Revenue
The total income a business generates from its products or services before any expenses are deducted.
The deal pipeline connects your revenue directly to your runway calculation.
What is Revenue?
Revenue is the top line — the total amount of money your business earns from selling products or services. For SaaS companies, revenue primarily comes from subscription fees. For other startups, it might include product sales, service fees, or licensing.
Revenue is recognized when earned, not necessarily when cash is received. If you sign a $12,000 annual contract in January, you recognize $1,000/month in revenue over 12 months, even though you might receive the full payment upfront.
For runway calculations, what matters most is when cash actually arrives (cash basis), not when it's recognized (accrual basis). A $100,000 contract doesn't help your cash position if the customer pays net-90.
Why it matters
Revenue is the other side of the runway equation. While burn rate drains your cash, revenue replenishes it. Growing revenue reduces net burn, which extends runway.
For founders, understanding the timing and predictability of revenue is just as important as the amount. Recurring revenue (subscriptions) is more valuable for planning than one-time revenue because it's predictable.
Formula
Revenue = Sum of all income from products/services in a period
Example
In March, your SaaS company earned $25,000 from monthly subscriptions, $5,000 from an annual contract (monthly equivalent), and $3,000 from a one-time consulting engagement. Total revenue = $33,000. Recurring revenue (used for MRR) = $30,000.
How RunwayCal helps
RunwayCal tracks revenue through the Deals module, where you define committed and pipeline deals. Revenue flows into your net burn and runway calculations automatically, giving you a complete picture of your financial position.
Common mistakes
- 1Confusing revenue with cash received (a signed contract isn't cash in the bank)
- 2Including revenue that hasn't been earned yet (like prepaid annual contracts counted fully in month one)
- 3Not separating recurring revenue from one-time revenue when planning
Connect your revenue to your runway
RunwayCal factors revenue from your deal pipeline into burn and runway calculations — no disconnected spreadsheets.
Track revenue impact → Start free