SaaS Metrics School

By Ben MurrayBusiness Entrepreneurship Technology Management

SaaS Metrics School episodes

August 22, 2023 What is the R&D Payback Ratio?
In episode #40, I dive into R&D efficiency. I think this has always been a hard one. The correlation between R&D investment and growth. A reader brought this metric to my attention so I did a little digging.
- What is the R&D Payback Ratio
- What are the inputs
- What are the drawbacks
Credit: https://www.opexengine.com/are-we-any-good-at-rd-investment-in-the-software-and-saas-world/
SaaS Metrics courses here: https://www.thesaasacademy.com/
Join Ben’s SaaS community here: https://www.thesaasacademy.com/offers/ivNjwYDx/checkout
Follow Ben on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/benrmurray
Subscribe to Ben’s SaaS newsletter: https://mailchi.mp/df1db6bf8bca/the-saas-cfo-sign-up-landing-page
3 min
August 21, 2023 How Should I Track COGS With Usage-based Revenue
In episode #39, I address COGS and usage-based revenue. It’s so important to track COGS correctly for your SaaS. Your COGS area is often dictated by your revenue streams. That’s the case when you have any type of variable revenue streams.
- What is COGS for pure play SaaS
- What if we have usage-based revenue
- Why is this setup so important to manage SaaS
SaaS Metrics courses here: https://www.thesaasacademy.com/
Join Ben’s SaaS community here: https://www.thesaasacademy.com/offers/ivNjwYDx/checkout
Follow Ben on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/benrmurray
Subscribe to Ben’s SaaS newsletter: https://mailchi.mp/df1db6bf8bca/the-saas-cfo-sign-up-landing-page
3 min
August 20, 2023 What is Your SaaS OpEx Profile?
In episode #38, I address the “bottom half” of your SaaS P&L. This is your OpEx area, or operating expenses. There is a common way to analyze this area for efficiency.
- What is SaaS OpEx
- How do we analyze OpEx
- Sales and marketing need not apply
Download my SaaS P&L structure template here: https://www.thesaascfo.com/how-to-structure-your-saas-pl/
SaaS Metrics courses here: https://www.thesaasacademy.com/
Join Ben’s SaaS community here: https://www.thesaasacademy.com/offers/ivNjwYDx/checkout
Follow Ben on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/benrmurray
Subscribe to Ben’s SaaS newsletter: https://mailchi.mp/df1db6bf8bca/the-saas-cfo-sign-up-landing-page
4 min
August 19, 2023 These Are the Top 3 SaaS Metrics Said Every Blog Post and Webinar Ever
In episode #37, I address the top three SaaS metrics. And I’m sorry that this will really disappoint you.
- Are there really top 3 metrics?
- Top metrics according to my SaaS founder interviews
- Your SaaS metrics framework
Download my 5 Pillar SaaS Metrics Framework here: https://1drv.ms/f/s!Ahm6BxeweIsNgbt-cX-iaRehn4EVuw?e=XeNZoB
SaaS Metrics courses here: https://www.thesaasacademy.com/
Join Ben’s SaaS community here: https://www.thesaasacademy.com/offers/ivNjwYDx/checkout
Follow Ben on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/benrmurray
Subscribe to Ben’s SaaS newsletter: https://mailchi.mp/df1db6bf8bca/the-saas-cfo-sign-up-landing-page
3 min
August 18, 2023 The Right Metrics for the Right Stage of Your Business
In episode #36, I address how to know which metrics are relevant for your stage. There are a lot of metrics to calculate, but we can easily go overboard with too many metrics.
- Metrics by stage
- Metrics by ARR
- Your SaaS metrics roadmap
Download my 5 Pillar SaaS Metrics Framework here: https://1drv.ms/f/s!Ahm6BxeweIsNgbt-cX-iaRehn4EVuw?e=XeNZoB
SaaS Metrics courses here: https://www.thesaasacademy.com/
Join Ben’s SaaS community here: https://www.thesaasacademy.com/offers/ivNjwYDx/checkout
Follow Ben on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/benrmurray
Subscribe to Ben’s SaaS newsletter: https://mailchi.mp/df1db6bf8bca/the-saas-cfo-sign-up-landing-page
3 min
August 17, 2023 What Do You Mean by a Gross Margin Adjusted CAC Payback?
In episode #35, I address a nuance of the CAC Payback Period metric. It’s one of my favorite metrics and requires three inputs.
