How Runwaiy works

1 Control Tower

Control Tower

The Control Tower is your daily check-in. It shows a Daily Cash Position chart: the blue line is your actual cash balance (from past days and today), and the amber dashed line is your forecast balance for the next few weeks. You can switch between scenarios (Actuals, Contracted, Forecast, Pipeline) to see how different levels of confidence change the picture.

Arrivals and Departures are two boards that list upcoming inflows and outflows in your chosen time window — money coming in and money going out, so you can see what's due when. The four KPI cards show your current cash balance, burn rate, MRR and runway at a glance. The cash visibility timeline shows how far ahead your forecast is reliable (e.g. "actuals + contracted" for the next 90 days).

Use the scenario toggles to switch views: Actuals (only what's happened), Contracted (signed deals and committed costs), Forecast (likely revenue and costs), and Pipeline (possible deals). Each adds more future data so you can plan for best and worst cases.

2 Monthly Cash Position

Monthly Cash Position

The Monthly Cash Position gives you a 24-month forward view of your cash. The same scenario toggles (Actuals, Contracted, Forecast, Pipeline) apply here, so you can see how your position changes under each assumption.

The month-by-month table shows opening balance, MRR (revenue), payroll, VAT, other costs and net position for each month. You can see when cash dips and when it recovers. A red zone highlights any month where your projected balance falls below three months of costs — a simple early warning so you can plan ahead.

Use this view for board reporting, funding conversations and annual planning. It's built from the same revenue, costs and payroll data you enter elsewhere, so it stays in sync with your Control Tower.

3 Revenue

Revenue

In Revenue you add inflow cash events — money coming in. You can add recurring revenue (e.g. monthly retainers, SaaS MRR), one-off items (project fees, grants) and forecast or pipeline deals that might close later. Each event has a start date, amount and how often it repeats (if at all).

Every inflow can be tagged with a confidence level: Contracted means it's signed and certain; Forecast means it's likely; Pipeline means it's possible. Runwaiy uses these to build the scenario views on the Control Tower and Monthly Cash Position, so you can see cash if only contracted revenue lands versus if pipeline converts.

If you're VAT registered, you can mark revenue as VAT applicable. Runwaiy will include the VAT in your liability and due-date calculations so your projections stay accurate.

4 Costs

Costs

In Costs you add outflow cash events — money going out. Rent, software, contractors, marketing and any other regular or one-off payments. Each cost has a start date, amount and frequency. Runwaiy projects them forward so they appear on your Control Tower and Monthly Cash Position.

The Costs Overview gives you a summary of all outflows. The Suppliers registry lets you store payee details and payment terms in one place, so you can attach them to cost events and see when each supplier is due. The Cost Forecast page shows a timeline of when costs hit, so you can spot busy months and plan cash accordingly.

You can set payment day types per cost: a specific date (e.g. 1st of the month), last working day of the month, or payment terms (e.g. net 30 from invoice). Runwaiy uses this to place each cost on the right day in your forecast.

5 People & Payroll

People & Payroll

In People you add employees with their salary. Runwaiy then works out the rest: employer National Insurance (15% above the £5,000 annual threshold), employer pension (minimum 3% for auto-enrolment, or your chosen rate), and total monthly employer cost. You don't have to look up rates — they're built in for the current UK tax year.

PAYE and NI are normally due to HMRC by the 19th of the month following the pay period. Runwaiy uses that date so your Control Tower and Monthly Cash Position show when the tax man gets paid. You can use tracking categories (e.g. department, project) if you want to split payroll in reports later.

Contractors live in a separate list (People → Contractors) with their own rates, terms and VAT settings, so you can keep payroll and contractor spend clear in your forecasts.

6 VAT & Tax

VAT & Tax

Runwaiy includes a quarterly VAT projection calendar. Your VAT quarters are determined from your company's financial year start month (set in Settings), so the quarters line up with how you report to HMRC. You'll see how much VAT you expect to owe (or reclaim) each quarter and when it's due.

Output VAT is the VAT on your sales — you collect it and pay it to HMRC. Input VAT is the VAT on your costs — you can reclaim it. The projection uses both so you see your net VAT liability. For online filing, the payment due date is one month and seven days after the end of each quarter (e.g. quarter ends 30 June, payment due by 7 August).

If you're not VAT registered, you can leave VAT off. If you are, set it in Settings and mark which revenue and costs are VAT applicable; Runwaiy will keep your VAT numbers and due dates in sync with the rest of your forecast.

7 Xero Integration

Xero Integration

You connect Xero via OAuth — no passwords stored in Runwaiy. Once connected, Runwaiy runs a sync that pulls your bank transactions from Xero. Those real transactions are then compared with the cash events you've added (revenue and costs) so you can see what's actually landed versus what you predicted.

The matching engine tries to link each Xero transaction to a cash event automatically. It uses name similarity (payee or description) and amount matching. When it finds a good match, the transaction is marked matched; when it's unsure, it flags for review; when it can't match, it stays unmatched. You can review and correct matches on the reconciliation page so your actuals stay accurate and your forecast learns from real data.

Note: Xero scope access for bank transactions activates from April 2026. Until then, connection may be limited to what Xero's API allows.

8 AI Insights

AI Insights (Optional)

AI insights are completely optional. If you turn them on, Runwaiy analyses your cash position, burn rate, supplier payment terms, VAT timing and payroll exposure, then surfaces short, plain-English insights — e.g. "VAT due in 6 weeks", "burn up 14% this month", or "pay WeWork on day 28 to keep cash 27 days longer." They're generated on demand when you click to refresh, and cached for about an hour so you're not hitting the AI every time you load the page.

Insights are powered by Claude. They use your data only to generate the insight at that moment — your data is never used to train AI models. You stay in control of when the analysis runs and what you do with the results.

If you prefer to work from raw numbers and charts only, you can ignore the AI section entirely. The rest of Runwaiy works the same either way.

9 Settings

Settings

In Settings you configure your company: name, financial year end month, opening balance and whether you're VAT registered (and VAT number if so). The opening balance is critical — it's the starting point for all projections. Runwaiy takes that number and adds your projected inflows, then subtracts outflows, month by month (and day by day on the Control Tower). If the opening balance is wrong, the whole forecast is off, so keep it updated (e.g. from your latest bank balance or Xero).

You can also toggle the Solari animation (the departure-board style effect on the dashboard) on or off. Some people find it helpful; others prefer a calmer view. It's entirely up to you.