Reading a balance sheet like a designer

Designers are trained to read systems — inputs, constraints, and the relationships between them. A balance sheet is exactly that, just rendered in numbers.

Assets, liabilities, and balance

What you own, what you owe, and what is left over. The whole document is one constraint: the two sides must balance, always.

Once you see it as a structured layout rather than a spreadsheet, the story it tells — about risk, runway, and resilience — becomes surprisingly readable.