Below is a **board-ready Financial KPI Dashboard Framework** tailored for: * **Business Type:** B2B SaaS (Subscription, Series A) * **Primary Goals:** Reduce churn, improve capital efficiency, prepare for next round * **Reporting Cadence:** Monthly board pack + weekly pulse * **Stack:** Google Sheets (data model) → Looker Studio (exec dashboard) Assumptions: * $3–10M ARR range * 12–36 month runway target * Multi-seat B2B contracts, mix of SMB & Mid-Market * Moderate outbound + paid acquisition --- # 1) Smart KPI Selection (Auto-Adaptive) ## REVENUE & RETENTION ### 1. MRR (Monthly Recurring Revenue) * **Definition:** Recurring subscription revenue normalized monthly * **Formula:** Sum of active subscription monthly values * **Strategic Importance:** Primary growth heartbeat * **Healthy Benchmark:** 5–10% MoM growth (Series A stage) * **Red Flag:** <2% growth for 3 consecutive months --- ### 2. ARR (Annual Recurring Revenue) * **Definition:** Annualized recurring subscription revenue * **Formula:** MRR × 12 * **Strategic Importance:** Valuation anchor metric * **Healthy Benchmark:** >40% YoY growth * **Red Flag:** <25% YoY growth --- ### 3. Net New MRR * **Definition:** Growth after expansion, churn, contraction * **Formula:** New + Expansion – Churn – Contraction * **Strategic Importance:** True organic growth signal * **Healthy Benchmark:** Positive and increasing * **Red Flag:** Negative for 2+ months --- ### 4. NRR (Net Revenue Retention) * **Definition:** Revenue retained including expansion * **Formula:** (Starting MRR + Expansion – Churn – Contraction) / Starting MRR * **Strategic Importance:** Core SaaS quality metric * **Healthy Benchmark:** 110–130% (B2B SaaS) * **Red Flag:** <100% --- ### 5. GRR (Gross Revenue Retention) * **Definition:** Revenue retained excluding expansion * **Formula:** (Starting MRR – Churn – Contraction) / Starting MRR * **Healthy Benchmark:** 85–95% * **Red Flag:** <80% --- ### 6. Logo Churn * **Definition:** % of customers lost * **Formula:** Lost Customers / Total Customers at Start * **Healthy Benchmark:** * SMB: <3% monthly * Mid-market: <1.5% monthly * **Red Flag:** 2x industry average --- ## ACQUISITION & UNIT ECONOMICS ### 7. CAC (Customer Acquisition Cost) * **Definition:** Sales + Marketing spend per new customer * **Formula:** S&M Spend / New Customers Acquired * **Healthy Benchmark:** Stable or declining * **Red Flag:** Rising >15% without ARPU growth --- ### 8. LTV (Customer Lifetime Value) * **Definition:** Gross profit from a customer over lifetime * **Formula:** ARPU × Gross Margin × (1 / Churn Rate) * **Healthy Benchmark:** LTV:CAC ≥ 3x * **Red Flag:** <2x --- ### 9. CAC Payback Period * **Definition:** Time to recover CAC * **Formula:** CAC / Monthly Gross Profit per Customer * **Healthy Benchmark:** <12 months * **Red Flag:** >18 months --- ## CAPITAL EFFICIENCY ### 10. Burn Multiple * **Definition:** Cash Burn per $1 Net New ARR * **Formula:** Net Burn / Net New ARR * **Healthy Benchmark:** * <1.5 = Elite * 1.5–2 = Efficient * > 3 = Capital inefficient * **Red Flag:** >3 for 2 quarters --- ### 11. Runway * **Definition:** Months before cash depletion * **Formula:** Cash Balance / Monthly Net Burn * **Healthy Benchmark:** 18–24 months * **Red Flag:** <12 months --- # 2) Recommended Visualizations ## Revenue Overview * **Chart:** 18-month Line Trend (MRR + ARR) * **Insight:** Growth trajectory + inflection points * **Exec Interpretation:** Is growth compounding? * **Target vs Actual:** Overlay dashed target line * **Annotate:** Fundraise, price changes, product launches --- ## Net New MRR Bridge * **Chart:** Waterfall (New / Expansion / Contraction / Churn) * **Insight:** Growth composition * **Exec Interpretation:** Are we growing from sales or retention? * **Annotate:** Major churn event, enterprise upsell --- ## NRR & GRR * **Chart:** Line Trend + Benchmark Band * **Insight:** Retention health * **Target vs Actual:** Highlight <100% NRR in red * **Annotate:** Cohort mix shift --- ## Churn Cohort * **Chart:** Cohort Heatmap (by signup month) * **Insight:** Structural churn patterns * **Exec Interpretation:** Onboarding vs long-term churn --- ## CAC & Payback * **Chart:** Dual-axis line (CAC + Payback months) * **Insight:** Efficiency trend * **Annotate:** Hiring ramp, channel test --- ## LTV:CAC Ratio * **Chart:** KPI Card + Trend * **Insight:** Unit economics strength --- ## Burn & Runway * **Chart:** * Burn Multiple: Line * Runway: Forecast line projection * **Insight:** Funding readiness --- # 3) Executive Dashboard Layout (Looker Studio Structure) ## HEADER (Sticky KPI Cards) * MRR (MoM %) * ARR (YoY %) * NRR * CAC Payback * Burn Multiple * Runway Each card includes: * MoM delta * RAG indicator * Target comparison --- ## Section 1 — Executive Overview * 18-Month MRR Trend * Net New MRR Waterfall * Performance vs Plan (Revenue vs Budget) * Short text summary (automated commentary) --- ## Section 2 — Revenue & Retention * NRR & GRR Trend * Logo & Revenue Churn * Cohort Retention Heatmap * Expansion Revenue Trend --- ## Section 3 — Acquisition & Unit Economics * CAC Trend by Channel * Payback Period * LTV:CAC Ratio * Funnel Conversion (Lead → SQL → Closed Won) --- ## Section 4 — Cost Structure & Margin * Gross Margin Trend * S&M % of Revenue * Contribution Margin Bridge --- ## Section 5 — Cash, Burn & Runway * Burn Trend * Burn Multiple * Runway Forecast (Base / Conservative case) --- ## Section 6 — Drilldowns Filters: * Segment (SMB / Mid-market / Enterprise) * Plan Tier * Channel * Geography --- # 4) Board-Ready Reporting Template --- ## A) Executive Summary (1 Page) **What Changed** * MRR grew 6% MoM * NRR declined from 118% → 108% * Burn Multiple improved from 2.8 → 2.1 **Why It Changed** * Increased churn in SMB segment * Enterprise expansion slowed * Hiring freeze reduced burn **Impact** * Capital efficiency improving * Retention risk emerging * Fundraising narrative: strong discipline, retention focus required --- ## B) Trends & Drivers **Revenue Waterfall** * Expansion slowing * SMB churn rising **Cohort Insights** * First 90-day churn elevated * Stable after month 4 **Margin Shifts** * Paid acquisition CAC up 18% * Organic stable --- ## C) Cash & Runway * Burn Multiple: 2.1 (improving) * Runway: 19 months * Scenario: 10% churn increase reduces runway by 4 months --- ## D) Insights & Prioritized Actions 1. Implement churn taskforce (onboarding optimization) 2. Reduce paid spend in underperforming channels 3. Double down on expansion playbooks 4. Freeze non-essential hiring 5. Reprice underperforming plan tier Decision triggers: * If NRR <105% for 2 months → retention war-room * If Burn Multiple >2.5 → cost reforecast --- ## E) Appendix * Metric formulas * Cohort definitions * Revenue recognition policy * Assumptions used in runway forecast --- # 5) Strategic Intelligence Layer ## Leading Indicators * Product usage frequency * Expansion pipeline * Sales cycle length * CAC by channel trend ## Lagging Indicators * ARR * NRR * Burn Multiple * Runway --- ## Early Warning Signals * Logo churn increasing in first 60 days * Rising CAC without ARPU lift * Sales cycle extending >20% * Expansion revenue declining for 2 months --- ## Capital Efficiency Risks * Over-hiring before retention stabilizes * Channel saturation * Declining expansion revenue * Enterprise concentration risk --- ## Growth Sustainability Risks * NRR below 100% * Heavy dependency on paid acquisition * Low gross margin (<70%) --- ## Decision Triggers Framework * **If churn > benchmark for 2 periods → Immediate retention sprint** * **If CAC increases >15% without ARPU growth → Reallocate marketing budget** * **If Payback >15 months → Reduce S&M hiring** * **If Burn Multiple >3 → Strategic reset** * **If Runway <15 months → Initiate fundraising timeline** --- # Bottom Line for the Board Investors at Series A care about three things: 1. Is growth durable? (NRR + Cohorts) 2. Is capital used efficiently? (Burn Multiple + Payback) 3. Is the company fundable in 12 months? (Runway + ARR trajectory) Everything in this dashboard should reinforce those answers — clearly, numerically, and without narrative fluff. If you'd like, I can now: * Build the **Google Sheets data schema structure** * Provide a **Looker Studio wireframe layout** * Or create a **pre-formatted board deck outline** ready for copy-paste into Slides**