Calculate startup burn rate and runway in months from monthly expenses, revenue, and available cash with scenario modeling.
Runway measures how long current cash can support a startup when monthly expenses exceed monthly revenue. Enter available cash, monthly expenses, and monthly revenue; the calculator subtracts revenue from expenses to find net monthly burn, then divides cash by that burn to estimate remaining months. Scenario modeling lets you vary those assumptions to examine cost cuts, revenue changes, or additional cash. The common mistake is treating runway as a predicted shutdown date even though it assumes the entered monthly figures remain unchanged.
A concrete input and expected output from the current implementation.
Input
Available cash: $48,000 Monthly expenses: $12,000 Monthly revenue: $4,000
Expected output
Net burn rate: $8,000 per month Runway: 6 months
Monthly expenses exceed revenue by $8,000, so that amount is consumed each month. Dividing $48,000 by $8,000 gives exactly 6 months.
The calculator treats monthly expenses as outflow and subtracts monthly revenue to obtain net burn. Available cash does not change the burn-rate calculation; it is the reserve consumed by that burn. All amounts need to cover the same monthly period and use the same currency. Revenue is not added to cash again because it has already reduced monthly burn.
For a positive net burn, runway equals available cash divided by net monthly burn. Scenario modeling repeats that relationship with changed expense, revenue, or cash assumptions. Reducing expenses lowers burn and extends runway, while adding cash extends runway without changing burn. Each result remains an estimate based on the values entered.
No. Monthly expenses are the gross outflow entered, while net burn is monthly expenses minus monthly revenue. Runway uses the net figure. If another report calls total cash outflow its burn rate, do not compare that number directly with this calculator's net burn without first aligning the definitions.
Net burn is then zero or negative, so dividing cash by burn does not describe a finite depletion period. The startup is not consuming cash under this simplified monthly model. That does not guarantee indefinite solvency because debt payments, taxes, capital purchases, delayed collections, and future operating changes may still reduce cash.
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