Managing Cash Flow in New Ventures: A Founder’s Guide to Staying Liquid

Today’s chosen theme: Managing Cash Flow in New Ventures. From your first customer payment to the nerve‑wracking fundraising gap, learn practical moves to stretch runway, avoid surprises, and fund momentum. Join the conversation, ask questions, and subscribe for new tactics weekly.

Cash Flow Basics That Keep Startups Alive

Cash flow is about timing, not just profit. Map cash inflows and outflows weekly, calculate net burn excluding non‑cash expenses, and watch seasonal bumps. Add upcoming taxes and annual renewals. Share your method for calculating burn in our comments to help peers.

Cash Flow Basics That Keep Startups Alive

Runway equals current cash divided by average monthly net burn, but adjust for committed receivables and scheduled payables. Show your team the math on one page. Tag a teammate today and decide one move that adds thirty days.

Forecasting With a 13-Week Cash Model

Create a spreadsheet with weeks as columns and categories as rows: new receipts, renewals, refunds, payroll, contractors, rent, taxes, software, debt. Link expected dates to contracts. Subscribe to receive a clean, founder-tested template and a quick-start video walkthrough.

Getting Paid Faster Without Burning Bridges

Offer net 15 for monthly subscriptions, or net 30 with two percent discount for ACH within ten days. For projects, require a kickoff deposit. Frame terms as mutual momentum, not pressure, and ask prospects which option helps their budgeting most.

Invoices that match purchase orders, list clear deliverables, and show dates get approved first. Add your contact, bank details, and late fee policy. Test a pre-sent draft for confirmation before delivery. Try one change this week and share results.

Adopt a respectful collections cadence: friendly reminder before due, quick check on due date, personal call at seven days, pause of discretionary services at thirty. Keep tone helpful. What wording earns you the fastest replies without harming trust?

Payables, Vendors, and Smart Negotiations

Ask strategic vendors for longer terms in exchange for a twelve-month commitment or case study rights. Many will trade net 30 for net 45 or 60 if you communicate early. Practice the ask with a teammate and schedule two conversations today.

Payables, Vendors, and Smart Negotiations

Rank payables by business impact, not who emails loudest. Payroll, taxes, and critical infrastructure come first. Negotiate with low-impact vendors to spread payments over weeks. Post your top three non-negotiables and we will compile a community checklist.

Funding the Gap Without Losing Focus

Revenue-based financing for predictable streams

Revenue-based financing can bridge inventory or ad spend when revenue is predictable. Repayments flex with sales, preserving sanity during slow weeks. Ask peers who tried it about covenants and fees. Would you consider this tool for a seasonal spike?

Cost Discipline That Protects Growth

Shift fixed costs to variable early: contractors over hires, monthly tools over annual plans, cloud credits over owned hardware. Keep a single discretionary budget bucket. Which subscription could you pause for thirty days without hurting customers? Try it and report back.

Cost Discipline That Protects Growth

Track contribution margin by product or segment weekly. If a feature consumes support hours or discounts to close, it might be cash negative. Sunset gently or reprice boldly. Comment with one unit metric you will watch this month.