#startup
Essential accounting and finance guidance for startup founders
Revenue-based financing repays a lender 2-8% of monthly revenue until a 1.2x-3x cap is reached, typically costing 20-50% effective APR versus 40-300%+ for merchant cash advances, with no equity or collateral required.
Stripe Billing suits developer-led SaaS teams under roughly $500K MRR, Chargebee fits non-engineers managing complex pricing above a monthly platform fee, and Recurly's ML-optimized dunning recovers 40-70% of failed payments versus about 15% with no intervention.
ASC 606 still governs AI token-based pricing, but variable consideration estimates, the right-to-invoice practical expedient, and breakage on prepaid credit packs make usage-based revenue recognition materially harder to get right than flat-rate SaaS subscriptions.
Margins don't collapse in a crisis — they leak in small cost steps. A quarterly loop to measure by SKU/channel, reprice in structure, cut waste not wages, and keep a buffer.
The One Big Beautiful Bill Act's Section 174A permanently restores immediate tax deduction of domestic software development and R&E costs for tax years beginning after December 31, 2024, reversing the five-year amortization rule that had strained small tech companies' cash flow since 2022.
SBIR and STTR awards are cost-reimbursable federal funding governed by FAR 31.205 and 2 CFR 200 — DOE now caps indirect costs at 15% of total award value, NIH has tightened its F&A allowance, and undocumented labor costs are the most common clawback trigger.
A practical guide for U.S. SaaS founders, foundation model providers, and AI agent builders navigating the EU AI Act before the August 2, 2026 enforcement deadline — covering Article 22 representatives, Article 50 transparency disclosures, GPAI Code of Practice obligations, fine tiers up to 7% of global turnover, and procurement-questionnaire readiness.
A state-by-state operational playbook for SaaS founders in 2026 covering economic nexus thresholds, taxability maps (NY, TX, PA, WA taxable; CA non-taxable), Stripe Tax vs Anrok vs Avalara vs TaxJar trade-offs, true object test for bundled invoices, and VDA strategy for cleaning up historical exposure.
How the One Big Beautiful Bill Act rewrote Section 1202 QSBS — a tiered 50/75/100% gain exclusion at three, four, and five years; a $15 million per-issuer cap; a $75 million gross asset threshold at issuance; and non-grantor trust stacking that can lift a founder's combined exclusion well past the single-taxpayer limit.
Section 1202 lets founders, early employees, and angel investors exclude up to $15 million of capital gains from federal tax. This guide covers the OBBBA changes, the five eligibility gates, the new 3/4/5-year tiered holding period, Section 1045 rollovers, and stacking strategies that multiply the per-issuer cap across family members and non-grantor trusts.
OBBBA restored immediate Section 174 domestic R&E expensing in 2026 and gives small businesses until July 6, 2026 to amend 2022–2024 returns. A practical guide to the Section 41 four-part test, the 14% Alternative Simplified Credit, the Section 280C reduced-credit election, and the $500,000 payroll tax offset for qualified small businesses.
A practical tax playbook for startup employees holding ISOs or NSOs — covering AMT exposure via Form 6251 line 2i, the 30-day Section 83(b) deadline, the two-year-and-one-year qualifying disposition rule, the $100,000 first-exercisable ISO cap, and the 1099-B cost basis error that causes double taxation.
