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Calculate exactly how many months of runway your startup has left. Enter your cash, revenue, and expenses to see when you'll hit zero, model different burn scenarios, and know precisely when to start fundraising.
Startup runway is the amount of time your company can continue operating before running out of cash. It's typically measured in months and represents the most critical metric for any founder managing a growing business. Understanding your runway isn't just about survival; it's about making informed decisions on hiring, fundraising timing, and growth investments.
The runway formula is straightforward: divide your current cash balance by your monthly net burn rate. Net burn accounts for both your expenses and any revenue coming in.
Runway (months) = Cash Balance ÷ Monthly Net Burn
Monthly Net Burn = Monthly Expenses − Monthly Revenue
For example, if you have $500,000 in the bank, spend $80,000 per month, and bring in $30,000 in revenue, your net burn is $50,000. That gives you 10 months of runway.
Runway is the difference between strategic decision-making and desperation. Founders who know their runway can plan hiring, negotiate from strength with investors, and make growth bets with confidence. Those who don't track it often find themselves scrambling for emergency funding on unfavorable terms.
Investors pay close attention to runway too. A founder who can clearly articulate their burn rate, runway, and capital needs signals operational maturity. It shows you understand the financial mechanics of your business, not just the product vision.
There are two levers for extending runway: increase revenue or decrease burn. While that sounds simple, the execution requires discipline and often difficult trade-offs.
Review every expense line. Renegotiate contracts with vendors. Pause non-essential hiring. Consider whether that premium software tool is truly necessary or if a cheaper alternative works. Small cuts across many categories add up faster than one big cut.
Focus on your highest-converting customer segments. Consider annual prepayment discounts to pull cash forward. Evaluate pricing; many startups undercharge. Even modest revenue gains significantly extend runway when combined with expense discipline.
The general rule: start fundraising when you have 9 to 12 months of runway remaining. Fundraising typically takes 3 to 6 months for seed and Series A rounds, sometimes longer in challenging markets.
Starting too late puts you in a weak negotiating position. Investors can sense desperation, and desperate founders accept bad terms. Starting too early means you might not have the traction needed to command a strong valuation.
Use the scenario planning in our calculator above to model what happens if fundraising takes longer than expected. What does your runway look like at 3 months? 6 months? Having this visibility helps you make the call on when to begin the process.
Get complete financial clarity in under 10 minutes. No more broken spreadsheets, no more QuickBooks chaos—just the insights you need to scale with confidence.
