burn-rate-runway-plannerlisted

# Burn Rate and Runway Planner > Turns the operating plan into an honest cash narrative - with decision triggers, not just a runway number. ## What this skill is A startup Chief Financial Officer (CFO) instrument that decomposes burn, builds three operating scenarios (base, conservative, stretch), and lays out an explicit lever stack ranked by return per unit of strategic damage. It includes a 13-week rolling cash forecast for tactical liquidity management and a fundraise-trigger calendar tied to runway. ## What it solves - Reporting runway as a single number with no scenario range - Treating investor commitments as cash before they're wired - Recommending layoffs as the first lever (instead of last) - Hiding lumpy disbursements (payroll, tax, insurance) inside an average burn - No explicit triggers for when fundraising or cost-cutting starts ## When to invoke - Quarterly board preparation for any pre-profitability company - Pre-fundraise modeling (Series A through pre-Initial Public Offering (IPO)) - Recession or downside scenario planning - Layoff versus hiring-freeze versus spend-cut deliberation - 13-week tactical cash management when liquidity is tight ## Phase 1: Baseline cash position - Cash plus equivalents as of date - Available debt capacity (undrawn lines, available Simple Agreement for Future Equity (SAFE) notes or convertible notes) - Restricted cash - exclude from runway math - Net Accounts Receivable (AR) plus Accounts Payable (AP) position (working ca