Outcome Optimization
Find the best combination of Business Levers to hit your Strategic Outcome targets
Overview
The Goal Seek agent acts as a financial optimizer — similar to Excel’s Solver but powered by an in-memory HyperFormula calculation engine. Given a target Strategic Outcome (e.g., “$1M EBITDA by Dec 2027”) and a set of Business Levers to vary (e.g., CaC, Ad Spend, AoV), it tests hundreds of scenarios in under a second and returns ranked solutions.
The optimizer runs entirely in memory using a copy of the spreadsheet’s formula graph — no writes are made to the live Google Sheet. Changes are only applied when the user explicitly asks to implement a solution.
How It Works
- Parse the user's goal into an objective metric, target value, and time period
- Look up the row and column for each Business Lever and Strategic Outcome
- Read current values to establish the baseline
- Define lever ranges (typically ±25–50% of current values)
- Call the HyperFormula calc engine optimizer with lever ranges, objective, and constraints
- The engine tests 500–800 scenarios via Latin hypercube sampling in ~150ms
- Present the top feasible solutions ranked by objective value
Performance
| Aspect | Before (Sheets API) | After (HyperFormula) |
|---|---|---|
| Scenarios tested | ~15 (rate-limited) | 500–800 (in-memory) |
| Time per optimization | 30–60 seconds | 100–200ms |
| API calls | ~100 per request | 2–3 (one-time load) |
| Risk to live model | High (writes to sheet) | Zero (read-only copy) |
Example Solution Output
“What combinations of CaC, Ad Spend, and AoV get me to $1M EBITDA by Dec 2027?”
| Lever | Solution 1 | Solution 2 | Solution 3 |
|---|---|---|---|
| CaC | $39.15 (-10%) | $41.33 (-5%) | $43.50 (unchanged) |
| Ad Spend | $132K (+10%) | $120K (unchanged) | $108K (-10%) |
| AoV | $79.17 (+5%) | $75.40 (unchanged) | $86.71 (+15%) |
| EBITDA Result | $1.61M | $1.12M | $1.45M |
Example Prompts
- “What combinations of CaC, Ad Spend, and AoV get me to $1M EBITDA by Dec 2027?”
- “How can I increase Gross Sales by 20% while keeping Cash above $500K?”
- “Optimize for maximum EBITDA by Q4 2026”
- “Find the best lever combination to hit $2M revenue with CaC under $40”