Surviving year one

The four killers of year-one businesses (in order)

1. No customers. You built a thing nobody asked for, or marketed it to the wrong people.
2. Cash runs out. Profitable on paper but the receivables haven't landed. 'Profit is opinion; cash is fact.'
3. The founder burns out doing every job.
4. A single big customer leaves and the business has no diversification.

What to do in year one

• Talk to 50 prospective customers before you build anything significant. If you can't find 5 who say 'when can I buy?', you don't have a business yet.
• Track cash weekly, not monthly. A simple spreadsheet: cash in, cash out, runway.
• Pay yourself. Even $200/month. It separates business from hobby.
• Hire help before you think you can afford it — a 5hr/week bookkeeper saves you 15hrs/week and a tax mess.
• No one customer should be more than 25% of revenue past month 6.