For classrooms and workshops
Founder Runway is a free, browser-based startup simulation. A run is 20 decisions long, so a whole class can start, finish and compare outcomes inside a single session — no install, no license, no seat count.
Startup simulation
Any school laptop, lab machine or phone with a modern browser works. Nothing to install, no software request to file with IT.
Each student runs their own company: spending, hiring, product focus and fundraising decisions, one turn at a time, under a shrinking cash runway.
Runs end with a result screen showing what survived and what burned the cash. Comparing different endings across the room is where most of the teaching happens.
Most classroom business simulations assume weeks of play and a facilitator guide to match. Founder Runway is the opposite: a run is 20 decision turns, short enough to play and debrief in a single period, and repeatable enough that a second run tests a different strategy.
Runway, burn, product-market fit, growth, valuation and investor trust all react to the decision on screen. Students learn why spending on growth before finding PMF kills companies by watching their own cash disappear — a lesson that rarely survives a slide deck.
A run can start at Pre-Seed, Seed, Pre-Series A or Series A, on Normal, low-cash, competitive or inflationary difficulty. Giving groups different settings and comparing results turns one activity into a discussion about how context changes the right decision.
Being straight with you
There is no teacher dashboard, no class roster, no per-student progress tracking and no ready-made lesson plan. Founder Runway is the activity, not a course platform — students play individually and the instructor runs the framing and the debrief.
The game costs nothing and there is no paid tier to upsell your students into. Starting a run does ask for an email or a quick free account, so it is worth walking through the access screen yourself before class rather than discovering it with thirty students waiting.
The blog covers the same ideas in written form — burn discipline, fundraising timing, why growth without PMF fails — and works as pre-reading or follow-up homework alongside the run.
| Feature | Founder Runway | Traditional classroom simulations |
|---|---|---|
| Cost | Free | Per-seat licensing or institutional subscription |
| Setup | Open a browser link | Accounts provisioned per cohort, often IT-assisted |
| Time needed | One class session per run | Multi-week campaigns |
| Instructor tooling | None — you run the framing and debrief | Dashboards and facilitator guides |
| Focus | Founder decisions under runway pressure | Broad general-management or marketing models |
| Access step | Email or a free account | Instructor-issued credentials |
Yes. Founder Runway is free to play and there is no paid tier, no per-seat license and no institutional subscription. Starting a run asks for an email address or a free account.
Starting a run requires either an email address on the waitlist or a free account. There is no payment step, but it is not a fully anonymous click — check the access screen yourself before running the activity with a class.
A run is 20 decision turns. Most students finish well inside a normal class period, which leaves room for a debrief in the same session.
How runway, burn, product-market fit, growth, valuation and investor trust interact. The core lesson is that decisions carry trade-offs: spending for growth before finding PMF is what most commonly ends a run early.
No. There is no instructor dashboard, roster or progress tracking. Students play their own runs and the instructor leads the comparison and debrief.
Any device with a modern browser — school laptops, lab desktops or phones. Nothing is installed, so it does not require an IT software request.
Yes. Because each student plays an independent run in their own browser, there is no seat limit or cohort setup. Class size is limited only by devices in the room.
A common shape is a short framing on runway and burn, one run played individually, then a debrief comparing outcomes. Assigning different starting stages or difficulty settings across groups gives the debrief more to work with.
Play Founder Runway, read founder lessons on the blog, or check your own numbers with the free calculators.