The KTLO Budget for Early Stage Startups to Navigate Turbulent Times
As an advisor to early stage startups with a strong focus on financials, I have witnessed the transformative potential of a KTLO (Keep The Lights On) budget, particularly in times of economic downturn.
Throughout my career, I have led operations teams for high-growth tech startups, overseeing the crucial roles that often fell outside the purview of the CMO, CFO, CTO, CEO, and other executives.
Operations served as the glue that held the entire engine together, establishing the necessary technological infrastructure, systems, personnel, and processes to support the execution of our go-to-market strategy. By maintaining a pulse on all the engine components, we were able to develop a deep understanding of the costs associated with running the engine and identify the elements that were truly critical for keeping the engine humming.
During our annual budgeting process, the Operations team collaborated with other departments to align growth plans with corporate goals. We built revenue plans and budgets that not only garnered support from the executive team and board but also provided a clear delineation between ramp-up and down costs in relation to revenue growth. This approach offered transparency on the fundamental costs, teams, and resources required to ensure stability even during turbulent times.
We recognized the distinction between necessary expenditures and those tied to immediate revenue growth, particularly when investments in growth might not yield immediate returns. In a recession, gaining clarity on what is core— including the founders' livelihood and activities crucial for revenue generation—empowers decision-making when it comes to preserving cash reserves in the face of a potential cash flow crisis.
To assist you in developing your own KTLO budget, I've compiled a practical cheatsheet:
Assess your available cash and identify the main expenses required to sustain the delivery functions that guarantee incumbent revenue with a reasonable level of confidence.
The KTLO budget operates under the assumption that you will not have any net new cash or sales beyond what you can guarantee from existing sources. Construct a spending plan that maximizes your cash runway, ideally extending it for a minimum of 12 months. This ensures that, even in the worst-case scenario, you can maintain your conservative revenue plan without falling into negative territory.
Starting from this baseline, incorporate any new hires, resources, and expenses tied directly to revenue growth. Anything beyond the KTLO plan should be seen as additional investments aimed at driving revenue from new customers or expanding within current accounts. This becomes your scale-out Growth budget, offering a clearer picture of how these investments contribute to your top-line growth.
As your Growth budget evolves, you will begin to identify which investments yield more predictable returns compared to others. With a healthy cash reserve and an extended runway, you can allocate more resources to experimentation. This enhanced visibility allows for strategic capital allocation that maintains cash flow neutrality while ensuring that every dollar spent on net new initiatives significantly contributes to revenue growth.
By stress-testing the engine and exploring various scenarios, you can approach the challenge of surpassing revenue targets with confidence and strategic acumen. Rather than being an exercise in anxiety management, this process becomes an opportunity for intelligent capital allocation that ensures solvency.
The depth of knowledge encapsulated within the KTLO budget is vast, and given the current economic climate, adopting such prudent planning measures is paramount. As an early stage startup, embracing the power of the KTLO budget can serve as a catalyst for survival, growth, and long-term success, enabling you to weather storms and emerge stronger than ever before.