Counsel by Aurora

What can you safely pay yourself this month?

Counsel answers from your own sales and bills, checks the answer against 13 weeks of cash, and shows the math behind every number. Made for owners without a finance department: food trucks, salons, shops and small firms.

Download Counsel on the App Store Try the web demo, no signup

Free tier. Pro is $14.99 a month. iPhone and web.

ReceiptCash sentry

Even the low estimate clears the bills.

Next 30 days, low band
$112,437
High band
$127,286
Margin
34%
Low end yields
$38,229
Outgoings
−$6,900
Cushion, cautious case
$31,329

Computed on the device in 13.2 ms. Sample data from Kiln & Co., a demo business in the app.

The average says $3,250. The slow months disagree.

Say your last six months of profit were $2,000, $2,200, $1,900, $2,100, $9,000 and $2,300. One great month drags the average up. Pay yourself off it and five months out of six you're draining cash.

  1. Use the median as the ceiling. The middle month ignores the outliers both ways. Here it's $2,150.
  2. Know the worst honest month. $1,900, no excuses attached. Plan how it gets covered before it happens.
  3. Then test it against the bills. Counsel runs the draw through 13 weeks of simulated cash, with bills, variable spend and the tax set-aside in it. If a salary doesn't fit yet, it says "not yet" and names the lever that would change that.

Work out your own in the free calculator

ReceiptOwner draw
Average month
$3,250
Median month
$2,150
Worst honest month
$1,900
Draw ceiling
$2,150

Method: median of six months of profit, checked against the worst honest month. The example is the one in the guide How much should you pay yourself?

A week with Counsel.

The app's own screens, running on a sample business. Every number on them opens to its receipt.

  1. Monday, coffee

    Read the brief.

    Plain words first: what's happening, in sentences. Pills say how sure it is, and "not ready to call" is one of the answers.

    Counsel's Today brief for Kiln & Co., a sample business: a steady month with one real dent. Revenue soft, margin held, cash healthy, with a note on how to read the page.
  2. Midweek

    Do the three moves.

    This week's moves, ranked by dollars at stake. Each one carries the engine that proposed it and its receipt.

    Counsel's list of what needs attention and this week's three moves, including a pay-yourself proposal and a win-back nudge to at-risk regulars, each with its method.
  3. Friday, before payroll

    Check the cash ahead.

    Profitable on paper can still be tight on Friday. Thirteen weeks of money in against your bills, tight weeks flagged early.

    Counsel's Plan screen: even the low estimate clears your bills, with the 30-day revenue band, the cushion in the cautious case, and the Pay Yourself plan below.
Payday

Pay yourself

A safe owner draw: the largest monthly pay the cautious 13-week cash path can carry. Part of Pro.

Any day

Who owes you

Money-owed aging, so you know which invoice to chase first.

The bank meeting

A banker's packet

The same numbers, put together so you can hand them to a lender.

Receipts, not narratives.

Tap any number to see the method, the sample size and how sure it is. If there isn't enough data yet, the card says "not enough data yet" instead of guessing.

What you usually getWhat Counsel shows
"Revenue looks a bit soft this month."Structural break Mar 6, −28%, p < 0.001. Welch test, on your ledger.
One forecast number.A range with a confidence band, because a single number claims more than the data knows.
"Consider reviewing your pricing."Elasticity measured from your own price change, with what +5% projects. Graded in 30 days.
9statistical engines, run on your phone
<1sfor the whole battery, on the device
65 KBthe on-device engine module

It reads the books you already keep.

  • Stripe
  • Square
  • Shopify
  • Etsy
  • QuickBooks
  • bank feeds
  • a CSV

The math runs in your hand, not on someone else's server.

Built on AuroraThe open-source statistics engine from the same bench. It computes instead of guessing.
  • It never moves money. Counsel can change prices and send messages, and that's the limit.
  • You decide. It shows the math. It isn't financial, tax or legal advice, and it isn't a bookkeeping service.
  • iPhone and web today. Android is still in closed testing.
  • Some things say "soon". Counsel Watch and the accountant handoff are marked that way in the app.
  • Demo numbers are demo numbers. The screens on this page run on sample businesses, not a customer's books.

Start free. Every receipt is in the free tier.

Free

$0

Every receipt, every method, and every "not enough data yet."

Counsel Pro

$14.99a month

Or $119.99 a year. Adds the acting features, Pay Yourself among them.

The money questions, with the math shown.

Every guide names its method and works an example. Three run as calculators in your browser. All 17 guides

Know the number before you take it.

Download Counsel on the App Store Try the web demo

Counsel is made by FantasyLab. There's a free tier, and Pro is $14.99 a month. Questions: contact@fantasylab.tech