60-second check-in
Three numbers — cash, MRR, burn — derive everything else.
Startup Health: the monthly check-in that keeps runway honest
Capture cash, recurring revenue, and burn in under a minute. Nautis turns those three numbers into runway, growth, and burn-trend metrics, draws charts, raises alerts when something looks bad, and lets you spin up an investor snapshot.
- Inputs3 numbers
- CadenceMonthly
- OutputRunway + Snapshot
app.nautis.io/startup-health
What is Startup Health?
Startup Health is the Nautis startup health dashboard. Once a month you enter three numbers: month-end cash, recurring revenue and net burn. Nautis works out runway, MRR growth and the burn trend, raises an alert when runway drops below six months or growth turns negative, keeps every month in a history table, and turns each check-in into an investor snapshot you can share.
Most founders can tell you their bank balance and roughly what they spend. Fewer can tell you what runway was three months ago, because nobody wrote it down the same way twice. A runway figure built from a mid-month balance in March and a month-end balance in April moves by weeks for no real reason. Startup Health fixes the inputs: Cash Balance is the bank balance on the last day of the month, Monthly MRR is recurring revenue only, and Monthly Burn is total spend minus revenue, entered as 0 if you took in more than you spent.
Open Finance and then Startup Health, click Update Data, and the Monthly Founder Check-in dialog shows last month's value beside each field with the percent change as you type. Saving fills four cards (Cash Balance, Monthly MRR, Monthly Burn and Runway), each with its change against last month. An alerts strip at the top flags low runway, negative growth or ballooning burn. Below that, History lists every check-in and Analytics plots all four metrics on one chart.
Our advice is simple: put a reminder on the first working day of each month and never skip it. The trend chart is the useful part, and it only works with an unbroken run of months. When the number looks bad, the runway in a downturn guide covers what to cut first, and the runway calculator lets you test a hiring freeze or a price rise before you commit.
Built for
- Founders tracking core financial health monthly
- Operators preparing investor updates
- Teams briefing the board on numbers each cycle
Capabilities
What you can do with Startup Health
Everything ships out of the box. No setup, no plugins, no extra tools.
Live runway & growth
Runway months, MRR growth, burn trend computed automatically with versus-last-month deltas.
Alerts strip
Highlights critical issues — runway under 6 months, MRR going negative, burn ballooning.
Analytics view
All four metrics on a single chart — see the trend, not just the snapshot.
Investor snapshot
One-click polished update you can share with backers right after each check-in.
Use cases
How startups use Startup Health
Catching up after half a year of not tracking
Choose Other month in the check-in dialog and start from the oldest month you have bank statements for. After the first entry, Copy last month pre-fills the fields so you only change what moved. There's one check-in per month, so going back over a month you already logged just updates it.
Turning the numbers into the monthly investor update
Saving a check-in opens the Investor Snapshot Editor with MRR, Burn, Runway and Cash at the top and sections for Overview, Execution, Growth, Burn, Team and Focus next month. It loads defaults from the metrics, so you edit a draft instead of a blank page. Use Preview to see the investor view and Download PDF for a copy. Our first investor update guide covers what to write in each part.
Giving an angel a link that stays current
Click Share Snapshot, pick Share via Link, set an expiry (never, 7 days, 30 days or a custom date) and turn on Allow history so they can step back through earlier months. You can revoke the link whenever you like. Share via Email sends the same snapshot with the same settings.
Seeing burn creep before the board does
The Monthly Burn card shows whether burn grew or shrank against last month, and the alerts strip calls out burn that's ballooning. When it moves, open Expenses analytics to find which category caused it, then fix the spend rather than the spreadsheet.
Quick start
From zero to using Startup Health
- 1
Click Update Data
Sidebar → Finance → Startup Health → Update Data.
- 2
Enter cash, MRR, burn
Last month's value shows for context. Use Copy Last Month if it's barely changed.
- 3
Save & open the snapshot
Polish the narrative now or come back later.
- 4
Share with investors
Send the polished snapshot link to your backers.
