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Cash Flow
The lifeblood of every operating business, and where most companies quietly break.
Profit is an opinion. Cash is a fact. Cash flow is what happens between the invoice and the deposit, and it is where the majority of small and mid-sized companies actually live or die.
The Operating Lens
How exceptional operators approach cash flow.
Questions worth sitting with
- 01What does my 13-week cash forecast look like today?
- 02Which customers are quietly financing me, and which am I financing?
- 03How many days of cash on hand would I need to survive a bad quarter?
- 04What is the smallest change to payment terms that would move the number materially?
Signals you may be here
- 01You look at the bank balance more often than the P&L.
- 02You are borrowing short to pay for long-lived expenses.
- 03You cannot answer 'when will we run out of cash?' in less than a minute.
- 04Payroll feels like an event rather than a routine.
Practical starting points
- 01Build a 13-week cash forecast this Friday. Update it every Friday after that.
- 02Move one recurring expense to net-30 or later.
- 03Move one recurring receivable to net-15 or shorter.
Featured Operators
Operators known for cash flow
construction
Andre Okafor
Chief Executive · Bridgetown Construction Group
Bought a struggling GC out of a family estate; rebuilt it into a $60M regional commercial builder.
agriculture
Tom Vandersteen
Owner-Operator · Vandersteen Farms
Fourth-generation row-crop farmer who runs 4,200 acres with 5 full-time employees and a spreadsheet older than his son.
