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No. 14Cash & Financing

Cash Runway Calculator

Estimate how many months your business can keep operating on the cash it has, based on what comes in and what goes out each month.

Cash and equivalents you can spend today.

Cash actually collected.

All cash out, incl. payroll and loan payments.

Optional. Expenses are held flat unless you plan a change below.

Planned changes (optional)

e.g. a hire or new lease

e.g. a loan or investment

Results

Cash runway

10 months

−$50K$0$50K$100K$150K$200K0510Months from today
Net burn, month 1How much more goes out than comes in
$18,000
Revenue covers expenses
Not within 10 years
Show the calculation
  1. Net burn$40,000 − $22,000= $18,000 / month
  2. Runway$180,000 ÷ $18,000= 10 months

Starting a business? Carry your cash and monthly expenses into the Business Idea Check. It works out the cash a new business needs while sales build.

Runway: expense changes vs. revenue growth

Months of runway if you cut (or grow) expenses and revenue grows each month.

Runway: expense changes vs. revenue growth: rows are Expenses, columns are Monthly growth
Expenses ↓ · Monthly growth →0%2%5%10%
−20%18 mo∞∞∞
−10%12.8 mo18.6 mo∞∞
Current10 mo11.6 mo∞∞
+10%8.1 mo8.9 mo12.4 mo∞

How it’s calculated

Net Burn
equals Monthly Expenses − Monthly Revenue
Runway (flat revenue)
equals Cash on Hand ÷ Net Burn

When you enter a revenue growth rate, the calculator projects month by month: each month it adds revenue, subtracts expenses, then grows revenue for the next month. Runway ends partway through the month in which cash would go below zero.

Worked example

A small agency has $240,000 in the bank. It collects about $35,000 a month and spends $55,000.

  1. Net burn = $55,000 − $35,000 = $20,000 a month
  2. Runway with flat revenue = $240,000 ÷ $20,000 = 12 months
  3. If revenue grows 3% a month, it covers expenses by month 17 — before the cash runs out.

Runway is a forecast, not a fact: small changes in growth or spending move it a lot. The table under the calculator shows how much.

How much runway is enough?

There is no universal number, but many advisers suggest keeping a buffer of several months of expenses, and starting to raise money or cut costs well before runway gets short — raising funds and changing course both take time. Pair this with the Break-Even Calculator to see what revenue would make the business self-sustaining.

Assumptions and limitations

  • Use cash figures — money actually received and paid — not accounting revenue and expenses. Invoices you haven’t collected don’t extend runway.
  • Expenses are held flat, apart from one planned change you can add (such as a hire from a given month). Add a one-time inflow for a loan or investment you’re confident will arrive.
  • Growth compounds monthly and is applied to revenue only. Real growth is rarely smooth.
  • Projections stop at 10 years. Only one planned cost change and one one-time inflow are modeled.

Results are estimates for information only and are not financial, tax or legal advice. See our disclaimer.