Founder Finance Before You Have Any
How do I handle money when the business has barely any?
Four numbers run an early business: cash in the bank, monthly burn, cash collected this month, and the price you charge. Track them weekly in one sheet. Price higher than feels comfortable, collect faster than feels polite, and never confuse revenue signed with money received.
Founder finance is not accounting. Accounting is a record of the past for other people. Founder finance is four numbers you can hold in your head that tell you whether you get another month.
The four numbers
- 01Cash in the bank today. The real figure, including tax you owe but have not paid.
- 02Monthly burn. Everything that leaves, including your own living costs if the business funds them.
- 03Cash collected this month. Not invoiced. Collected.
- 04Price. What one customer pays, and what it costs you to deliver.
Pricing, honestly
Almost every first-time founder underprices, and calls it strategy. It is usually fear. Price is a positioning signal before it is a revenue lever: cheap reads as commodity, fair reads as professional, expensive reads as specialist. Raise until roughly one in five prospects says no on price. If nobody ever objects, you are leaving the business's oxygen on the table.
Collect like your survival depends on it
- ·Deposit up front, always. 30–50% for services and custom work.
- ·Payment terms of 14 days, not 30. Nobody negotiates this as hard as you fear.
- ·Card or direct debit by default. Bank transfer invites delay.
- ·Chase on day one of lateness, politely and automatically. Late payers pay whoever chases.
When to spend
Spend on things that directly produce cash or remove a bottleneck you have measured. Do not spend on things that produce the feeling of a company. A useful filter: if this expense disappeared tomorrow, would a customer notice within thirty days?
Early companies do not die of unprofitability. They die of running out of cash while profitable on paper.
Do this next
- Build the four-number sheet. Fill it in for today.30 minutes
- Open a separate account and move any tax you're holding into it.20 minutes
- Raise your price by 20% for the next three quotes and watch what happens.0 minutes
- Add a deposit clause and 14-day terms to your standard agreement.20 minutes
Avoid
- —Reporting signed contracts as revenue.
- —Discounting to close a hesitant prospect — discount for speed or commitment, never for doubt.
- —Personal and business money in one account.
“Take my four numbers and tell me how many months I have, what my biggest cash risk is, and the one pricing or collection change with the largest effect.”
Ask Aury thisLast edited 2026-07-28