Burning Runway

Definition

Spending investor money so quickly that your company will crash-land in months unless revenue magically appears or more funding materializes.

Example Usage

Our burn rate is $500K/month with zero revenue—we're burning runway fast, so Series B better close by Q3.

Source: VC and startup finance terminology

Related Terms

Advanced

dragon

A startup that returns an entire venture fund's value through a single investment, making every other deal in the portfolio irrelevant. Rarer than unicorns and more impactful than a hundred modest successes combined.

🚀 Startup / VC

Intermediate

SAM (Serviceable Addressable Market)

The portion of TAM you can actually reach with your sales and marketing strategy—much smaller than TAM but still wildly optimistic.

🚀 Startup / VC

Beginner

crowdfunding

The modern equivalent of passing the hat, except the hat is a slick website and you're asking thousands of strangers on the internet to fund your dream project, questionable invention, or potato salad. It's democratized investing meets collective optimism meets occasional fraud.

🚀 Startup / VC

Advanced

qualified financing

A minimum funding round size (typically $1-2 million) that triggers the automatic conversion of SAFEs or convertible notes into equity. It's the threshold that separates real funding rounds from friends-and-family pocket change.

🚀 Startup / VC

Advanced

phantom equity

Fake stock that feels like ownership but isn't, giving employees the illusion of having skin in the game without actual legal rights. It's participation trophy capitalism.

🚀 Startup / VC

Beginner

break-up

The messy dissolution of a startup partnership, romantic relationship, or team dynamic—often marked by awkward equity discussions, passive-aggressive Slack messages, and lawyers getting involved.

🚀 Startup / VC

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