Where your runway shows up outside the dashboard
The Chief of Staff's morning briefing reads runway from Startup Health. It has its own Runway section, and the At a glance panel shows runway with the change since your last check-in. Under Settings, the Runway & burn slider tells the briefing how much weight to give it compared with deals, team health and the rest.
You can also ask the finance advisor directly, for example "Ask Anchor about our runway", in the AI Advisory Board. Both read the check-ins you've saved, so a skipped month means they're working from old numbers. If there's no Startup Health data at all, the briefing simply leaves runway out.
Startup health dashboard vs a spreadsheet vs accounting software
These do different jobs. Accounting software keeps the books; a health check-in tells a founder, in one glance, how long the money lasts and which way it's heading.
| Question | Spreadsheet | Nautis Startup Health | Accounting software |
|---|---|---|---|
| How runway is worked out | A formula you wrote, if nobody broke it | Months left at the current burn, updated when you save | Depends on the product's reports |
| Effort each month | Paste numbers and check formulas | Three fields, with last month shown for comparison | Books need closing first |
| Warnings | Conditional formatting you set up | Built-in alerts for low runway, negative growth and rising burn | Varies by product |
| Something to send investors | Copy figures into an email | Snapshot with expiry, history and PDF download | Exported reports |
| Bookkeeping, reconciliation and tax | No | No | Yes, that's its job |
Plans and limits
- Startup Health must be enabled on your plan. Anyone with read access sees the metrics, history and analytics; adding or editing a check-in needs create or update permission on the module.
- Startup Health is part of the 14-day, card-free trial, and pricing lists the plans.
What Startup Health doesn't do
- The numbers are the ones you type. Startup Health doesn't do bookkeeping, reconciliation or tax, so you still need proper books and an accountant. Setting up startup books explains the basics.
- Runway is cash divided by this month's burn. It doesn't model planned hires or a fundraise; use the Financial Planner for forward projections.
- Alert thresholds are fixed. You can dismiss the strip for the session, but you can't set your own rules.
- A check-in can lock once its snapshot has been shared, and deleting a check-in removes that month's snapshot and breaks its links.
Startup Health questions
What should a startup health dashboard track?+
At the early stage, four numbers answer most questions: cash, recurring revenue, net burn and the runway they imply. Track them on the same day each month so the trend means something. Startup Health asks for the first three and calculates runway and growth for you.
Should one-off project revenue count as MRR?+
No. Enter only recurring revenue as MRR and let one-off income show up in your cash balance. Mixing them makes growth swing up and down from month to month and hides the real trend.
What do I enter for burn in a month we were cashflow positive?+
Enter 0. Burn here means total spend minus revenue, so a month where revenue covered costs has no burn. Runway then reflects that you aren't using up cash.
Why can't I edit last month's check-in?+
A check-in can become finalized after its investor snapshot has been shared. When that happens the dialog tells you it's locked and the fields are read-only, so the numbers investors saw don't change underneath them.
How is Startup Health different from the Financial Planner?+
Startup Health records what actually happened each month. The Financial Planner builds a multi-year projection from assumptions, with statements, ratios and its own runway view. Most founders use the check-in monthly and revisit the plan when they raise or change strategy.
What if I miss a month?+
Pick Other month in the check-in dialog and choose the missing month. Backfilling old months catches you up so the trend chart looks right.
Can I tweak the alert thresholds?+
The current alert rules (low runway, negative growth, ballooning burn) are built in. The alert strip can be dismissed for the session, but the thresholds aren't user-configurable yet.
Will investors need a Nautis account to view my snapshot?+
No. Anyone with the share link can open the public snapshot in any browser. The link respects whatever expiry and history setting you chose.
What happens to the snapshot if I delete the check-in?+
Deleting a check-in also deletes that month's investor snapshot. Active share links for that month stop working.
Can I share multiple months at once?+
Yes — when you create or send a share link, toggle Allow history so the recipient can navigate prior months from the same link.
How is runway computed?+
Cash balance ÷ monthly burn. The dashboard updates the moment you save a check-in.
Can I copy last month if barely anything changed?+
Yes. Click Copy last month in the dialog to pre-fill values, then tweak only what changed.
Who sees the investor snapshot?+
Only people you share the snapshot link with. Internally, every team member with module access sees the dashboard.
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