The Runway Calculator estimates how long a business can continue operating before available cash is exhausted. It uses current cash, monthly cash inflows, monthly cash outflows, and optional one-time funding or expenses to calculate net burn and a projected depletion date.
Founders and finance teams can use it to plan fundraising, reduce spending, or test hiring and growth scenarios. The estimate assumes the entered monthly pattern remains constant, so it should be refreshed whenever revenue, collections, payroll, or major commitments change.
1. Enter available cash
Use cash that can actually fund operations.
2. Add monthly inflows
Include expected cash collections, not merely booked revenue.
3. Add monthly outflows
Include payroll, vendors, rent, debt service, and other recurring payments.
4. Include known one-time items
Add committed funding and large nonrecurring cash costs separately.
5. Review runway
The result divides adjusted cash by monthly net burn and estimates a depletion date.
If net burn is zero or negative, the model does not project cash depletion under the entered assumptions.
The runway is the estimated number of months before adjusted cash reaches zero at the current net burn rate.
Cash timing, restricted funds, debt covenants, seasonal collections, and changing expenses can make actual runway shorter or longer.
Given: $450,000 cash, $85,000 monthly inflow, $125,000 monthly outflow, no new funding, and a $30,000 one-time cost.
Calculation: Net burn = $125,000 − $85,000 = $40,000 per month. Adjusted cash = $450,000 − $30,000 = $420,000. Runway = $420,000 ÷ $40,000 = 10.5 months.
Result: The business has an estimated 10.5 months of runway.
Use cash expected to be received during the month because runway is a liquidity measure.
The model reports no projected depletion because monthly cash flow is break-even or positive.
Only include cash that can legally and practically be used for operating expenses.
Update it at least monthly and whenever funding, hiring, collections, or major spending assumptions change.
No. Runway estimates time until cash depletion; burn multiple compares cash burn with growth in recurring revenue.