Business banking and payments

Bank accounts, payment processors, invoicing and reconciliation. Unglamorous, and it decides whether you can actually collect money.

What is it?

The practical money infrastructure:

A business bank account, separate from personal — non-negotiable once incorporated A payment processor to take card payments Invoicing for anything not paid by card Expense management so spending is visible Reconciliation — matching what the bank shows against what your records say

Why does a founder care?

Because mixing personal and business money makes bookkeeping painful, tax filings unreliable and due diligence unpleasant — and in some structures it can undermine the liability protection incorporation was meant to give you.

And because how you collect money directly affects cash flow. Card payment on signup arrives today. A 60-day invoice arrives in two months.

Example

The stack a small software company actually needs:

  • Business current account. Separate from personal, from day one of incorporation.
  • Payment processor for card payments. Typically 1.5–3% plus a fixed fee — expensive but instant, which is worth a great deal for cash flow.
  • Invoicing for larger customers who need purchase orders. Slower and cheaper.
  • Accounting software connected to the bank, categorising automatically.
  • Company cards for the team with per-card limits, rather than reimbursements.

    • The cash-flow difference is the point. Same $12,000 annual contract:

  • Paid by card upfront: $11,700 in the bank today after fees
  • Invoiced monthly on 30-day terms: about $1,000 a month, first payment in 30 days
  • Invoiced annually on 60-day terms: $12,000, in two months

    • All three are the same revenue and three completely different cash positions. Offering a discount for annual upfront payment is often the cheapest financing a startup can get.

    The common mistake

    First-time founders often run business expenses through a personal account for months, then spend days reconstructing it at year end. Separate accounts from the day you incorporate.

    The second mistake: only offering invoicing because processor fees feel expensive. The fee is usually far cheaper than the cash-flow cost of waiting 60 days.

    The third: not reconciling. If your records and your bank do not match, one of them is wrong, and unreconciled books make every downstream number unreliable.

    How it works

    Step 1: Open a business account at incorporation

    Same week. Never mix personal and business money.

    Step 2: Take cards wherever you can

    Fees are real and instant payment is usually worth more than the fee, especially early.

    Step 3: Offer a discount for annual upfront

    10–20% off for paying a year ahead is often the cheapest financing available to you.

    Step 4: Connect accounting software to the bank

    Automatic categorisation removes most bookkeeping effort and keeps records current.

    Step 5: Use company cards with limits, not reimbursements

    Spending is visible in real time, and nobody is out of pocket.

    Step 6: Reconcile monthly

    Thirty minutes. Mismatches are either errors or something worse, and both want finding early.

    When to use this

    From incorporation, and reviewed whenever you move upmarket to customers with longer payment cycles.

    When not to use it

    Do not over-engineer this pre-revenue. One account, one processor and accounting software is the whole stack until you have a team.

    Do this now

    Apply this to your own startup in My Full Journey (free account).