SaaS Metrics School

In episode #130, I address the world of dates in subscription businesses. Such simple data but often overlooked and not tracked. We need dates to drive correct invoice dates and revenue recognition periods. - Contract dates - Invoice dates - Dates and revenue recognition Subscribe to Ben’s SaaS metrics newsletter: https://saasmetricsschool.beehiiv.com/subscribe Subscribe to Ben’s SaaS monthly news...

In episode #129, I address the world of professional services metrics. Backlog in months is an important metrics for our services team. Calculating this number helps us understand the balance between backlog and services capacity. - What is services backlog? - What is backlog in months? - The backlog tradeoffs Subscribe to Ben’s SaaS metrics newsletter: https://saasmetricsschool.beehiiv.com/subscr...

In episode #128, I address the often-missing FTE report. This is a standard report that should be produced as part of your monthly close process. - What is an FTE? - Where does the data come from? - Importance of headcount coding - Use of the FTE report (documenting historical trends, rev per fte, variance analysis, serves as the headcount base for the forecast) Subscribe to Ben’s SaaS metrics new...

In episode #127, I address a common question in the progression of our SaaS metrics. As our SaaS business scales, we have to implement additional metrics to guide the business. - 5 Pillar SaaS Metrics Framework - Questions that I ask first - What S&M metrics should I implement? Use my 5 Pillar SaaS Metris Framework ( https://www.thesaascfo.com/downloads/five-pillar-metrics-framework/ ) Subscri...

In episode #126, I address cohort analysis and when this framework is the right fit for your SaaS business. - What is cohort analysis? - Basic cohort analysis - Advanced cohort analysis - Are you high ACV or low ACV? Subscribe to Ben’s SaaS metrics newsletter: https://saasmetricsschool.beehiiv.com/subscribe Subscribe to Ben’s SaaS monthly newsletter: https://mailchi.mp/df1db6bf8bca/the-saas-cfo-si...

In episode #125, I address an interesting report from Vertice.one on SaaS inflation. There is an art and science to increasing your prices. This fits nicely with a price increase question from a coaching client. - Are you raising your prices? - Don’t conflict with your terms and conditions - SaaS inflation Vertice report: https://www.vertice.one/inside-saas/reports/saas-inflation-index/ Subsc...

In episode #124, I address the COGS, or Cost of Goods Sold, departments on your SaaS P&L. There are four common departments with pure play SaaS. - Technical Support - Customer Success - Professional Services - Dev Ops Subscribe to Ben’s SaaS metrics newsletter: https://saasmetricsschool.beehiiv.com/subscribe Subscribe to Ben’s SaaS monthly newsletter: https://mailchi.mp/df1db6bf8bca/the-saas-c...

In episode #123, I address the major revenue categories in SaaS. It’s important to set this up correctly. It impacts how you manage your business and your metrics. - Subscriptions - Variable - Professional Services - Managed Services - Hardware - Other Subscribe to Ben’s SaaS metrics newsletter: https://saasmetricsschool.beehiiv.com/subscribe Subscribe to Ben’s SaaS monthly newsletter: https://mai...

In episode #122, I address a big metrics and sometimes a controversial metric. It’s your ARR. Can you really define your ARR? And is that definition appropriate? We are still in the Wild West of SaaS metrics. - A slam dunk version of ARR - Can I include usage-based revenue in ARR - What about services revenue? - ARR and valuations Subscribe to Ben’s daily metrics newsletter: https://saasmetricssch...

In episode #121, I cover internal use software and software embedded in our SaaS app. It’s easy to confuse where this spend should be posted to our SaaS P&L - Internal use software - Software embedded in our SaaS app Subscribe to Ben’s daily metrics newsletter: https://saasmetricsschool.beehiiv.com/subscribe Subscribe to Ben’s SaaS monthly newsletter: https://mailchi.mp/df1db6bf8bca/the-saas-c...

In episode #120, I cover a somewhat debated topic on ARR. Of course, this is debated between buyers and sellers. If I’m trying to achieve a specific ARR multiple, what ARR number should I use? - Trailing revenue? - Exit ARR? - CARR? Subscribe to Ben’s daily metrics newsletter: https://saasmetricsschool.beehiiv.com/subscribe Subscribe to Ben’s SaaS monthly newsletter: https://mailchi.mp/df1db6bf8bc...

In episode #119, I cover committed annual recurring revenue (CARR). Yet, another SaaS metric. It can also be called contracted annual recurring revenue. It was an obscure metric, but now it is widely used even if you don’t call it CARR. - What is CARR? - What are the components of CARR? - SaaS valuations

In episode #118, I cover an important sales and marketing efficiency metric, the Cost of ARR. As our GTM team scales, it usually splits into new business hunters and the “farmers,” or our expansion team. We can calculate the cost of ARR expansion and benchmark our performance. - Fully-burdened sales and marketing expense - Allocate between new and existing - Pick your time period and average sales...

