04The Core 4 · Peak Cash Need
How much capital is required to reach liquidity or sustainability?
Peak cash need is the deepest the business ever goes into the red before it turns cash-positive — the maximum capital actually at risk. It's the number a capital-allocation decision turns on: how much you can lose before the bet proves itself.
- 01
The capital at risk
Not how much you'll raise someday, but the most the venture is underwater before it turns cash-positive.
- 02
Where staging comes from
Knowing peak cash lets you commit the minimum — fund the cheapest proof first, release more as evidence lands.
- 03
The number leadership acts on
Go / no-go and deal sizing both hang off this single figure.
What you leave with
Your venture's peak cash need — and the assumptions that drive it.