The Metabolic Efficiency Audit
A seven-question diagnostic framework that reveals whether your organization's metabolism is sustainable, efficient, and flexible.
A seven-question diagnostic framework that reveals whether your organization's metabolism is sustainable, efficient, and flexible. Based on biological principles of how organisms manage metabolism, this audit goes beyond simple cash burn rate to assess multiple resource depletion risks, metabolic flexibility, and survival capacity.
When to Use The Metabolic Efficiency Audit
Use this framework when: (1) assessing organizational health and sustainability, (2) planning for potential downturns or crises, (3) evaluating whether growth rate matches environment, (4) preparing torpor/cost-cutting plans before they're needed, (5) identifying hidden resource depletion beyond cash.
How to Apply
The Five-Minute Panic Attack: What's Your TRUE Burn Rate?
Most companies track only cash burn, but organisms die when ANY critical resource depletes. Map all five burn categories: Financial (cash, debt, capital), Human (turnover, morale, founder attention), Temporal (market window, competitor moves, obsolescence), Reputational (customer patience, market attention, team confidence), and Opportunity (what you're NOT doing).
Questions to Ask
- How many months until you run out of money?
- How many months until your best engineer quits?
- How many months until your key customer gets impatient?
- How many months until the market forgets you exist?
- What resources are you burning that you're not tracking?
Outputs
- Metabolic dashboard tracking all five burn types
- Identification of shortest runway (real death timeline)
Are You a Shrew Trying to Live Like an Elephant? (What's Your Kleiber Number?)
Metabolic rate scales with size - physics, not choice. A 10-person startup can't operate like a 10,000-person enterprise. Calculate your burn rate per employee and compare to similar-stage companies to determine if you're a metabolic outlier.
Questions to Ask
- What's your burn rate per employee?
- What's your burn rate per customer?
- What's your revenue per employee?
- Does this match your size and environment?
- Are you a shrew trying to live like an elephant, or vice versa?
Outputs
- Kleiber number calculation
- Comparison to industry benchmarks
- Size-appropriate metabolic strategy
What's Your Metabolic Pathway? (And What Happens When It Breaks?)
Map how you currently convert inputs (capital, talent, time) into outputs (revenue, value, growth). Then assess whether you can switch pathways if needed. Microsoft switched from licenses to subscriptions; WeWork couldn't adapt.
Questions to Ask
- Where does money come from? (VC, revenue, debt, grants)
- How does it convert to product?
- How does product convert to revenue?
- What's the efficiency at each step?
- If your primary revenue source disappeared tomorrow, how many viable alternatives do you have?
Outputs
- Metabolic pathway map
- Alternative pathway identification
- Flexibility assessment (1 pathway = fragile, 2+ = flexible)
The Clock Is Ticking: Which Resource Runs Out First?
Calculate separate runways for each critical resource. Your starvation timeline is whichever comes first - not cash runway alone.
Questions to Ask
- Time until cash runs out?
- Time until team starts leaving?
- Time until customers lose faith?
- Time until market relevance fades?
- Which timeline is shortest?
Outputs
- Multiple runway calculations
- Critical path identification
- Prioritized survival action list
The Torpor Test: Can You Survive Winter?
If revenue dropped 80% tomorrow, what would you cut in week 1, week 2, week 4? Be specific: names, not categories. Dollar amounts, not percentages. If your answer is 'we'd raise a bridge round,' you fail this test.
Questions to Ask
- What are your fixed costs (can't eliminate)?
- What are your variable costs (can scale down)?
- What's non-essential tissue (can cut entirely)?
- What percentage of burn is fixed costs?
- Can you reduce burn by 60-70% within 30 days if needed?
Outputs
- Three-tier cut list (30%, 30%, 20%)
- Torpor capacity assessment
- Pre-planned survival playbook
Where Are Your Fat Reserves?
Organisms store energy for lean times. What are your reserves? Cash, revenue diversity, customer diversification, talent bench, product modularity, market positioning.
Questions to Ask
- How many months of runway at current burn?
- Do you have multiple revenue streams?
- Is any single customer more than 30% of revenue?
- Can you lose your top 3 people and survive?
- Can you shut down parts of product without killing the whole?
Outputs
- Reserve inventory
- Concentration risk identification
- Reserve building plan
The Brutal Honesty Test: What's Your Metabolic Flexibility Score?
Rate your organization on six dimensions of flexibility (1-5 scale each): Revenue model flexibility, Talent adaptability, Product modularity, Customer segment flexibility, Cost structure variability, Strategic optionality. Total: 6-12 = Rigid, 13-20 = Moderate, 21-30 = High flexibility.
Questions to Ask
- Revenue model: How many proven models contribute >20% each?
- Talent: What percentage are specialists vs T-shaped?
- Product: What percentage can be disabled without breaking core?
- Customers: How many segments, no single >50%?
- Costs: What percentage is fixed vs variable?
- Strategy: How many viable paths exist if current one fails?
Outputs
- Flexibility score (6-30)
- Vulnerability identification by dimension
- Flexibility improvement priorities