¿Qué longitud debe tener la pasarela de tu startup?

Masterclass sobre financiación de startups: Primera parte

As a startup founder, you often get asked what your startup runway looks like. It’s a super common question. And yet most of us end up balancing our time and money on an Excel sheet.

Este post es la Primera Parte de una nueva Serie Masterclass sobre Financiación de Startups. La financiación es el combustible con el que funciona todo negocio. Conocer los entresijos de la financiación es, por tanto, esencial si quieres que tu startup tenga éxito. Buscamos una guía compacta pero completa sobre financiación de startups y no la encontramos por ninguna parte, así que decidimos construirla nosotros mismos. Ésta es esa guía esencial.

We bring it to you in partnership with Belgium’s largest startup and scale-up accelerator Start it @KBC, supporting and promoting more than 1.000 entrepreneurs with innovative ideas and scalable business models.

– Jeroen Corthout, Co-Founder Salesflare, un CRM de ventas fácil de usar para pequeñas empresas B2B.

This article aims to explain not just what ‘startup runway’ really means. We’ll also show you how it’s calculated, how much runway you need and how to lower your cash burn.

 

1. ¿Qué es una pista de despegue?

A startup runway is similar to how an actual runway allows airplanes to take off and land. It refers to how long your company can survive in the market if the income and expenses remain constant. If a startup doesn’t have enough runway, they risk going out of business before they understand the market they’re looking to serve. Imagine having just developed a great product but being left without the cash required to sell it. Every entrepreneur’s worst nightmare.

Let’s look at a business without any revenue. They’re spending (or burning) about $10,000 every month. With $100,000 in the bank, they have a 10-month runway.

En estos diez meses, la startup no sólo tendría que llevar sus productos al mercado, sino también mantener una reserva de efectivo superior a su consumo.

CBInsights afirma que quedarse sin pista de aterrizaje es la segunda razón más probable para que las startups fracasen. De ahí que la razón por la que la mayoría de las startups recaudan dinero suele ser para aumentar su autonomía hasta que la empresa empiece a generar ingresos.

 

2. ¿Cómo se calcula la pista de despegue?

1. Define your startup’s gross revenue

If you’re not closing deals yet, proceed directly to the next section on documenting your expenses. If you are closing deals: record the value of each deal in an Excel sheet and add them all up to know your gross revenue. Be conservative! Focus only on the deals that have already been paid or are very likely to get paid.

 

2. Document your startup’s expenses

Empieza a documentar cada pequeño gasto que hagas dirigiendo tu startup. Desde los equipos que contratas hasta los gastos operativos, como espacio de oficinas, internet, facturas de comida, teléfono y mucho más: inclúyelos todos en tus gastos.

 

3. Calcule su consumo neto de efectivo

Burn rate refers to the rate at which a startup would spend from its cash pool in a loss scenario. It’s calculated by subtracting the operational expenses from the revenue generated by the startup on a monthly basis. If you’re pre-revenue, then your cash burn is equal to your expenditure.

Net Cash Burn = Revenue – Expenditure

 

4. Determine la pista de despegue

Divide el efectivo que tienes en el banco por el consumo neto de efectivo calculado anteriormente para saber cuánto tiempo te queda para empezar.

 

¿Qué pasa con los próximos costes que tendrá que escalar?

Aunque el runway de arranque se refiere sobre todo a un escenario constante, sigue adelante y sé conservador: incluye estos gastos en tu runway. O bien resta gastos de tu runway o incluye gastos mensuales en tu gasto en el paso 3. Si no tienes ni idea de lo que puedes necesitar, intenta aprovechar tu red de contactos: busca empresas con modelos de negocio o tecnologías similares. Normalmente, sus gastos proporcionarán una buena aproximación a los tuyos.

 

¿Qué pasa con los ingresos?

De nuevo: sé conservador y déjalos fuera por ahora. Tienen su lugar en tu plan de negocio, pero no en tu pista de aterrizaje.

 

3. ¿Cuánto margen de arranque debe reunir?

Aunque cada startup tiene objetivos diferentes y, por tanto, pistas de aterrizaje distintas, el informe de CB Insights comparte algunas estimaciones sobre el lapso de tiempo medio entre rondas de financiación para empresas tecnológicas.

