> Right, that is why you plan ahead and keep a buffer.
If every company planned ahead and kept a buffer, then no companies would go bankrupt. They would simply terminate services, and everyone would get paid what they were owed.
In most of the companies you've heard of going bankrupt, the company made payroll. Obviously, they then laid off a crap-ton of people. But what we're talking about here --- in a huge digression from what's happening with The Fridge, by the way --- is the notion of startups that run past their ability to meet payroll obligations, say "oh well we tried, good thing the valley is so tolerant of failure", and bounce checks to employees.
You can make your payroll obligation, then declare bankruptcy in the face of creditors. That's usually what happens--people take on short term debt to keep afloat, and use it to pay off their employees as they wait for the "big contract" to clear. The contract doesn't clear in time, and everything collapses.
At this point, they're bankrupt and though some creditors might get paid from the sale of office furniture and computers----not all of them will see all of their money.
The Op suggested that even these companies should never be given a second chance.
It's more important that the founders (or executives) conduct an orderly shutdown (vs. just locking the doors and not responding to email), than that every possible creditor be paid in full.
There should be an explicit seniority in debt or other liabilities. Even when there isn't, I think there is some clear standard of fairness (individuals get paid first, including refunding prepaid customer funds, and convertible notes get paid last. Vendors who have already provided service should probably get paid before continuing to pay on things like the balance of long-term leases; there are legal standards and best practice for all of this, although it probably varies by jurisdiction).
The only really bad thing is burning unknowing employees, especially after misleading them about finances.
If every company planned ahead and kept a buffer, then no companies would go bankrupt. They would simply terminate services, and everyone would get paid what they were owed.