A Smart Bear: Startups and Marketing for Geeks

OCTOBER 4, 2016

The single most important SaaS metric is retention , because cancellations indicate lack of product/market fit, no matter the cause (price, features, severity of need, duration of need). If it cannot be fixed, it means the business is a failure even if other metrics are stellar. Once you’re scaling (i.e.

Metrics 270

Metrics Retention Revenue Equity 270

A Smart Bear: Startups and Marketing for Geeks

SEPTEMBER 10, 2013

This is the fourth article in a series on novel ideas for SaaS metrics, which started with The unprofitable SaaS business model trap , COC: a new metric for cancellations , and The mistake of 1/c in LTV. It turns out that COC is the key to this metric of “underlying profitability.” Here’s a way to do it.

Metrics 238

Metrics Revenue Flash Later Stage 238

A Smart Bear: Startups and Marketing for Geeks

FEBRUARY 26, 2019

Instead, watch payback period for acquisition efficiency, watch retention for product/market fit, watch expansion revenue for long-term growth, and watch gross margin for long-term profitability. There isn’t one most important SaaS metric. But usually, you should focus on what’s best for the customer and your company.

Restful 202

Restful Founder Revenue Acquisition 202

A Smart Bear: Startups and Marketing for Geeks

DECEMBER 16, 2014

What does it actually mean that metric X is better than average and metric Y is below? Measuring yourself against the average or median isn’t much better.

Metrics 246

Metrics Early Stage Retention Revenue 246

A Smart Bear: Startups and Marketing for Geeks

AUGUST 20, 2013

This is the third article in a series on novel ideas for SaaS metrics, which started with The unprofitable SaaS business model trap and COC: a new metric for cancellations. You can’t read an article about SaaS metrics without running into LTV — The L ife t ime V alue of a customer. Which method?

Retention 262

Retention Metrics Revenue Bandwidth 262

A Smart Bear: Startups and Marketing for Geeks

JULY 23, 2013

Even with a great retention rate (e.g. time to earn back the revenue to cover all your customer acquisition expenses) 75% annual retention. Another way to think about these solutions is that a SaaS business cannot have static fundamental metrics. When do you “show me the money?” ” It’s worse.

Business Model 335

Business Model .Net Revenue IPO 335

A Smart Bear: Startups and Marketing for Geeks

OCTOBER 17, 2011

As a preamble to the metrics, it’s useful to know what you’re measuring and why it’s vital. We had a spike in this metric in February at WP Engine when our Internet provider themselves had a datacenter-wide catastrophe which brought us down for twelve hours; of course not all spikes will have such obvious causes.

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Business Model Metrics Engineer Technical Review 245