5. Finance & Payments
Let’s be honest — most founders didn’t start a business because they love spreadsheets, invoicing, and chasing payments.
But if you want to stay in the game, your cashflow needs to be tight. Your invoicing needs to go out. And your payments need to work — for you and your customers.
Money stuff is unsexy, but absolutely critical. Founders often focus so hard on product and growth, they leave their back office in a mess. Then one day they realise their books are six months behind, tax is due, and they’ve been undercharging for their product.
According to CB Insights, 38% of startups fail because they run out of cash — not because they didn’t have a great product. That’s why having even a basic financial stack early on is a must.
You don’t need a CFO or a bookkeeper straight away. But you do need tools that help you send invoices, track spending, collect payments, and stay compliant. The good news? There are amazing tools that do exactly that — many of them free.
Other tools like Zoho Books, Wave, and Chargebee make life easier for solo founders and lean teams who want to look legit without hiring finance staff.
You don’t need to love finance — you just need a system that stops it becoming a problem.
👉 Scroll down to see the best finance, accounting, and billing tools to help you stay lean, compliant, and in control. And if the money stuff is giving you a headache, book a quick call — we’ll help you get sorted without drowning in spreadsheets.
Accounting & Finance
Wave
Summary: Free accounting suite with invoicing and receipt tracking.
Price: Free forever.
Pros:
Unlimited users and invoices
Good financial reports
Cons:
Only basic customer support
No advanced inventory or payroll features
Zoho Books
Summary: Bookkeeping and invoicing with mobile app.
Price: Free under $50k/year revenue. Paid from $20/month.
Pros:
Clean and intuitive UI
Mobile-friendly
Cons:
1 user only on free plan
Scaling limitations
Google Sheets (DIY Finance)
Summary: Budgeting, cash flow, and financial tracking manually.
Price: Free with Google account.
Pros:
Totally customizable
Easy to set up
Cons:
No automation
No compliance features
Payments & Billing
Stripe
Summary: Online payments and subscription billing platform.
Price: Free to use (~2.9% + 30p per transaction).
Pros:
Easy setup
Developer-friendly and scalable
Cons:
Requires dev resources for integration
Fees can add up
Paddle
Summary: SaaS-focused payments and tax compliance.
Price: Free to use. Fees (~5% + 50p) apply per transaction.
Pros:
No monthly fee
Handles tax compliance globally
Cons:
Higher transaction fees
Slower payouts
Shopify
Summary: Ecommerce platform for product sales.
Price: No free plan. Starts at $39/month.
Pros:
Fast to launch
Integrated payments and apps
Cons:
Monthly fees
More focused on physical goods than SaaS
Chargebee
Summary: Subscription management platform.
Price: Free up to $100k revenue.
Pros:
Robust for complex billing models
Scales with you
Cons:
Needs Stripe/PayPal underneath
Setup can take time
This wraps up our Ultimate Lean Startup Toolkit series — but it’s just the start of building a stack that actually supports how you work. If you want help stitching it all together into a system that scales with you, get in touch. We’ll help you make sense of the chaos and cut a clean path to growth.
