Cash-flow & runway
A clear read on your cash – calm, precise, board-grade
Cash is the one number that decides whether you get to keep playing. Alfred reads your bank balances, burn rate and runway the way a seasoned CFO would, then tells you plainly where you stand. Not a dashboard you have to interpret yourself, but a board member who has already done the interpreting and gives you the call.
What real cash-flow oversight is – and why you need it
Cash-flow oversight is not a spreadsheet you open once a month in a panic. It is a standing, current view of money in, money out, and how many months you have left at today's burn. Done properly it answers the questions that actually keep a founder awake: when do you run out, what is driving the burn, and what would change the answer.
The complexity is real: revenue that lands unevenly, payroll and vendor commitments, one-off spikes, currency, the gap between accounting profit and the cash in the bank. Alfred holds all of it at once, reconciles it against your actual balances, and keeps the runway number honest. That is the discipline behind Cash-flow & runway.
A number is only worth having if it changes a decision. Whether it tells you to hold a hire, push a raise out a quarter, or cut a line of spend before it compounds, the point of oversight is to put you in front of the problem rather than behind it.
What you get
A clean baseline of your cash position
Before any judgement, Alfred establishes the facts: cash on hand across accounts, committed outflows, and what is genuinely available versus already spoken for. If the starting numbers are wrong, every conclusion drawn from them is wrong, so this is where the work begins.
Burn rate, broken down
A single burn figure hides the story. Alfred separates fixed from variable, payroll from vendors, recurring from one-off, so you can see which lines are actually moving the number. When you decide to cut, you cut the right thing instead of the easy thing.
Runway in months, kept current
The number that matters most, expressed the way a board reads it: how many months you have at current burn, and how that figure shifts as revenue and spend move. Alfred keeps it live, so you are never relying on a runway you calculated two months and three decisions ago.
Scenario modelling
Decisions are made against futures, not the present. Alfred models the cases that matter: a hire delayed, a deal slipping a quarter, a price change, a downside on revenue. You see what each does to runway before you commit, so the choice is made with eyes open rather than in hope.
Raise timing
Raising too late is fatal; raising too early is expensive dilution. Alfred works back from your runway to tell you when a process needs to start, what you should have proven by then, and how much room you want between closing and zero. Timing, treated as the strategic decision it is.
Spend discipline
Most runway is lost quietly, a commitment at a time. Alfred watches for the spend that creeps, the renewals that should be questioned, and the cost that grew faster than the revenue behind it, then flags it while it is still a small decision rather than a board-meeting problem.
Board-ready cash reporting
When you sit in front of investors, the cash story should already be settled. Alfred prepares the view your board expects: position, burn, runway, the variance against plan, and the one-line answer to "are we fine". No scramble the night before, no surprises in the room.
Standing counsel, on call
Cash questions do not keep office hours. Alfred is there at any hour to pressure-test a decision against the numbers: whether you can afford the hire, take the discount, or carry the slower quarter. The judgement of a board member, available the moment you need it.
How Alfred works
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Phase 1
Connect & reconcile
Alfred is given read access to your accounts and ledgers, then reconciles balances, commitments and recent movements into one trusted view. Within a few days you have a cash position you can actually rely on.
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Phase 2
Establish burn and runway
Alfred breaks the burn into its real drivers and sets the runway figure in months. This is where the picture stops being a number and becomes a story you understand: what is spending you down, and how long you have.
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Phase 3
Model the scenarios
Alfred runs the cases that matter to your next two quarters and shows the effect of each on runway. You see the trade-offs side by side, so the hard calls are made against evidence rather than instinct.
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Phase 4
Decide and act
Alfred turns the analysis into a recommendation: hold, cut, hire, or start a raise, with the reasoning attached. You get a clear call you can take to your board, not a wall of charts to argue over.
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Phase 5
Monitor and report
From there Alfred keeps the position current, flags the moment something drifts off plan, and has your board-ready cash report standing by. Oversight becomes continuous rather than a once-a-quarter fire drill.
Who it suits
Founders carrying the cash themselves
No CFO yet, the runway in your head, and every spend decision landing on your desk. Alfred gives you the financial counsel you do not yet have on the payroll.
Teams approaching a raise
You need the cash story watertight and the timing right before you walk into a room. Alfred gets the numbers and the runway argument ready to stand up to scrutiny.
Companies tightening burn
When the priority shifts from growth to survival, you need to cut without crippling the business. Alfred shows where the runway is leaking and what to trim first.
Boards that want one honest number
Directors who are tired of reconciling three versions of the runway. Alfred gives everyone the same current figure, and the reasoning behind it.
What it costs
Standing cash oversight
from 30.000 EUR
Alfred holding your position, burn and runway current, with counsel on the calls in front of you.
Full financial counsel with scenario and raise support
80.000+ EUR
Deeper modelling, raise-timing work and board-ready reporting for companies with more moving parts. Set against the cost of one mistimed raise or a runway that ran out unseen, it is a modest price for knowing exactly where you stand.
Why Pennyworth Co?
A board member, not a dashboard
Alfred does not hand you charts and leave you to draw the conclusion. He reads the numbers, forms a view, and tells you what he would do, the way a seasoned director sitting across the table would.
Your business, not a template
No generic runway rule of thumb. Alfred works from your actual cash, your revenue shape and your commitments, so the counsel fits the company you are running rather than an average of all of them.
One trusted view
Position, burn, runway, scenarios and raise timing all sit with Alfred. No reconciling between tools or advisors, no version that disagrees with another, one source you and your board can both stand behind.
Judgement, not just data
The hard part of cash is never the arithmetic, it is knowing which decision the numbers are pointing to. Alfred carries the experience to read between the figures and call it, calmly and in time.
FAQs
How current is the runway number Alfred gives me?
As current as the accounts Alfred reads. He reconciles against your live balances and recent movements, so the runway figure reflects where you actually stand today, not where you stood at the last month-end close.
Does Alfred replace my finance person or CFO?
If you have a strong finance lead, Alfred sharpens their work and gives you a second, always-available read. If you do not yet have one, he covers the board-level cash judgement you are missing until you do. He is counsel, not a bookkeeper, and he is at his best alongside good people.
Can I ask Alfred about a specific decision, not just the headline numbers?
Yes. Put the question to him directly, whether you can afford a hire, take a discount, or carry a slower quarter, and he answers against your real cash and runway, with the reasoning shown. That is the point of having a board member rather than a report.
Will Alfred tell me when something needs my attention?
Yes. Alfred watches the position between conversations and raises it when the runway drifts off plan, when burn moves the wrong way, or when raise timing starts to matter. You hear about the problem while it is still small enough to act on.
