Watch my burn rate every week and warn me

The short answer

Astra watches your burn weekly by computing real cash-out vs cash-in, projecting runway, and pinging you only when something material shifts. Every Monday she pulls expenses from Brex and QuickBooks, revenue from Stripe, payroll from Gusto, and any pending large invoices. She computes net burn, gross burn, current cash position, and runway at current pace. She compares to last 4 weeks and to your forecast in Notion. If burn is steady → no ping (founders don't need a weekly "burn unchanged" message). If burn jumps >10% or runway shrinks below your alert threshold → immediate Lark ping with cause analysis. She also flags one-time spikes vs sustained increases so you don't panic over a single AWS reservation. Output: silence when boring, sharp Lark message when not.

How Astra actually does it

1. 1

   Pull cash flow weekly

   Brex transactions, QuickBooks ledger, Stripe gross + net revenue, Gusto payroll. Compute net burn, gross burn, cash position, runway.

   BrexQuickBooksStripeGusto
2. 2

   Compare to baseline

   Last 4 weeks rolling avg, last 12 weeks trend, your forecast in Notion. Identify deviation and direction.

3. 3

   Decide: ping or silent

   Silent if within 5% of baseline. Ping if: burn +10% WoW, runway <12 months, large pending invoice, or revenue drop >5%.

4. 4

   Diagnose cause when pinging

   Identify top 3 movers (vendors, headcount, refunds, MRR change). Distinguish one-time spikes (AWS reservation) from sustained increases (new hire).

5. 5

   Recommend action

   If sustained burn increase → flag highest-cost line item with reduction options. If runway crisis → propose 3 paths (cut, raise, accelerate revenue).

   Lark

What it looks like in chat