The median small firm now holds fourteen months of cash, up from six in 2022. Founders are not sitting on it out of caution. They are using it as a weapon: to negotiate with suppliers, to wait out slow payers and to hire when larger rivals freeze.
Runway as strategy
A full balance sheet changes every conversation. A supplier offered a 4% discount for payment up front. A client who paid in 90 days could be kept without panic. A hire could be made in a quarter when everyone else had paused.
Cash doesn’t make us safe. It makes us patient, and patience is underpriced.
The cost is real: cash in the bank earns less than cash in the business. But for founders who lived through 2023, the trade feels worth it.
