Estimate total startup costs by category (legal, equipment, marketing, inventory) with funding needs and cash runway projection.
A startup cost estimate is only half the story. The total says what launch costs, but the runway figure says when the money runs out, and founders are routinely surprised how early that is once salaries, rent, and insurance are counted as monthly burn. This tool collects planned costs by category - legal, equipment, marketing, inventory, plus operating expenses - sums them into a funding need, and divides cash by monthly burn to project how many months the funding lasts.
A concrete input and expected output from the current implementation.
Input
Legal: $2,500 / Equipment: $15,000 / Marketing: $4,500 / Inventory: $9,000 / Other: $4,000 / Monthly operating costs: $7,000
Expected output
Total startup cost: $35,000. Funding need: $35,000. Cash runway: 5.0 months at the stated $7,000 monthly burn.
The tool sums the five cost categories to $35,000 (2,500 + 15,000 + 4,500 + 9,000 + 4,000), which is also the funding need when the plan is fully funded up front. Runway divides that cash by the monthly burn: 35,000 / 7,000 = 5 months, so the money is exhausted at the start of month six.
Costs are entered under named categories - legal, equipment, marketing, inventory, and operating expenses - and the tool sums each category, then all categories, into a single startup cost total. The funding-need result follows directly: the cash required to cover those items before revenue arrives. The tool does not add anything you do not enter, so an unlisted cost is simply absent from every result.
Runway is one division: cash available divided by monthly operating costs, giving the number of months the money lasts. With $35,000 funded and $7,000 of monthly costs, the result is 5 months - the cash is exhausted at the start of month six. Because of the division, a $500 error in monthly costs moves the result by roughly a third to half a month, so the monthly figure deserves the most scrutiny.
Not by itself, but it is short. It means the money runs out early in month five if nothing changes, which leaves little time for the business to find customers before the cash does. The practical response is to extend it - trim the burn or raise more before launch - rather than to treat the number as a verdict on the idea.
Yes, and it is the line founders most often leave out. If you draw a salary or living allowance from the business, it is a real cash outflow and belongs in monthly operating costs, alongside any day-one employees. Omitting it flatters the runway by exactly that amount. If you plan to live off savings, exclude it deliberately and note that assumption.
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