I was talking to a founder last week. They’re at zero. Literally zero in the bank. Expenses exceeding revenue by thousands every month.
I’ve been there. In the early days of Trexity, we put our own money in to cover payroll. So I know what zero feels like.
And I know the mistake most founders make when they get there: they keep operating like nothing changed.
When you’re broke, there’s only one thing that matters: cash flow. Not revenue projections. Not growth plans. Cash. Money in the bank. This week.
Forget your annual plan. Forget next quarter. You’re operating in 30-day increments now. Everything you do for the next 30 days has to answer one question: does this put money in the bank?
If it doesn’t, stop doing it.
That feature you’re building? Stop. It won’t generate revenue for months.
Those ads you’re running? Measure them. If they’re not profitable in 30 days, kill them.
That payment schedule where you pay suppliers weekly? Call them. Switch to monthly. That’s cash you keep in your account for three extra weeks.
Your prices? Raise them. Today. You’ll lose some customers. The ones who stay will pay more. That’s cash.
And forget about investors. Nobody funds a company at zero. Investors want to accelerate something that’s already working, not resuscitate something that’s dying. You have to survive first. Build a business that generates cash, then go raise money. Not the other way around.
Now go sell. Manually. Call 10 businesses a day. Visit 5 in person. Don’t wait for leads to come to you. Every conversation is a chance to close something this week.
This isn’t strategy. This is survival. The only metric that matters right now is: do you have more cash on Friday than you did on Monday?
Think about a week from now. Then the week after that. String enough weeks together and you get to think about quarters again. But not yet.
There’s a version of your company on the other side of this. But only if you stop acting like you’re not broke.