Startup & VC Jargon · Vice President level

"Burn rate"

"Burn rate" means how quickly a company is spending its cash reserves each month, typically before reaching profitability.

Say this instead: how fast cash goes

How "Burn rate" shows up at work

A startup staple that sounds urgent because it is. When someone brings up burn rate in a meeting, the actual question underneath it is usually how many months of runway are left before the hard conversations start.

Buzzword

At our current burn rate, we have about eight months of runway.

Plain English

At the rate cash is going out, we have about eight months of runway.

Corporate Rank: Vice President · Category: Startup & VC Jargon

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