SaaS metrics diligence

When to use

Use this skill when:

• Diligencing B2B SaaS, PLG, or usage-based businesses
• You need to translate raw metrics into an investment view
• You want to detect metric illusions (cohort mixing, accounting artifacts)

Inputs you should request (only if missing)

• Revenue metrics: ARR/MRR by month (12–24 months)
• Customer counts and logos (by cohort if possible)
• Gross margin (and what’s included in COGS)
• Sales & marketing spend (and headcount)
• Churn/expansion data by cohort
• Pricing and ACV distribution

Outputs you must produce

1. Metrics readout (1–2 pages)
2. Cohort/retention assessment (what’s driving NDR)
3. Unit economics summary (CAC payback, efficiency)
4. Questions/risks (ranked) + recommended next data

Templates:

• assets/metrics-readout.md
• assets/metrics-worksheet.csv

Procedure

1) Normalize definitions (do not assume)

Write down:

• What counts as “revenue” (bookings vs recognized)
• Whether NDR is logo-weighted or revenue-weighted
• Whether gross margin includes hosting, support, etc.

2) Retention: start with cohorts

Compute:

• Gross revenue retention (GRR) if possible
• Net dollar retention (NDR/NRR) by cohort and by segment

Look for:

• expansion vs churn drivers
• segment mix effects (beware Simpson’s paradox)
• “one whale” distorting NDR

3) Efficiency and payback

Compute:

• CAC payback (on a gross margin basis)
• Sales efficiency / magic number (if you use it)
• Contribution margin (if available)

Check:

• whether growth is cash-efficient at current payback
• whether payback is improving or worsening

4) Pricing and ACV distribution

• Identify ACV bands
• Evaluate whether the product supports expansion (seat-based, usage-based, tier upgrades)
• Check whether pricing matches perceived value

5) Produce an investment-grade interpretation

Translate metrics into:

• “Is this repeatable?” (cohorts + pipeline)
• “Is this durable?” (retention + switching costs)
• “Is this capital-efficient?” (payback + margins)
• “What breaks at scale?” (support costs, infra costs, sales cycle)

References

• Tomasz Tunguz’s public writing is a useful mental model set for NDR, payback, and SaaS efficiency metrics.

Salesforce logging (optional)

If your Opportunity has metric fields:

• Update NDR, GRR, GM, payback, etc. Otherwise:
• Attach the metrics readout as a File/Note to the Opportunity.

Edge cases

• If data is messy: request raw exports and define one source of truth.
• If NDR is high but churn is hidden: insist on cohort-level GRR and logo churn.