Designing the funnel backwards from capacity

• leads
• funnel
• pipeline
• traffic
• enquiries
• conversion
• marketing

• How many {unit}s does the business need this quarter?
• What is the conversion at each stage today?
• How many qualified opportunities can each closer genuinely handle?
• What does one qualified opportunity cost to create?

• target {revenue} and average value per {unit}
• stage-by-stage conversion rates
• closer capacity in opportunities per month
• cost per qualified opportunity by channel

• Lead volume
• Closer capacity
• Cash available to buy the required volume

• If
  Required lead volume exceeds what the budget can buy
  Then
  The constraint is cash, and the plan must change — not the target.
• If
  Lead volume is sufficient but opportunities stall
  Then
  The constraint is qualification or closer capacity, not marketing.
• If
  No stage conversion is measured
  Then
  Measure for four weeks before spending anything more.

Build the arithmetic chain once — target {revenue} → {unit}s needed → opportunities → leads → cost — and compare the required spend against available cash.

Read after 30 days.

• Every stage has a measured rate
• Required spend is within available cash
• The plan names which stage is binding

• The chain cannot be completed because the data does not exist — collecting it becomes the mission instead

• Cash allows the required volume → Buy it and hold the model as the control.
• It does not → Change the target, the price or the channel — not the arithmetic.

Aury can carry out: read company, prepare document, create task, file memory. Specialists involved: growth, finance, sales.

Your approval: Any spend increase is founder-approved.

Requires at least one quarter of funnel history, or four weeks of deliberate measurement.

Conversion rates from a small sample are unstable. Treat the model as a plan to be corrected monthly, not a forecast.

Work backwards: opportunities per closer → required leads → acquisition cost → cash. Not forwards from a marketing wish.

• Sourced operator experience: Founder/operator case study analysed inside Aurygine — bootstrapped B2B software company, 2026
• Sourced operator experience: Capacity-first funnel planning, standard in sales-led organisations
• Aurygine synthesis: Aurygine synthesis across founder journeys

Confidence: high. Last reviewed 2026-08-25. Your company's own recorded results override this playbook whenever the two disagree.