Overview
MarginPro is a strategic financial analysis tool designed to help entrepreneurs, contractors, and small business owners understand the true cost and profitability of their ventures — before they commit.
What is MarginPro?
MarginPro is a branching questionnaire engine that guides business-savvy users through a structured diagnostic of their current or prospective venture. Rather than prescribing advice, it surfaces the essential financial ratios, cost estimates, and margin benchmarks a founder needs to make confident, data-informed decisions.
The product operates as a client portal feature — not a standalone consumer app — and is strictly scoped to business finance. Personal finance, tax filing, and investment management are out of scope.
Founder sign-off, May 17 2026: Discovery phase complete. Wireframes approved. Founder response: "Yes — let's go."
Core Purpose
Core Job-to-be-done
Evaluate the financial viability of a venture
Before committing capital, time, or resources
Output
Prioritized checklist + ratio scorecard
With an animated visual margin grade
Interaction Model
Branching questionnaire
Adapts to entity type, industry, and business stage
Session Memory
Fresh per session
No cross-session persistence in V1
Target Users
MarginPro targets intermediate-sophistication business users who understand core financial concepts but need a structured tool to stress-test their assumptions. Assumed onboarding income band: $100K–$250K.
| Persona | Entity | Priority |
|---|---|---|
| Freelancer / Contractor | Sole Prop | Primary |
| Entrepreneur (new venture) | LLC / S-Corp | Primary |
| Project Manager | All types | Primary |
| Small Business Owner | LLC / S-Corp | Secondary |
| Real Estate Investor | LLC | Future |
What MarginPro Does Not Do
No personal finance
Business finance only. No personal budgeting, tax returns, or wealth management.
No specific tax, legal, or investment advice
Strictly educational framing. Self-contained — no CPA referral prompts in V1.
No exact data collection
Sliders and range selectors replace text inputs. Approximate inputs are encouraged.
No multi-year tax scenarios
Current year only in V1. Future-year modeling is a post-launch item.
Project Roadmap
Phase 00
Discovery
Phase 01–02
Planning + UX
Phase 03
Modeling
Phase 04
MVP Build
Phase 05
Launch
Phase 06
Modifications
Post-V1 top priorities: native mobile app, forward-looking projections, planning dashboards, CPA integrations.
Strategic Planning
Technical specifications and MVP scope derived from the founder questionnaire and the wireframe review session completed May 17, 2026.
MVP Success Criteria
V1 is considered successful when users complete the full questionnaire flow and reach the results screen. Primary metric: completion rate. Secondary signal: output relevance.
Founder definition of a "great" result: "Applicable and context of venture considered." The output must feel bespoke.
Core V1 Feature Set
Dashboard
Primary portal entry point. Prompt / session-start area is the hero element. Sidebar navigation and key ratio panel are top-priority elements per founder review. Desktop-first; mobile requires simplification.
Onboarding — 5 Screens
Captures income range (slider), entity type, industry, and business stage. Friction-free input is a core product principle. Entity options may be consolidated in a later iteration.
Branching Questionnaire Engine
Paths branch by entity type, industry, and stage. One focused tip per answer. Live calculations (effective hourly rate, margin) create "aha moments." Skip is always available.
Results Screen
Animated margin score ring. Ratio grid with flagging. Prioritized checklist — tiers: Prioritize This, Flag, Standard. Lead with figures and directional indicators over prose explanations.
Use Case Scenario Library
Pre-built context cards per persona. Each card pre-configures the questionnaire branching and calibrates the ratio output for that context.
Interaction Specifications
| Dimension | Decision |
|---|---|
| Flow type | Branching |
| Tips timing | Adaptive per question type |
| Guidance style | Strategic sounding board |
| Tone | Serious and professional |
| Skip behavior | Skip, no guidance, continue |
| First tip gate | After one full section |
| End state | Summary at the end |
Personalization Inputs
These four inputs drive branching logic and calibrate the output ratios:
Input 1
Income Level
Input 2
Entity Type
Input 3
Industry
Input 4
Business Stage
Compliance Guardrails
All guidance is strictly educational. The app must never imply it is providing tax, legal, or investment advice. Education and guidance are separated in spirit — not with rigid on-screen disclaimers. It should feel like a financial planning tool, not a compliance document.
Out of Scope — V1
Multi-year tax scenarios · "What if income changes" path · CPA integrations · Retirement contribution modeling · Tax bracket warnings (except high-income users) · Cross-session memory · Real estate investor persona
UX / UI
The UX is engineered to reduce cognitive friction while maintaining the analytical depth of a professional financial tool. Every screen earns its place by moving the user closer to a decision-ready output.
Design Philosophy
MarginPro should feel like a strategic sounding board that respects the user's intelligence. It does not repeat itself, does not include filler copy, and does not shy away from raw numbers.
The gold accent is the single dominant signal: active states, CTAs, live metrics, and tips all share the same accent family — conditioning users to follow the gold to the insights they came for.
