Runway and burn tracker
A month-by-month sheet for cash in, cash out, and the runway that falls out of the two.
Spreadsheet
Round size and runway · Copyable template
Round size worksheet
Build the raise number from what it has to pay for, rather than starting from a round figure.
“How much should we raise?” is shorthand for three linked decisions: what the company needs to prove next, how long that work will take, and how much uncertainty the team can genuinely absorb. Starting from a market headline — seed rounds are usually X — means choosing a number before choosing the milestone.
This worksheet reverses the order. Define the work, price the chapter, translate it into runway, then check the number that falls out against dilution and appetite. The right ask is not the largest an investor might accept or the smallest that keeps the lights on. It is the amount your plan can actually explain.
Copyable template
What is in it
- Where you are now
- The milestone
- The operating plan
- The things a round pays for that are not payroll
- The runway it buys
- The buffer, and what it covers
- The ask
- Pressure test, both directions
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How to use it
Notes
The ask is defensible when you can state all six lines plainly: current cash and burn, the milestone the capital buys, the people and costs required, the runway under a downside case, the buffer you chose and why, and what evidence would change the plan. If one is missing, keep working before broad outreach begins. And do not raise because a headline round size is available or because other founders happen to be fundraising — if the next milestone is still a collection of unrelated experiments, a smaller evidence-building plan, or no round yet, may create more value.
Where this comes from
The thinking behind it
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Scenario planner one-pager
Three runway scenarios on one page, so the plan survives the round closing late or small.
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From the publication
Read The Raise Memo
A note for founders raising capital—what investors notice, how conviction gets built, and what to do next.
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