Startup Runway Calculator

1. Enter your cash balance, your monthly revenue and your four monthly expense groups.
2. Add your assumptions: revenue growth per month, any planned funding and the month it arrives.
3. Test a scenario with the expense change and revenue change fields, then compare the runway with your own target.

What each result tells you:

The projection runs for up to 120 months. A company that never runs out in that time shows no cash-out.

Startup runway is the number of months a company can continue operating before it runs out of cash, assuming current spending holds.

Runway depends on two figures. Cash on hand is the money available to spend. Burn rate is how fast the company uses it.

Burn rate comes in two forms:

• Gross burn is total monthly operating expenses, such as rent, salaries and overhead.
• Net burn is the cash actually lost each month: expenses minus revenue.

Founders use runway to time fundraising, hiring and cost cuts. Investors and lenders ask for it because it shows how long a company can last before it needs more money.

Runway is not profit, and it is not a valuation. A profitable company has no burn, so its runway has no end. See our guide to cash flow management for the wider picture.

The calculator divides cash by net burn for a simple figure, then projects the balance month by month for a fuller one.

1. Gross burn. Add payroll, marketing and sales, operations and other expenses. Apply the scenario expense change.
2. Net burn. Subtract monthly revenue, after the scenario revenue change.
3. Simple runway. Divide the cash balance by net burn.
4. Projection. Each month, revenue grows by your growth rate. The month burn is expenses minus that revenue. Cash falls by the burn.
5. Funding. The funding amount is added at the start of its month.
6. Cash-out. Runway ends in the month the balance cannot cover the burn. The tool adds the fraction of that month the cash still covers.

With flat revenue and no funding, the projection and the simple formula give the same answer. Growth, cuts and funding make them differ.

These numbers are an illustration. A startup holds 500,000 in cash. It earns 20,000 a month and spends 45,000 on payroll, 10,000 on marketing, 8,000 on operations and 5,000 on other costs.

Meaning: at flat revenue the cash lasts 10.4 months. Revenue growth of 5 percent a month stretches that to 12.1 months, with 2,342.53 left after month 12. The growth figure is an assumption, so treat the longer runway with care.

Net Burn

Runway moves in inverse proportion to net burn. Halving a 48,000 burn to 24,000 doubles a 10.4 month runway.

Revenue Growth

Growth compounds, so it matters more each month. In the example, 5 percent monthly growth gives 12.1 months. At 8 percent, revenue overtakes expenses in month 17 and the cash never runs out.

Cost Cuts

A cut lowers burn from the first month. A 15 percent cut takes the example expenses from 68,000 to 57,800 and net burn from 48,000 to 37,800.

Revenue Shocks

A fall in revenue with no change in costs raises burn. With expenses up 20 percent and revenue down 25 percent, flat-revenue runway drops from 10.4 to 7.5 months.

Funding Timing

Funding only helps if it lands before the cash runs out. A company with 150,000 and a net burn of 37,000 has 4.1 months. Funding of 400,000 in month 4 extends that to 14.9 months. The same funding in month 6 arrives too late.

One-Off Costs

Annual bills, tax payments and equipment do not fit a monthly average. Subtract known one-off payments from the cash balance before you start.

Use net burn for runway. Gross burn alone overstates the cash drain of a company that already has revenue.

Runway and Break-Even

Break-even is the month revenue first covers expenses. A company that reaches break-even before its cash-out month no longer depends on outside money. The guide on break-even analysis shows the unit-level version.

Before a Fundraise

Work out the cash-out month, then count back the months a raise is likely to take in your market. Your own advisers and investors are the source for that timing.

Before a Hire

Add the new salary to payroll and read the change in runway. One number shows what the hire costs in months.

When Revenue Slips

Enter a negative revenue change to see how far the cash-out month moves. Then test the expense cut that restores your target.

In Monthly Reporting

Update cash and burn each month and track the trend. Check your growth assumption against the past with the CAGR calculator, and value longer plans with the NPV calculator.

1. Dividing Cash by Gross Burn

Revenue offsets expenses. Using 68,000 instead of 48,000 turns 10.4 months into 7.4 months.

2. Counting Revenue That Has Not Been Collected

Runway is about cash. Invoices that customers pay late do not fund payroll this month.

3. Trusting an Optimistic Growth Rate

A growth rate is a guess. Compare the projected runway with the simple runway, and plan on the lower figure.

4. Counting Funding Before It Closes

Planned funding can slip or fall through. Run the numbers with the funding fields at 0 as well.

5. Leaving Out Irregular Costs

Annual software, insurance, taxes and bonuses fall outside a typical month. Spread them across the year or subtract them from cash.

6. Using Last Year Burn

Burn changes with every hire and contract. Use the most recent months, not an old average.

7. Treating Runway as a Deadline to Start Acting

Cuts and fundraising take time to work. Decisions made with one month left have few options.

The arithmetic is exact for the figures you enter. The runway is a planning estimate, because it assumes your expenses and growth rate hold steady.

The tool gives no benchmark for a good runway. The only target it uses is the one you type.

Divide the cash balance by the monthly net burn. Net burn is monthly expenses minus monthly revenue. A company with 250,000 in cash and a net burn of 70,000 has about 3.6 months.

Gross burn is total monthly expenses. Net burn subtracts revenue, so it shows the cash actually lost each month. Runway uses net burn.

No single number fits every company, and this page does not quote an average. The right target depends on how long your next raise or your path to break-even will take. Enter your own target to compare.

Growth shrinks net burn every month, so runway lasts longer than the simple formula shows. In the example, 5 percent monthly growth extends 10.4 months to 12.1 months.

Lower net burn or add cash. That means cutting expenses, raising revenue, collecting payments sooner or raising funds. Test each option in the scenario fields to see its effect in months.

The projection ignores it, because the company has already hit zero. Move the funding month earlier or cut burn so the cash lasts until the money arrives.

No. Runway counts cash you hold. Unpaid invoices help only when they are collected, so use collected revenue in the monthly revenue field.

Revenue covers expenses, or grows to cover them, before the cash is gone. The break-even month shows when that happens under your assumptions.

Yes. The arithmetic works for any business that spends more cash than it brings in. Freelancers and nonprofits can use it the same way.

Companies with seasonal sales, large one-off payments or debt covenants need a full cash flow forecast. A monthly average hides those swings.

No. The calculation runs in your browser and nothing is sent to our servers. Anything you Save stays in this browser only.

• Cash runway explained: formula, examples and uses (Corporate Finance Institute: definition and the cash / net burn formula).
• Burn rate (Corporate Finance Institute: gross burn and net burn).
• Manage your finances (US Small Business Administration: tracking money in and money out).
• Calculate your startup costs (US Small Business Administration: listing one-time and monthly expenses).