Billings

Billings is the total amount you actually invoiced customers in a period, regardless of when that revenue gets recognised in your accounts. If a customer pays for a full year upfront, the whole sum lands in billings the moment you invoice, even though accounting rules spread the recognised revenue across the twelve months. Billings therefore tracks cash collected, not revenue earned.

The gap between billings and recognised revenue matters enormously for a cash-conscious founder. Billings is a leading indicator: it tells you what is coming into the bank now and often signals growth before recognised revenue catches up. A business selling annual contracts can be healthy on billings while its revenue line looks modest, because the cash arrives long before the revenue is booked. Watching billings helps you manage runway and spot momentum early, but you must read it alongside recognised revenue, because a strong billings month built on one big annual deal is not the same as steady, repeatable growth.