Most founders I talk to aren’t stressed about “messy books” — they’re stressed because they’re flying blind when it’s time to decide on pricing, a hire, or how long their cash will last. Clean books are just the tool; the real win is being able to open your numbers and make a confident call in minutes. Today’s thread is simple: - Name one decision that feels fuzzy because your numbers aren’t clear yet. - Give 1–2 lines of context (industry + stage is plenty). - I’ll reply with the exact numbers I’d pull and how I’d read them, in plain English — no accounting jargon. If you’re willing, share real ranges (even ballpark) instead of “hypothetical” examples. It makes the guidance way more useful for you and for everyone reading. What’s the next decision you’re hesitating on because your books aren’t giving you a clear answer?

- Pricing: “Can I raise prices without scaring people off?” - Hiring: “Can I afford this next hire for the next 12 months?” - Runway: “Exactly how many months of cash do I have at this burn?” - Profitability: “Which offer is actually carrying the business?”jimwhuffman+1 Drop your answer in the comments in plain English, not accounting jargon. One sentence is enough. I’ll reply with the one number I’d pull from your books first to support that decision, plus how to find it in your system in under 10 minutes. Example to get you started: - “I want to know if I can afford to hire a full-time ops lead before Q4.” - “I want to know if my flagship offer is really profitable once delivery costs are included.” You don’t have to have clean books yet — this is a working room, not a showcase. The only rule: be honest about where you’re flying blind, so we can turn it into a decision-ready dashboard over time.

Why this one matters If there's a single number that lets you sleep at night, it's this one. Cash runway answers the question every founder is quietly carrying around: "How long do I actually have?" Profit on paper doesn't pay your bills — cash does. You can be "profitable" and still run out of money because a big client pays late or you stocked up on inventory. Runway cuts through all of that. It tells you, in plain months, how much time you've got at your current pace of spending. Once you know it, you can make calmer, faster decisions: - 12+ months? You have room to invest — a hire, a marketing push, better equipment. - 6–12 months? Steady as you go. Keep an eye on it and grow deliberately. - Under 6 months? Not a crisis, but it's your cue to act early — chase overdue invoices, trim non-essential spend, or line up a plan. Founders who watch this number make their moves from a position of calm, not panic. The whole point of clean books is being able to open them and make a decision in minutes. This is that number. The simple math Cash Runway (in months) = Cash you have right now ÷ Average monthly net burn Where net burn = how much more cash goes out than comes in in a typical month. Quick example: You have $60,000 in the bank. Over the last 3 months you spent about $10,000 more than you brought in each month. That's $60,000 ÷ $10,000 = 6 months of runway. (One happy note: if you're bringing in more cash than you spend, you don't have a burn rate to worry about — you're building a cushion. In that case runway is effectively "as long as this keeps up," and you can skip straight to deciding how to put that surplus to work.) How to pull it — step by step You need two things: cash on hand and average monthly net burn. Here's exactly where to click. If you use QuickBooks Online Step 1 — Get your cash on hand. 1. In the left menu, go to Reports. 2. Search for and open Balance Sheet. 3. Set the date to today. 4. Look at the Bank Accounts total near the top of the Assets section. That's your cash on hand. Write it down.

That's like checking your gas gauge and calling it a road trip plan. Your bank balance tells you what's there today. It says nothing about what's coming in, what's going out, or how long you've got before things get tight. So I built you something. Paste in your trial balance and it spits out the 5 numbers that actually run your business: - Cash on hand - Revenue - Profit - Money owed TO you - Money you OWE Plus your runway in months and a plain-English verdict telling you if you're fine or need to act. No formulas to write. No accounting degree required. Tag your account types from a dropdown and it does the rest. Grab it below as an excel file or get the googlesheet version here. Run your real numbers through it this week and drop your verdict in the comments — I want to see who's flying green and who just found out they're closer to the edge than they thought. Your books should answer questions, not create them. If you need help setting it up so it works with your trial balance, just let me know and they will be happy to help.

This is the question I see founders ask online more than any other. Some version of: "My P&L says I made money this quarter. My bank balance says I'm broke. What am I missing?" You're not missing anything. Profit and cash are two different things, and nobody told you. Profit is a story your books tell about a period of time. Cash is what's actually in the account today. They drift apart for boring, fixable reasons: a client invoiced but hasn't paid yet, inventory you bought with real money that's sitting on a shelf, a tax bill quietly accruing, or you hired ahead of the revenue that hire was supposed to bring in. Here's the move. Stop looking only at your P&L. Once a week, look at two numbers side by side: what your books say you earned, and what's actually in the bank. When they don't match, ask why — and the answer is almost always one of those four. That gap isn't a sign you're failing. It's a sign you're reading the wrong page. Profitable founders go under all the time because they confused the story with the bank balance. Which number do you check first — profit or cash? And be honest about whether you trust it. 👇