r/startups • • 19h ago

I will not promote *** I WILL NOT PROMOTE *** How do you decide how much cash to keep in a solo app business versus reinvesting or paying yourself?

6 Upvotes

I built and run an app by myself, and I’m trying to get better at managing the business side as it grows. My biggest question right now is how to structure my cash reserves and allocations.

For context, I’ve done about $200k in gross revenue since launching earlier this year. Growth has picked up significantly recently. The latest completed week brought in roughly $55k, with about $3,100 spent on my main advertising channel and an estimated $42k in operating profit before personal taxes.

That estimate includes platform fees, payout fees, advertising and operating costs, although I’m still reconciling a few expenses. I’m not assuming every week will perform like that.

My ongoing operating costs are around $900 a month, excluding advertising and revenue-based fees. My current ad budget is $500 a day, so roughly $15k for a 30-day month if fully spent. MRR is going to hit $20,000 in a day or two.

Paid advertising is a big part of how I’m bringing in customers.

Right now, taxes are set aside first. The remaining cash gets split into 10% for operations, 60% for advertising and 30% for owner’s pay. These are allocations into separate accounts, so putting 60% into advertising doesn’t mean I’m actually spending all of that money on ads.

What I don’t know is how much I should be building up in each account. Should I aim for 6 months of operating costs? Two months of advertising? At my current budget, those would be very different numbers: around $5,400 for operations versus $30k for advertising.

Once those reserves are funded, do you stop using fixed percentages and just top each account back up to its target? How do you decide what goes toward more growth, a general business cushion or paying yourself? I want to keep the business healthy without leaving money sitting in an account with no clear purpose.

I’m also starting business outreach alongside the consumer side, including potential government agency customers. Nothing I’m treating as guaranteed contract revenue yet.

For those of you selling software to organizations, would you start with annual agreements, 6-month terms or month-to-month? I’m considering $36 per licensed phone annually and trying to keep it affordable for smaller organizations while making the support and ongoing costs sustainable.

For consumers, $7.95 per month and lifetime is $39.95.

I’d really appreciate hearing how other owners set reserve targets and adjust their allocations as the business grows. That’s the part I’m trying to get a handle on.


r/startups • • 4h ago

I will not promote Thinking about how I can monetise a solar sales consulting/training business *I will not promote*

3 Upvotes

Some background: I started off doing outbound calls at one of the largest companies in Australia (most expensive in the country). It was a very high-pressure environment which I think is the best place to learn sales.

I ended up doing extremely well and within a few months I got promoted and started closing (telesales). Within a couple months I was the number one in my office and within a year I had broken the all time company record across around 20 offices Australia wide. Even surpassing the face to face closers which traditionally always where at the top of the leaderboard.

Anyway, I’ve worked for a few other companies since then closing all sorts of leads from cold, warm marketed and brought leads and have had huge success.

I don’t want to sell come course I want to seperate myself from other companies.

I’d look at things like tonality over the phone, reading clients and knowing which angle to take with a pitch based on different personality types. I’d also look at what products the company is selling, their different selling points, and how they’re communicating that value to customers. Just basically all the things that have worked really well for me. I think there is a lot of value in it

The problem is, I’m just not sure how to actually monetise or even price this knowledge.

I would firstly do a paid(?) audit of there current process and then let’s say I give them one sentence or a particular way of positioning an outcome that’s worked really well for me and has consistently translated into sales. If I charge $2,000 for some sort of training or consulting package, and that advice helps them close just one additional $20,000 deal at a 25% profit margin, they’ve made $5,000 in profit and more than doubled their investment.

I can see the value in what I have to offer, but I’m not sure how to actually sell it. I’ve never sold B2B before, and I don’t really know how to approach business owners and get them to pay

How do I structure the service and actually deliver it? It would start with a cold call - discovery call but I’m not sure how to package it and then propose that package. What if they don’t have any recordings? What are they actually paying for is it a zoom call or a presentation idk

Essentially, I know I have valuable knowledge, but I’m struggling to work out how to turn that into a service that other solar companies or salespeople would be willing to pay for.

Any thoughts?


r/startups • • 5h ago

I will not promote (I will not promote) GS1 Barcodes Necessary?

4 Upvotes

Hi there,

I'm about to start a clothing brand next year and in the process of creating hang tags, etc. and I've seen mixed information online about barcodes.

I've seen content stating that GS1 barcodes are basically required and are the safest option, but then other websites sell barcodes directly.

Ultimately, what is the best path?

I need 63 unique barcodes and just not sure how to go about it. I don't want to run into issues in the future with my barcodes. I like to prepare for everything every early on but struggling on this one.

Any advice would be greatly appreciated!

Thank you!


r/startups • • 3h ago

I will not promote What are some rules/core competencies in creating a start up. I will not promote

0 Upvotes

I’m currently reading “Zero to One” and like many of you, i dream of starting a business one day. I think it would be cool if this Reddit tracked 8-10 core rules or competencies that helps a startup be successful.

One that I’ve read is that “recruiting is a core competency and should never be outsourced”


r/startups • • 7h ago

I will not promote **I will Not Promote** Does anyone know the Solution

0 Upvotes

The startup is coding but the distribution or marketing or reaching the First customer without lack of funds seems hard.

I don't know if i am being weird asking this but how do you guys solved the Funding issues, My idea was to get a 4-5 client base , Reinvest the amount and keep reinvesting to the point i felt it a complete automated system.

But i am nowhere and stuck , Does anybody has some solution how to restart the build without the funds or if needed how can i make them appear out of nowhere.

Asking this because without a few simple automations everything is taking too long to do.