Every board and CEO that hires a finance leader asks the same question. What is the market rate? This year we can answer that question with fresh data. The SaaS CFO partnered with Benchmarkit, DualEntry, and the FIF Collective on the 2026 Technology Finance Executive Compensation survey. It was fielded in March and April 2026. […]
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The AI Budget Reallocation Is Coming
Many SaaS CFO’s I talk to are dealing with the same problem whether they have named it yet or not. Their nascent 2026 AI budgets, most of which were set last October, are already blown. And they have not started planning for 2027. When budget season opens this fall, finance leaders will walk into something […]
The Death of Per-Seat Pricing: What It Means for Your SaaS P&L
Per-seat pricing isn’t dying quietly. It’s being replaced in real time, and the financial implications for legacy SaaS companies are significant. Don’t ignore these market shifts if your product is a candidate for hybrid or outcome-based pricing. Bloomberg is forecasting that subscription-based pricing drops from 60% to 30% of SaaS models over the next decade, […]
How to Calculate the Inference Efficiency Ratio
If you built your SaaS finance metrics stack before 2025, your SaaS P&L is missing a line item that is silently destroying gross margin for hundreds of companies right now. I’m talking about inference cost (aka AI token costs). The per-token, per-call expense of running LLM-powered features inside your software product. It’s not hosting. It’s […]
Your AI Feature Is Quietly Destroying Your Gross Margin
If you are infusing AI into your SaaS product, there is one finance mistake you cannot make: Treat AI costs like traditional SaaS COGS. The P&L math did not change. But the inputs changed. That matters because the classic SaaS model was built on high gross margins and low marginal cost. Add AI inference costs, […]
6 Metrics Buyers Ask For Before They Buy Your SaaS
Run your business like it’s for sale. Run your business as if no one wanted your business. Your hear opinions on all sides about preparing your business for a fundraise or exit. What doesn’t change? You need data and metrics to scale your business. By putting data and metrics in place, you serve two purposes. […]
AI ARR vs. SaaS ARR: How to Define and Calculate
How do leading SaaS companies define ARR? Especially as AI and usage-based pricing models reshape recurring revenue in SaaS? In this post, I break down how Verint, a CX automation leader, defines both Subscription ARR and AI ARR, and how they model these metrics internally for cash flow, investor reporting, and product strategy. I did […]
Why Legal Readiness Can Make or Break Your SaaS Exit
Achieving a $100 (or pick your number) million SaaS exit isn’t just about revenue milestones or growth rates. Of course, that’s very important. It’s also about the “boring” stuff. You must ensure your business is legally sound and prepared for the rigorous scrutiny of buyers. In a recent webinar, I hosted legal expert Omeed Tabiei. […]
Free Focus on Cash Course
Greetings, I created a free course over the weekend to help those businesses thtat might be facing a cash crunch due to the corona/covid virus. Check out the course here. It’s posted at The SaaS Academy. 350+ have enrolled as of last night. Eleven video lessons ranging from 5 to 10 minutes. Also, if you […]
Simple Sales Efficiency Metrics for SaaS Leaders
I have spent years forecasting software and SaaS company financials. One area of the P&L that receives extra scrutiny from leadership and investors is the sales and marketing area. It’s easy to get lost in a sea of SaaS metrics, but in this post, I’ll focus on a couple easy and popular (meaning important) SaaS […]