Puzzle projects your cash from your live books: how long your cash lasts at your current burn, the month you'd run out, when to start raising, and a week-by-week cash flow forecast built from your open invoices, bills and payroll. You can see runway on the Dashboard, run a forecast as an AI task, or ask Claude, ChatGPT or another AI assistant through the Puzzle MCP.
Runway and burn on the Dashboard
Click Customize next to Financial Insights on the Dashboard and turn on Net burn and Runway run rate.
Net burn shows how much cash you're using. Expand the card to choose the calculation: Net burn (revenue minus operating expenses), Cash burn (the change in your bank balances), Operating income (proxy) (accrual basis), or Custom burn. Choose 3 month average or Last month total.
Runway run rate shows the last month your current cash can fully cover your monthly burn, and how many months that is. It uses the burn calculation you chose on the Net burn card. If you're generating cash, runway shows as infinite. When runway drops under 12 months, Puzzle suggests you start planning your next fundraise, at least six months ahead.
Custom burn lets you enter a hypothetical monthly burn, for example after a hire or a cost cut, and see what it does to your runway.
Some burn options and cards depend on your plan. An option with a crown icon needs an upgrade.
Build a cash flow forecast with AI
Accountants and firms managing the books can add these templates from Add in Close:
Template | What you get |
Forecasting & narrative | A 13-week cash flow forecast with a weekly projection, the weeks where cash would drop below a 4-week operating buffer, and a plain-English summary to share with the client. |
Cash runway estimate | Months of runway at the current burn rate, with a month-by-month projection. |
In Chat, accountants also get the Generate a 13-week cash flow forecast prompt, which builds the same forecast from the last six months of activity, your collection patterns, open bills and payroll, and points out the week with the lowest balance.
Forecast from your AI assistant
With the Puzzle MCP connected, you can ask things like "What's our runway, and when should we start raising?" or "Build a 13-week cash flow forecast, assuming we close a $2M raise in week 6."
Runway and burn. Runway and burn under both bank cash and operating income, last month and 3-month average.
Cash-out and fundraise dates. The month cash runs out under each burn measure, and a fundraise date six months before it.
Cash flow forecast. Weekly, monthly or quarterly, 13 weeks by default. Cash in comes from your open invoices, timed by how your customers have paid before. Cash out comes from open bills on their due dates and payroll on its recent schedule. Spend that isn't billed yet is covered by a buffer based on your recent operating burn. You can add one-off items such as a planned raise or a tax payment.
Cash trend. Your daily cash balance over a period, 90 days by default.
Runway and burn are available on every plan. The forecast, cash-out date, fundraise date and cash trend need a paid plan after your trial.
Budgets and full financial models
Puzzle doesn't build budgets or multi-scenario models. Expand the Runway run rate card for free forecast and budgeting model templates, links to FP&A tools that integrate with Puzzle, and an Export financial statements button to start your own model.