Put this metric to work: explore FlowMRR's MRR analytics and forecasts to track revenue movements, retention and forecasts from your own account.
How many months you can operate at current burn before running out of cash. MRR pays bills, runway buys time. The two diverge most when you're growing fast (heavy upfront investment) or shrinking (collections lagging cancellations).
Formula
Runway (months) = Cash on Hand ÷ Monthly Net BurnWorked example
$600,000 cash, $50,000 net burn (after MRR collections) → Runway = 12 months.
Illustrative comparisons
Healthy runwayThese unsourced ranges are illustrative scenarios, not measured industry benchmarks, percentiles or recommended targets. Their qualitative labels are editorial interpretations. Compare your own cohorts using the same segment, period, currency and measurement basis.
Why it matters
Profitable on paper and out of cash is the most common way SaaS startups die. Annual plans bring forward cash but also lock in churn risk; expansion deals are great revenue but typically have collection delays. Watch runway weekly when below 12 months, monthly otherwise.
Common mistakes
- Treating MRR as cash — invoiced ≠ collected. Net 30 customers can stretch to net 60.
- Forgetting upcoming tax payments, sales-tax accruals, and one-off vendor commitments.
- Modeling runway on average burn rather than the trailing-3-month burn (which includes recent headcount hires).