Monthly burn and runway

Q: What's the formula for runway?

Runway in months = ending cash ÷ net monthly burn. Net burn is total cash out minus cash collected from revenue in the same period.

Q: What's the difference between gross and net burn?

Gross burn is total cash leaving the bank each month, regardless of revenue. Net burn subtracts revenue. Most operators report net burn for runway but track both — gross burn is a more honest measure of cost discipline.

An AI-generated monthly burn and runway report. Net burn, gross burn, runway in months, and a forward forecast — pulled from finance data.

Use this template How automations work

Runs monthly Scheduled Delivered to Email

Monthly burn and runway

Active

Trigger

Runs monthly

Instructions

Generate a monthly burn and runway report.

Delivery

Example output

A realistic sample of what this automation delivers — your version draws on your data.

Monthly burn and runway Runs monthly · Sent to Email

Sample output

May snapshot

Burn

$612K -4% ($638K)

Cash

$14.2M -$0.6M ($14.8M)

Runway (flat)

21 mo -1 mo (22 mo)

Headcount

38 +2 (36)

Bottom line. May burn $612K (-4% MoM). Cash $14.2M. Runway 21 months at flat burn, 19 if we increase 10%, 23 if we cut 10%.

Burn breakdown

People: $440K (72%) — 38 FTE.
Cloud + infra: $58K (9%) — down 6% after the AWS rightsizing.
Marketing: $52K (8%) — within plan.
G&A + SaaS: $62K (10%).

Runway scenarios

Flat $612K/mo → 21 months (Feb 2028).
+10% growth → 19 months (Dec 2027).
-10% trim → 23 months (Apr 2028).

Watch. Two big enterprise renewals land in Q3 — if they renew, runway extends ~3 months without changing burn.

The prompt

Copy, paste, customize.

Drop this into a Basedash automation. AI fills in the numbers from every source you've connected.

Instructions

Generate a monthly burn and runway report.

Cover:

**Cash.** Ending cash balance. Month-over-month change.

**Burn.** Gross burn (total cash out) and net burn (cash out minus revenue). Compare to the trailing 6-month average.

**Runway.** Net burn ÷ ending cash, in months. Compare to last month and 90 days ago.

**Burn drivers.** Top 5 line items causing this month's burn — payroll, contractors, cloud, marketing, software. Movers vs. last month.

**Forecast.** Projected runway at constant burn, at +10% burn, and at -10% burn.

**Risk.** Any line item growing > 15% MoM that isn't planned.

Lead with numbers; end with one specific cost to scrutinize next month.

Data sources