What's Inside the Dashboard
- Monthly Inputs: customer counts, MRR movements (new, expansion, contraction, churned), S&M spend, cost of revenue, total OpEx, by month.
- Metrics Dashboard: 15 calculated KPIs across MRR, ARR, retention, unit economics, and burn efficiency, all formula-driven.
- Cohort Retention: enter logo retention by cohort, retention percentages auto-calculate, ready for the standard cohort triangle visual.
- Instructions: clear color-coded conventions and update workflow.
The KPIs Calculated Automatically
- Ending MRR & ARR, the foundation of every other metric.
- Customer count and ARPU.
- Logo churn %.
- Gross Revenue Retention (GRR), your true churn rate, ignoring expansion.
- Net Revenue Retention (NRR), the metric investors care about most.
- Gross margin %.
- CAC, fully loaded, per new customer.
- LTV, derived from ARPU, gross margin, and churn.
- LTV/CAC ratio, the efficiency benchmark.
- CAC payback period, in months.
- Net New ARR.
- Burn and Burn Multiple, the post-2022 efficiency metric every late-stage investor asks about.
Why These Metrics Matter (And Which Ones Lie)
Not all SaaS metrics are equal. NRR is the cleanest signal of product-market fit and account health. GRR isolates pure churn. CAC payback tells you whether your growth is capital-efficient. LTV/CAC, while widely cited, is the easiest metric to manipulate, it depends entirely on the churn assumption you use to extrapolate lifetime. This template calculates LTV from observed logo churn, not from optimistic assumptions, so the number you see is honest.
How to Use This Template
- Enter monthly historicals on the Monthly Inputs tab, customer counts and MRR movements.
- Add your S&M spend, COGS, and total OpEx, the dashboard needs all three for unit economics and burn efficiency.
- Open the Metrics Dashboard, every KPI is auto-calculated month-by-month.
- Update the Cohort Retention tab monthly with how many customers from each cohort are still active. The retention % table updates automatically.
- Use the outputs in board decks, investor updates, or internal performance reviews.
Common SaaS Metrics Mistakes This Template Avoids
- Calculating NRR including new customers (it shouldn't, NRR is about the existing base only).
- Using accrual revenue instead of MRR for churn calculations (creates noise around annual contracts).
- Computing CAC using only paid acquisition spend (excludes salaries, the largest CAC component).
- Reporting LTV without the corresponding gross margin assumption (makes the number meaningless).
- Treating burn multiple as a vanity metric rather than the efficiency benchmark it actually is.
Who This Template Is For
Founders, CFOs, finance teams, and operators at SaaS and subscription businesses from $250K ARR through $50M+ ARR. The metrics, formulas, and conventions match what institutional investors use during diligence, so what you build here can go directly into your investor data room.
Frequently Asked Questions
What's the difference between NRR and GRR, and which matters more?
GRR (Gross Revenue Retention) measures how much of last period's revenue you kept, ignoring expansion. NRR (Net Revenue Retention) includes expansion. Best-in-class SaaS companies post NRR above 120% and GRR above 90%. Investors care about NRR for growth efficiency and GRR for account health, both should be in your reporting.
What's a healthy LTV/CAC ratio?
3.0x or higher is the standard benchmark. Below 1.0x means you're losing money on every customer. Above 5.0x often means you're under-investing in growth. The right number depends on your stage and capital availability.
What's a good burn multiple?
Below 1.0x is excellent (efficient growth), 1.0x to 2.0x is healthy, above 3.0x is a warning sign in the current market. Burn multiple is calculated as net burn divided by net new ARR over the same period.
Can this template work for usage-based or hybrid pricing?
Yes, but you'll need to derive an MRR-equivalent for usage-based revenue (typically a trailing 3-month average of recognized revenue). All other formulas work as-is.