finstory

Born2Cycle · September 2026 board story

The live story
01 · Live story

How Claude builds a board story with finstory, on the May close of Born2Cycle, our demo company.

Claudefinstory connectedBorn2Cycle May 2026 board story, built in Claude
May 2026 board story
Follows the April 2026 board story
  1. 01Summary
  2. 02EBITDA bridge
  3. 03Stores
Summarized P&L · May 2026

May EBITDA $1.32M, $354K Ahead of Budget.

Revenue of $12.70M beat budget by 5.0% and gross margin widened to 33.0%, while opex held within 0.5% of plan.

Year to date, EBITDA is $3.23M: $228K ahead of budget and 2.6× last year.

Net result: a sales and margin beat, with costs on plan.

$KActualBudgetΔΔ%
Gross sales13,01512,377+638+5.2%
Discounts(310)(277)−33−11.9%
Revenue12,70512,100+6051+5.0%
Cost of sales(8,511)(8,274)−237−2.9%
Gross profit4,1943,826+368+9.6%
Gross margin33.0%31.6%+1.4 pts2
Operating expenses(2,870)(2,856)−14−0.5%
EBITDA1,324971+3543+36.4%

Summarized P&L, May 2026, in thousands of US dollars, actual against budget.

Annotations
  1. 1 Revenue +$605K

    By store, Vancouver Superstore added $305K. By channel, marketplaces added $171K and corporate sales $114K.

  2. 2 Margin up 1.4 ptsYour answer

    Marketplace and corporate sales mix: marketplace gross profit ran $95K over plan and corporate sales added $62K.

  3. 3 Year to date

    EBITDA is $3.23M for January to May: $228K ahead of budget and 2.6× the same months of 2025.

EBITDA bridge · May 2026 · Budget to Actual
Sales +$191KMargin rate +$176K

Sales and Margin Rate Split the $354K Beat.

Higher sales added $191K: $605K more revenue at the budgeted 31.6% margin.

The richer 33.0% margin added $176K, and opex ran $14K over plan.

Net result: the beat came from gross profit, not from cost cuts.

$971K
Budget EBITDA
+$191K
Higher sales
+$176K
Margin rate
−$14K
Operating expenses
$1,324K
Actual EBITDA
Annotations
  1. 1 Higher sales

    $605K of extra revenue at the budgeted 31.6% margin. Vancouver Superstore alone was $305K over budget.

  2. 2 Margin rate

    33.0% against 31.6% budgeted. Marketplaces (+$95K gross profit) and corporate sales (+$62K) led; the direct web shop was $23K short.

  3. 3 Opex on plan

    Operating expenses landed $14K (0.5%) over budget, so the beat came from gross profit.

P&L by store · May 2026 · Operating income vs Budget
Vancouver +$174KBend −$62K

Vancouver and Seattle Carry May, Bend Is $62K Behind.

Operating income beat budget in 11 of the 13 stores that reported. Vancouver added $174K and Seattle $104K.

Bend Flagship ships the web orders: revenue −$37K, with cost of goods +$13K and inbound freight +$10K against plan.

Net result: a timing miss at Bend, not a trend.

  • Vancouver Superstore+$174K
  • Seattle Downtown Flagship+$104K
  • Olympia North Market+$34K
  • Yakima Valley+$23K
  • Ellensburg+$23K
  • Anchorage Midtown+$22K
  • 5 smaller stores+$25K
  • Mercer Island Boutique−$6K
  • Bend Flagship−$62K3
Annotations
  1. 1 Vancouver Superstore

    Revenue $305K over budget. The shop, the rental counter and the café all trade from this site.

  2. 2 What the numbers show

    Bend: revenue −$37K, cost of goods +$13K and inbound freight +$10K against budget. Direct web orders ship from here.

  3. 3 Freight timingYour answer

    “June’s road-bike range landed early, so its freight hit May. Timing, not trend.”

Born2Cycle is finstory's demo company, a 14-store bicycle retailer on NetSuite. Figures are from its May 2026 close.