Financial Runway Calculator
Budgeting & Forecasting
Quick Answer
Enter your cash balance and monthly burn breakdown. Paste into Claude or ChatGPT. Get exact runway calculation, extension scenarios, and a fundraising timeline recommendation.
What You Get
A runway calculation covering current burn rate analysis, months of runway at current rate, runway extension scenarios for different cost actions, revenue contribution to runway, and fundraising timing recommendation based on when to start the process.
Who Is This For
Startup founders monitoring cash position, pre-revenue companies managing limited capital, and early-stage businesses planning fundraising timing.
About This Template
Cash runway is the most important number for any startup or early-stage business — it tells you how long you can operate before running out of money. But runway is not static: it changes with revenue growth, hiring decisions, and cost management. This template guides founders through their current cash position and burn rate, then uses AI to calculate exact runway, model how different actions extend or shorten it, and produce a clear fundraising timeline recommendation based on the runway analysis.
Fill In Your Details
Your company name
e.g. 1850000
e.g. 85000 or 0 if pre-revenue
e.g. 285000
List your main cost categories with monthly amounts e.g. Salaries $200K, Software $15K, Marketing $40K, Ops $30K
e.g. growing $15K per month, or flat, or declining
Any hires planned that will increase the burn rate e.g. 2 engineers in month 3 adding $30K per month
Are you planning to raise capital? If so what amount and what stage e.g. $3M Series A in 9 months
Gather these details then use them to fill in the prompt below.
AI Prompts
Generate runway analysis
Paste this prompt into Claude or ChatGPT with your inputs filled in.
You are a startup financial advisor analyzing cash runway. Using the data below, produce a comprehensive runway analysis. Company: [company_name] Current cash: [current_cash] Monthly revenue: [monthly_revenue] Monthly costs: [monthly_costs] Cost breakdown: [cost_breakdown] Revenue growth: [revenue_growth] Planned hires: [planned_hires] Fundraising plans: [fundraising_plans] Calculate and produce: 1. Current Net Burn Rate — monthly costs minus monthly revenue 2. Runway at Current Burn — months until cash reaches zero 3. Runway with Planned Hires — how planned hires change the runway calculation 4. Revenue Contribution — how revenue growth extends runway month by month 5. Extension Scenarios — runway if costs cut by 10 percent, 20 percent, 30 percent with what gets eliminated at each level 6. Fundraising Timeline — if raising capital, when to start the process based on runway (typically start 6-9 months before cash runs out) 7. Warning Thresholds — at what cash balance should the company take emergency action Be direct. If runway is dangerously short name it clearly.
Sample Output
This is an example of what AI produces when you use this template.
Current Runway Calculation
Net burn rate: $285,000 costs minus $85,000 revenue equals $200,000 per month net burn. Runway at current burn: $1,850,000 divided by $200,000 equals 9.25 months. With planned hires adding $30,000 per month starting month 3, adjusted runway: 9.25 months reduces to approximately 8.1 months accounting for the higher burn from month 3 onward. Revenue growing at $15,000 per month offsets approximately 1.4 months of additional burn over the runway period. Adjusted runway including revenue growth: approximately 9.2 months.
Fundraising Timeline
You are planning a $3M Series A in 9 months. With 9.2 months of runway, you have almost no margin for error — a fundraise that takes longer than expected would leave you in a dangerous position. Recommendation: start the fundraising process now, not in 3 months. Series A processes typically take 4-6 months from first meeting to close. Starting immediately gives you the best chance of closing before runway becomes critical. If the raise extends beyond 9 months, activate the 20 percent cost reduction scenario at month 6 to buy additional runway.