2 ms·

I've taken plenty of pre-payments. I agree that you shouldn't "need" one, but there's absolutely nothing wrong with requiring one. It sends the same message a

• tptacek 7y ago
  I'd just say this: our current business has sharply better cash flow than Matasano's did (Matasano also didn't require pre-payments, but it did work primarily with larger firms, where this business works exclusively with startups), and our business would not be possible with prepayment. I only see downsides to prepayment, and my bias is to assume the need for them comes from accepting clients you should be rejecting out of hand. But I concede that this may be a quirk of my own experience.
  • dragandj 7y ago
    The problem is how to know which clients are trustworthy before the first project. For small shops, even one missed payment can mean a lot of trouble...
  • maratd 7y ago
    > our business would not be possible with prepayment Not exactly sure how this is possible. Any mature business will split up a project into milestones. Whether payment is due at the beginning of a milestone or at the end, makes little difference to the business overall. I prefer to charge new clients at the beginning of each milestone, starting work after they pay. Existing clients I'm happy to charge after the work is completed, because there's a working relationship there already. Before I started doing this, I had payment issues several times a year. Since I started doing this, I haven't had a single payment concern and have never had to even think about it.