in general terms, the future of the business and personal goals.
- What do the future margins/salaries look like? How big can they grow over time?
- How are the working conditions and hours in both options?
- How profitable is the startup in the chosen city?
- Are there many competitors?
- What are personal goals to achieve in both occupations?
- Entrepreneurship is far more risky than employment. What would be the worst case scenario in both options?
Conclusion
The conclusion should be that this startup might be more profitable than a job but is more risky. One should only go ahead with this idea if opportunities are very good and the startup matches personal goals
- Special location with big market demand or growth
- Low local competition
This case is deliberately open so that the interviewee has to build a good structure at the beginning to which they need to refer a lot.
The important thing in this case is not to get lost in too many details when estimating revenue and costs of the virtual startup, but at the same time build on realistic assumptions.
The industry is basically the choice of the interviewee. In the example we choose a small café in Berlin, Germany.