Average Cost of Service (ACS) is an important but obscure SaaS metric for SaaS finance. I reference this metric when speaking with SaaS founders and finance teams about the balance between their cost structure and pricing plans. It’s also a component of my SaaS Scalability Index (SSI). Average cost of service helps us determine if […]
SaaS Metrics
Understanding Remaining Performance Obligations in SaaS
Metrics that provide forward-looking visibility are golden in SaaS companies. Remaining performance obligations (RPO) is a relatively new revenue metric, but it’s a fascinating combination of important SaaS concepts. RPO’s are a required disclosure for US public companies, and I believe it’s popularity will gain in private SaaS. Let’s dive into the importance of deferred […]
How to Calculate Your Renewal Rate
The health of your recurring revenue in SaaS is paramount. Healthy revenue drives predictable cash flow and higher valuations. Typically, you measure Gross Dollar Retention and Net Dollar Retention to assess the stickiness of your revenue. However, there is another metric that compliments retention. It’s called the renewal rate. You need to understand more than […]
What is Cash-adjusted EBITDA
At some point in your SaaS journey, you will be asked about your EBITDA. And then someone will calculate your cash-adjusted EBITDA. Say what? EBITDA represents Earnings Before Interest, Taxes, Depreciation, and Amortization. It’s a widely used measure of financial profitability. EBITDA attempts to eliminate non-cash and non-operating items. Over the long run, it measures […]
How to Accelerate Your Financial Maturity
Financial discipline never goes out of style. CFO’s have a good laugh when the market and pundits start calling for financial awareness. When times are good, let’s grow as fast as possible and burn a ton of cash. However, when market sentiment turns negative, let’s control spend and assess our cash runway. Harder economic times […]
SaaS Operating Leverage | Key to Better Margins and EBITDA
As your SaaS business moves into growth and scale mode, you will be very focused on SaaS gross margins, EBITDA, and EBITDA margins. With this financial focus, there are two ways that I think about profitability and margins. I manage my P&L by splitting it into two distinct sections to understand my operating leverage. The […]
How to Calculate Your Renewal and Upsell Rate
In the SaaS space, we talk a lot about the health of our recurring revenue. This comes in the form of churn and retention. And it makes sense, right? Macro level valuations of your SaaS business are based on a multiple of recurring revenue. But as an operator of your business or an investor in […]