Money, pricing & model

Startup finance & accounting

Keep the books, watch the runway.

All Beginner Intermediate Advanced

Everyone Builder Launcher Grower Indie Hacker Technical Solo Founder Non-Technical Founder Domain Expert Women Founder Anywhere Founder Repeat Founder

What financial basics does every founder need to understand? Know your cash balance, monthly burn, runway, and gross margin cold, these four numbers decide whether you live or die. You don't need an accountin... Beginner 3 resources → What is burn rate and runway, and how do I calculate them? Burn rate is how much cash you lose per month (net burn = cash out minus cash in); runway is your cash balance divided by monthly net burn, literal... Beginner 2 resources → How should I manage cash flow so my startup doesn't run out of money? Take your profit (and taxes) off the top before you touch the rest, invoice fast, and collect faster, cash timing kills more startups than lack of ... Intermediate 3 resources → Do I need an accountant and proper bookkeeping from day one? Yes, set up clean bookkeeping and a separate business bank account from day one, even if it's just simple software plus a good CA. Messy early book... Beginner 3 resources → What taxes and compliance do I need to handle as an Indian startup? At minimum: register the entity correctly, get GST registration once you cross the threshold, deduct and deposit TDS, and file income tax and ROC r... Intermediate 2 resources → How do I read a P&L, balance sheet, and cash flow statement? The P&L shows if you're profitable over a period, the balance sheet is a snapshot of what you own and owe, and the cash flow statement shows money ... Intermediate 3 resources → Should I open a separate business bank account before I even register the company, or use my personal account for now? Mixing personal and business money is the first accounting mistake most first-time founders make, and it costs you when tax season or fundraising a... Beginner 3 resources → How much of my own savings is it actually sane to put into my startup before I raise or make revenue? There's no universal number, but a good rule is: never bet money you'd need for rent, dependents, or an emergency inside 12 months. Founders romant... Intermediate 2 resources → What's the difference between revenue, profit, and cash in the bank, and why did my accountant say I'm profitable when my account is nearly empty? Profit is an accounting statement (revenue minus expenses on paper), while cash is what's actually in your account right now, and they diverge when... Beginner 3 resources → How do I price my product so I'm actually making money and not accidentally selling below cost? Most early founders price off gut or competitor screenshots and never compute their true unit economics, so they scale a loss. Start by knowing you... Intermediate 3 resources → When should I move from a spreadsheet to actual accounting software, and which one fits an early Indian startup? A spreadsheet is genuinely fine until you have GST filings, payroll, or more than a handful of invoices a month, at which point manual books start ... Beginner 2 resources → How should I split equity and think about founder salaries when neither of us has money and we don't want a fight later? Equal splits feel fair on day one and cause the most disputes by year two, so split based on honest contribution, risk, and who's full-time, and pu... Advanced 3 resources → What financial records do investors actually ask for in due diligence, and how do I avoid a scramble when a term sheet appears? Diligence surprises kill deals or shave your valuation, and they're almost always self-inflicted: messy cap tables, missing board resolutions, unfi... Advanced 3 resources → What are the most expensive accounting and finance mistakes early founders make that only show up a year later? The classics: commingling personal and business money, missing GST or TDS deadlines, treating GST collected as your own cash, undocumented cofounde... Intermediate 2 resources → How do I handle money and invoicing when my customers are abroad but my company is registered in India? Cross-border revenue adds FEMA rules, foreign inward remittance certificates (FIRC), export-of-services GST treatment, and currency conversion into... Advanced 3 resources → Do I need to understand accrual accounting and things like deferred revenue, or is cash-basis enough for a SaaS just starting out? Cash-basis is simpler and fine for very early days, but the moment you sell annual SaaS plans, cash-basis lies to you: a year of prepaid revenue lo... Advanced 2 resources → Should I hire a full-time finance person, keep using a CA firm, or handle books myself, and at what stage does each make sense? For most early startups the answer is: do the day-to-day yourself or with a bookkeeper, outsource statutory work to a good CA firm, and only hire a... Intermediate 2 resources → How do I build a simple financial model for a pitch deck without pretending I can predict revenue three years out? Investors know your five-year forecast is fiction; what they're really testing is whether you understand your own drivers, so build the model botto... Intermediate 3 resources →

eChai Partner Brands