Financial reports can feel intimidating, especially for founders without a finance background. But understanding the basics can dramatically improve decision-making and confidence. In this practical guide, Rebecca Nankya Ssemugabi breaks down how to read a balance sheet in simple, everyday language, supported by a hands-on balance sheet generator you can try yourself. M ost founders don’t struggle with running a business. They struggle with understanding the numbers behind it. And few reports feel more intimidating than the balance sheet. But here’s the truth: a balance sheet is simply a snapshot of what your business owns, what it owes, and what’s actually yours at a specific point in time. The Balance Sheet in One Line Every balance sheet is built on one simple equation: Assets = Liabilities + Equity Assets are what the business owns Liabilities are what the business owes Equity is what belongs to the owner(s) If this equation balances, the balance sheet makes sense. A Simple Exa...
I remember when I was in college (Colleges in Pakistan are equivalent to High School in the US; I'm not sure about other education systems, so please extrapolate accordingly), I read a line from an English textbook that stuck to my brain like glue. It read, "There is such a frenzy in the wasps’ colony/nest that they chew the rear of the larvae and feed it into their mouths." I don't recall the exact wording, but this bizarre idea clung to my mind for years. I would often wonder how some creatures could be so ridiculously stupid. That was until I discovered the hodgepodge of content on LinkedIn called collaborative articles.
From the sublime to the ridiculous
For those unfamiliar with collaborative articles on LinkedIn, they are AI-written articles or pieces of content. The other half of the articles are based on the experience, tips, and insights of experts. Well, that's what they're supposed to be. However, what 'experts' are doing is taking the AI-written part of the article, throwing it into ChatGPT, which then regurgitates it, and they then incorporate it into their own opinions. To top it off, these 'experts' are rewarded with a useless lightbulb.
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| Rehashed the AI part as expert opinion on the right. |
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| Rehashed the AI part as expert opinion on the right. |
Getting away with 'creative grammar'
These experts have made a pig's ear of the grammar they were supposed to follow. Again, they have that 'lightbulb'. I agree that there could be non-native users; however, you can write in your language. People can still read it with auto-translate.
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| Poor grammar - 1 |
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| Poor grammar - 2 |
Are there any criteria for getting that lightbulb? Not just ridiculous and hilarious, it has become a PR issue for LinkedIn. I don't know if there is any SEO-related benefit to these collaborative articles; it is tarnishing the image of LinkedIn as a professional resource. They should have a moderator to prune off the poorly written or AI-generated content. We can only hope that they will learn something from this fiasco and fix it sooner rather than later.
Check also: Quiz: Which Social Media Platform Are You Most Like?
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From Scrappy to Crappy - The LinkedIn Collaborative Articles
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