Out of cash
You ran out of cash after 9 decisions. Most of those calls may have looked reasonable on their own, which is how it usually happens.
You get real experience in the building, and a large new salary.
Play againCheck your real numbers
What each decision was about
The big customer wants a discount
You chose: Give them the full discount.
Customer concentration turns every negotiation into a risk decision.
A star leaves for a rival
You chose: Let them go and share their accounts.
One person holding the relationships is a business risk long before they resign.
AI pitch at the board table
You chose: Run one supervised pilot on a real workflow.
AI value comes from a specific workflow with clean data and an owner, not from an announcement.
Slow-paying customers
You chose: Tighten terms and chase every invoice.
Profit and cash are different things, and receivables are often the cheapest cash you can find.
A shiny new market
You chose: Test it with one person and a clear stop date.
Expansion is a focus decision first and a revenue decision second.
The quality problem
You chose: Fix them all quietly, without explaining.
Trust is usually lost in how you respond, not in the original mistake.
Your team is exhausted
You chose: Hire three people now.
Capacity problems look like motivation problems until you measure them.
A competitor cuts prices
You chose: Match the price cut.
A price war is only worth entering if you know your unit economics better than your rival does.
The founder bottleneck
You chose: Hire a senior COO.
A company that needs its CEO for everything is harder to grow and harder to sell.