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Thank you for writing this. As a startup CEO with 12 employees, I have a daily reminder of how much cash is in the bank. It is absolutely unacceptable and ridic

by cl42 11y ago

Thank you for writing this. As a startup CEO with 12 employees, I have a daily reminder of how much cash is in the bank. It is absolutely unacceptable and ridiculous for a CEO to mismanage a company and then write a blog post saying "Oops, burn!"

pbreit 11y ago
Also considering that "burn" is one of the very few things that is wholly within your control.
- themartorana 11y ago
  At first I thought "this statement is madness!" Then I thought about our burn, what the spreadsheets look like, how we estimate runway, and so on, and I realize this is uninformed madness. If you believe this, then you understand that 400 people losing their jobs is the definition of the wholly controllable burn.
  - pbreit 11y ago
    I'm not sure I follow.
rokhayakebe 11y ago
Let us wait until you have 400 employees.
- cl42 11y ago
  400 employees will mean I still have a spreadsheet that tracks my cashflows and ensures I run a regular town hall to inform employees where we are. At what point does one not have such a spreadsheet/dashboard/report? Heck, a 400 you should have a part-time or full-time CFO who manages much of that for you to avoid such situations.
  - nedwin 11y ago
    Do you currently report how much cash is in the bank and your corresponding runway to your employees? It is hard to do at the best of times, particularly hard when things are tight to balance transparency with not wanting your team to start looking for new opportunities when things are getting close to the wire. Add to this different people have different perspectives on what is "close to the wire". For me it's 6 months, for many it's 12 months, for some it's less than 30 days.
    - toomuchtodo 11y ago
      > Do you currently report how much cash is in the bank and your corresponding runway to your employees? The startup I work for does, and other startups provide this level of transparency as well. It's not hard, unless you're incompetent at communication and finance (but you shouldn't, right? because you're a founder/co-founder/leadership who has peoples' financial lives in your hands, because this isn't a game for people who need to make rent/mortgage payments every month). "We have X in the bank, this is our runway, we have this many more months to be profitable or raise another round."
  - rokhayakebe 11y ago
    You are possibly correct, but I have no insights into this company, hence I cannot come to conclusion as to what they have or should have. The situation may just be more complicated and complex than the spreadsheet theory.

by cl42 11y ago

pbreit 11y ago

Also considering that "burn" is one of the very few things that is wholly within your control.

themartorana 11y ago
At first I thought "this statement is madness!" Then I thought about our burn, what the spreadsheets look like, how we estimate runway, and so on, and I realize this is uninformed madness. If you believe this, then you understand that 400 people losing their jobs is the definition of the wholly controllable burn.
- pbreit 11y ago
  I'm not sure I follow.

rokhayakebe 11y ago

Let us wait until you have 400 employees.

cl42 11y ago
400 employees will mean I still have a spreadsheet that tracks my cashflows and ensures I run a regular town hall to inform employees where we are. At what point does one not have such a spreadsheet/dashboard/report? Heck, a 400 you should have a part-time or full-time CFO who manages much of that for you to avoid such situations.
- nedwin 11y ago
  Do you currently report how much cash is in the bank and your corresponding runway to your employees? It is hard to do at the best of times, particularly hard when things are tight to balance transparency with not wanting your team to start looking for new opportunities when things are getting close to the wire. Add to this different people have different perspectives on what is "close to the wire". For me it's 6 months, for many it's 12 months, for some it's less than 30 days.
  - toomuchtodo 11y ago
    > Do you currently report how much cash is in the bank and your corresponding runway to your employees? The startup I work for does, and other startups provide this level of transparency as well. It's not hard, unless you're incompetent at communication and finance (but you shouldn't, right? because you're a founder/co-founder/leadership who has peoples' financial lives in your hands, because this isn't a game for people who need to make rent/mortgage payments every month). "We have X in the bank, this is our runway, we have this many more months to be profitable or raise another round."
- rokhayakebe 11y ago
  You are possibly correct, but I have no insights into this company, hence I cannot come to conclusion as to what they have or should have. The situation may just be more complicated and complex than the spreadsheet theory.