Building your “Financial Shock Absorb”: the new fundamentals of a good runway

Growth does not protect shock. And in an economic environment where liftings are eager, the margins are expanding and customers extend their decision -making cycles, priority is no longer the trajectory, but theendurance.

For a startup, having a good product, a committed team and an expanding market is no longer enough. It is still necessary to hold. Hold when the income slows down. Keep when the table towers shift. Keep without destroying what has been built.

This is where the role of what good CFO now now calls its “Financial shock absorb” : a set of levers designed to absorb the unexpected, protect cash and preserve the capacity for strategic action. It is not a luxury. It has become an imperative.

The Runway is no longer a KPI, it is insurance.

For a long time, the runway was presented as a passive metric: a simple division between available cash and monthly expenses. A survival calculation.

But in times of tension, this notion turns into strategic variable. It is no longer a question of measuring the time that remains before the wall, but of Design a long enough landing track to maneuver.

The implicit rule has changed: aiming 12 months of visibility becomes the prudent standard, where 6 months were enough in euphoria. This runway extension is not intended to reassure. It aims to create negotiation margins, tactical options, decision -making calm.

Acting before the emergency is secure before missing

Building an effective financial shock absorber requires change of temporality : Decisions must precede stress.

Here are the four levers to activate in priority:

Credit lines negotiated in advance

A credit line is only useful if it is accessible Before that the situation does not tend. To wait to miss to solicit is to expose themselves to refusal or to unfavorable conditions. The CFO must therefore secure this resource while the indicators are still solid.

Reduction of recovery times

During periods of tension, each day of immobilized cash weakens the structure. Starting customer payment deadlines, automating reminders, offering Early Payment incentives are all levers to activate to liquefy cash.

Extension of supplier deadlines (without breaking of confidence)

Intelligently renegotiate the terms of payment with strategic suppliers makes it possible to rebalance the balance. This implies transparent communication: it is not a weak signal, but a measure of caution.

Operational buffers integrated into forecasts

It is not simply a question of providing an optimistic scenario and a pessimist, but of integrating Concrete flexibility margins In spending, recruitment, supply plans.

Rethink the cost structure: dead weight is the enemy

The effectiveness of a financial shock absorber also depends on what it protects. If the cost structure is rigid, unnecessarily heavy or poorly aligned, it becomes an aggravating factor.

The analysis must therefore be uncompromising:

• • What costs are fixed but useless ?
  • Where are we over -equippedeven uptime ?
  • What expenses could be variably ?

It is not a question here of “saving money”, but of make the company adaptable. An organization that can reduce its expenditure intensity by 20 % without touching its value of value has a clear advantage in a volatile environment.

Budgetary discipline as permanent muscle

A good financial shock absorber is not based solely on a punctual action. He is part of a continuous discipline : that of reviewing the plans regularly, stressing the models, following the kpis of cash with rigor.

This implies:

• • Of the monthly budget magazineseven in the growth phase;
  • A Working capital analysis as a priority (DSO, DPO, Stock);
  • Of the Dynamic cash flow toolscapable of modeling several scenarios simultaneously.

The classic error? Not monitor these elements that in times of crisiswhen they must be mastered in a calm timelike a strategic routine.

What allows a good shock absorber: options, confidence, impact

A well -designed shock absorber does not guarantee the absence of jolts. It guarantees a more precious thing: the ability to decide calmly.

• • It allows you to say no to a rushed lifting to degraded conditions.
  • It offers the possibility of continuing to invest in the right canals, when others cut everything.
  • He gives teams a reassuring visibilitywhich feeds mobilization rather than fear.

It is also a strong signal sent to investors: “We do not expect to be in trouble to pilot. We have a strategy.” And in a tense climate, this signal can make the difference between support and withdrawal.

Anticipation as a strategic lever

The construction of a financial shock absorber is not a defensive exercise. It’s a Act of strategic authority.

This shows that the company does not undergo its environment. She reads it, anticipates it and adapts to it. She protects her mission, her teams, and her future by consolidating her room for maneuver.

In an ecosystem where improvisation is still too often valued, this form of discipline appears almost radical. And yet, it is she who, in the coming months, will distinguish the survivors from the accidents.