Thinking Like a CEO
Learn how businesses actually survive and generate wealth by developing an owner's financial intuition. Move beyond day-to-day firefighting to master cash flow, high-stakes trade-offs, and building systems that run without you.
Like Duolingo, but for Thinking Like a CEO. Tomo turns the whole topic into a game you play five minutes a day, until it actually sticks.
21 levels across 3 sections, about 42 minutes end to end, roughly 8 days at five minutes a day. It moves through The Core Money Engine, Making Strategic Executive Decisions, and Maintaining Financial Health and Resilience. It starts from scratch.
Free forever · No credit card · iPhone & Android
Key ideas in Thinking Like a CEO
- Revenue and profit recorded on an income statement do not equal spendable money right now
- Landlords, employees, and utility companies only accept cleared cash balances, not promises of future payments
- A business must monitor its actual bank balance separately from its reported sales
- Fulfilling large new orders often requires buying inventory or paying labor upfront
- If clients take 30 to 90 days to settle their invoices, the company's bank account can hit zero before the sales money arrives
- Growth consumes cash before it generates cash
- Cash leaves the business first to buy materials or build inventory
- Invoicing the client marks the sale, but does not end the cash waiting period
- The vulnerable gap lasts from the day cash leaves your account until the customer's payment actually clears
- Incentivizing faster invoice payments and taking upfront deposits pulls incoming cash forward
- Negotiating longer payment terms with suppliers delays outgoing cash without taking on bank debt
- Discounting prices just to inflate volume often accelerates cash burn if clients still pay on delayed terms
- Cash runway measures how many months a business can survive before running completely out of money
- In a worst-case crisis where revenue drops to zero, runway equals total cash divided by total monthly spending ($60,000 / $25,000)
- A healthy runway buys the CEO strategic independence to fix problems without panicking
- A business cannot make up for negative unit margins simply by selling higher volume
You've tried the other tabs
Thirty open tabs. Four facts you actually kept.
You watched. You nodded. By Sunday it was gone.
One answer, then back to scrolling.
Eight weeks. You meant to finish. You didn't.
Tomo gives Thinking Like a CEO the Duolingo treatment: levels, streaks, and quick quizzes that test what you just learned. That game loop is what the tabs above never had, so it's the one you actually finish.
Here's what playing it feels like
A real question from this course. Take your best guess.
Rent and payroll are due today. What do your landlord and employees need to get paid?
Get it right to open this lesson and 20 more in the app.
How to learn Thinking Like a CEO, step by step
Go in order. 21 short levels across 3 sections, about 42 minutes in all, five minutes a day.
- 1
The Core Money Engine
- Cash Flow vs. Paper Profit
- Unit Economics and Real Margins
- 2
Making Strategic Executive Decisions
- Capital Allocation and Opportunity Cost
- Evaluating Real-World Business Trade-Offs
- Designing Systems and Delegation
- 3
Maintaining Financial Health and Resilience
- Diagnosing and Navigating Cash Crunches
- Reading the Business Scoreboard
3 sections · 7 units · 21 levels. Built to play, not to enroll.
Questions about Thinking Like a CEO
How do I learn Thinking Like a CEO?
Go in order: start with The Core Money Engine, then Making Strategic Executive Decisions, then Maintaining Financial Health and Resilience. On Tomo that's 21 short levels, about 42 minutes in all, played five minutes a day. Start free and play the first level in under a minute.
Is there a Duolingo-style app for Thinking Like a CEO?
Yes. Tomo works like Duolingo: short daily lessons, streaks and quick quizzes. Thinking Like a CEO is one of its free courses, and you can type any other topic to get a course of your own.
Is the Thinking Like a CEO course free?
Yes. Thinking Like a CEO is playable on Tomo's free plan, which doesn't expire. No credit card, no waitlist. Download the app and start your first lesson.
How long does it take to learn Thinking Like a CEO?
21 levels across 3 sections, about 42 minutes of play in total. It's built for five minutes a day, so you finish it a little at a time instead of all at once.
Do I need any background to start Thinking Like a CEO?
No. It's pitched at a beginner level, so it starts where you are and builds up. If you can tap a phone, you can start.
Tomo is in ChatGPT
Tomo is also a ChatGPT plugin: the same playable courses, built and played inside your chat.
Add Tomo to ChatGPT- What to ask
- “Make me a Tomo course on black holes.” “Turn this chat into a Tomo course.”
- What you get
- Quick questions with instant feedback, hearts and stars, ready to play in about a minute.
- Where it goes
- No sign-up to start. Connect your Tomo account and your streak carries on in the app.
You pick the voice
Thinking Like a CEO is taught in the Bestie style: your friend who just gets it. Want a different feel? In the app you can spin up the same topic in any of Tomo's teaching styles. Same facts, totally different vibe.
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Start Thinking Like a CEO today.
Download Tomo, search Thinking Like a CEO, and play your first lesson in under a minute.