The Only Three Finance Dashboards Every Early‑Stage Founder Needs
As a founder, you wear a lot of hats, and “Finance Lead” usually isn’t the one you’re most excited about. But understanding your startup’s financial health doesn’t have to be overwhelming. In fact, it should be simple, focused, and aligned with the decisions you’re making every week.
That’s where a few key finance dashboards come in.
You don’t need 20 tabs in a spreadsheet or complicated reporting tools. You need just three core dashboards to manage your cash, runway, and growth with confidence.
Dashboard 1: 13‑Week Cash Flow Forecast
What it shows:
This is a weekly breakdown of expected cash inflows (customer payments, funding, etc.) and outflows (payroll, rent, vendors) over the next 13 weeks — plus your net cash flow and ending balance each week.
Why it matters:
This is your financial radar system. It shows you whether you’ll have enough cash to cover your obligations, not just this month, but several weeks out. It helps you spot red flags early and take action before problems arise as well as actionable insights to lean into growth drivers when cash is available.
How to use it:
Update it every week with actuals and revised forecasts.
Use it to time expenses (delay a payment? speed up collections?).
Let it guide decisions about hiring, spending, or fundraising.
💡Tip: If you haven’t built one yet, check out our previous post: How to Build a Simple 13-Week Cash Flow Model.
Dashboard 2: Burn Rate & Runway Tracker
What it shows:
Your burn rate: the net amount of cash you’re spending monthly.
Your runway: how many months you can operate before you run out of cash, assuming current burn continues.
Why it matters:
This is your big-picture pulse check. Investors and advisors care about burn and runway because it shows how efficiently you’re growing — and how urgent your next funding or revenue milestone might be.
How to use it:
Calculate average net burn (monthly) over the past 3–6 months.
Divide current cash by net burn to get runway (in months).
Track this monthly and tie it to product or hiring milestones.
Example:
$500K cash ÷ $50K net monthly burn = 10 months runway
💡 Tip: Use this to guide how aggressively you can grow — or how conservatively you need to operate.
Dashboard 3: Key Operating Metrics
What it shows:
The core financial KPIs that tell you how well your business is operating. A good starter dashboard includes:
MRR or ARR (Monthly / Annual Recurring Revenue)
Customer churn rate
Customer Acquisition Cost (CAC)
MAU (Monthly Active Users)
ARPU (Average Revenue per User)
Gross margins
Accounts Receivable (AR) and Payable (AP) days
Why it matters:
While your cash flow and burn show you the financial runway, these metrics show the quality of your growth and how efficiently you’re converting investment into value.
How to use it:
Track these monthly (at a minimum and more often if your business allows)
Align them with your board reporting or OKRs.
Use trends and benchmarks to guide pricing, marketing spend, and hiring.
💡Tip: You don’t need to track every metric — just the ones that tie directly to your model and goals.
Why These Dashboards Work Together
Think of these three dashboards like a flight plan:
13-week cash flow is your front windshield — it tells you what’s coming.
Burn and Runway are your fuel gauge — it shows how long you can keep going.
Operating KPIs are your instrument panel — they tell you how efficiently the engine is running.
Together, they help you:
Spot risks early
Make decisions with confidence
Communicate clearly with your team and investors
Getting Started: Build Your Weekly Finance Ritual
Even if you’re a team of one (or two), start building this rhythm:
Review all three dashboards weekly or biweekly
Replace estimates with actuals
Flag issues, revise assumptions, and take small corrective actions
If you don’t have time to build these yourself, this is exactly where fractional finance support can help. We help set them up, maintain them, and translate them into actionable insights.
Excelerate’s Role
At Excelerate, we provide fractional Finance and HR leadership for early stage startups. We help founders build the operational foundation for scale without the cost of full time executives.
As Co-Founder and a Fractional Chief Finance Officer, I work with early stage teams to gain visibility, build discipline and make better decisions through strategic finance. Some of the things we can do to help are:
Setting up tools and processes that founders can maintain.
Ensuring cash flow connects with broader business goals (growth, margin, runway).
Translating data into strategy.
You do not need a full time Finance team to do this well. At Excelerate, we thrive in bridging the gap between art and science to develop actionable dashboards that enable you to build and execute upon your strategy.
Let’s Talk
If you do not have any dashboards or reporting, start now. It is a simple way to bring financial clarity to your business.
If you need help getting there, that is exactly what we do at Excelerate. Let’s talk, even if it is just to benchmark where you stand today. Reach us at hello@excelerate.work and check out our website, www.excelerate.work.