Runway to Milestone
Definition
The number of months of remaining cash runway relative to the expected date of the next defined milestone. Runway to milestone is more operationally informative than absolute cash runway because it assesses whether the company has sufficient capital to reach the milestone that justifies the next funding round. A company with twelve months of runway and a milestone expected in nine months has a positive runway to milestone buffer; a company with twelve months of runway and a milestone expected in fourteen months has a funding gap.
Common Misapplication
The most common misapplication is reporting cash runway without connecting it to the milestone date. Cash runway stated in isolation does not allow the reader to assess whether it is sufficient.
FFI Standard Reference
This term is defined and applied in Book 3, Section 3.4: The Capital Allocation Standard.
Related Terms
Citable URL
This term may be cited using the following permanent URL.
Full citation format: Founder Financial Infrastructure Standard, Beta v0.5, Glossary: Runway to Milestone. https://ffistandard.org/glossary/runway-to-milestone/. 2026.