🛫Startup Runway Calculator

About this tool

Enter cash in the bank, current monthly revenue and costs, and monthly growth rates for each. You get today's net burn, simple runway, runway with growth, the month cash goes negative, the break-even month and a ‘default alive’ verdict, plus a month-by-month table of revenue, costs, net and cash.

Runway, burn and default alive

Runway is how long the company can operate before the cash runs out. The quick version divides cash by today's net burn (costs minus revenue); the honest version compounds revenue growth and cost growth month by month, because a company growing revenue 8% a month burns less every month while costs creep up with hiring. The tool finds the month the balance crosses zero and whether profitability arrives first — Paul Graham's ‘default alive or default dead’ question. If the answer is ‘dead’, the date that matters is about six months before zero cash, because raising money or cutting costs takes that long. Test a pessimistic growth rate as well as the plan: growth assumptions are the input most likely to be wrong. Real cash also moves with payment terms, annual contracts and one-off costs that monthly averages hide — model those month by month in a cash flow forecast, and keep household spending in the budget planner. The SaaS metrics calculator explains the revenue line, the compound interest calculator shows growth maths, and How to calculate your break-even point (and what it doesn't tell you) covers the break-even point. General information, not financial advice.

Frequently asked questions