How to forecast the ROI of a tech launch boils down to the right strategy and tools.

You will need to do some planning to anticipate both your revenues and expenses for the product you are building. Make sure you account for technology and business expenses when creating your forecast.

I like to build a 5 to 10 year proforma for both revenue and operational expenses. It includes infrastructure, staffing, and service expenses based on the technology platform being built on.

This way, as I lay out everything needed to deliver the product, I can make sure there are no major gaps which mean eliminating surprises down the road.

It's simple then, to compare revenue to expenses and determine cost and profitability. This is a fantastic tool to take to potential lenders and investors to show you've done your due diligence and reduce their anxiety about investing in you.

I work from a template that lets me include the common items in every project I work on by default and add and remove as the project needs me to. As my experience has grown, I have become increasingly more accurate in forecasting the costs involved. However, I still refer to my previous pro-formas to make sure I'm doing a sanity check of past predictions against actual performance so I can make any adjustments that make sense.

Get your free copy of my CTO Proforma Budget template and start learning how to forecast the ROI of a tech launch.