Burn and runway

Runway is the number this whole page exists to get right, so this explains exactly how it is calculated and why each rule is there. Every figure comes from your synced bank data and the commitments you entered. Nothing is estimated or filled in.

The formula

runway (months) = available cash / net burn

Three inputs, each with its own rule.

Available cash

available cash = checking + savings + pending

Banks report the settled balance, which has not yet deducted charges that are authorised but not cleared. Pending debits are money already spoken for, so they are subtracted here.

Note

This is why the Cash card can read lower than your bank's app. The bank is showing settled, we are showing what is actually still yours to spend.

Net burn

net burn = burn basis - recurring revenue

Burn basis depends on whether you have linked any payments to commitments.

Before you link anything, it is the larger of your observed bank outflow and your entered commitments. That is deliberately cautious: it assumes your commitments are already visible in your spending rather than adding them on top and double counting.

Once you link a payment to the commitment it settles, the basis becomes precise:

burn basis = variable spend + every active commitment
variable spend = observed outflow - linked payments

This is the part that pays for itself on annual charges. A yearly invoice of $194.40 lands in your outflow window at its full $194.40. Linked, it leaves variable spend and is counted as its monthly equivalent of $16.20 instead, which is what it actually costs you per month.

Tip

Link a payment once from the Transactions list and later payments from the same merchant and amount link themselves. See Categorizing transactions for how.

Recurring revenue

recurring revenue = the GREATER of contracted MRR and observed recurring income

Contracted MRR is the sum of MRR on customers at won or active only. Observed recurring income is money in that you filed under a Revenue category.

The greater, never the sum, because a paying customer appears in both and adding them would count that revenue twice.

Important

Raw bank inflow is never treated as revenue. For a pre-revenue company most money in is the founders' own capital, and crediting it would report a company burning its savings as cash-flow positive. Only contracted customers and income you categorised as Revenue count.

Caution

A deal at proposal never lengthens runway. Only won and active stages count, because a hope is not income.

How the outflow number is measured

Your observed outflow is not a simple total divided by a fixed window.

Internal transfers are excluded. Paying your card from checking is not spending, and counting both legs would double it.
Cancelled, failed and removed transactions are excluded.
One-offs you marked are excluded. A single large purchase should not become your monthly rate.
Three or more complete calendar months uses the median, not the average, so one unusual month cannot dominate.
Fewer than three months uses the average over the days actually observed. A 58 day history is divided by 58 days, not by 90, which would understate burn by a third.

Warning

With less than three complete months, runway is an extrapolation from a short history. The Burn breakdown panel states how many months it observed so you can judge how much to trust it.

Where each number appears

Card	What it shows
Cash	Available cash, after pending
Spend basis	The burn basis above, used for the headline runway
Runway	Available cash divided by burn basis, with net runway beneath it
Committed monthly	Every active commitment as a monthly equivalent

When runway looks wrong

Check for one-offs. A large unusual purchase inflates burn until you mark it. Transactions, then the circle icon on the row.
Link your commitments. Unlinked annual charges are the most common cause of burn reading too high.
Check category directions. Money in filed as Revenue extends runway. Filed as one-time income it does not, which is correct for grants and founder capital.
Check the sync age. The Cash card says when it last synced. Runway is only as current as that.