11 Truths About Cash Every Successful Entrepreneur Knows

11. A startup is in survival mode until it achieves consistent and predictable positive cash flow.

10. Cash is oxygen for the startup. Without oxygen, everything dies.

9. There are two cash management methods. First, don't spend it. Second, find someone to give it to you.

8. Not spending cash is a finite exercise because the cash you have is finite. Finding someone to give you cash is infinite.

7. The entrepreneur has five sources of cash: herself, friends and family, loans, equity, and customers.

6. The first two sources are cheap money. Loans are real commitments which must be repaid. Selling equity reduces your ownership and includes new partners expecting to be repaid with a huge multiple.

5. The best way to manage cash is to find customers.

4. By getting cash from customers, you prove the business, build credibility in the marketplace, build brand and value, and offset expenses. Do this over and over and you’ll have extra money and a valuable business.

3. In the first year of the startup, your job as founding entrepreneur and leader of the business is to instill the discipline of cash management.

2. If you run out of cash, you run out of time.

1. Cash management practiced early will allow you to live another day and take advantage of all the opportunities the market gives you.