
Ask HN: How much runway should you save? - vladmk
How much runway should you have in the bank? 3 months? 6 months? 12 months? What&#x27;s fast and what&#x27;s slow?
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hjkm
It totally depends on the company.

If you know you won't be profitable for a while and require outside
investment, then you need a longer runway as it can take a long time to raise
money.

If things are going well, but you've built your business on a channel you have
no control over, like facebook (and one change to their algorithm / one even
cyclical change in costs can screw you - this happened to a 'previously'
successful side project I created) then it's best to save as much as you can -
at least if you want to / think you can find another channel.

If you're working on a startup and aren't planning on raising money, then
sometimes a shorter runway is a good thing - i.e. you don't want to dedicate
yourself to 'the wrong' project for years.

If you've found a growth machine and output currently equals 2*input, there's
not much point saving money huge amounts today. Best to continue investing.

Sure there are tons of other scenarios.

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aaronbrethorst
> How much runway should you have in the bank? 3 months? 6 months? 12 months?

As much as you can. Hopefully 18 months.

> What's fast and what's slow?

How quickly it dwindles; how slowly customers sign up.