• 12 meses para Semilla a Serie A
• 15 meses de la Serie A a la Serie B

Experienced venture capitalists like Fred Wilson recommend planning a startup runway of about 18 months between rounds. This time span is meant to give you a cushion period to implement your plans even in situations that will make growth more difficult, i.e. so-called ‘headwinds’.

Otro estudio publicado por Radicle Labs, sin embargo, afirma que el periodo medio indicado puede ser demasiado corto. Teniendo en cuenta el crecimiento de las startups en diferentes etapas, sugiere que los fundadores deben planificar al menos 18-21 meses de pista de aterrizaje, yendo tan alto como casi 35 meses para ir a lo seguro.

The reason is simple: things don’t usually go as planned.

 

4. ¿Cuáles son los errores que hay que evitar?

You should look to raise more than you think you’ll need, without giving up too much equity or creating unattainable valuation expectations.

If you raise just enough or far more than your runway, it indicates that you weren’t aggressive enough with your plans, or gave up too much equity, respectively. And if you raise too little for the period, there’s the risk of running out of money before you make enough progress to raise the next round.

Remember to take into account existing operational costs and what you might need as you’re scaling.

Busque la forma de reducir al mínimo el gasto y evite simplemente los siguientes errores al recaudar fondos para su pista de aterrizaje:

 

1. Recaudar demasiado poco

You might feel like you’re being really realistic, but raising too little is a big no-no. The penny-wise approach might actually result in you having to raise money more regularly.

Considering how long each fundraising round, you’ll be wasting a lot of time trying to raise funds instead of focusing on building and growing your startup. What’s even worse is that every time you have to go out to raise more, your risk of failure increases. Perhaps you’ll be going through a slow period just when you would need to raise again? It’s always better to raise while you’re hot.

 

2. Aumentar lo justo

There’s a fine line between raising too little and just enough for your startup runway. Let’s say you go with the time frame suggested by industry experts, i.e., about 18 months or less and raise runway for exactly that period.

Now, in this scenario, assume you’re going to end up taking up to 10 months to build a product that caters to your target market needs. Then you’ll take about two months to raise funds, which will then take a few more months to show up in your account. This leaves you with barely a month or two to grow your product.

Considering just how many companies are out there trying to target the same market as you, that’s way too little to even start getting attention.

Consejo profesional: Make sure you raise enough for a buffer period in case things don’t go as planned, which is not uncommon in startups.

 

3. Aumentar demasiado

Cuando se trata de tu startup, es comprensible que quieras darte el tiempo suficiente para tantear el terreno. Pensar así podría tentarte a recaudar fondos durante más tiempo para hacer frente a los gastos del proyecto.

Si lo haces, te quitarás un poco de estrés de encima, pero corres el riesgo de perder demasiado tiempo en alcanzar cada hito de la hoja de ruta de tu producto. Incluso puede que lo lance demasiado tarde al mercado y pierda la oportunidad de tantear el terreno o de crecer.

But that’s not all: raising too much also puts you in a tough spot with investors.

It might put the expectations of your current investors too high if you raise a lot at a high valuation, setting you up for the well-known trap of failure versus expectations: in the next round you will need to have delivered on your previous’ round valuation or you won’t be trusted with another round.

Por otro lado, renunciar a demasiados fondos propios para conseguir más financiación hace que tu startup resulte menos interesante para los inversores en las próximas rondas.

In the, frankly, likely case that you do end up misjudging your startup runway, the only way to not crash and burn is to try and prolong it. That can be done by paying attention to what you’re spending the most money on and starting to reduce your monthly burn.

 

5. ¿Cómo reducir el consumo de efectivo y prolongar la vida útil de la empresa?

It’s important to continually monitor the growth of your startup plus your cash burn at every stage and to also improve your operations in order to optimize your startup runway.

 

1. Controle sistemáticamente su tesorería

A common metric that startup founders measure to track performance is the profit their business is making. But while that gives you an idea of how much money you’re making on an accounting basis, it’s far more important to understand what your cash balance looks like by monitoring your cash flows. It’s not for nothing that “cash is king”.

Cash flow refers to the total amount of money that’s being transferred in and out of your company’s bank account. It therefore tells you how much your cash reserve grows and shrinks in a certain period.

