SaaS Metrics School

Are you benchmarking your SaaS business against a median that doesn't apply to you?

In episode #390, Ben Murray breaks down how to benchmark SaaS metrics the right way. Calculating accurate ARR, churn, and CAC payback every month is hard enough, but a number without context won't help you in a fundraise, due diligence, or exit. If you're benchmarking against the aggregate SaaS population, you may be making decisions on data that has nothing to do with your business.

Tune in to learn how to benchmark like the best SaaS companies do, and walk into your next raise or exit knowing exactly where you stand.

Only 9% of public software companies trade above 10x revenue — do you know which metrics separate them from the 68% stuck below 5x?

In episode #389, Ben Murray breaks down what public comps reveal about how premium SaaS valuations are actually created. You can't value a private SaaS business straight off public multiples, but the correlations between metrics and enterprise value tell you exactly what buyers reward — and if you're a founder or CFO eyeing an exit, these are the numbers that will decide whether you land the index median or the premium multiple.

Tune in to see where your SaaS would land on the valuation curve — before a buyer runs the numbers for you.

Founders, if a buyer asked for your metrics tomorrow, could your data prove your financial performance or would holes in it kill the deal?

In episode #388, Ben Murray breaks down the metrics acquirers use to underwrite your SaaS business — and why so many exits fail before they start. Due diligence is about de-risking the acquisition, and buyers with deep bench strength will pour through your data looking for weaknesses. If you can't control the financial narrative with accurate, defensible metrics, they'll write it for you — and your valuation will pay the price.

Tune in before your next investor conversation — because if you're eyeing an exit in the next year or two, the data prep starts now.

Is your dev team's AI spend buried in the wrong part of your P&L — quietly distorting your gross margin and making your AI ROI impossible to measure?

In episode #387, Ben Murray tackles one of the most pressing accounting questions hitting SaaS CFOs and controllers right now: how to properly classify AI development costs across your chart of accounts. With dev teams racking up daily charges from multiple AI providers, getting these expense codes wrong doesn't just create accounting noise — it misrepresents your gross margin, obscures your true AI economics, and leaves you unable to answer board questions about AI ROI. The right GL structure makes all the difference.

Tune in to get the GL coding framework SaaS CFOs are building now — before AI expenses get too big to untangle.

Is your ERP dashboard actually built on data that matters — or is it just a chart of accounts dressed up to look useful?

In episode #386, Ben Murray breaks down why traditional ERP dashboards are losing ground to AI-generated, prompt-built SaaS reporting and what that means for CFOs and finance leaders right now. If your team is still relying on static dashboards anchored to your general ledger, you're missing three out of four key SaaS data sources before you even start the analysis. The gap between what ERP dashboards can show and what modern AI-native metrics engines can produce is widening fast  and the CFOs who close that gap first will be the ones driving the board conversations.

Tune in to understand exactly where your ERP dashboard ends and where a closed-loop, AI-powered metrics engine takes over — before your next board meeting.

What if AI could produce a better board memo than any CFO — and you could trust every data point in it?

In episode #385, Ben Murray breaks down how he is using AI to generate complete 5-page financial board reports, and more importantly, why the outputs are reliable. This isn't AI hype — it's a working FP&A process Ben is running today inside his fractional CFO practice. If you're still manually assembling dashboards, PDFs, and narrative summaries before every board meeting, this episode reframes what's actually possible right now.

Tune in to see how Ben is turning month-end close into a board-ready narrative in minutes — and how you can build the same process for your SaaS company.

Is your board meeting time being wasted on reporting instead of judgment and quality discussion?

In episode #384, Ben Murray addresses how AI can transform board meeting prep for SaaS finance leaders. If your board decks are packed with data but the important issues still get buried, and board members show up with wildly different levels of prep, you already know the problem.

Every hour spent reviewing numbers that should have been read beforehand is an hour not spent on the judgment calls that actually move the business forward.

Tune in to see exactly how Ben is putting Jason Lemkin's AI board member idea into practice, before your next board meeting rolls around.

Can you actually trust the numbers when AI writes your board report?

In episode #383, Ben Murray breaks down how to vibe code finance dashboards that hold up to CFO standards. Every finance leader is being sold the same promise: that AI will do your analysis for you, but the hype skips the part that decides whether the output is usable. If you are putting AI-written numbers in front of your board or investors, the difference between a trusted report and an embarrassing one comes down to work most CFOs never do.

Tune in to get the exact process CFOs are using to put AI-written reports in front of their boards with the numbers they can defend.

Seeing the millions-per-employee AI headlines and wondering where your SaaS company actually stands?

In episode #382, Ben Murray covers the latest ARR per FTE benchmarks from Ray Rike's Benchmarkit data. Social media is full of ARR per employee hype, but almost none of it tells you how the number was defined, whether contractors are counted, or how your company compares once you cut the data the way it actually matters. If you are benchmarking efficiency for a board deck, a raise, or a headcount plan, the aggregate number can quietly send you the wrong signal. This episode grounds the metric in real survey data so you know what good looks like for a company your size, in your region, with your pricing model.

Tune in to see where your ARR per employee really stands before you use it in your next board deck or fundraise.

In episode #381, Ben Murray covers the latest 2026 tech CFO compensation benchmarks across base, bonus, equity, and severance. If you set finance comp or negotiate your own, guessing at the market rate is expensive in both directions. Underpay and you risk losing your best finance leader. Overpay and you burn cash you cannot spare. This episode gives you the median numbers and the revenue tier splits that decide what competitive actually looks like.

Tune in, then grab the full report and interactive benchmarks from the show notes before your next comp conversation or board meeting.