Runway is simply a startup’s remaining cash balance divided by its monthly net burn rate — if a company has ₱12 million in the bank and is burning ₱2 million a month, it has six months of runway. Runway is one of the most important numbers a founder tracks, because it sets a hard deadline: raise more money, become profitable, or cut costs before the runway runs out, with no fourth option.

Experienced founders generally start raising their next round well before runway gets critically short — commonly when 6 to 9 months remain — because fundraising itself takes months, and negotiating from a position of “we have plenty of cash but want to raise on good terms” is far stronger than negotiating from “we run out of money in six weeks.”

Runway can be extended two ways: raising more cash, or cutting burn rate (slower hiring, reduced spending) — most startups facing a runway crunch end up doing some combination of both rather than relying on either alone.

🇵🇭 Philippine Example

By the end of 2025, Angkas' cash reserves had reportedly fallen about 72%, from roughly ₱642 million to about ₱177 million, giving the company an estimated runway of only seven to eight months at its then-current burn rate — a real, publicly reported illustration of how quickly runway can shrink once burn outpaces revenue.

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