EP16 · Economy · first published 2020-04-26
SaaS Investor KPIs | Sami Miettinen | Neuvottelija 16
Sami Miettinen walks the SaaS Club through the metrics professional investors use to evaluate software businesses: annual recurring revenue, churn, customer acquisition cost, and lifetime value. The episode unpacks the Rule of 40, revenue and EBITDA multiples, and why the income statement must be split between new customer acquisition and recurring business. The discussion also covers SaaS funding options from venture debt to private equity, and when a company should start shaping itself for a sale. Finally, it examines the sales model and cost load involved in moving from a home market to international expansion.
SaaS Investor KPIs | Sami Miettinen | Neuvottelija 16
Summary: Sami Miettinen walks the SaaS Club through the metrics professional investors use to evaluate software businesses: annual recurring revenue, churn, customer acquisition cost, and lifetime value. The episode unpacks the Rule of 40, revenue and EBITDA multiples, and why the income statement must be split between new customer acquisition and recurring business. The discussion also covers SaaS funding options from venture debt to private equity, and when a company should start shaping itself for a sale. Finally, it examines the sales model and cost load involved in moving from a home market to international expansion.
Key Themes
- Monthly SaaS modelling and cohort analysis: Discussed from 00:00 onward.
- Enterprise value and revenue multiples: Discussed from 03:00 onward.
- The five million ARR threshold and exit timing: Discussed from 06:00 onward.
- Price tier and geographic expansion: Discussed from 09:00 onward.
- A shortcut to exit via a listed buyer multiple: Discussed from 12:00 onward.
- SaaS Capital venture debt and leasing structures: Discussed from 15:00 onward.
- How the funding type shapes process and story: Discussed from 18:00 onward.
- Churn benchmarks and logo churn: Discussed from 21:00 onward.
- Product led growth acquisition cost and lifetime value: Discussed from 24:00 onward.
- Risks of selling to a competitor and monthly tracking: Discussed from 27:00 onward.
- Modelling teaser info memo and management presentation: Discussed from 30:00 onward.
- Churn calculation methods and investor preferences: Discussed from 33:00 onward.
- When to start shaping the company for sale: Discussed from 36:00 onward.
- From home market to global and the sales model shift: Discussed from 39:00 onward.
- Balance of domestic and international revenue: Discussed from 42:00 onward.
- From founder sales to a scalable sales model: Discussed from 45:00 onward.