Back from hols :-)
Over the years a number of useful tips about how to manage cash in early stage tech companies. It's really commonplace for such companies to have sticky moments waiting for cash to come in from customers, investors etc. and it can be very handy to know some of these hints....
| CAVEAT!! If you're this close to being out-of-cash then knowing the solvency situation of the company at any time becomes important, and as a board it should be considered carefully and frequently. I can't endorse the use of any or all of these in any situation on a blanket basis- it's more complicated than that! |
Please let me know any improvements or changes to this list via the comments- I'll update it accordingly. Thanks.
| Area | Tool | Comments |
| Managing Ordinary Creditors | Paying late | Careful, you mustn't favour some creditors over others, but generally you should look to the timing of each creditor payment to see what really needs to be paid when. (OK that one was obvious!) |
| Paying erratically | One FD I know favours paying erratically from the outset, but paying reliably. So, if sometimes you pay at 10 days, sometimes at 30, other times at 50, then your creditor may get used to the fact that you're inconsistent but reliable. this could give you a bit more slack when you need it most. Contrast this with the company who always pays bang on 30 days. If you don't pay by 31 the credit controller will be on the phone! | |
| Early payment terms | I've found that many start ups are so keen to impress their customers, and so keen not to draw attention to their small size that their reluctant to go for strong payment discounts. Likewise they tend to favour rental models over upfront models in the face of the economics (see below and here.) | |
| Salaries etc. | Transferring cash | If the new cash is very close, but is going to miss the BACS payment deadline for the salary, it's handy to know that you can usually pay your staff using a same-day payment mechanism from the bank (for a fee). The extra few days saved can occasionally be a lifesaver. |
| Staff late payments | If some of your staff are willing to work on the promise that they'll be paid shortly after the transaction that can be great. Watch out though, because there's a chance that you'll still have to pay the PAYE and NI. It can be helpful to get a formal waiver from the staff of some kind- so the company accrues the cost but doesn't necessarily trigger the tax. | |
| Payment date | During the early optimistic days companies often like to offer their staff a relatively early payment date in the month. Pushing that back as a matter of routine early can make sense and saves you having to ask the staff for the concession at a key time. | |
| Cost of directors | If things are tight the directors may be willing to work for nothing- make sure you keep accruing the costs otherwise the next round investor may get shirty if you want to pay them the back fees post transaction. | |
| Banks and investors etc. | Bank | Banks need attention well in advance of the cash demand if you expect them to be sympathetic. Especially important if you've a loan already as bad news can give them the jitters. |
| Investor bridge | Keeping your investors fully up-to-speed and informed is the key to this one, but if there's real evidence of close cash from either customers or investors it's useful, if unlikely to be cheap! | |
| Director's loan | Not really where anyone wants to be! | |
| Other etc. | R&D Tax Credit | I'm no expert on R&D tax credit, but it's proved a godsend to companies on tight cash on several occasions (thanks Gordon!). Two caveats- you can only claim as cash up to the limit of the previous years PAYE+NI, so if you've been mean and lean and had no full-timers then it's not going to help much. Second, you CAN do a short financial year to claim early, but remember that you can't keep doing short years from a Companies House PoV- hence never change year end for convenience reasons, keep it up your sleeve for rainy days. It takes a couple of months minimum to go through the process of closing your year and making the claim, but handy none-the-less. |
| Grants | Frankly, unless you saw it coming months earlier this is only likely to help around the edges. | |
| Customers (my favourite!) | The ingenious amongst you will probably have a whole set of crafty ways to extract cash from your customers wallets. One particularly appealing idea is to offer to convert existing rental customers to perpetual licenses for a tempting once-off price.(see this post. |
