You’re 60% delivered. You’ve billed 30%.

A project can be profitable on every line of the P&L and still drain the bank account for four months. The gap has a shape, and it's designable.

By Steve 4 min read
Abstract bridge artwork for You’re 60% delivered. You’ve billed 30%.

A services business rarely runs out of cash because its work is unprofitable. It runs out because the cost of the work arrives continuously and the money for it arrives in lumps, and nobody in the business owns the distance between the two. Costs in a project or delivery business accrue by the day. Payroll runs monthly whether or not a milestone was hit. Subcontractors invoice on their own schedule. Software, travel and materials land when the work needs them. Billing, by contrast, accrues by event: a deliverable submitted, a…

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