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Startup Runway Calculator — Burn Rate, Cash-Out Date, Fundraise Deadline

Cash in bank ÷ burn rate = months left. Enter balance, monthly spend, and revenue (with optional growth) for runway, cash-out date, and the date you must start fundraising — browser-only

  • Runs locally
  • Category Calculator
  • Best for Getting a realistic range before a purchase, plan, workout, or schedule decision.
Quick scenarios
$
$
$
%
Currency
Runway
Net burn / month
$40,000
Runway
12.5 months
Cash-out date
Jun 28, 2027
Start raising by
Dec 28, 2026
Cash balance over time
Balance milestones
Month
Balance
3
$380,000
6
$260,000
9
$140,000
12
$20,000
13
$0
How many units to break even? →

Spread annual payments and signed offers into monthly spend — runway only means something when it includes the commitments you have already made. Net burn = spend − revenue.

What this tool does

A startup runway calculator built around the three dates a founder actually manages to: how many months of cash are left, the calendar day the bank account hits zero, and the day you have to start fundraising so the round closes before that. Enter your cash in bank, monthly spend (gross burn), and current monthly revenue; the tool computes net burn and runway. Add an optional monthly revenue growth rate and it runs a month-by-month simulation instead of the naive division — if growing revenue overtakes expenses before the cash runs out, it tells you the month you become default alive (Paul Graham's term) and the lowest your balance will dip. The fundraise deadline subtracts a configurable raise lead time (3, 6, or 9 months — most seed rounds take about 6 from first deck to money in the bank) from the cash-out date, and warns you plainly when that date is already behind you. A cash-curve chart shows the balance heading to zero, and a milestone table lists the balance at each quarter so you can sanity-check the trajectory against your board deck. Two presets (post-seed SaaS, bootstrapped agency) fill realistic numbers in one tap. 100% client-side: your bank balance and burn never leave the browser.

Tool details

Input
Numbers
The page exposes text boxes, numeric controls, file pickers, or structured inputs depending on the tool.
Output
Live result + Copy + Preview
The result area focuses on usable output, with copy, download, or preview actions when supported.
Privacy
Browser-side processing
The main tool logic does not call an external API, so inputs normally stay in the current tab.
Save / share
Shareable URL state
Key settings are encoded in the URL so another person can reopen the same setup.
Performance budget
Initial JS <= 14 KB
No WASM budget is declared, keeping the tool quick to open on mobile.
Best fit
Calculator · Founder
Category and role tags drive related tools, internal links, and quick fit checks.

How to use

  1. 1. Input

    Paste or drop your content into the tool panel.

  2. 2. Process

    Click the button. All processing is local in your browser.

  3. 3. Copy / Download

    Copy the result or download to disk in one click.

How Startup Runway Calculator fits into your work

Use it for fast estimates, comparisons, and planning numbers before you make the final call.

Calculation jobs

  • Getting a realistic range before a purchase, plan, workout, or schedule decision.
  • Comparing scenarios by changing one input at a time.
  • Turning rough assumptions into a number you can discuss.

Calculation checks

  • Double-check units, dates, rates, and rounding assumptions.
  • Treat health, finance, tax, and legal outputs as planning aids, not professional advice.
  • Save the inputs that produced an important result so you can reproduce it later.

Good next steps

These links move the current task into a more complete workflow.

  1. 1 Break-Even Calculator How many units must you sell to stop losing money? Enter fixed costs, price, and variable cost per unit for break-even units, break-even revenue, and contribution margin — browser-only Open
  2. 2 Freelance Hourly Rate Calculator Back into the hourly rate you must charge from your target salary, business expenses, billable hours, profit margin, and taxes — browser-only Open
  3. 3 Commission Calculator Work out sales commission three ways — flat rate, progressive tiers, or reverse-solve the sales you need to hit an income target. Browser-only, shareable. Open

Real-world use cases

  • Deciding whether this is a panic quarter

    You closed a seed round 14 months ago, the account shows $500k, and spend crept up to $50k a month against $10k of MRR. Enter the three numbers: net burn $40k, runway 12.5 months. With the 6-month lead time, the start-raising-by date lands about six and a half months out — not a panic, but close enough that the next two quarters of growth decide whether you raise from strength or from need.

  • Checking if the growth curve makes you default alive

    Your MRR is $40k against $50k of spend and growing 10% a month. Naive division says 10 months of runway on $100k of cash. Add the 10% growth rate and the simulation shows revenue overtaking spend in month 4 with the balance bottoming out around $80k — you are default alive, and the seed extension you were dreading becomes optional.

  • Pricing a hire in months of runway

    A senior engineer at $18k a month fully loaded, on $600k of cash and $60k of current spend: runway drops from 10 months to 600 ÷ 78 ≈ 7.7. Run the tool twice and put the two cash-out dates side by side — the offer costs you about ten weeks of life. Seeing the date move makes the tradeoff concrete in a way a percentage never does.

Common pitfalls

  • Quoting gross burn as runway. Runway divides cash by net burn (spend minus revenue); using gross burn understates runway, while forgetting that revenue can churn overstates it.

  • Starting the raise at the cash-out date instead of 6 months before it. A round takes 3–6 months to close; the deadline that matters is start-raising-by, not run-out-day.

  • Leaving annual payments and signed offers out of monthly spend. A $24k annual premium is $2k of monthly burn, and a hire starting next quarter is burn you have already committed.

Privacy

Your bank balance, spend, and revenue are about as sensitive as numbers get for a private company, and none of them leave your browser — the math runs entirely client-side, with no network request on input. The scenario is written into the URL only so you can share it deliberately; if you don't share the link, the numbers exist nowhere but your tab.

FAQ

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Made by Toolora · 100% client-side · Updated 2026-06-13