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Don’t be the startup that accidentally runs out of money (josephwalla.com)
18 points by bavidar on Feb 14, 2014 | hide | past | favorite | 3 comments


This is a very important point. It's remarkable how often startups run out of money as if by accident. The fundamental reason is that although a startup is nimble in many respects, financially it's like driving something very big and heavy. You have to be "ahead of the aircraft" to a degree most people have never experienced. Plus when startups are doing badly, their founders are usually in denial about it. And denial in a situation where you have to think far ahead is a terrible combination.


As part of YC business dashboards, are financials ever included? I don't mean Stripe/Braintree/etc transactions (although that's important as well), but burn rate/time remaining data. As you point out, its a critical metric and should be at the front of everyone's mind.


How carefully the startups watch this sort of thing varies a lot, but it's always the beginning of any conversation I have when I check in with them.




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