Product Planner is a cloud-based tool we built to help teams get their product data ready for manufacturing. It’s centered around the full product BOM (ME, EE, and packaging) and provides a solid structure for communication, collaboration, and reports that give manufacturing insights. It’s a tool, not a document, and this dynamic ability helps you understand things like your break-even point or cash flow needed early so these consequences of decisions you're making based on cost, quality and schedule don't impact your business down the line. If you're not ready for the time and expense of an enterprise level tool start a 14-day free trial today!
Most hardware startups don’t fail because of the quality of their product or the technical ability of their team. Most hardware startups fail because they run out of cash. Understanding things like your break-even point or your cash flow needed at key points in your design and manufacturing can be the difference of whether your product fails or succeeds.
Why is Cash Flow Important?
Cash flow is vitally important for the survival of hardware companies, especially startups. While knowing costs is helpful for understanding needed sales quantities and price setting, cash flow shows you how much money you need to raise, when you need it, and how long you need it for. Understanding capital requirements can make the difference between shipping product and shutting down mid-production.
We built the cash flow report to help teams understand, prepare for, and optimize their financial needs ahead of production. If you have these insights ahead of time, you'll be much more equipped to make key decisions to get your product to market.
What are the Key Features in the Cash Flow Report?
Our cash flow report users vary their channel margin and payments terms to determine their working capital needs as well as discover what better terms could mean for their business. You can also experiment with different terms to see what has the biggest impact on your cash needs. This is built on top of Product Planner’s deep product data management capabilities to always represent the latest version of your costs.
How does this Fit the Bigger Picture of Getting your Product to Market Faster?
Planning ahead allows creators to expect and mitigate potential issues so they can spend their time wowing customers rather than fighting fires. This allows for reallocating funds where needed, negotiating for better lead times and understanding how much funding you'll need overall.
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