This Business News Story Was Uncovered By Us From: https://www.under30ceo.com/cash-flow-management-buyers-push-back/
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Nine out of ten founders saw their customers behave differently this year, according to a Mercury poll of 1,500 founders at early-stage companies fielded in May 2026. The changes showed up in negotiation, order size and, most importantly for cash flow management, in how long invoices sat unpaid.
Those shifts rarely arrive as a crisis. They arrive as a slightly slower month, then another one, until you are financing your customers without having agreed to. Understanding the pattern early is what separates a tight quarter from a scramble.
What the Survey Measured
The poll reached 1,500 US adults who had helped start a business at some point in the prior six years, drawn from a panel run by the research firm Sago. Respondents were asked how costs, customers and their own decisions had changed over the past year.
Three-quarters said costs landed higher than they had planned, up from 66% a year earlier. Just over half, 51%, said inflation hurt their business, compared with 36% the year before. For context on the broader price backdrop, the Bureau of Labor Statistics consumer price index publishes the official monthly readings.
Notably, founders on their first company and founders on their third were caught off guard at similar rates. That suggests a market condition rather than an experience gap.
The Four Customer Shifts That Hit Your Bank Balance
The survey asked founders what changed on the customer side. The answers cluster into four behaviors, and each one lands somewhere different in your accounts.
Customer behavior changes reported by founders in 2026
Behavior
Share reporting it
Where it lands
More pushback on pricing
31%
Margin
Smaller order sizes
26%
Revenue
Switched to cheaper alternatives
26%
Retention
Longer payment cycles
25%
Working capital
The fourth one deserves the most attention, because it is the only shift that can hurt a growing, profitable company. Revenue on paper does not cover payroll.
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