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Enter cash in the bank, total monthly expenses, and monthly revenue. The calculator subtracts revenue from expenses to get net burn, divides cash by net burn for months of runway, converts that into a zero-cash date, and subtracts six months for your raise-by date. An optional monthly revenue growth rate runs a month-by-month projection that compounds revenue until cash hits zero or revenue covers expenses, reporting the breakeven month. All results are planning estimates, not professional financial advice.
Startup runway is the number of months your company can keep operating before its cash runs out, assuming no new funding arrives. It is the survival clock every founder watches: it tells you how much time you have to reach your next milestone, whether that is profitability, a product launch, or closing your next funding round. This startup runway calculator divides your cash in the bank by your net burn rate to give you that number in months, then converts it into a zero-cash date you can plan around.
Gross burn is every dollar your company spends in a month: salaries, rent, software, marketing, contractors, and all other operating expenses. Net burn is gross burn minus the revenue you actually collect in the same month. Runway math must use net burn, because net burn is the real rate at which cash leaves your bank account. A company spending $120,000 a month and collecting $40,000 has a gross burn of $120,000 but a net burn of only $80,000, so its cash lasts 50 percent longer than the gross number suggests. Pre-revenue startups have no revenue to subtract, so gross and net burn are the same for them.
The startup runway formula is simple: runway in months equals cash balance divided by monthly net burn. Here is a worked example. A startup has $360,000 in the bank, spends $48,000 per month, and collects $18,000 in monthly revenue. Net burn is $48,000 minus $18,000, which is $30,000. Runway is $360,000 divided by $30,000, which is 12 months. One caution from experienced founders: average your burn over the last three months instead of using a single month, because one lumpy invoice or annual contract renewal can distort the number. This cash runway calculator uses your inputs directly, so enter averaged figures for the most trustworthy result.
A runway of 18 to 24 months is widely considered healthy after a funding round, and many investors in 2026 now expect 24 months or more. Below 12 months, fundraising starts competing with running the company, and below 6 months you are negotiating from weakness. Median monthly burn rates rise with stage: pre-seed teams often burn around $25,000 a month, seed-stage startups $75,000 to $100,000, and Series A companies $250,000 to $350,000, with salaries making up roughly two thirds of the total. A bootstrapped startup usually targets a longer runway and a lower burn than a venture-backed peer, because there is no next round coming to rescue it.
A typical fundraise takes three to six months from first pitch to money in the bank, so founders need to start the process about six months before the projected zero-cash date. In practice that means opening the round with 12 to 18 months of runway still in hand, when you can negotiate from strength rather than urgency. This calculator shows a raise-by date (your zero-cash date minus six months) so the deadline is visible instead of abstract. After a seed round, most founders raise for 18 to 24 months of runway, so they have time to hit the milestones the next round will demand.
You have two levers: reduce spending, or bring in more cash. Pace hiring first, since payroll is the largest line in almost every startup's burn. Then cut discretionary spending, audit vendor contracts and unused software seats, and renegotiate terms before they auto-renew. On the revenue side, tighten collections, bill annually upfront where customers allow, and raise prices where you have pricing power. Do not cut the spend that is producing growth: extending runway by starving your growth engine just means failing more slowly. Small changes compound, because every dollar trimmed from monthly net burn adds months at the other end.
Beyond the runway number, ask whether your current growth gets you to profitability before the cash runs out. If yes, you are default alive: the runway is a comfort metric, not a countdown. If no, you are default dead, and the raise is mandatory, not optional. The companion metric is burn multiple, which is net burn divided by net new ARR (annualized new revenue). Below 1x is excellent, 1x to 1.5x is good at Series A, and above 3x is a red flag at any stage. Together, runway and burn multiple tell you whether you have a timing problem, an efficiency problem, or both.
Enter your cash in the bank, your total monthly expenses (gross burn), and your monthly revenue. The calculator computes gross burn, net burn, months of runway, your zero-cash date, and the date by which you should start fundraising. If you expect revenue to grow, add your monthly revenue growth rate: the tool projects month by month, compounding revenue until the cash runs out or revenue covers expenses, and reports which month you reach breakeven. For SaaS startups, enter monthly recurring revenue as the revenue figure. Re-run the numbers monthly, or whenever hiring or pricing changes, because a static runway goes stale fast.
Startup runway is the number of months a company can keep operating before it runs out of cash, calculated as cash in the bank divided by monthly net burn. It tells founders how much time they have to reach profitability or raise more funding.
Divide your cash balance by your monthly net burn (monthly expenses minus monthly revenue). For example, $600,000 in the bank with a $75,000 monthly net burn gives 8 months of runway.
Gross burn is total monthly spending; net burn is spending minus monthly revenue. Runway calculations use net burn because it reflects the actual rate at which cash leaves the account.
Most investors consider 18 to 24 months of runway healthy after a funding round, with 24 or more months increasingly expected. Under 12 months you should be actively planning your next raise; under 6 months, fundraise urgently.
Founders need to start about six months before the projected zero-cash date, which usually means with 12 to 18 months of runway remaining. Fundraising takes three to six months, and starting early keeps you negotiating from strength.
Reduce net burn or increase cash coming in: pace hiring, cut discretionary spending, renegotiate vendor contracts, tighten collections, and consider bridge funding or non-dilutive capital. Protect the spending that drives growth.
Burn multiple is net burn divided by net new ARR. It measures how efficiently a startup turns spending into growth: below 1x is excellent, 1x to 1.5x is good at Series A, and above 3x is a red flag.
Yes. If monthly revenue exceeds monthly expenses, net burn is negative, which means the company is cash-flow positive and adding to its cash balance. In that case runway is effectively infinite, and this calculator reports it as profitable instead of a month count.
At least monthly, and immediately after any big change: a new hire, a pricing change, a funding round, or a shift in revenue. Use a trailing three-month average of burn so one lumpy month does not distort the number.
Runway measures how long your cash lasts (time), while cash flow measures how money moves in and out of the business each period (rate). Negative cash flow shortens runway; positive cash flow extends it until runway stops mattering.
Include every recurring operating expense: salaries and payroll taxes, rent, software subscriptions, marketing, contractors, cloud hosting, insurance, and legal costs. Include founder salaries too, even reduced ones, so the number reflects the true cost of running the business.
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