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> What are the most common ways to collect big, yearly contracts? Yep, at least in the US, paper checks for some (still!) and wire transfer for others. You se

> What are the most common ways to collect big, yearly contracts? Yep, at least in the US, paper checks for some (still!) and wire transfer for others. You send them an invoice, and they send you an (actual, paper) check or make a wire payment to the account number you put in the invoice. Both should be pretty much free, if you have a decent bank (although some banks will charge a few dollars now for incoming domestic wire transfers). I think for a yearly charge of $10,000+, it's probably worth the pain in the ass factor to invoice the charge, particularly given how much you'll save (about $300 if you use Stripe, more for others, assuming 10,000 charge). Most banks have banking apps now that let you cash checks using the app, so if you really get going with 10,000 checks flowing in by the batch, you can hire some one to help deposit them via app or dropping them by a bank branch. Not a bad problem to have, if it happens. Just realize that most companies operate on 60 or 90 day terms, and some even more. You can often negotiate for 30-day terms if they really like you/your product and you're firm about it. Just be sure you factor this into your cash flow. And have a process in place for what to do if you don't receive payment by then. Actually, regarding Stripe, and I may be wrong about this, but I don't think most companies will let you set up a recurrent yearly credit card payment of 10,000 dollars, at least not without going high up the corporate food chain. If that's the case, you'd need to break it into a monthly charge to go the Stripe option.

nickfromseattle 10y ago
>Just realize that most companies operate on 60 or 90 day terms, and some even more. You can often negotiate for 30-day terms if they really like you/your product and you're firm about it. Just be sure you factor this into your cash flow. And have a process in place for what to do if you don't receive payment by then. A $10k invoice will often require your point of contact to open an internal Purchase Order (PO) with their finance department. If your contact doesn't make purchases often, it's really easy for them to miscommunicate internal requirements to get you paid on time, causing additional delays on top of your 60/90 terms. I strongly recommend asking your point of contact to connect you with their finance teams to confirm requirements before the software is delivered. All companies have different requirements to pay vendors, with larger companies having longer, more convoluted internal processes. Clarifying the process to get you paid before you deliver the software pays dividends down the road by minimizing your time collecting late payments, 10x so if you are a solo founder or small team with more important tasks to focus on.
- eric_bullington 10y ago
  Yes, this is an excellent point. And if you run into problems, work directly with Accounts Payable, not through your company contact, if at all possible. Better yet, do as the parent comment recommends and try to make a contact with Accounts Payable to begin with (although that's not always possible, depends on company).

nickfromseattle 10y ago

>Just realize that most companies operate on 60 or 90 day terms, and some even more. You can often negotiate for 30-day terms if they really like you/your product and you're firm about it. Just be sure you factor this into your cash flow. And have a process in place for what to do if you don't receive payment by then. A $10k invoice will often require your point of contact to open an internal Purchase Order (PO) with their finance department. If your contact doesn't make purchases often, it's really easy for them to miscommunicate internal requirements to get you paid on time, causing additional delays on top of your 60/90 terms. I strongly recommend asking your point of contact to connect you with their finance teams to confirm requirements before the software is delivered. All companies have different requirements to pay vendors, with larger companies having longer, more convoluted internal processes. Clarifying the process to get you paid before you deliver the software pays dividends down the road by minimizing your time collecting late payments, 10x so if you are a solo founder or small team with more important tasks to focus on.

eric_bullington 10y ago
Yes, this is an excellent point. And if you run into problems, work directly with Accounts Payable, not through your company contact, if at all possible. Better yet, do as the parent comment recommends and try to make a contact with Accounts Payable to begin with (although that's not always possible, depends on company).