Startup Runway and Burn Model
36-month headcount plan, cash-out date, break-even, scenarios
36-month runway model: headcount plan, MRR with growth and churn, gross and net burn, trailing runway, cash-out date, break-even, scenario dials.
Choose the licence on the Gumroad page. Payment and VAT are handled by Gumroad, the merchant of record. Also sold on Flevy ($29, single user, same file). Also on Eloquens (ELQ-27082-1, same file).
Two questions every founder gets asked: what is your monthly burn and when do you run out of cash. This model answers both from a headcount plan and a handful of revenue and cost inputs, then lets you move three dials (growth, costs, hiring delay) and read the new cash-out date.
- Inputs: opening cash and committed funding, starting MRR, monthly growth and churn, gross margin, payment terms, rent, software (with growth), marketing, G&A, employer on-costs, a minimum cash buffer, and the three scenario multipliers.
- Headcount: one row per role with department, start month, salary and count; the monthly salary grid and FTE count follow, with the scenario hiring delay applied to every start.
- Model, 36 months: MRR, revenue, cash collected on the payment terms, salaries and on-costs, fixed costs, cost of revenue, gross burn, net burn, funding, opening and closing cash, trailing three-month average burn, runway in months, buffer flag, headcount.
- Headline: cash-out month and months of runway, lowest cash and when, burn at months 1 and 12, MRR at 12 and 36, break-even month, closing cash at 36, and the funding needed to hold the buffer.
Rebuilt independently in Python from the same inputs and matched cell by cell before listing. Every default is an example value. Live formulas, no macros, no locked cells. Excel and Google Sheets.
Who it is for: founders preparing a board update or a raise, finance leads at seed to Series A companies, investors sanity-checking a runway claim.
Checked, not asserted. This workbook was recalculated cell by cell through a formula engine and matched against an independent replica written separately: 9 checks, all passing, last run 2026-10-17. Each check compares the figure the workbook produces against one worked out separately by hand before the run, so a figure lost in packaging fails the check rather than reaching you. Read the verification report for the UAE Corporate Tax workbook, or how Bindler verifies.
What was checked: all 9, by name
Each line is one figure recalculated and matched against a value worked out by hand before the run. The figures themselves are in the workbook.
- close m1
- close m12
- close m36
- mrr m36
- net burn m12
- lowest
- runway months 16
- trailing avg m5
- funding needed
What is inside
1 Excel workbook (.xlsx), sheets: Model, Inputs, Headcount, Guide
Use it if
You need a defensible runway and burn figure and a hiring plan you can flex in seconds.
Not for
You need a full three-statement model with balance sheet and working capital; use the Bindler DCF or SaaS models for that.
Who you are buying from
Bindler is the trading name of Neil Sangwaiya, one person in Dubai. There is no company behind that name, no sales team and no reviews, and this page is not going to pretend otherwise. What there is instead is a record. Gumroad takes the payment and is the merchant of record, so your card details never reach Bindler. Where a figure could not be verified the cell is left blank rather than filled. When something was found wrong it was written down and dated in the change log with the old figure named. And there is a 30-day money back guarantee, no reason needed, handled by Gumroad.
What you actually download
One spreadsheet file. No macros and no VBA, because the .xlsx format cannot carry them. No locked cells and no hidden sheets. If your IT will not let you open a spreadsheet from outside, upload it to Google Sheets and it opens there. And yes, an AI built it: that is exactly why every figure is recalculated against a replica worked out by hand first, rather than trusted.
Sheet previews
How buying works
- Choose a licenceSingle user for one person, team for up to 10, consultancy to use with clients. The buttons above go to the Gumroad page.
- Pay on GumroadCard or PayPal; Gumroad is the merchant of record and handles VAT and the receipt.
- Download the fileThe .xlsx arrives on the receipt page and by email. It opens in Excel and Google Sheets; nothing to install.
- Use itYellow cells are inputs, blue cells are formulas, every figure names its source. Questions: reply to the receipt; every reply is read and answered, usually the same day.
Advisers and accountants who recommend these workbooks to clients can earn 30% of each sale as a Gumroad affiliate: sign up on the store, no approval wait.
Try the free runway calculator first: 36 months, headcount plan and scenarios, in your browser.
Search terms this page answers: startup runway calculator excel, burn rate model headcount plan, cash out date model template.