Financial Model Game plan - Q2

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🎯 The 3 Goals

1. Microgrid unit economics model

2. Fundraising narrative

3. Stress test your monetization models (Owned vs Partner)

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🧭 Phase 1 (Week 1–2): Build Financial Clarity (Foundation)

1) Microgrid Unit Economics Model

What you’re building

A per-site financial model that answers:

“If we deploy one microgrid, does it make money?”

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Step 1: Define core inputs

Start simple (don’t overcomplicate):

Costs (CapEx)

• Battery (e.g., 10kWh setup)

• Inverter

• Installation (+20%)

• Metering hardware

• Any fixed setup costs

Revenue

• Avg monthly revenue per household

• Number of households (e.g., 10 → 100 → 360)

• Tariff (or effective price per kWh)

Operating costs (OpEx)

• Maintenance

• Staff/ops allocation

• Platform/software (NFE OS)

• Losses / non-payment buffer

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Step 2: Build outputs

You want 5 key metrics:

• Monthly revenue per site

• Monthly profit

• Payback period (months)

• Gross margin (%)

• Cash flow over time

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Step 3: Answer key questions

• How long to recover CapEx?

• What happens if:

   

  • Usage drops 20%?

  • Costs increase 15%?

   

• What is your minimum viable scale per site?

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Deliverable

👉 A simple Google Sheet model (I can help you structure this next)

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🧭 Phase 2 (Week 2–3): Stress Test Your Two Models

Now apply the model to your two strategies:

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Model A: NFE-Owned Microgrid

What to evaluate

• Total capital required per site

• Revenue collected directly

• Payback period

• Cash constraints (how many sites you can deploy)

Key insight you want:

“How fast can we scale before we run out of cash?”

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Model B: Partner-Owned Microgrid

What to evaluate

• Your revenue:

   

  • Flat fee per customer

  • +5% of electricity sales

   

• Your costs:

   

  • Ops + maintenance

   

Key insight:

“Is this a high-margin, low-capex business?”

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Compare side-by-side

Metric	NFE-Owned	Partner Model
Capital required	High	Low
Margin	High (long-term)	Lower but steady
Risk	Higher	Lower
Speed of scale	Slower	Faster

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Strategic output

You should be able to say:

• “We lead with Partner model to scale fast”

• or

• “We prioritize Owned model for long-term value”

👉 This becomes core to your pitch

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🧭 Phase 3 (Week 3–4): Build Your Fundraising Narrative

Now turn your numbers into a story investors understand

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1) Problem (you already do this well)

• Unreliable grids

• Diesel backup risks

• Growing urban demand

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2) Solution (tighten this)

• “Community microgrids that turn backup power into primary infrastructure”

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3) Business Model (now backed by numbers)

Use your model to clearly show:

• Revenue per site

• Margin

• Payback

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4) Traction

• Pilot (10 homes)

• Phase 2 (100 homes)

• Pipeline (360 apartments)

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5) Scaling Strategy (THIS is key)

From your analysis:

Example:

• Phase 1: Pilot + validate

• Phase 2: Scale via partner model

• Phase 3: Selectively own high-value sites

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6) Use of funds

Your model should let you say:

• “$300K deploys X sites”

• “Each site generates $Y/month”

• “Break-even in Z months”

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Deliverable

👉 A clean 8–10 slide pitch (or 1–2 page memo)

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🧭 Phase 4 (Week 4–6): Add Financial Discipline

This replaces what a CFO would start doing.

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1) Monthly financial tracking

Track:

• Revenue per site

• Cost per site

• Collection rates

• Downtime

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2) Define 5 core KPIs

For NFE, I’d suggest:

• Revenue per customer

• Cost per customer

• Payback period per site

• System uptime (%)

• Collection efficiency (%)

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3) Cash planning (critical)

Build a simple view:

• Cash today

• Monthly burn

• Months of runway

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⚠️ Critical mindset shift

You’re moving from:

“We are building microgrids”

to:

“We are deploying capital into energy assets that must return money”

That shift is what investors care about.

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🧩 How this all connects

• Unit economics → proves viability

• Model comparison → defines strategy

• Narrative → unlocks capital

• Tracking → sustains growth