Funding a New Business For Dummies

Chapter 17

Budgeting and Cash Flow: Keeping Your Startup Running

IN THIS CHAPTER

The best practices for budgeting and cash flow

Understanding how to optimize cash flow and manage working capital

Leveraging professional expertise

You may have arrived at this chapter in something approaching crisis mode, because effective cash flow management and budgeting are the two main pillars supporting your startup’s financial stability, and you may find those pillars look more like the game of Jenga than pieces of cut marble.

That’s why we’re here to help you make yourself and your team expert with managing your finances, and we start by telling you about best practices for both budgeting and managing your cash flow so you can better avoid roadblocks or get over the current roadblock you’re facing now.

So, this chapter is set up for you both as a review of what you need to know and a checklist of what you need to do. Sit around with your team members with your books in hand (you did buy copies for everyone, right?) and talk about these issues to make sure you’re all in agreement about what’s been done, what needs to be done, and who needs to do each task.

A great starting point is the Small ...