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Try “burger”, “cash flow”, “Costco” or “markup”.

Calculators

Cash runway calculator

Your runway is how many months the cash in the bank lasts when more goes out each month than comes in.

Example numbers, made up: The starting numbers are a made-up small business, not real figures.

What you have to spend today.

Everything that goes out in a month: rent, pay, stock, loan payments. If the business pays you, include your pay.

The cash that comes in from sales in a month, not what you're owed. Leave it blank if nothing comes in yet.

Each month, the money coming in grows by this much while the costs stay the same. A minus number means sales shrink. Leave it blank to skip.

Example numbers

Runway

10 months

Going out $6,000 a month more than comes in, the $60,000 lasts 10 months if nothing changes.

If sales grow 4% a month

Month 15

Sales catch up with the costs in month 15, before the cash runs out. The lowest it gets is $14,627, at the end of month 14.

  • Cash if nothing changes
  • Cash if sales grow 4% a month
  • Cash runs out
  • Lowest point
How it's worked out

Burn = costs a month − money coming in a month. → $15,000 − $9,000 = $6,000

Runway = cash in the bank ÷ burn, in months. → $60,000 ÷ $6,000 = 10 months

With growth, month by month: each month's money coming in is last month's × (1 + growth), and the cash falls by that month's burn.

Learn the idea behind it

  • Free lesson

    Profitable and still broke?

    Follow a profitable remodel that still runs short of cash, and see how deposits and billing by stage close the gap.

    Take the lesson

  • Lesson

    Why do businesses fail?(members-only)(included in your membership)

    Try the fixes in the runway lab and see how many months each one buys a business that's losing money.

    Take the lesson

The numbers you type stay on this page and aren't sent anywhere. For learning, not financial advice.