How to Build a 13-Week Cash Flow Forecast in Claude

A 13-week cash flow forecast is not really about predicting sales. It is about understanding when cash actually hits the bank. In this walkthrough, we build a rolling cash forecast for a fictional software company, Meridian Software, using messy inputs like open invoices, payroll, vendor bills, bank balances, and customer payment behavior. The company looks healthy on paper, but one delayed customer payment can push it dangerously close to a bank covenant breach. This video breaks down why “net 30” is often fiction, why your balance sheet already tells much of the near-term cash story, and how AI can help organize messy finance data into a usable operating forecast. — LINKS: Mostly Talent: https://mostlymetrics.typeform.com/to... CJ:   / cj-gustafson-13140948   Mostly metrics: https://www.mostlymetrics.com — TIMESTAMPS: 0:00 The lie inside your cash forecast 1:13 Why 13 weeks works 1:44 The mechanic: simple math, messy data 2:12 Meet Meridian Software: $500K covenant 2:34 The 8 data tabs walkthrough 4:48 Use Claude to audit the data first 5:51 What Claude found: duplicates, bad terms, real payment behavior 6:36 Making the 5 judgment calls 7:43 Prompt 2: build the actual forecast 8:40 The chart that shows the covenant breach 9:23 Walking through the 13-week model 10:24 The assumptions tab: where you flex 11:21 How to keep it rolling every Monday 12:19 What to do Monday morning 12:50 Credits