Every smart CEO knows that they need to focus on building a compelling product, hiring a great team, maximizing sales and making their customers happy. For many first time CEOs focusing on these extremely important topics may distract them from another very important task: making sure that the company can continue to raise funding at ever increasing valuations.

In practice this means that the CEO should:

Make sure that they understand when their cash runs out
Understand what milestones have to be achieved before then to get a higher valuation
Create the right plan to achieve those milestones in the right timeframe

Managing to your cash out date introduces some very strict time deadlines into the equation, and requires you to examine which specific milestones you plan to achieve before that date.

Mr Bennett you are a brilliant presenter. A topic I thought was complex, difficult and boring has been explained in a way that makes it seem simple, fun and relevant. No bells & whistles, no powerpoint presentation, just a whiteboard (Steve Jobs style). I will look out for videos by you.