Why naive run rate misleads
Multiplying YTD ÷ months × 12 assumes flat performance and no seasonality. A swimming pool business with $400K through June will not earn $800K — most pools earn 70% of revenue in May–August. SaaS founders make the opposite mistake: they apply zero growth and under-project ARR.
What lenders actually use
Banks and SBA lenders use trailing 12 months (TTM) revenue, not annualized YTD. If you're applying for financing mid-year, expect to provide a full 12 months of actual data plus a projection methodology. The run-rate approach is for internal planning only.
Related guides
Long-form playbooks on the same topic, written by the RevenueLab editorial team.
10 Common Revenue Modeling Mistakes (And the Sanity Checks That Catch Them)
The ten revenue-model mistakes I see in every founder spreadsheet — confused gross vs net, ignoring churn, fixed conversion rates, missing taxes — and the back-of-envelope checks that catch them in 30 seconds.
Read the guideHow to Use Revenue Calculators Without Fooling Yourself
A practical guide to using online revenue calculators well — what inputs to trust, what defaults to override, when to use a 0.7× safety multiplier, and how to triangulate between three tools instead of trusting one.
Read the guideRevenue Model Glossary: 40 Terms Every Operator Should Know (CPM, RPM, ARPU, LTV, CAC, ROAS…)
Plain-English definitions for the 40 revenue-modeling terms that show up across creator, SaaS, ecommerce, and ads — with the exact formula, a worked example, and the most common misuse for each.
Read the guideFAQ
How do I annualize quarterly revenue?
Quarterly × 4 is the simplest method, but it ignores seasonality. Use a 12-month rolling sum when you have the data, or project remaining quarters with growth assumptions.
What's the difference between annual revenue and ARR?
Annual revenue includes all income (recurring + one-time + services). ARR (Annual Recurring Revenue) includes only contracted, recurring subscription revenue — common in SaaS.
Do lenders accept annualized run-rate revenue?
Most banks and SBA lenders want trailing 12-month actuals, not annualized projections. Investors will sometimes accept TTM + projection if your growth story is credible and consistent.
How this calculator is built
Independently maintained
Written by Sam Doshi and the RevenueLab editorial team. We don't sell the data feeds this tool is built on.
Sourced from primary data
Benchmarks come from public AdSense / Stripe / IRS disclosures and reader-submitted data — never third-party "$X per view" claims. Full methodology.
Last reviewed
June 2026. We re-check every figure on the platform on a rolling quarterly cycle.
Editorial standards
See our editorial policy and disclaimer. Results are estimates, not advice.