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Free tool

Cash runway calculator

When more goes out each month than comes in, the question is how long the cash will last. Owners call it the runway: the cash in the bank divided by what you lose each month.

Example numbers to start (example number: Made up to show how the calculator works). The starting numbers are a made-up small business, not real figures. Type your own: they stay on this page and aren't sent anywhere.

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.

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

A calculator gives you the number. The lessons show you what it means and what to do about 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)

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

    Take the lesson

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For learning, not financial advice. See all the tools.