In episode #117, I provide an overview of the all-important utilization metric for professional services teams. Not calculating it? Then you don’t know if your team is burning out or if they have capacity to take on more customer projects. - What is an FTE? - What is billable utilization? - Interaction between utilization and backlog Subscribe to Ben’s daily metrics newsletter: https://saasmetrics...

In episode #116, I provide an overview of professional services backlog in SaaS. Your professional services team play an important role in early customer satisfaction and retention. When we sign up a customer for a subscription and professional services, this creates a services backlog number. - What is backlog? - How do we measure backlog? - Backlog vs billable headcount Subscribe to Ben’s daily...

In episode #115, I provide an overview of professional services in SaaS. Your professional services team plays an important role in early customer satisfaction and retention. - What is PS? - COGS vs OpEx - Backlog and utilization Subscribe to Ben’s daily metrics newsletter: https://saasmetricsschool.beehiiv.com/subscribe Subscribe to Ben’s SaaS monthly newsletter: https://mailchi.mp/df1db6bf8bca/t...

In episode #114, I address the power of SaaS metrics in context. Two metrics that should be viewed together? CAC Payback Period and revenue retention. - do you have balance? - CAC Payback Period - Gross Revenue Retention Subscribe to Ben’s daily metrics newsletter: https://saasmetricsschool.beehiiv.com/subscribe Subscribe to Ben’s SaaS monthly newsletter: https://mailchi.mp/df1db6bf8bca/the-saas-c...

In episode #113, I address cash burn from the front lines. If you are still pivoting on product market fit, it can be very dangerous to scale your go-to-market (GTM) team and investment. - product market fit and ICP - scaling your GTM team - S&M efficiency with minimal spend Subscribe to Ben’s daily metrics newsletter: https://saasmetricsschool.beehiiv.com/subscribe Subscribe to Ben’s SaaS mon...

In episode #112, I address Dev Ops expenses in our COGS area of the SaaS P&L. Let’s discuss the details of Dev Ops expenses. - hosting - 3rd party software - ongoing security and testing - dev ops staff - amortization of capitalized software development Subscribe to Ben’s daily metrics newsletter: https://saasmetricsschool.beehiiv.com/subscribe Subscribe to Ben’s SaaS monthly newsletter: https...

In episode #111, I address human powered versus product powered revenue. It’s so important to categorize your revenue and COGS correctly on your P&L. You don’t want to confuse potential investors and stakeholders. - Human powered revenue - Product powered revenue - Define your revenue categories - Define your COGS Subscribe to Ben’s daily metrics newsletter: https://saasmetricsschool.beehiiv.c...

In episode #110, I address the core system in our financial process, our accounting software. I am in the midst of my 5th annual tech stack survey. I’ll share the top five accounting systems for SaaS. - Accounting software is our financial tracking engine - We don’t always stay with the same software - Top 5 software according to my survey Enter your tech stack at this link:  https://docs.goo...

In episode #109, I address sales compensation planning and how you can design your plans for maximum effectiveness. QuotaPath joined me on a webinar to my SaaS community. There were some eye-openers on how to design your compensation plans. - What is your north star metric that you are trying to solve for? - 3 common comp plans to drive to your metric - example levers Watch the replay in my No Flu...

In episode #109, I address bookings, downgrades, and reporting. We may or may not want to include downgrades in our net ARR number. This is an important decision. - What is a downgrade? - Should I include this in my bookings report? - Should downgrades impact my sales and marketing efficiency metrics? Subscribe to Ben’s daily metrics newsletter: https://saasmetricsschool.beehiiv.com/subscribe Subs...

In episode #107, I address debt financing as a source of growth capital. Debt financing for SaaS companies is a hot space right now. We must assess first if we can absorb the payment schedule. - Step 1 – do you have your finances in order? - Step 2 – what are the basic terms of the debt? - Step 3 – can our cash flows support the payment schedule? - Step 4 - Cost of ARR Subscribe to Ben’s daily met...

In episode #106, I address early stage financial infrastructure. I was just talking to a SaaS founder who spent some consulting money to properly configure QBO. What’s next? - The progression in data - 4 key sources of data Subscribe to Ben’s daily metrics newsletter: https://saasmetricsschool.beehiiv.com/subscribe Subscribe to Ben’s SaaS monthly newsletter: https://mailchi.mp/df1db6bf8bca/the-saa...