Challenging read from a software guy like me. But really thankful for you publishing it. Where can I read more about these things? We're starting our own company and as money starts to flow in, we're worried about not being prepared enough to draw all this numbers. I'd prefer to know all of this instead of hiring someone and blindly trusting her/him on these things.
Thank you, I am afraid there isn't enough published on this, which is part of what motivated me to write it. I know the content is a bit dense, I hope it was at least palatable enough to get to the end.
For further reading I highly recommend SaaStr.com which is a blog on SaaS and helpful for most recurring revenue type businesses. I also think it is wonderful to work with an accountant, and once you start getting revenue it is worth it. We waited a long time to do this (which is part of why I know as much as I do about this stuff) and that was probably a mistake, as it made a lot of cleanup work for us later on. Hope that helps, good luck with starting your company!
For understanding and calculating MRR, CAC, LTV, and cohort analysis, "SaaS Metrics 2.0" by David Skok (of Matrix Partners) [0] is highly referenced. Skok discusses viability of SaaS businesses (such as that LTV should be at least 3x CAC). A list of definitions is provided [1].
