[raminf]

Back when I was consulting, I always made sure to stay in touch separately with three people:

a) The internal project owner. Usually a VP or Director.

b) The owner's assistant/gatekeeper, who made sure they saw and signed documents.

c) The accounts payable person who actually pushed the button that cut the checks <- The most important one if you want to get paid on time.

I also never did more than Net-30 (and often Net-7). Things went smoothly with the larger companies (once everything was signed). Startups and medium-size ones, though, had no problem stiffing you on a bill if their funding was wobbly. Those were often payable on invoice, or upfront retainer.

Still got screwed multiple times. My own damn fault for taking on projects just because they sounded cool.

[kennethrc]

> The accounts payable person who actually pushed the button that cut the checks <- The most important one if you want to get paid on time.

Yup. I've had such people at the Xmas-present/birthday-gift level too; sometimes I get paid out before even the utilities.