Pago Rápido comparte una sencilla fórmula para calcular su flujo de caja:

Cash Flow = Income – Expenditure

Los ingresos deben incluir ventas, inversiones, préstamos bancarios, subvenciones y otros tipos de financiación. Los gastos deben tener en cuenta los salarios del equipo, los costes operativos, los impuestos y el IVA, la devolución de préstamos y gastos similares.

 

2. Reduzca sus gastos

Mientras supervisa su flujo de caja, identifique dónde puede reducir sus gastos para prolongar su pista de despegue.

Aquí tienes algunas cosas que puedes hacer:

• Opte por oficinas compartidas – Save on the operational costs of a leased office and work from co-working spaces.
• Don’t hire teams prematurely – Instead of bringing in full-time resources, consider outsourcing certain tasks.
• Automatice más tareas – Don’t spend time and resources trying to accomplish tasks manually. Automate procesos como la facturación para centrarse en el crecimiento de su negocio.
• Gastar en lo que realmente funciona – Be it in marketing or sales, don’t spread yourself too thin and restrict your budgets to things that have proven effective before.
• Crear una cultura de frugalidad – Advocate the lean startup thought process more actively and motivate your teams to try and make the most out of restricted budgets.
• Revisar periódicamente los costes – Review major expenses and renegotiate. Include your team and make it a culture building activity. Keep in mind the 80/20 rule and focus on big wins so you don’t get sidetracked.

 

3. Tome las riendas de sus cuentas por cobrar

Receivables refer to your startup’s outstanding invoices. It’s the money owed to you by your clients. The time frame you allow your customers to settle these invoices has a direct impact on the burn for that period.

Let’s say you allow invoices to be paid within a 90-days period. In this scenario, you need to be able to fund your startup’s operations for the duration of that period without jeopardizing expenses for the coming month.

To manage your receivables well, start by clearly defining your payment terms. Make sure all your customers know when their payments are due plus the charges on late payments. Don’t put yourself in a position where you’re drowning in debt just to try and please your customers.

Consejo profesional: Aunque el margen es importante, el efectivo en el banco lo es aún más. Plantéate descuentos para incentivar a los clientes a pagar por adelantado.

 

4. Crear un fondo de emergencia

Just like the first aid kit in your home, an emergency fund is for times when your startup hits an unforeseen low. This could be because your expenses suddenly shoot up while you’re still months away from raising the next round of funding. Or it could be because you’re suddenly required to add unaccounted-for resources -like a specialized consultant- to your road map to grow faster.

The startup world is unpredictable and that’s precisely why you need to create an emergency fund for your business. This refers to the amount you set aside and won’t even think about using until there’s absolutely no other choice.

Los expertos aconsejan mantener unos fondos de emergencia que le permitan subsistir entre tres meses y un año. Deben permitirte hacer frente a los gastos corrientes y dejar margen para otros adicionales.

 

5. Haga que la tecnología trabaje para usted

Muchos de nosotros utilizamos hojas de Excel para planificar nuestras finanzas. Pero cuando se crea una empresa, resulta difícil controlar el flujo de caja. Hacerlo todo manualmente supone arriesgarse a cometer errores humanos y a no poder mantener las hojas actualizadas en todo momento.

Esta es exactamente la razón por la que necesitas empezar a utilizar herramientas inteligentes como Runway, Wave, QuickBooks y otras para hacer un seguimiento de las finanzas durante tu runway. Eliminar esta carga administrativa de tus hombros te dará tranquilidad y más tiempo para centrarte en hacer crecer tu startup.

 

6. Despegar de la pista de despegue

La idea de asegurar la pista de aterrizaje de tu startup es darte el tiempo suficiente para volar al siguiente nivel de crecimiento con tu empresa.

So make sure that when you’re planning to launch your startup, you’re backing every move with concrete market data and calculating the cost you will have to incur for it, so that you have enough room (but not too much!) to successfully execute that take-off maneuver.

Ready for take-off? Share with us some of the tips you have followed to successfully calculate your startup runway! Also, don’t forget to tune in next week for Part Two in our Startup Funding Masterclass: Sources Of Startup Funding!

O echa un vistazo a este resumen de la Masterclass de Financiación de Startups.

Esperamos que te haya gustado este post. Si es así, ¡difúndelo!

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