Burn rate is something every entrepreneur needs to be familiar with, whether you’re intending to go after venture capital or not. While burn rates are most closely associated with valuations and capital raising for startups, there are important aspects of your business’s bottom line with or without VC money.

You may immediately be tempted to think that the obvious advice is spend less, have a smaller burn rate and preserve your capital for operations as long as possible, however that’s not always the case.