Whilst I'm currently not working with a start up, my role at the University could one day develop into assisting with some of the start up companies that are created from the universities commitment to investment into new research findings. Therefore this article was really useful as a fresher into the influence Management Accountants can have in assisting start ups. 

I think the key areas of support we can provide is sense checking the validity of business plans and forecasts. It is these plans which will influence the financial strategy of an organisation via purchasing plans, hiring talented employees and when to expect sales revenue. A realistic and time sensible plan will help ensure that a start up will not run out of cash and also retain quality staff / suppliers by ensuring that they are paid on time. 

Of relevance to new partners of our, albeit in a mature market, but the absence of cash for there new start up partners will cause failure, just as per the 29% metric. Our business effectively acts as the bank so understanding the traits that we should be observing in the start up to ensure our money is secure is key. The article provides some clues as to what we should be looking for in a start up that could succeed.

This is something that is really important to me as a freelance finance director. Start Ups do make mistakes and that is okay but having good financial reporting can stop those mistakes becoming a disaster

I have gained some useful insight from this article.  It is a good overview, and I'm interested to learn more.

I currently have been working at a start up for the last 2 years and am just now starting to try and get involved in the strategic decisions of the business.

It has been a challenge and ever since I have been there (very part time initially) I have been trying to break down the walls of not having any finance focus to moving to full reports each month with analysis of variances.

I am not striving to learn and develop my strategic side to enable me to support the business better in all areas.