One
What a month costs
Everything going out, counted properly: salaries, tools, services, travel and the things you forget.
- Counted per month and not per quarter.
- Including what you pay for the company out of your own pocket.
The pace
Money in at a pace the company survives
A company goes under from spending fast, not from spending. So we count the pace: what a month costs you, what comes in, and how far what sits in the account reaches.
Do the maths on the capitalApply now
The same arithmetic applies to us. Five companies per intake and two intakes a year is the pace we can hold ourselves.
4months the capital is built for
5companies per intake, the pace we hold
2intakes a year
What a sprint costs
A sprint looks like speed. Most often it is a bill pushed forward.
A large round early marks up a valuation, fills an account and sets an expectation. The costs follow upward immediately, because that is what the money is for. The expectation follows too, and it cannot be scaled back without somebody losing face.
Then the account runs out. The company is left with a cost level it built for the money and a valuation it built for the expectation, and both have to be defended in the next round. That is where most companies we see get stuck, and they did not get stuck for want of an idea.
A company that spends its capital in four months has run fast and got nowhere. That is the whole reason the programme is called what it is.
Two ways of counting
The same company, the same capital, two different questions in month one.
| Frågan | Takten | Spurten |
|---|---|---|
| What gets measured first | How many months the capital lasts | How fast growth can go |
| What a hire is decided on | Whether revenue carries it after the programme | Whether the round carries it now |
| What the next round is for | Growing on something that already works | Covering the cost that already exists |
| What happens if the market turns | The months last longer | The cost stays |
| Fastest to a big headline | No | Yes |
| Fastest to a big valuation | No | Yes |
The table compares two ways of counting and not two kinds of company. The last two rows go against us, and they stay because they are true.
Three numbers we go through every month
No others. A coaching session that opens with ten metrics ends with no decisions.
Two
What comes in
Paid money from customers, not commitments and not pipeline.
- A paid invoice counts. A promise does not.
- Recurring is kept apart from one-off.
Three
How many months it carries
The capital divided by the difference. That is the whole of the maths, and it can be done in your head.
- Under six months it is a question to solve now.
- Over twelve it is a question to solve calmly.
The same arithmetic applies to us
A programme that promises more than it can manage has made exactly the mistake it warns companies about.
We take in five companies per intake and run two intakes a year because that is the pace we can hold ourselves without leaving anyone in the cohort alone. A bigger intake would look better in a headline and worse in a room.
The capital comes from Daylited and the platform from GADDR, so out of a business that is already running. That is why the programme never has to take in a company to fill a quota.
The pace, drawn
Questions about the pace
Does the pace mean you are against raising capital?
No. We raise capital ourselves and the programme gives capital. The question is not whether, but at what pace and against what.
A round that pays for something that already works is a good round. A round that pays for a cost that already exists is a bill pushed forward.
What if I want to grow faster than you think I should?
Then you do. We are mentors and not a board, and the decisions in the company are yours. We say what we see, with the numbers in front of us, and then you choose.
Do you work to a valuation during the programme?
No. The terms of the capital are written into the agreement with your company, and across the four months we count cash and customers.
What if the revenue never comes?
Then it is the most important question in the programme, and it is better met in month two than in month twelve.
We say it straight when we see it. A programme that keeps quiet to keep the mood pleasant is not worth the four months.
Do the maths once, and write to us
Write what a month costs you and what comes in. That is the application we read most closely.