The CAC payback period is one of the most important SaaS metrics — and a top investor metric used in boardrooms, fundraising, and valuation discussions. But here’s the nuance: which gross profit should you use when calculating it?

In episode #307, Ben Murray explains why CAC payback must be gross margin adjusted and why using your company’s total blended gross margin is a mistake. Instead, you’ll learn how to align ARR, MRR, and revenue streams with their specific gross profit to get an accurate picture of sales efficiency and scalability.

This lesson is especially critical for scaling SaaS and AI businesses as miscalculations here can distort your financial model, mislead investors, and even impact your company's valuation.

What You’ll Learn

Why It Matters

Resources Mentioned

📄 Blog Post: How to calculate CAC payback the right way (with examples): https://www.thesaascfo.com/how-to-calculate-cac-payback-period-with-variable-revenue/

🎓 SaaS Metrics Course: https://www.thesaasacademy.com/the-saas-metrics-foundation-course-community-phased

Quote from Ben

“You can’t just throw total company gross profit into CAC payback. It has to be tied directly to the revenue stream — otherwise the metric is meaningless.”