Fast, a one-click checkout startup, raised more than $120 million from serious backers (Stripe among them) and hired around 450 people. In 2021 it generated roughly $600,000 in revenue — while reportedly spending up to $10 million a month. On 5 April 2022 it shut down, unable to raise more. A big bank balance can hide a brutal truth, and the truth is always one division sum away.
The Math
Runway is the simplest, most unforgiving number in a startup: cash ÷ net monthly burn = how many months you have left. ‘Net’ burn is what you spend minus what you bring in. When revenue is tiny, your net burn is basically your entire spend.
Fast’s runway math (approximate, illustrative)
That’s the whole trap. $120 million sounds infinite — until you divide it by $10 million a month and get roughly a year. Because revenue barely offset the spend, almost none of that burn was buying its way toward sustainability. When the next round didn’t come, the runway simply ran out, on schedule.
The Nuance
Burning cash isn’t automatically reckless — spending ahead of revenue is how startups grow into big markets. The lethal combination is a high burn rate with no visible path to revenue and no buffer to survive a ‘no’ from investors. Runway is the number that tells you how long you have to close that gap before someone else makes the decision for you.How Many Months Do You Have?
Enter your cash on hand, monthly spend and any income to see your burn rate and exactly how many months of runway you have left. Free, private, no sign-up.
Check your runway →💬 Your turn
A — I know my runway to the month.
B — I’d have to go and work it out.
Drop A or B — and what’s the wildest burn-to-revenue gap you’ve ever seen a company try to outrun?
- Fast shuts down after burning through investors’ money — NPR
- Fast shuts doors after slow growth, high burn — TechCrunch
- Short-lived Fast shuts down after raising $125 million — Forbes
— Maya, who has never met a bank balance that couldn’t be divided by a monthly burn rate.