Founders, How to Tell You Have Sh*tty Finance

Every founder I meet has war stories. Heroic tales of building product, landing the first customer, raising the first check. But you know what rarely makes the highlight reel? The finance mess happening in the background.

If you’re honest, you might recognize some of these patterns in your own company.

You don’t know much money you burned and for what. Your “financial model” hasn’t been updated since Q1. Invoices slip through the cracks. Customers don’t get billed on time. Board decks? Forget about it.

And when investors ask for a simple update, you scramble to put together numbers that feel more like a guess than a report.

That’s not a quirky part of startup life. That’s sh*tty finance.

Why Founders Put Up With It

The wild part is that so many founders think this is normal. They tell themselves finance will get sorted “later.” First comes product, then sales, then maybe talent, and finance is always last in line.

Here’s the reality: finance problems don’t wait politely in the corner. They compound. That spreadsheet error might look small today, but tomorrow it can blow up into a missed payroll. That one unbilled client can turn into a permanent cash leak. That outdated system that nobody touches? It’s not just inefficient. It’s a liability.

Founders put up with it because:

Scrappiness gets glorified. If you can hack together a product, why not hack together finance?

No one’s pressing the panic button. Early investors might not ask for GAAP-compliant reports yet. Customers don’t see what’s behind the curtain.

It feels cheaper. Why bring in finance expertise when you can just keep muddling through with the tools you already have?

But ignoring the mess doesn’t make you lean. It just makes you fragile.

The Hidden Cost of Sh*tty Finance

Think about the hours you’ve lost chasing down payments, tinkering with Excel, or pulling numbers together the night before a board meeting. Hours that could have been spent selling, building, or talking to customers.

Think about the credibility you lose when investors realize you can’t answer basic questions like “What’s your true burn?” or “How many months of runway do you have?”

Think about the stress you carry knowing that you’re one broken laptop or one delayed invoice away from chaos.

None of that is the badge of honor founders think it is. It’s just risk, distraction, and wasted potential.

What Good Looks Like

Here’s the shift: you don’t need more spreadsheets. You don’t need fancy decks. You need a finance function that actually works.

That means:

• Clear visibility into your margins, burn, and runway.
• Systems for invoicing, collections, and payables that don’t depend on your personal involvement.
• Systems that don’t require more spreadsheets and manual workflows 
• Reporting that makes investors confident instead of concerned.

I’m not talking about turning your early-stage startup into a Fortune 500. I’m talking about setting up the basics so you stop tripping over finance every step of the way.

The Point Founders Miss

Here’s what most founders don’t realize: you don’t need to wait until you’re “big enough” to get real finance support. In fact, the earlier you fix it - or get ahead of it - the easier it is.

Because the longer you put it off, the more expensive and painful it becomes. Cleaning up years of bad records or rebuilding broken systems while you’re trying to scale is a nightmare. It’s like waiting years to see the dentist or tackling that buildup in your storage closet only when it’s time to move.

Strategic finance isn’t something you tack on later. It’s what gives you the clarity and confidence to grow now.

So, Why Put Up With It?

You wouldn’t accept sh*tty product design. You wouldn’t accept sh*tty customer service. So why accept sh*tty finance?

Your business deserves better. Your investors expect better. And you, as a founder, will sleep better when you stop treating finance like an afterthought.

When finance stops being a bottleneck, you have breathing room.