Finance: Unit economics
Showing 47 articles for Finance: Unit economics.
Marketing agencies should work on full commission, not retainers
Cameron Herold
February 28, 2024
Unit economics
8
Influencer & partnerships
7
Business models
5
- If an agency won't work on commission, it can't prove ROI
- All risk stays with the client when retainers are involved
- Commission-only agencies exist — finding one is a win
Equity & cap tables
Podcast
Revenue vs. profit multiples, pricing cuts, and cap table basics
Startups For the Rest of Us
February 27, 2024
Equity & cap tables
9
Pricing strategy
8
Unit economics
8
- Buyers switch from profit to revenue multiples only above ~$1.5M ARR
- Price cuts are warranted when churn and lost deals both cite cost
- Unvested co-founder equity can make your company unfundable overnight
B2B startup metrics: revenue, retention, and gross margin
Y Combinator
December 15, 2023
Unit economics
9
Retention & loyalty
7
Business models
5
- Revenue beats vanity metrics — GMV can hide a flatlined business.
- Net dollar retention above 100% means cohorts grow without new sales.
- Scale negative gross margin only after you have a plan to fix it.
The basic growth equation every SaaS founder needs to know
TK Kader
October 15, 2023
Unit economics
9
Funnels
7
Business models
5
- Three metrics — activation rate, conversion rate, ACV — determine your lead target.
- Optimising funnel metrics can cut required leads from 56,000 to 12,000.
- Setting a revenue target is the prerequisite; vagueness is not a strategy.
CAC and LTV: the two metrics that drive sustainable business growth
Semrush
August 1, 2023
Unit economics
10
Growth hacking
7
Retention & loyalty
6
- CAC has risen 60% in five years — and will keep rising.
- Segment customers by LTV to target high-value lookalikes in ads.
- Low CAC plus high LTV is the only formula for lasting profit.
SaaS sales and marketing metrics every founder must track
Rob Walling
March 6, 2023
Unit economics
9
Conversion rate optimisation
8
B2B sales
7
- Visitor-to-trial conversion benchmarks differ sharply with or without credit card
- Net negative churn: grow MRR without adding a single new customer
- NPS and CSAT measure long-term vs short-term customer happiness differently
Cash flow management
YouTube
Burn rate explained: definition, calculation, and optimisation for SaaS founders
TK Kader
February 19, 2023
Cash flow management
10
Unit economics
6
- Burn rate is cash in minus cash out — not revenue, not invoices.
- Bootstrappers underspend on growth; VC-backed founders overspend without ROI.
- A 13-week cash flow forecast clarifies runway and forces smarter trade-offs.
Four metrics that reveal whether your hiring is making you weaker
Cameron Herold
January 18, 2023
Unit economics
9
Processes & SOPs
7
Hiring & recruitment
5
- Most companies get less efficient with every new hire.
- Four ratios expose hidden inefficiency before it becomes a crisis.
- Hiring decisions deserve the same scrutiny as $80k marketing spend.
B2B vs B2C SaaS: why the economics are not even close
Rob Walling
October 31, 2022
Unit economics
9
Business models
8
Pricing strategy
6
- B2C SaaS requires 165,000 visitors to reach 1,000 customers
- B2B charges 10x more with a fraction of the churn
- A dual prosumer-plus-business funnel combines reach with high revenue per account
General Electric: How culture and capital allocation destroyed a $600B giant
Business Breakdowns
September 15, 2022
Unit economics
9
Business models
8
Case studies
7
- GE Capital was leverage disguised as competitive advantage — it nearly sank the company
- Immelt destroyed tens of billions buying high, selling low, and ignoring the bear case
- Aviation's razor-and-blade model gives GE a genuine multi-decade moat after the breakup
SaaS metrics, customer pain, and finding ideas that actually work
Startups For the Rest of Us
September 6, 2022
Unit economics
9
Business models
7
Management
5
- Net negative churn is the single most powerful cheat code in SaaS
- Scratch your own itch is overrated — unfair advantages predict success better
- Non-technical customers need concierge onboarding and group office hours to scale
When to bootstrap, when to fund, and how pricing shapes growth
Startups For the Rest of Us
August 9, 2022
Bootstrapping
9
Unit economics
7
Growth hacking
5
- 90% of startups should bootstrap — seven conditions make it genuinely hard
- Building without marketing is almost always luck, not strategy
- Small markets require high ACV; large online markets can sustain lower pricing
SaaS metrics explained from first principles with an 11-year-old
Startups For the Rest of Us
May 10, 2022
Unit economics
9
Business models
5
- SaaS jargon hides how simple the underlying concepts actually are
- 10% monthly churn wipes out 90% of customers within a year
- CAC by channel reveals where growth spend is efficient or wasted
Six SaaS metrics every founder should track and optimise
Rob Walling
March 9, 2022
Unit economics
9
Business models
7
Growth hacking
6
- A six-metric framework: three to minimise, three to maximise.
- Churn has two distinct phases — onboarding and product-market fit.
- Expansion revenue is the cheat code inside the SaaS cheat code.
Cannabis legalization and the emerging U.S. market
Business Breakdowns
January 12, 2022
Unit economics
9
Business models
8
Market research
6
- $100B market shifting from illicit to legal channels; MSOs enjoy 50%+ margins while institutions excluded.
- Safe banking reform could unlock $100B+ capital inflow and TSX uplisting, eliminating custody barriers.
- Federal illegality creates structural inefficiency: U.S. MSOs trade at 4-5x EBITDA while growing 40-50% annually.