Never be surprised by your runway again. This workflow pulls your financial data from QuickBooks and bank accounts, calculates burn rate and runway, uses AI to identify concerning trends, and sends weekly financial health updates to Slack with alerts when metrics hit warning thresholds.
Pull expense data from QuickBooks
The workflow queries QuickBooks for all expenses from the past week and month, categorized by type (payroll, software, marketing, etc.). It pulls both actual spend and any recurring commitments to calculate true burn rate.
Fetch bank balances via Plaid
Using Plaid, the workflow retrieves current balances from all connected bank accounts. It calculates your total available cash position and tracks week-over-week changes in your cash reserves.
Calculate burn rate and runway with AI
Using OpenAI, the workflow calculates your monthly burn rate (using trailing averages to smooth anomalies), current runway in months, and burn multiple if you have revenue. The AI identifies unusual spending patterns and flags categories with significant increases.
Send financial health update to Slack
A weekly financial summary is sent to your founders' Slack channel with current runway, burn rate, week-over-week changes, and any alerts. If runway drops below your configured threshold or burn spikes unexpectedly, urgent alerts are triggered.
Why automate burn rate tracking?
Runway surprises kill startups. Founders who check their finances monthly often discover problems too late to course correct. Automated weekly tracking gives you early warning and time to adjust before cash becomes critical.
Know your exact runway at all times
No more mental math or stale spreadsheets. Get accurate, up-to-date runway calculations every week based on actual spending data, not estimates or budgets.
Catch spending anomalies early
That vendor who accidentally double-charged you or the subscription that auto-renewed at a higher tier. AI catches unusual spending patterns before they meaningfully impact your runway.
Make informed decisions about growth vs. efficiency
With clear visibility into burn rate trends, you can confidently decide when to hire, when to cut, and how much runway you need before your next raise.
How to set up burn rate monitoring
Setting up this financial monitoring workflow takes about 15 minutes. You'll connect your accounting and banking data and configure alert thresholds.
What you need to get started
- QuickBooks Online for expense categorization
- Plaid-connected bank accounts for balances
- OpenAI API key for analysis
- Slack workspace for alerts
Configuring your financial connections
- Connect QuickBooks and verify expense categories
- Link bank accounts through Plaid
- Set your baseline burn rate for comparison
- Define runway alert thresholds (e.g., alert under 9 months)
Setting alert thresholds
- Runway warning (e.g., under 12 months): Send to founders
- Runway critical (e.g., under 6 months): Urgent alert
- Burn spike (e.g., >20% increase): Investigate spending
- Unusual expense: Flag individual transactions over threshold
Frequently asked questions about burn rate automation
How accurate is the runway calculation?
Runway is calculated using trailing 3-month average burn rate to smooth out one-time expenses. This gives a more realistic projection than using a single month that might have anomalies.
Can I include revenue in the calculation?
Yes, if you have revenue, the workflow can calculate net burn (expenses minus revenue) and show your burn multiple. This is especially useful for startups approaching profitability.
What if I use Xero instead of QuickBooks?
You can swap QuickBooks for Xero or any accounting software with API access. The calculation and alerting logic works the same with different data sources.
Is this data secure?
The workflow uses read-only access to your financial data. No transactions are made. All connections use OAuth and encrypted APIs. Consider who has access to your Slack channel when configuring alerts.