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Cash Flow January 23, 2026 · 5 min read

The 13-week cash flow forecast every workout starts with

A working spreadsheet beats every story you'll tell yourself. The five-row model we use to design every Delancey workout.

Delancey Editorial
+ UPDATED 2026 · Senior Director of Operations · Reviewed by Lauren Staffieri · 5 min read
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The 13-week cash flow forecast every workout starts with

Before any settlement, restructure, or negotiation, we build the same artifact: a 13-week direct cash flow forecast. It is the single most important document in the file because it establishes — in numbers — what the business can sustain.

Why 13 weeks

Thirteen weeks is short enough that every line is forecastable from real bookings, contracts, and recurring expenses; long enough to capture the next quarter's seasonality. Anything shorter is reactive. Anything longer hides assumptions.

The five rows

  • Beginning operating cash (real bank balance)
  • Cash inflows: collections from existing AR, contracted recurring revenue, expected new sales (with explicit confidence)
  • Operating outflows: payroll, rent, utilities, COGS — all the must-pays
  • Debt service: every MCA, term loan, lease, vendor obligation listed by week
  • Ending operating cash (carries to next week's opener)

What it tells us

The forecast tells us what the business can sustainably pay each week — which becomes the floor of every settlement we negotiate. Funders are far more likely to accept a settlement that is documented as the maximum sustainable payment than one that's pulled from a story. The spreadsheet is the story.

TL;DR
Build a 13-week direct cash flow forecast before you negotiate anything. The maximum sustainable weekly outflow it shows is the number every settlement should land near.
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