Already signed up and the starting card is gone? Press ⌘ / (Ctrl / on Windows and Linux) to start a new chat, and paste the message from step 2 into the message box.
1
Sign up and open your workspace
Go to app.cfo.ai and sign up with Continue with Google, Sign in with Microsoft, or your work email and the six-digit code cfo.ai sends you.When you sign up, cfo.ai asks you to start the 14-day free trial: choose a plan, select Start free trial, and add a card. Nothing is charged until the trial ends, and you can cancel any time before then. See Start a trial or choose a plan.A new workspace opens on a chat named Welcome. Notice three things: Ari’s greeting at the top, a short brief about your company once Ari finishes its research, and a starting card docked above the message box. The card asks Where would you like to start?
2
Tell Ari about your business
On the starting card, choose My business. The card then asks What should I work from? Pick the tab that matches what you have. The rest of the lesson works the same way for all three.Notice that your answers appear in the chat as your message, and Ari starts working on them.
- Describe it
- Upload your model
- Connect your books
Choose I want to type or upload context, and type a few sentences like these, with your own details:
We sell [an annual software subscription] to [small accounting firms] for about [$6,000 a year]. Last month revenue was about [$80,000]. We have [9] employees and about [$1.2 million] in the bank. Build a 12-month model so I can see how long our cash lasts.You do not need exact numbers. Ari labels every number you did not give it as an assumption you can change later. Select Get started.
To try cfo.ai with an example business instead of your own, choose Something hypothetical on the starting card, then A business like mine, or type the kind of business you want. The rest of the lesson works the same way.
3
Watch Ari work
Ari’s steps collect in an Activity group under your message. For a larger build, Ari first shows a plan card listing the assumptions it intends to use. Read them, change any that are wrong, and select Build it.Notice the sidebar. A Model section appears with the first Page Ari builds, and more Pages join it one at a time. You can open the first Page while Ari works on the next.
4
Open the first Page
Select the first Page in the sidebar. A Page is a report made of blocks. Most of what you see are Table blocks: rows such as Revenue and Cash, with months across the top.Notice that the numbers are live: the Model calculates each one from your assumptions, so a changed assumption updates every number that uses it.
5
Trace a number you already know
Find a number you already know, such as last month’s revenue or your cash balance. Right-click the cell and choose Mention cell in chat. The cell appears in the message box. Ask:
Where does this number come from? Show me the formula.Ari explains where the value came from, such as your message, your workbook, or your accounting data, and shows the formula behind any number calculated from it. If a number is wrong, tell Ari the right one.
6
Change an assumption
Ask Ari to change something you might really decide:
Hire two more engineers starting in [March] at [$150,000] a year each, and show what happens to cash.Watch the Page. Notice that Ari’s edit plays out on the table, and every number that depends on the new hires changes: payroll, expenses, and the cash balance in each later month.
7
Take the change back
Select the clock icon in the Page header to open Version history. Every change to the Model is listed, newest first, with who made it and when. Ari’s hiring change is at the top.Point at that entry, select its … actions button, and choose Undo this change. Notice that the two hires disappear and cash returns to what it was. Nothing you or Ari try in the Model is permanent by accident.
What you built
You have a Model of your business: Pages built from your own description, a number you traced to its source, and an assumption you changed and took back. That loop of asking, checking, and changing is how you will work with Ari every day.Next steps
- Swap Ari’s estimates for your books: Replace estimates with your real numbers.
- Already have a model in a spreadsheet? Import it.
- Keep going with Your first week: one short lesson a day.
- Learn how the pieces fit together in How cfo.ai works.