The 13-Week Cash Model Every $1M–$10M Founder Should Run
Why monthly P&L reviews fail to predict cash crunches, and the rolling 13-week model that gives you a 90-day runway view in under an hour.
Most founder-led service businesses run on monthly P&L reviews. They look fine — until payroll lands the same week three large invoices slip 15 days. By the time the P&L closes, the cash crunch has already happened.
Why monthly P&L is too slow
Accrual P&L tells you about earned revenue and incurred costs. Cash tells you what's actually in the bank. At $1M–$10M, the lag between the two is where most surprises live.
The model in plain English
- Rows: every cash inflow and outflow (AR collections, payroll, contractor payments, tax, debt service, owner draws).
- Columns: the next 13 weeks.
- Each cell: the expected cash movement, dated by when it actually clears.
Update it weekly. Compare actuals to forecast. The variance line is where you find the leak.
What it changes
You stop making capital decisions on instinct. Hiring, capex, owner distributions, and pricing experiments all get sanity-checked against a 90-day cash view.
Want this run on your P&L?
45-minute Financial Strategy Call with a senior CFO operator. Free. No sales script.