- What is CAC Payback Period
- What are the three inputs to the formula
- What does gross margin adjusted mean
Download my CAC Payback template at this link: https://www.thesaasacademy.com/pl/2147762344
SaaS Metrics courses here: https://www.thesaasacademy.com/
Join Ben’s SaaS community here: https://www.thesaasacademy.com/offers/ivNjwYDx/checkout
Follow Ben on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/benrmurray
Subscribe to Ben’s SaaS newsletter: https://mailchi.mp/df1db6bf8bca/the-saas-cfo-sign-up-landing-page
3 min
August 16, 2023 ARPA | The Forgotten SaaS Metric
In episode #34, I address the forgotten metric, ARPA. ARPA stands for average revenue per account. It’s such a simple metric that it is often forgotten. However, I use this metric a lot with retention analysis and forecasting.
- What is ARPA?
- How I use it in retention analysis
- How I use it in forecasting
>> Join Ben’s SaaS community here: https://www.thesaasacademy.com/offers/ivNjwYDx/checkout Almost 3,000 members! I hold a lot of metrics AMA's on Fridays.
SaaS Metrics courses here: https://www.thesaasacademy.com/
Follow Ben on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/benrmurray
Subscribe to Ben’s SaaS newsletter: https://mailchi.mp/df1db6bf8bca/the-saas-cfo-sign-up-landing-page
4 min
August 15, 2023 What is The Proper Close Date for a Software Booking
In episode #33, I address close dates for our bookings data. There are two primary camps when it comes to the date of record for a Closed Won opportunity.
- What is a close date?
- Option 1 – date of execution
- Option 2 – subscription start date
- Mismatch between bookings date and S&M metrics
- Make sure it’s defined internally
Download my bookings template from this blog post: https://www.thesaascfo.com/the-saas-bookings-report/
SaaS Metrics courses here: https://www.thesaasacademy.com/
Join Ben’s SaaS community here: https://www.thesaasacademy.com/offers/ivNjwYDx/checkout
Follow Ben on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/benrmurray
Subscribe to Ben’s SaaS newsletter: https://mailchi.mp/df1db6bf8bca/the-saas-cfo-sign-up-landing-page
3 min
August 14, 2023 Why CAC Is Like Debt
In episode #32, I address CAC, or customer acquisition cost, and why it behaves like debt. This is important to understand as high CAC and low retention can sink your SaaS.
- What is CAC?
- What happens when a customer churns?
- Does CAC go away?
- Understanding your payback point
Download my CAC Payback template at this link.
SaaS Metrics courses here: https://www.thesaasacademy.com/
Join Ben’s SaaS community here: https://www.thesaasacademy.com/offers/ivNjwYDx/checkout
Follow Ben on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/benrmurray
Subscribe to Ben’s SaaS newsletter: https://mailchi.mp/df1db6bf8bca/the-saas-cfo-sign-up-landing-page
3 min
August 13, 2023 System Reboot: Your ARR Has Been Corrupted
In episode #31, I address the ever-changing definition of ARR. It’s so important to get this right for several reasons. It affects your metrics and valuation. Credit to a SaaStr post on calling ARR corrupt. It got me thinking about this very important topic.
- What was ARR?
- What is ARR today?
- What is not ARR
- Clear revenue categories
- Clear bookings data
- Impact on metrics
SaaS Metrics courses here: https://www.thesaasacademy.com/
Join Ben’s SaaS community here: https://www.thesaasacademy.com/offers/ivNjwYDx/checkout
Follow Ben on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/benrmurray
Subscribe to Ben’s SaaS newsletter: https://mailchi.mp/df1db6bf8bca/the-saas-cfo-sign-up-landing-page
5 min

About SaaS Metrics School

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Ben Murray brings you actionable SaaS metrics lessons that he has learned through years of being in the SaaS CFO trenches. Whether you are new to SaaS or a SaaS veteran, learn the latest SaaS and AI metrics, finance, and accounting tactics that drive financial transparency and improved decision-making.