Free Tool
Solopreneur Runway Calculator
Runway is how many months your savings can cover the gap between what you spend and what your business brings in. Enter your savings, monthly burn, and current revenue to see your runway, a projected date it might be safe to quit your day job, and a 6-month buffer target to aim for first.
Why 6 months keeps coming up: one small business owner shared that they were advised to hold 6 months of expenses in savings before resigning to run their business full time, a benchmark echoed across other founder threads. Others who quit with far less cash on hand described it working out anyway, but only after their business had already found real, paying demand. Both threads point to the same conclusion: the buffer matters, but so does what you've already proven before you rely on it.
Cash you could put toward living and business costs.
Rent, food, insurance, debt payments.
Software, contractors, ads, hosting.
What the business brings in today, on average.
Leave at 0 for a conservative, no-growth estimate.
How this calculator works
Each month, we subtract your revenue from your combined personal and business costs to find the gap your savings need to cover. If you enter a growth rate, revenue compounds monthly until it either closes that gap (your safe-to-quit date) or your savings run out first (your runway). The 6-month war chest target is 6 times your combined monthly costs, a buffer size solopreneurs commonly cite as a benchmark before going full-time.
Frequently Asked Questions
Related resources
Cash flow planning
A runway number is a plan starter, not a decision.
Mustard Seed helps solopreneurs pressure-test the revenue side of this math, so the growth plan behind your safe-to-quit date is more than a guess.
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