"Growth sucks cash!" - Verne Harnish 

And the last challenge is Cash. The first law of entrepreneurial gravity is "Growth Sucks Cash." We encourage companies to calculate their Cash Conversion Cycle (CCC) which measures companywide how long it takes between when you spend a dollar (marketing, design, rent, wages, etc.) until you get that dollar back.

In the early days of Dell, the CCC was running 63 days and caused Michael to almost run out of cash. By focusing on decreasing this cycle, today they are running close to minus 35 days. This means they generate more cash the faster they grow, which is why they have over $9 billion in the bank, up from $6 billion when they got in trouble. We believe all growth firms can accomplish this or at least dramatically improve their CCC giving them sufficient internal cash to fuel their growth.

I suggest executives read Neil Churchill’s famous Harvard Business Review article entitled “How Fast Can Your Company Afford to Grow” which provides the formulas for calculating your cash conversion cycle.

Cash is the oxygen of your business. You can get by with decent people, decent strategy, decent execution, but you cannot get by without cash. Improve your Cash Conversion Cycle (CCC).