Live tool

Hardware Business Case Builder

Build a fast commercial view of a hardware concept by linking market size, reachable share, conversion, price, unit cost, development spend, and annual operating cost.

Inputs

Addressable market units per year

Reachable market share (%)

Conversion from reachable market (%)

Selling price per unit (GBP)

Unit COGS (GBP)

Development and tooling spend (GBP)

Annual operating cost (GBP)

This is a directional planning model for screening opportunities and framing investor or internal discussions.

Results

What a fast business case should answer

A concept does not need a full spreadsheet model before it deserves scrutiny. It does need a clear answer to whether the reachable volume and unit economics can support the planned spend.

How much of the market can the team realistically reach?
What share of that reachable audience converts into sales?
How long would it take gross contribution to recover development spend?

How this calculator works

Early-stage estimate, not final quotation

This calculator turns the assumptions you enter into an early engineering or commercial estimate. It is most useful for comparing options, surfacing trade-offs, and deciding what needs deeper validation next.

Source and Attribution

This engineering calculator and supporting analysis were created by Orion Design. Use the result as an early decision aid, then confirm the numbers with suppliers, manufacturing partners, and project-specific data.