Ask HN: What's a reasonable cash reserve to have for a bootstrapped startup?
I run a cash flow startup. We're profitable and I'm building a cash reserve. Yesterday I read that TINT [1] uses a "health ratio" of cash/monthly burn and theirs is like 1.6, meaning they have 1.6 months of cash reserve. To me that seems really low. I'm aiming for something like 12 months. Am I being too conservative? What do you guys have in your bank?
[1]http://www.tintup.com/blog/tough-times-dont-last-but-tough-startups-do/
Published in 2016, this chronicle by @wooyi details the mechanics of building a profitable, self-funded business without venture backing.
Core Principles for Independent Builders:
Charging customers from day one acts as the ultimate filter for building software that solves genuine, high-urgency problems.
Keeping fixed overhead low and leveraging lean infrastructure allows founders to stay alive until market tailwinds kick in.
Small, repetitive improvements in customer retention and conversion rates yield massive returns over multi-year horizons.
Community Debate Themes:
The community focused on B2B customer acquisition channels, cold email vs SEO distribution, and balancing full-time employment with side-project development.
CATEGORY Bootstrapping & MRR →
HISTORICAL ERA Cloud & Mobile Era (2014–2019)
COMMUNITY SCORE ★ 4 points
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