Startup Burn Rate Calculator

Burn rate is the rate at which a startup spends its cash reserves. Gross burn rate is total monthly expenses, while net burn rate subtracts monthly revenue. Understanding your burn rate is critical for planning fundraising timelines and ensuring your company doesn't run out of cash.

A healthy burn rate depends on your stage. Seed-stage startups typically burn $50-150K per month, Series A companies $150-500K, and Series B+ companies $500K-2M+. The key metric is runway: most investors recommend maintaining at least 12-18 months of runway at all times.

Runway is calculated by dividing your current cash balance by your net burn rate (monthly expenses minus monthly revenue). For example, if you have $1.2M in the bank and your net burn is $100K/month, you have 12 months of runway.

Plan to start fundraising when you have 6-9 months of runway remaining. The typical fundraising process takes 3-6 months, and you want a buffer in case it takes longer. Our calculator factors in a 6-month fundraising window to give you a recommended start date.

Common strategies include renegotiating vendor contracts, shifting to remote work to reduce office costs, optimizing cloud infrastructure spend, reducing marketing spend on low-ROI channels, and carefully managing headcount growth. Focus on the largest expense categories first for maximum impact.