Cash Burn Rate Calculator

Find out how quickly your business is spending its available capital with this quick and easy-to-use tool.
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Get clarity from your cash burn

What cash burn can tell you

Your cash burn rate measures how quickly your business is spending its capital and how many months it has left at its current rate. Monitoring it is crucial for survival, budgeting, and forecasting. Investors will often assess a business’s cash burn rate to gauge its financial health and sustainability.

Dive Into Cash Burn
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How to interpret your cash burn rate

While no universal metric exists for all businesses, a cash burn that offers a minimum of one year of runway is generally recommended. If your current cash burn positions you to run out of runway in less than six months, it may be a sign to course correct.

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Bar graph showing varying cash burn levels across several months

How to improve your cash burn rate

As your business scales, you’ll want to see a decreasing trend in your cash burn. Some strategies for improving your cash burn are to audit your expenses, increase revenue through various strategies, and to look for flexible sources of funding.

Improve Your Burn Rate
Line graph showing a downward trend in cash burn

The complete guide to cash burn

Cash burn rate is a critical financial metric that measures how quickly a startup spends its available capital. In venture capital terminology, it represents the net cash used after accounting for revenue and expenses. For early-stage companies, particularly in the tech sector, understanding your burn rate is crucial for survival and strategic planning.Simply put, cash burn rate indicates the rate at which a company is "burning through" its cash reserves, typically calculated on a monthly, quarterly, or annual basis. It's essentially a measure of negative cash flow that helps founders and investors gauge a company's financial health and sustainability.

The fundamental formula for calculating cash burn rate is straightforward:
Cash Balance ÷ Monthly Cash Burn = Cash RunwayHere’s an example:
  • Total Cash in Bank: $10,000,000
  • Monthly Cash Burn: $500,000
  • Resulting Cash Runway: 20 months (10,000,000 ÷ 500,000)
This simple calculation provides founders with a critical insight: how long their current cash reserves will last at the current spending rate.

Monitoring cash burn rate is more than just a financial exercise—it's a strategic imperative for several reasons:
  • Investor Confidence: Investors closely scrutinize burn rates to understand how responsibly a startup manages its capital.
  • Sustainability Planning: By tracking burn rate, founders can make informed decisions about cost-cutting, revenue generation, and potential fundraising.
  • Market Resilience: A healthy burn rate helps startups remain adaptable in volatile funding environments, reducing dependency on venture capital.
  • Strategic Resource Allocation: Understanding cash outflow enables more precise financial planning and resource management.

A "healthy" burn rate varies across industries and business stages, but some universal principles apply:
  • Decreasing Trend: Ideally, your burn rate should decrease over time, indicating improved efficiency and potential profitability.
  • Runway Considerations: Historically, having a year's runway was standard. Today, successful startups aim for an even more extended financial buffer.
  • Industry Context: Burn rates differ significantly between sectors. Tech startups might have higher initial burns compared to service-based businesses.
No universal "perfect" burn rate exists. Your cash burn should be tailored to:
  • Your industry's specific requirements
  • Current business stage
  • Growth objectives
  • Product development cycle
A few examples:
  • Aerospace/Biotech: Significant upfront R&D investments
  • E-commerce: Large initial inventory expenditures
  • Software: Talent acquisition and product development costs

Some ways you can work on improving your cash burn rate are:
  • Optimize Operating Expenses
    • Regularly audit and minimize unnecessary costs
    • Leverage remote work and flexible staffing
    • Negotiate better vendor contracts
  • Accelerate Revenue Generation
    • Focus on customer acquisition strategies
    • Develop minimum viable products (MVPs)
    • Implement effective sales and marketing techniques
  • Flexible Funding Approaches
    • Explore alternative funding sources
    • Consider convertible notes or staged investments.
    • Maintain relationships with multiple investor networks

While cash burn rate is crucial, consider complementing it with:

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Disclaimers and footnotes

    Mercury is a fintech company, not an FDIC-insured bank. Banking services provided by Choice Financial Group, Column N.A., and Evolve Bank & Trust, Members FDIC. Deposit insurance covers the failure of an insured bank.