Approved V1 Screen Flow
Screen 01
Dashboard
Entry point. Prompt area + session history.
Screen 02
Onboarding
5-step profiling: income, entity, industry, stage.
Screen 03
Questionnaire
Branching Q&A with live tips and calculations.
Screen 04
Results
Score ring, ratio grid, and action checklist.
Screen 05
Use Cases
Persona-indexed scenario library.
Design System
Canonical tokens, components, and patterns derived from the approved flow wireframes. All MarginPro UI work references this document.
Color Tokens
Backgrounds
--bg
#0A0A0A
--surface
#111111
--surface-2
#181818
--surface-3
#1E1E1E
Brand Accent — Gold
--accent
#F5C400
--accent-dark
#C9A000
Gradient end
#D9A800
--accent-light
rgba(245,196,0,.09)
Ink / Text
--ink
#F2F2F2
--muted
#999999
--hint
#555555
Status & Persona
--success
#34D399
--warn
#FBBF24
--danger
#F87171
Indigo
#818CF8
Teal
#2DD4BF
Violet
#C084FC
Typography
Primary typeface: Inter. Weights 300–700. Letter-spacing tightened on headings.
Spacing & Border Radius
| Token | Value | Usage |
|---|---|---|
--r-sm |
6px | Badges, tags |
--r-md |
10px | Tip bubbles, chips, metric cards |
--r-lg |
14–16px | Answer options, panel cards |
--r-xl |
18–22px | Phone frame, prompt card, results |
Component Patterns
Answer Option — Single Select
Default: --surface-2 bg, subtle border. Selected:
gold border + --accent-light fill + gold checkmark.
Hover: transition: all 0.18s.
Tip Bubble
Surfaces after selection. Warm amber tint — not full accent
fill. "Insight" label: 9px uppercase gold. Text in
#C9A000 for contrast.
Metric Cards
2×2 grid on results. States: default (gold value), flagged (red tint + icon). Each shows: label → value → benchmark note.
Margin Score Ring
SVG circle with stroke-dashoffset animation on
load. Gold gradient stroke. Provides immediate orientation
before the user reads the checklist.
Income Slider
Replaces a text input for income entry. Live gold value updates as thumb drags. Communicates approximate ranges without demanding precision.
Design system approved by founder, May 17 2026. Gold/black theme confirmed as brand-fit. Note: open to expanded color gradient usage, with gold remaining the dominant signal of the preferred outcome.
Wireframes
Approved proof-of-concept wireframes for the MarginPro V1 flow, reviewed and signed off by the founder on May 17, 2026.
Screen 01 — Dashboard
Desktop-first entry point. The prompt / session-start area is the hero element. Sidebar navigation and key ratio panel rated as top-priority. Session history is a nice-to-have. Note: We will be making more changes to the responsive features of this page, as well as making sure it's prepped for mobile.
flow-dashboard.html · Approved May 17 2026
Screen 02 — Onboarding
5 screens before first analysis. Income captured via slider, not a text field. Entity type, industry, and business stage seed the branching engine. Founder confirmed: "Right length — it earns the personalization."
Friction-free input confirmed
Sliders over text fields. Approximate ranges over exact numbers.
Consolidation noted
Entity options may be reduced to fewer clicks in a later iteration.
flow-onboarding.html · Approved May 17 2026
Screen 03 — Questionnaire
Core product experience. One focused tip per answer. Live effective hourly rate updates as the hours slider moves. Founder: "Exactly the kind of aha moment the product should create."
One tip per answer
Contextual and concise — never generic filler.
Live calculations
Effective hourly rate and margin indicators update in real time.
Skip always available
Skipped nodes produce no guidance; session continues.
flow-questionnaire.html · Approved May 17 2026
Screen 04 — Results
The payoff screen. Animated margin score ring at the top. Ratio grid with flagging. Prioritized checklist. Founder-rated 5/5. Enhancement: lead with figures and directional arrows — minimize prose.
Score ring approved
Visual grade creates immediate orientation. Rated 5/5.
Checklist format approved
Three tiers: Prioritize This, Flag, Standard.
Enhancement noted
Benchmark stamp: figures + arrows, not a written report.
flow-results.html · Approved May 17 2026
Modeling
Logic maps, ratio calculation specifications, and financial model architecture behind the questionnaire engine.
Not yet started
Will include branching logic decision trees, formula specs for each ratio output, and edge case handling rules.
MVP Development
Technical implementation: frontend build, questionnaire engine, live calculation layer, and client portal integration.
Not yet started
Will track sprint breakdowns, component build status, integration notes, and QA findings throughout the development phase.
Launch & Deployment
Portal integration deployment, stakeholder review, and go-live checklist.
Not yet started
Will document deployment steps, go/no-go criteria, rollout plan, and post-launch monitoring setup.
Modifications
Post-launch iteration log, feature additions, and roadmap execution.
Not yet started
Will record post-launch changes, version history, A/B findings, and the V2 feature queue — beginning with native mobile app and forward-looking projections.