How long can I sustain operations without financing?

Buddy, you've hit the nail on the head with this question. Every solo entrepreneur needs to crunch these numbers. It's not rocket science; it's basically elementary math:

Your Cash on Hand ÷ Your Monthly Expenses = Your Runway (in months)

The key is figuring out your "monthly expenses." Many people fail to calculate this accurately and suddenly find themselves out of funds.

You need to calculate two main categories: Business Expenses and Personal Living Expenses. Don't forget to include your own living costs – that's a big one!

Part One: Your "Burn List" (Monthly Fixed Costs)

Grab a notebook or an Excel sheet and honestly list out everything below, don't miss a single item:

1. Your Personal Survival Costs:

   • Rent/Mortgage: This is often the largest fixed expense.
   • Food: Even if you eat instant noodles every day, you need to put a number to it.
   • Transportation, Utilities, Internet, Phone Bill: These are unavoidable.
   • Family Expenses: If you have a spouse and children, this budget needs to be even clearer.
   • Social/Entertainment: You'll need to meet friends and relax a few times a month, right?

   Add these up, and that's your minimum personal cost of living.

2. Your Business Survival Costs:

   • Server/Cloud Service Fees: How much do you spend monthly on services like Alibaba Cloud, Tencent Cloud, AWS?
   • Software Tool Fees: GitHub, various API interfaces, design software, etc. Do they have monthly or annual fees?
   • Office Costs: If you rent an office or co-working space, what's the rent? What about utilities and property management fees?
   • Business Registration & Tax Services: Hiring an accounting firm might cost a few hundred yuan a month; that's also an expense.
   • Marketing & Promotion: Do you plan to invest a little in advertising or events?
   • Employee Salaries: If you have partners or employees, this will be your biggest expenditure.

Add these two major categories together, and that's your monthly "burn rate."

Strongly Recommended: Take your calculated total and multiply it by 1.2 or 1.3. There will always be unexpected expenses you didn't account for, like a sudden server upgrade, a broken computer, or getting sick. This 20-30% is your "contingency fund."

Part Two: Your "War Chest" (Your Cash on Hand)

This is easy to calculate: it's the total sum of all your available savings in your bank accounts, Alipay, WeChat Pay, etc.

Finally, let's do the math:

Divide your total "war chest" by your calculated "monthly burn" (remember to use the number with the contingency fund added).

For example:

• Your personal monthly expenses: 5,000 yuan.
• Your business monthly expenses (servers, software, etc.): 2,000 yuan.
• Total: 7,000 yuan/month.
• Multiply by a 1.2 contingency factor = 8,400 yuan/month.
• You have 100,000 yuan in savings.
• 100,000 ÷ 8,400 ≈ 11.9 months.

So, theoretically, you can last for almost 1 year.

However, this is just a static number. The real key lies in:

• Can you generate revenue during this period? Even if it's just a few hundred or a thousand yuan a month, your "burn rate" will decrease, and your runway will extend. This is the ideal state, known as "self-sustaining."
• What is your goal? You're not starting a business just to "survive." You should ask yourself: What do I need to achieve with my product within this 1-year timeframe? Is it to build a presentable Minimum Viable Product (MVP)? To acquire the first 100 seed users? Or to validate your business model? With a clear goal, you'll know if this 1-year period is enough. If the goal is too ambitious and the time too short, you'll need to find solutions: either reduce expenses or quickly raise more funds.

Ultimately, don't fool yourself. Get your finances clear, and you'll have peace of mind. With peace of mind, you can focus on building your product and finding users, instead of worrying about next month's rent every day.