What to Do in the First 48 Hours After a Round Wires In
In the first 48 hours after a venture round wires in, confirm the amount against the closing documents, split the balance across liquidity tiers, and check concentration limits against the new total. Most of the thinking about how to hold the cash should already be finished, because a large sum sitting in one operating account for weeks is avoidable risk.
Here's a concrete protocol for the first 48 hours, built to be decided before the wire arrives rather than after.
Confirm receipt and reconcile against the cap table close immediately
As soon as the wire lands, confirm the exact amount matches what the closing documents specify, and flag any discrepancy immediately rather than assuming a rounding difference will sort itself out. Wire errors do happen, and they're far easier to correct within the first day than weeks later once the funds have already moved into other accounts.
This reconciliation step is also the first entry in your cap table and financial records for the round, so get it right at the source rather than needing to correct downstream records later.
How do you split the balance across tiers right away?
Have the liquidity tiers from your treasury policy, operating, reserve, strategic, already defined before the round closes, so the allocation decision on day one is mechanical rather than a fresh debate. Move the operating tier's worth of cash to cover the next couple of months immediately, and get the reserve and strategic tiers moving into their designated accounts or instruments within the same week.
A round that sits entirely in the primary operating account for a month while the team "figures out the treasury plan" is a sign the plan should have been built before the close, not after.
Do concentration limits still hold against the new, larger balance?
A round that meaningfully increases your total cash balance may push you past the concentration limits your existing treasury policy set for a smaller balance sheet. Recheck the per-bank and per-instrument caps against the new total before parking the full amount at your existing primary bank by default, since default is often the path of least resistance rather than the right answer for the new balance.
This is also the natural moment to open a second banking relationship if you don't already have one, rather than waiting for a reason to do it later.
Size how much stays liquid based on your burn multiple, not just gut feel
How much of the new round should stay in the fully liquid operating tier depends partly on your burn multiple: a company burning cash faster relative to its new revenue needs a deeper liquid cushion than one closer to breakeven, since a bad month costs the less efficient company more runway for the same dollar of spend1. Use that as an input to the tier sizing decision rather than picking a round percentage that sounds conservative without being tied to your actual burn.
Revisit the sizing again at the next board meeting once a full quarter of post-close actuals exists to check the assumption against.
Update the board on the allocation, not just the fact that the round closed
A brief note to the board confirming how the proceeds were allocated across tiers, and confirming it matches the treasury policy, closes the loop on governance and gives the board an early data point on how disciplined the post-close cash management actually is. This is a small amount of extra communication that meaningfully reduces the odds of an awkward "where did the round go" question three months later.
Document the allocation decision in writing regardless of whether the board specifically asks, since it's the kind of record a future diligence process will want to see.
In the first 48 hours, work through these steps in order:
- Confirm the wire amount matches the closing documents and flag any discrepancy the same day.
- Move the operating tier's cash, enough for the next couple of months, into the operating account right away.
- Move the reserve and strategic tiers into their designated accounts or instruments.
- Recheck per-bank and per-instrument concentration limits against the new, larger total balance.
- Send the board a short note confirming the allocation across tiers matches the treasury policy.
A scenario that catches teams off guard: a round that closes in tranches
If the round closes in two tranches a few months apart rather than one full wire, the tier allocation done after the first tranche can't just be repeated unchanged for the second, since your burn and revenue picture will have moved between the two dates. Rerun the tier sizing against current actuals at each tranche rather than treating the first tranche's plan as the template for every subsequent one.
What Good Looks Like
Good handling of a wire inflow means the full amount is reconciled, tiered, and moved to its designated accounts within days of closing, following a plan that existed before the wire arrived.
Building The Capability (5-Stage Skill Ladder)
How to Get Started
Frequently Asked Questions
How quickly should a large round get moved out of the primary operating account?
Within the first week is a reasonable target once concentration limits and tier allocations are checked, assuming the treasury policy and tier structure were already defined before the close. There's no strict deadline, but leaving the full amount in one account for a month or more without a deliberate reason is worth questioning.
What if our existing treasury policy doesn't have defined tiers yet when a round closes?
Build a simplified tier structure as part of the closing process instead of waiting. Making the allocation decision under time pressure with no framework tends to produce a worse outcome than a quick, deliberate structure, so even a first version helps. Refine it later, once the round's cash is safely allocated and the treasury policy is updated.
Should capital call proceeds from investors be treated differently from a single wired round?
Yes, in one respect: capital calls that arrive in tranches mean tier sizing needs revisiting at each tranche. The reconciliation and allocation steps themselves are the same as for a single wired round. Rerun the tier sizing against current actuals each time, since the total balance and burn picture can shift meaningfully between calls.
Sources
Where we quote a benchmark, we show its source. Other figures in this guide are estimates or general guidance, so check them against your own numbers.
- Burn multiple guidance bands by ARR (net burn / net new ARR). a16z Growth burn multiple framework (Kahl & George, 'A Framework for Navigating Down Markets', May 2022), table transcribed by Kruze Consulting, 2022.
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