How to answer “How long will your cash last?”
An investor presses you on monthly cash burn and whether you can reach your next milestone.
What they might say
- “What's your monthly burn?”
- “How much runway do you have?”
- “What happens if the next round takes longer?”
What's usually behind it
The investor is checking whether your spending buys meaningful progress before cash runs out. They also want to know whether you have a workable fallback if fundraising slows.
What you can say
- We have [cash balance], with net burn of [amount] a month.
- At that rate, we have [number] months to reach [milestone].
- If fundraising takes longer, we'd delay [expense] to extend runway by [number] months.
Try not to
- Quoting runway without accounting for planned hires.
- Treating the next funding round as guaranteed.
How Earshot helps in the moment
Earshot listens live, shows one short card with a suggested line, and nudges you on pace as you explain your cash position and fallback plan.
More for investor pitches