How Many Months Until Your Startup Runs Out of Money?

10k+

Founders Served

6

CFO-Grade Metrics

60s

Time to Results

100%

Free Forever

⚡  Instant Runway Calculation

Enter your cash on hand and monthly burn. Get your exact runway in months — including the impact of revenue growth compounding over time. The tool handles both static and dynamic scenarios.

📈  Visual Burn Chart

See a month-by-month projection of your cash balance, gross burn, MRR, and net burn — plotted as an interactive timeline. Hover any month for exact figures. Know precisely when your cash hits zero.

🎯  Fundraising Target Calculator

Model your ideal raise amount based on target runway, expected burn increase post-hiring, fundraising process duration, and safety buffer. Outputs your minimum raise, recommended raise, ideal start date, and equity dilution.

💡  AI-Style Personalised Insights

Get context-aware recommendations benchmarked against your funding stage. The insights tab covers burn multiple vs. stage norms, cost per head analysis, revenue coverage ratio, MoM growth assessment, and the default alive/dead framework.

📋  Export & Share Your Results

Copy your metrics snapshot as formatted text or CSV. Print directly to PDF for board meetings, investor decks, or co-founder alignment sessions. Everything formatted and ready to use.

🌍  Multi-Currency Support

Built for global founders. Switch between USD, EUR, GBP, INR, CAD, and AUD — all formatting updates instantly. One tool for founders worldwide.

This tool is for you if:

•        You're a Pre-Seed or Seed founder with less than 18 months runway and need to know exactly when to start fundraising

•        You're preparing for a board meeting and need clean financial metrics in minutes, not hours

•        You're deciding whether to hire now or extend runway — and need the numbers to back your decision

•        You're a Series A founder benchmarking burn multiple and cost per head against VC expectations

•        You're an operator who's been guessing runway and wants to model it properly for the first time

The calculator handles:

•        Pre-revenue startups (no MRR entered)

•        Revenue-generating startups with flat or growing MRR

•        Profitable startups where MRR exceeds burn

•        Teams from 1 founder to 1,000+ employees

•        Amounts from bootstrapped micro-startups to Series B+ companies

•        All major currencies and global startup ecosystems

Metric

What It Measures

Why It Matters

Runway

Months until cash reaches zero at current net burn rate

The single most critical number for any startup. Drives hiring, fundraising timing, and strategic decisions.

Net Monthly Burn

Cash consumed each month after revenue offsets expenses

More accurate than gross burn. Shows your true cash consumption rate.

Zero Date

The calendar date your cash balance reaches zero

Turns an abstract number into a real deadline. Useful for board discussions and investor updates.

Burn Multiple

Net burn divided by new MRR — how much you spend per dollar of revenue growth

Key VC efficiency metric. Top-quartile benchmarks: Seed < 1.5x, Series A < 1x.

Cost Per Head

Average monthly cost per full-time employee

Reveals team efficiency and hiring capacity. Benchmarked against your funding stage.

Gross Margin %

Revenue as a percentage of total operating costs

Shows how close you are to self-sufficiency. Above 70% coverage is a strong fundraising narrative.

Q: Is this runway calculator really free?

A: Yes — 100% free, forever. No account required, no email signup, no credit card. Foundevo built this as a public resource for the startup community. The tool runs entirely in your browser and nothing is stored on our servers.

Q: What is runway for a startup?

A: Runway is the number of months your startup can operate before running out of cash, at your current rate of spending. It is calculated by dividing your total cash on hand by your net monthly burn rate (expenses minus revenue). A runway of 18+ months is considered healthy at Seed stage. Below 6 months is a capital emergency.

Q: What is a good burn rate for a startup?

A: There is no universal answer — it depends on your stage, team size, and revenue. The key metric investors use is the Burn Multiple: net burn divided by new MRR. At Seed stage, below 1.5x is considered strong. At Series A, below 1x. A high burn rate is acceptable if revenue growth is proportional.

Q: How is net burn rate different from gross burn rate?

A: Gross burn rate is your total monthly operating expenses. Net burn rate subtracts your monthly revenue. Net burn is the number that matters for runway — it shows your actual cash consumption. A startup burning $50,000/month with $20,000 in MRR has a net burn of $30,000.

Q: When should a startup start fundraising?

A: Most founders start too late. Fundraising typically takes 3–6 months to close. As a rule of thumb: start your fundraise when you have 9–12 months of runway remaining. This gives you time to negotiate from a position of strength rather than desperation. The Fundraising tab in this calculator models your ideal start date based on your current runway and target raise size.

Q: How does the MRR growth rate affect my runway calculation?

A: When you set a non-zero MoM growth rate, the calculator uses a month-by-month compounding model instead of a simple division. Each month, revenue grows by the percentage you set, which reduces net burn. This accurately models the runway extension effect of growing revenue — which is why a startup with 15% MoM growth has dramatically longer runway than a static calculation would suggest.

Q: What does the "zero date" mean?

A: The zero date is the calendar date on which your cash balance is estimated to reach zero, assuming no additional fundraising or revenue changes. It turns the abstract concept of runway into a real deadline. Use it to work backwards: if your zero date is March 2026, you need to close a round before September 2025 to avoid a crisis.

Q: What is "default alive" vs "default dead"?

A: This framework comes from Paul Graham of Y Combinator. "Default alive" means your startup will reach profitability before running out of money at current trajectory. "Default dead" means it will not — and requires external capital or a strategic change to survive. The Insights tab in this calculator explicitly tells you which category you currently fall into based on your metrics.

Q: Can I use this for currencies other than USD?

A: Yes. The calculator supports USD, EUR, GBP, INR, CAD, and AUD. All calculations and formatting update instantly when you switch currency. The underlying math is currency-agnostic — it is the ratios and timeframes that matter, not the denomination.

Q: Is my financial data private?

A: Yes. All calculations happen entirely in your browser using JavaScript. No data is sent to Foundevo's servers, stored in any database, or associated with your identity. The tool is completely stateless — when you close the browser, nothing is retained.

Stop Guessing. Start Knowing.

Every week you operate without clarity on your runway is a week you can't make optimal decisions. Run your numbers now — it takes 60 seconds.

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