Stressed is an understatement. Just finished payroll for end of month & running out of cash fast. Plenty of work coming in but it needs cash to complete. $120k sitting in A/R, clients are large slow pays. Not having fun & feel stuck waiting for cash.

^ Ran out of space but also feel guilty for complaining because once A/R is cleared, that is just cash to sit on as all vendors/contractors have already been paid.

Anonymous says:

November 7, 2014 at 10:43 pm

You could try prepay discounts.

Reply

This sounds obvious but are you taking deposits when you book work? No startup can float cash. Have you considered a split billing cycle- billing half your customers at the beginning of the month and half at the end? It makes for less lumpy flow. If you truly have enough coming in then the issue is timing

Anonymous says:

November 6, 2014 at 3:18 am

Yes, taking deposits of up to 50% up front when possible on smaller engagements. With the larger clients, a fully funded PO is required up front, but it’s still a balancing act of asking for payment vs pissing them off and having them not want to do business with you. Timing is probably the bigger issue here and I honestly feel guilty for complaining/venting as we’ll be sitting on 100k when it comes in. We’ve been bootstrapping it for 2.5yrs with no investment, just haven’t been in a situation like this before.

Reply
- Anonymous says:
  
  November 6, 2014 at 5:55 am
  
  I feel you -bootstrapping is just a hard slow slog. Hang in there!
  
  Reply

piss them off and collect ASAP. Otherwise you’ll be out of business.

They person you’re dealing with at Big Co usually wants you to keep working on project (so they can keep their job) and has nothing to do with the person(s) in accounting who think its their job to squeezing small vendors to death.

Do yourself a favor and either be a man and collect or stop dealing with larger companies. Hire a good collections person/company if you have to — do

whatever it takes.

Lighter Capital. Or something like that would help. No personal guarantee. You sound like a perfect fit from my experiences with them.

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