Startup Metrics

Revenue minus the direct costs to deliver the product, expressed as a percentage of revenue.

The number of unique users who engage with a product at least once in a month.

Revenue recognized plus the change in deferred revenue; what the company actually invoices customers.

The total value of new contracts signed in a period, regardless of when revenue is recognized.

The number of months it takes to recoup the cost of acquiring a customer from their revenue.

Revenue minus all variable costs, showing how much each dollar of revenue contributes to fixed costs.

Earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortization; a proxy for operating profitability.

Revenue from existing customers after churn and contraction, excluding any expansion revenue.

Revenue from existing customers after expansions, contractions, and churn, as a percent of starting revenue.

A benchmark that says growth rate plus profit margin should exceed 40% for a healthy SaaS company.

Net burn divided by net new ARR, showing how efficiently a company converts cash into growth.

Measures sales efficiency: net new ARR divided by sales and marketing spend in the prior period.