Why does search arbitrage need so much cash?
Because you pay for traffic now and get paid for it weeks later. Ad platforms bill daily or at small thresholds, while feeds typically pay a month or more after month-end. A profitable campaign spending $2,000 a day can have over $100,000 paid out before the matching revenue arrives. Growth makes the gap bigger, not smaller.
Worked illustration: spend $2,000 a day from 1 January. January's revenue is paid at the end of February under Net 30. By then you have funded 31 days of January and 28 of February, 59 days, or $118,000. Even at a healthy 15% ROI, none of the profit has reached your bank yet.
This cash-flow float is why operators arrange a credit line, negotiate faster net payment terms, or use credit terms from the traffic source. It is also why scaling too fast is dangerous. Doubling spend doubles the float immediately, and if a clawback or a payout cut lands in that period, the loss is taken on borrowed money.