I once did some work with a client and charged him $2500 for it.
After the work was done he said to me:
"I would've paid $8,000 for this"
I stared bashing my desk right after that.
So I started increasing prices.
Charge what you're worth!
"I'll pay you in 45 days."
Say that at a grocery store they'd laugh you out the door.
Your clients say it to you every month. And you sign the contract.
That's the trap most small businesses don't see until it's too late:
P&L: $40,000
Bank: $12,000
Gap: $28,000 ← where founders die
Every Net‑30 invoice = a 30‑day interest‑free loan you didn't agree to give.
Revenue is a promise.
Cash is what keeps it.
The gap is where businesses die.
There are exactly two numbers between you and "we ran out of cash."
You can quote your runway. Most founders can. But can you trace the formula?
Can you tell me what changed in your burn rate this month, and why?
I couldn't. Not for a long time.
Runway is your current cash divided by net burn rate.
Net burn is total expenses minus total revenue.
Those are the only two numbers. Get them wrong, and every other decision you make is downstream of bad math.
The reason most founders stay vague about them isn't laziness it's that the spreadsheet they inherited doesn't expose the formula.
It just shows the answer. And the answer is stale the moment headcount changes.
Your runway and burn rate should be transparent, live, and yours.
@saylordocs If quantum tech collapses every link, your hedge is to spread beyond traditional portfolios into solid, low‑tech assets that survive the breach.
@JJsFinclub True high pay doesn’t equate to savings unless you budget, automate, and invest. It’s the discipline, not the paycheck, that turns income into wealth.